ACOUSTIC STUDY OF VOICING ONSET TIME IN ENGLISH AND PASHTO PLOSIVE SOUNDS

Abstract

The main aim of this study is to analyze the Voicing Onset Time (VOT) in Pashto and English Plosive sounds through Praat Analysis. Additionally, the researchers intend to highlight the issues in the production of Plosive sounds by EFL Pashto learners due to the differences between the Voicing Onset Time in Pashto and English Plosives. The researchers have collected the data from L1 Pashto Speakers, EFL Pashto Learners and L1 English speakers through voice recordings and then these recordings have been analyzed through Praat Software. The study shows the clear difference in the VOT of the plosive sounds in both the languages. The VOT duration of English plosives are lengthier than the VOT durations of Pashto plosive sounds and thus Pashto EFL learners are unable to produce these sounds like English RP speakers. The study is beneficial for EFL learners of Pashto language and teachers of English as second or foreign language in the field of English Language Teaching. The EFL students and teachers would between realize the differences in the production of L2 English speech sounds and thus would enhance their pronunciation. The Study recommends that further studies should be conducted taking all speech sounds of Pashto and English language in terms of acoustic properties.