VOT development in Hindi and in English

Abstract

The present study compares voice onset time (VOT) productions across age groups in Hindi and in English, which have four-way and two-way phonemic voicing contrasts, respectively. Both voicing lead times and post-release VOTs were taken from initial velar stops in isolated monosyllabic words. Data were elicited from monolingual adults and children (ages 2–6 years). Vowel quality effects were controlled. A two-way analysis of variance showed that for all age groups in both languages, phonemic voice category had a significant effect on VOT. Pairwise comparisons on the Hindi data, however, revealed that, although all pair had significant mean post-release VOT differences in the adult group, significant /k/ vs /g/ differences were not noted until 6 years of age. The /k/ vs /kh/ pair did exhibit significantly different mean VOTs from the age of 2, suggesting that when wider mean VOT differences are noted in the adult phonemes, the children are more likely to acquire the contrast at an early age. The more complex /gh/ was not adultlike, even at 6 years. The English subjects demonstrated significant differences at all ages, perhaps because the English mean VOT differences are at least as wide as those in the Hindi /k/ vs /kh/ contrast. In both languages, lead timings were not adultlike in the younger groups, which supports the claim that lead voicing is more difficult to acquire than either short- or long-lag timing. Repeated measures analyses showed significant interactions for VOT between age group and the target phonemic category, demonstrating a steady progression toward the adult model. The implications of these results for a universal phonetic category system are discussed.