Native English speakers and Hindi consonants: From cross‐language perception patterns to pronunciation teaching

Abstract

AbstractThe Hindi consonant inventory, which includes the cross‐linguistically rare retroflex place of articulation and four‐way laryngeal contrasts, is known to pose difficulties for native English speakers. Hindi language textbooks address this challenge, in part, by providing various articulatory and acoustic descriptions of Hindi consonants, typically referencing their similarity to and differences from English consonants. Here, we investigate the perception of 20 Hindi consonants by native English speakers with no prior Hindi language experience. We conducted two consonant perception studies: one in which participants identified Hindi consonants with English consonant labels, and one in which they determined whether pairs of Hindi consonants were the same or different. In this way, we were able to identify the consonants—and contrasts—that may pose the greatest difficulty for learners, and also to make recommendations regarding the articulatory and acoustic description of Hindi consonants for English‐speaking learners.