"V" Vs "W" Sound Practised by Pakistani English Speakers
"V" Vs "W" Sound Practised by Pakistani English Speakers
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background:
The word language seems to have been derived from the Latin words, Lingua, which
implies tongue. The French term, language also refers to a specific from of speech.
Hence, in the whole process of language teaching, spoken language occupies an important
place. Ballard says, Talking comes before writing, oral composition before written
composition. (Dash, 2004, p.165-166)
Speaking is the productive skill in the oral mode. It, like the other skills, is more complicated
than it seems at first and involves more than just pronouncing words.
Phonetics is the study of human sounds in general without reference to their systemic role in
a specific language. Phonetics is divided into three types according the production
(articulatory phonetics), transmission (acoustic phonetics) and perceptions (auditory
phonetics) of sounds. Sounds can be divided into consonants and vowels. The former can be
characterized according to place, manner of articulation and voice (voiceless or voiced). For
vowels one uses a coordinate system called a vowel quadrangle within which actual wall
values are located. Phonology is the functional classification of sounds of a particular
language. It is the system of sounds by means of which meanings are differentiated in a
language and which serve as a building block for the higher linguistic levels for example
morphology. Phoneme is the smallest unit of language which distinguishes meaning; it is the
organizational unit of phonology. Phonemes are written in slashes: //. Examples of phonemes
are /a/, /b/, /k/ etc. Their status is shown by finding minimal pairs in which the only
difference is between two sounds in question e.g. cot and got in English or kunst and gunst in
German. Allophones is a term that has two basic meaning a) the realization of a phoneme; b)
non distinctive variants of a phoneme. Allophones are written in square brackets: [].
Examples of allophones are provided by different sounds in a language which do not change
the meaning of a word, e.g. the uvular and alveolar /r/ of German as in brot [bRo: t] or [bro:t].
An English example would be provided by the alveolar and the velarized /I/ of English as in
leap [li:p] and deal [di:l].
Phonotactics is the area which is concerned with the possible sequences of sounds in
language for instance, there is a word fact in English with a syllable-final /-kt/ but there is no
word ctaf as /kt-/ cannot occur at a beginning of a syllable. Another example of a phonotactic
restriction can be scene with the vowel /^/ which occur in closed syllable but not in open ones
e.g. dove /d^v/ is permissible word in English but /d^/ is not because the syllable is not closed
by a consonant at the end.
It is essential to distinguish between writing and sound. There are various terms to
characterize the relation between the written and the spoken word depending on what the
match between the two is like: homophony sameness of sound e.g. meat and meet,
homography sameness of writing, e.g. lead and lead, homonymy sameness of sound and
writing, bear and bear. In the same way the sounds of some phonemes are mistakenly
considered as same e.g. v and w sound.
children because his future lies in the hands of his new generation. Youth is the pillar of our
nation. We have to prepare them for the future responsibilities.
If we want to make their future bright and prosperous, we should provide them quality
education and our dream of quality education cannot be fulfilled until we adopt English as a
medium of instruction because importance of English as a medium of instruction cannot be
ignored. Therefore, we also need to make students aware of the pronunciation of different
phonemes in English language. This can be done by introducing the phonetics and phonology
among students in the early age. As the spoken language bears equal importance to the
written one. In this research our main focus is on the consonant sounds v and w
specifically.
Here, we tried to investigate the percentage of people aware of the distinction between the
above mentioned sounds. The study will reveal the further expectation in this field of
phonetics. It is hoped that this study will help to solve many problems which are being faced.
This study is important in the sense that it will point out some problems related to the topic.
On the hand, we are also made an effort to improve the pronunciation of the interviewees.
CHAPTER 2
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The present research study was quantitative one as it dealt with the existing state of affairs
relating to the topic. Inductive as well as deductive methods were used for this research study.
The researchers used the following strategies for data collection.
Questionnaire
Discussion on the topic with the different language teachers
Interviews of teachers and students
Consultation of library books
Websites
The methods and procedures adopted to conduct the research work are described under the
following headings.
2.1 Population:
All the L2-English speakers which were students in the Kinnaird College constituted the
population of the study.
The teaching staffs of the KC were also included in the population. Moreover, all the plans
and policy documents, books related to the study also included in the population of this study.
2.2 Sampling:
Random sampling technique was used for this study. 20 students and 5 teachers were
randomly selected from the different departments of the Kinnaird College. The details of
sampling are described in Table 2.1
Table 2.1: Description of sample teachers
Female Students
Female Teachers
Total
20
25
The questionnaire was the major instrument of the research study to obtain information
pertinent to the research problem. A questionnaire was developed by the researcher
themselves and distributed. Ten statements were also included with the questionnaire of
which 5 sentences were made to analyse the pronunciation /w/ and 5 sentences to analyse the
pronunciation of /v/. These sentences were to be read by the samples selected for the research
purpose.
Chapter 3
LITRATURE REVIEW
3.1 Importance of Speaking English:
By speaking we do not mean merely uttering words through mouth. It means conveying the
message through the words of mouth. This skill is also neglected in our classrooms students
do not get any chance either in the classroom or outside to speak English. Speaking is not a
part of our examination. Learning to speak also demands a lot of practice and attention. We
learn to speak our mother tongue just by listening and repeating. Teacher can adopt the same
natural way he can give them certain structure and ask them to repeat. This will remove their
shyness. He can give those drills in the basic patterns of language (Mumtaz, 2007).
We learn to speak our mother tongue by imitating those who speak around us. In a similar
manner, a foreign language is learnt by imitation and reproduction. In the early stage, parrot
like repetition is more important than understand the various part of sentence or
formulating ideas in desired patterns. It is just like learning some skills as driving or knitting.
The rule follow is, practice makes man perfect. Teacher should produce them at his will.
The teacher should therefore, drill practice in the basic pattern of language so that they
become automatic with pupils.
A speech will be characterized by a long turn (a speaker speaking without interruption),
whereas, when we talk to friends there will be short turns, where people say a few words and
then someone else contributes, and so on.
It is likely that different topics will be discussed in these situations. In a work context there is
likely to be a set topic and issues outside those related to work may not be acceptable. The
formality of the language will also vary because the power relationship between friends is
equal, but this is not the case when speaking to a boss. This may affect who initiates
conversational exchanges typically the person with more power or authority and also the
choice of vocabulary used.
The discussion with the newsagent may be transactional in nature. She asks for a certain
amount of money, you give it, say thank you, and leave. There is unlikely to be any
development beyond what is essential for the transaction to be completed. This is obviously
different to speaking to a friend, where there is no transaction as such, and the purpose is to
build or maintain social relationships.
3.2.2 Ability to use stress correctly on the syllables of the longer words:
A speaker combines phonemes or sounds to make words which are basic meaningful unit of
speech. When in a word there are more than one syllables in words are stressed or
pronounced prominently. Such prominence gives rhythmic character to English speech If the
syllables are stressed incorrectly .Vowel sounds will change the words will not give their
meaning correctly and the listener will not be able to understand the speech.
There is no correspondence between sound and symbols. For Pakistanis whose national
The silent letters are usually baffing because in Urdu we have very rare such
occurrences. We come across silent in the medial position of such words as. But silent letters
in English are found in all the three positions.
Initial Position:
Medial Position:
Final Position:
3.
The chief problems arise out of the contrasting patterns of the sounds of the mother
tongue and English. Our students utter the sound of English letters W the pattern of Urdu
which is similar to V.
4.
Letters in English spellings do not correspond with their sounds. One letter w gives
different sounds in power, row, who, with and writ causes a lot of confusion to the child.
5.
7.
English word in Urdu script, for example, Electric. The danger of it is that the students
pronounce the English word as it is expressed in Urdu. This sort of practice of the teacher has
marred the correct pronunciation of our students.
8.
Learning to recognize readily and with certainly the various speech sounds occurring
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
Learning to join each sound of a sequence on to the next, and to pronounce the
Students shift from their native language to English with the same
sound pattern of their mother tongue.
Here are a number of resources, lesson plans, suggestion pages and more
which will help students improve English speaking skills in and outside of
class.
http://esl.about.com/od/speakingenglish/a/speaking_hub.htm
Phonology
Phonetics
are produced.
in morphology, syntax,
discourse.
of a particular language by
regardless of language.
organs
otherwise
articulators
are
dividing
into
two: passive
articulators and active articulators. Passive articulators are those which remain static
during the articulation of sound. Upper lips, upper teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate etc. are
the passive articulators. Active articulators move towards these passive articulators to
produce various speech sounds, in different manner. The most important active articulator is
tongue. Uvula, lower jaw which includes lower teeth and lower lip are the other active
articulators.
Vowel sounds cannot be distinguished as consonants can be by their place or manner. Vowel
sounds would be differentiated by describing the shape of oral cavity as air passes through it.
But the case is not so. They are differentiated by observing the position of tongue during the
articulation. Two things are important: 1) which part of the tongue is highest during
articulation of the vowel (front, central, or back), and 2) just how high is that highest part
of tongue (high, mid, low).
Table 1:
This table shows the relative manner and place of articulation of sound of English alphabets.
Table 2:
Table 2 shows the symbols used for the representation of manner and place of articulation of
consonant sounds.
Table 3
Table 3 shows the place of tongue during production of vowel sounds.
3.8 History
3.8.1 History of V sound
The letter V comes from the Semitic letter Waw, as do the modern letters F, U, W, and Y.
In Greek, the letter upsilon '' was adapted from waw to represent, at first, the vowel [u] as
in "moon". This was later fronted to [y], the front rounded vowel spelled '' in German.
In Latin, a stemless variant shape of the upsilon was borrowed in early times as Veither
directly from the Western Greek alphabet or from the Etruscan alphabet as an intermediary
to represent the same /u/ sound, as well as the consonantal /w/. Thus, 'num' originally
spelled 'NVM' was pronounced /num/ and 'via' was pronounced [wia]. From the 1st
century AD on, depending on Vulgar Latin dialect, consonantal /w/ developed into // (kept
in Spanish), then later to /v/. In Roman numerals, the letter 'V' is used to represent the
number 5. It was used because it resembled the convention of counting by notches carved in
wood, with every fifth notch double-cut to form a 'V'.
During the Late Middle Ages, two forms of 'v' developed, which were both used for its
ancestor /u/ and modern /v/. The pointed form 'v' was written at the beginning of a word,
while a rounded form 'u' was used in the middle or end, regardless of sound. So whereas
'valor' and 'excuse' appeared as in modern printing, 'have' and 'upon' were printed as 'haue'
and 'vpon'. The first distinction between the letters 'u' and 'v' is recorded in a Gothic script
from 1386, where 'v' preceded 'u'. By the mid-16th century, the 'v' form was used to represent
the consonant and 'u' the vowel sound, giving us the modern letter 'u'. Capital 'U' was not
accepted as a distinct letter until many years later.
letter based on the Greek for the same sound. The digraph VV/uu was also used in
Medieval Latin to represent Germanic names, including Gothic ones like Wamba.
It is from this uu digraph that the modern name "double U" derives. The digraph was
commonly used in the spelling of Old High German, but only sporadically in Old English,
where the /w/ sound was usually represented by the runic wynn. In early Middle English,
following the 11th-century Norman Conquest, uu gained popularity and by 1300 it had
taken wynn's place in common use.
Scribal realization of the digraph could look like a pair of Vs whose branches crossed in the
middle. An obsolete, cursive form found in the nineteenth century in both English and
German was in the form of an en whose rightmost branch curved around as in a cursive vee.
The shift from the digraph VV to the distinct ligature W is thus gradual, and is only
apparent in abecedaria, explicit listings of all individual letters. It was probably considered a
separate letter by the 14th century in both Middle English and Middle German orthography,
although it remained an outsider not really considered part of the Latin alphabet proper, as
expressed by Valentin Ickelshamer in the 16th century, who complained that:
Poor w is so infamous and unknown that many barely know either its name or its shape, not
those who aspire to being Latinists, as they have no need of it, nor do the Germans, not even
the schoolmasters, know what to do with it or how to call it; some call it we, [... others] call
it uu, [...] the Swabians call it auwawau.
In Middle High German (and possibly already in late Old High German), the West
Germanic phoneme /w/ became realized as [v]; this is why the German w today represents
that sound. There is no phonological distinction between [w] and [v] in contemporary
German. Modern German dialects generally have only [v] or [] for West Germanic /w/, but
[w] or [] remains heard allophonically for w, especially in the clusters schw, zw, and
qu. Some Bavarian dialects preserve a "light" initial [w] in words like wuoz (Standard
German wei [vas] '[I] know'). The Classical Latin [] is heard in the Southern German
greeting Servus ('hello' or 'goodbye').
In Dutch, it became a labiodental approximant // (with the exception of words with - eeuw,
which have /e/, or other diphthongs containing -uw). In many Dutch speaking areas, such
as Flanders and Suriname, the // pronunciation is used at all times.
When pronouncing it, the lips are put forward and rounded.
The back part of the tongue is raised towards the soft tissue at the back of the roof of
the mouth.
These characteristics may seem very hard to follow. Therefore, you need to know that the
first two features are the most important ones:
You need to put your lips forward and round them, and
You need to put the back of your tongue against the back of the roof of your mouth.
To practice the sound, speak the following words out loud several times: when, while,
weather, worm, which, word, warm, winter, woman, week, awaiting, awake and award.
Air flows through a narrow channel at the place of articulation. You can test this by
pronouncing the sound and holding one hand in front of your mouth.
It is articulated using the lower lips and the upper teeth: the lower lips are slightly put
behind or against the upper teeth.
Its phonation is "voiced". That means that you let your vocal cords vibrate when
pronouncing it.
Notice: This sound is the same sound that differentiates the preposition "of" from the adverb
"off". To read more about the pronunciation of these two words.
In contrast to the [w] sound, the lips are not rounded. The lower lips are slightly put behind or
against the upper teeth. Also, you let air flow through your mouth when pronouncing [v].
pronunciation.
In the alphabets of most modern Romance languages (excepting far northern French
and Walloon), W is used mostly in foreign names and words recently borrowed (le
week-end, il watt, el kiwi). The digraph 'ou' is used for /w/ in native French words; 'oi'
is /wa/ or /w/, 'oin' is /w/. In Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, [w] is a nonsyllabic variant of /u/, spelled U (with a diaeresis in the Spanish combinations 'ge'
and 'gi').
In the Cyrillic alphabet used for the Belarusian language, is pronounced like
English /w/.
English /w/ is bilabial but not in Chinese pinyin.
The Japanese language uses "W", pronounced /daburu/, as an ideogram meaning
"double".
In Arabic, Persian and Urdu there is no W sound. In Arabic, "W" is transliterated
using the penultimate letter of the alphabet; ( waw).which is similar to V sound but
the written script uses W letter whil writing in English. When Waw is in centre of
Catalan: ve, pronounced [ve]; in dialects that lack contrast between /v/ and /b/, the
chica or ve labiodental.
In Japanese, V is often called "bui". This name is an approximation of the English
name which substitutes the voiced bilabial plosive for the voiced labiodental fricative
(which does not exist in native Japanese phonology) and differentiates it from "b",
the Japanese name of the letter B. Moreover, some words are more often spelled with
the b equivalent character instead of vu due to the long-time use of the word without it
(e.g. "violin" is more often found as baiorin than as vaiorin due partly to inertia, and
position in the word and the sentence. In German and Dutch it can be either [v] or [f].
In Native American languages of North America (mainly Iroquoian), v represents
Chapter 4
PRESANTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA
This chapter deals with data analysis and interpolation. The data collected through the
questionnaire is presented in table. The data was presented after calculating the response of
all the respondents and percentage method was used. This data was collected from 20 female
students.
Statement
YES
NO
No.
1.
17
Percentage
yes
no
15% 85
2.
17
15%
%
85
3.
19
95%
%
5%
4.
16
20%
80
5.
14
30%
%
70
6.
in English?
Have your teachers taught you any difference between
16
20%
%
80
7.
20%
%
80
80%
%
20
8.
9.
pronunciation of v and w?
Do you think mother tongue effects the acquisition of
12
60%
%
40
10.
18
90%
%
10
11.
and w sounds?
Have you noticed refinement in your pronunciation
60%
%
40
with age?
16
16
12
12.
13
35%
65
13.
20
100
%
0%
Knowledge of Phonetics
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
knowledge of
Phonetics
YES
NO
Discussion:
3 girls out of 20 had the knowledge of phonetics but 17 girls werent aware of it. Hence, we
can say that 85% of the girls didnt have the idea about the subject but 15% did have some
basic idea about the phenomenon.
2. Do you have any knowledge of Phonology?
Yes
No
Knowledge of Phonology
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
knowledge of
Phonology
YES
Discussion:
NO
3 girls out of 20 had the knowledge of phonology but 17 girls werent aware of it. Hence, we
can say that 85% of the girls didnt have the idea about the subject but 15% did have some
basic idea about the phenomenon.
3. Are you aware of the word Pronunciation?
Yes
No
100%
50%
0%
YES
NO
Discussion:
19 girls were aware of the word pronunciation but 1 girl wasnt aware of the phenomenon of
pronunciation. Hence, this makes up the total of 95% the girls who werent aware of the word
and 5%were aware of the phenomenon.
Yes
No
Language Course
YES
NO
Discussion:
4 girls out of 20 had done a language course and 16 girls had not done so. Hence, this implies
that 20%of the girls had done the language course and 80% never inclined to it.
5.Do you know that v and w have two different sounds in English?
Yes
No
100%
50%
0%
YES
NO
Discussion:
6 girls meaning 30% of the girls were aware that a and w have two different associated
sounds, but 14 girls were not aware of the aspect which makes up 70% of the girls.
6.Have your teachers taught you any difference between the pronunciation of v & w?
Yes
No
50%
0%
YES
Discussion:
NO
4 girls were taught the difference between v and w sounds but 16 girls were not given this
awareness by their teachers. Hence, this implies that 20% of the girls were taught the
difference and 80% were not done so.
Yes
No
Discussion:
4 girls followed a particular accent of English but 16 girls werent. Hence, 80% of the girls
didnt follow a particular accent of English but 20% of the girls did so.
Yes
No
1. accent affects
the pronunciation of
v and w?
50%
0%
YES
NO
Discussion:
16 girls i.e 80% of the girls approved of the fact that accent affects the utterance of vand w
phonemes but 4 girls i.e 20%didnot do so.
9. Do you think mother tongue effects the acquisition of second language which is
English?
Yes
No
100%
50%
0%
YES
NO
Discussion:
12 i.e 60% girls approved of the influence of mother tongue on second language acquisition
and 8 i.e 40% disapproved of it.
10. Does your mother tongue draw distinction b/w the v and w sounds?
Yes
No
100%
50%
0%
YES
NO
Discussion:
90% girls approved of the phenomenon and 10% disapproved of the phenomenon.
11.Have you noticed refinement in your pronunciation with age?
Yes
No
YES
NO
Discussion:
60%girls noticed a refinement in their language and 40% didnt notice it with age.
12. Do you think that you mother tongue interferes with the way you pronounce v &
w?
Yes
No
Do you think that you mother tongue interferes with the way you pronounce v & w?
Do you think that you
mother tongue
interferes with the way
you pronounce v &
w?
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
YES
NO
Discussion:
35% of the girls affirmed that their mother tongue interfered with the pronunciation of v and
w sounds in English but 65% refuted the phenomenon.
1. Do you think that any awareness should be given at the school level to ensure
Do you think that any awareness should be given at the school level to ensure the correct pronunciation of phonemes?
Do you think that any awareness should be given at the school level to ensure
the corr100%
ect pronunciation of phonemes?
50%
0%
YES
NO
Discussion:
100% girls approved of granting awareness regarding the phonetic structure of alphabets
and0%refuted.
4.3 Discussion:
20 girls were asked to fill in the questionnaire and the results are: About 85% girls didnt
have and knowledge of the terms phonetics and phonology. However 15% of the girls did
have an awareness about these words, particularly because they from English major or
perhaps were able to comprehend the words, to take a meaning out of them or they had heard
it somewhere. However, 95% of the girls were aware of the word pronunciation and 5% of
them were not. The girls were however, aware of the words but not their practical
technicalities. About 20% girls claimed to have done a language course and 80% didnt do
one. This clearly represents the level of urge to learn a particular language and the internal
motivation factor.30% of the girls knew that v and w have two distinct sounds in English
language but 70%werent aware of this fact.20% of the girls were given awareness by their
teachers to pronounce v and w distinctively but 80% of the students werent granted this
awareness this also marks the level of interest as well as the academic status of the teacher to
engross the students in external motivation.20% of the girls followed a particular accent but
80% didnt and only claimed to follow the so called Indian accent.80% of the girls believed
that the variation in accents affects pronunciation of v and w sounds but 20% did not as they
were not aware of the implications of other accents.60%of the girls believed that mother
tongue influencers the second language learning but 40% of the girls were not accepting this
fact.90%of the girls stated that their language distinguished between w and v sounds but 10
% refuted with this fact. This marks the lack of acceptability and awareness about the second
language.60% girls noticed a refinement in their pronunciation with age but 40% didnt do
so because they lacked inner motivation and exposure.35%of the girls thought that the mother
tongue interferes with the pronunciation of v and w sounds but 65%didnt think so.100% girls
thought that awareness must be given to the students for gaining effective exposure to
phonology and sound structure of language.
Hence, most of the girls were unable to pronounce them effectively. The words like violet and
wallet were pronounced in the same manner. But some of the girls did have adequate
awareness of the pronunciation of the two distinctive alphabets, but they were from the
linguistics or literature major. Hence, it can be concluded that the schooling and the impacts
of language on society do interfere with the ways we utter and pronounce certain alphabets
and their respective phonemes.
PRONUNCIATION OF
vAND w SOUNDS
have the same phonological structure of the wa sound. These languages do have the district
sounds of v and w when we take the manner and places of articulation in consideration but
they have only one symbol that has different places and manners in different words and their
notations.\
Proceeding to the video of the English teacher, who stated that v and w have two distinct
sounds. The w has a sound of woa that means that it is produced by the rounding of lips.
Such as the words when, where, wallet. But ,if we proceed to the alphabet v it also has a
distinct sound. It is because it is a fricative as friction is produced during its pronunciation. It
is pronounced as va where the lower lip joins the upper teeth. Hence, the manner and places
of articulations alter the sounds associated with these phonemes e.g the word vague and vent
wound be pronounced differently from went and where.
4.6 Analysis:
As the above results show that majority of the people didnt have any knowledge of phonetics
and phonology. This is a clear marker of the fact that the English literature is dominating the
English language in particular. The sounds of the alphabets as well as the phonemes are not
given much importance rather the text oriented approach is followed. The teachers are only
concerned with the syntax, lexis and grammar usage not the individual pronunciation of the
phonemes. Even though that the pronunciation counts the most as the students literary ability
wont be judged upon for the identity communication continuum rather the linguistic skills
would be given significance. Being able to speak a language correctly and efficiently bears
equal importance as to read and write a language. During the survey it was found that most of
the students have a vague idea of what is pronunciation but they dont know the technicalities
of the term. The way to pronounce the words and their correct deliverance is not
accommodated by various students. As we all know that the strict manner and places of
articulation are followed for the pronunciation of various phonemes but most students are not
aware of this they pronounce the both w and v phonemes in the same manner. The
language courses are really a great help to ensure the students motivation level both external
and internal. The external motivation will be provided by the teacher and the internal by the
student. Hence the research made it vivid that most of the girls didnt do any sort of the
language course. This makes a strengthening notion that motivation to learn the language is
lacking internally in the students of Pakistan. Obviously when our textbooks are inclined
towards the promotion of textual learning and cramming of the answers then the students
would also follow the same practice and pay no regard to the pronunciation and linguistic
analysis, English is a language that is alien to most of us we are able to speak it but the
concept of concreteness and accurateness totally lacks. We are able to read and write it but
not speak it with expertise. Hence, the adequate knowledge of phonemic inventory is not
bestowed upon a student at a very early age. This can be analysed on the basis of the
institutional convergence. The students from the reputable English Medium Schools do have
knowledge of phonology and ways of pronouncing of words but not the students from Urdu
medium or Middle English schools. The reason is quite not nebulous because the students
from high schools are taught the phonemes order but not the students from other schools. The
ways of pronunciation are not taught the distinguishing marks from all the similar phonemes
is not depicted rather the same manners of articulation are followed during their utterance.
Now, take an example of the w and v sounds which may seem to follow the same
phonological status but are quite distinct from each other. Most students are not aware of the
fact that these two phonemes are pronounced differently and have different associated
sounds. Rather pronounce w in the same manner they pronounce v. The lip rounding during
w pronunciation does not become prevalent. Hence, a set pattern is followed from the
beginning in the pronunciation that is not susceptible to modification only because the
students are pronouncing the words in a similar manner from the beginning. Hence, here the
age of the learner becomes an important factor as well as the awareness to a particular form
and structure of a phoneme. The ability to gain command over language and learn new
aspects diminishes with age. Moreover, the students are not taught the basic difference
between the w and v sounds and also not motivated to utter these words with expertise.
This is however, a contributing factor that is avoiding the students to gain command over
language. The mother tongue influence is another important factor. The mother tongue does
influence the way the students pronounce certain words. The distinction in w and v sounds
may not exist in the mother tongue of a native speaker who is on his journey to become a
bilingual. It is an obvious fact that the mother tongue does influence the way we speak some
words in English the reason lies in the exposure to the language as we are readily exposed to
the mother tongue and our language acquisition device is also working to compliment our
native language. For instance the Urdu language does not contain a woa sound rather has a
va sound. Hence, the va sound is produced by the joining of upper teeth and the lower lip.
Hence, the woa sound doesnt gain existence. The students would ultimately pronounce w
and v in the same manner because of the influence of the native language. This is because the
mother tongue establishes a strict pattern that is followed when a person speaks any language
only proper practice can make variations in it. Variations in accents can also affect the
speaking of a particular word or a phoneme. The American and British accents both offer
variations in the pronunciation of various words. Finally, awareness in our academic lacks
regarding the pronunciation of various words and phonemes. Example the th sound in Urdu is
hissing bit not in English. Hence the manner and places of articulations may vary in English
in contrast to the mother tongue. Only a variation in manner and places of articulation may
vary the phonetic structure of words. As, was in case of v and w sounds. If the manner and
places of articulation are followed strictly only then these sounds can be pronounced
distinctively. But, this requires an appropriate internal and external motivation that can be
provided by the teacher and effective exposure to the language.
4.7 Recommendations:
4.7.1 For the Teachers:
The teachers should pronounce the v and w sounds in front of the students making
west.
Classroom exercises must be followed in which individual attention must be paid on
the pronunciation of the phonemes and the audio visual aids must be accompanied to
lexical items
A separate lesson plan must be organized that ensures that provides knowledge of
The students must be internally motivated to learn the phonology of English. If the
person is not internally motivated he cant get a grip o the language structure.
The students must aid themselves with audio video aids that make them aware of the
vivid.
Speak! Find an English speaking friend or tutor preferably a native speaker and set up
exchange sessions .they must ask to be corrected in conversation whenever
necessary.
Use a dictionary when unaware of the words pronunciation, as most dictionaries have
watching television.
Write out the pronunciation of the words containing IPA symbols. And translate
mistakes
Finally, they must listen to news and songs and highlight the words contain v and w
4.8 Conclusion:
To conclude, we would like to focus on the fact that language speaking does occupy the same
position as the learning of syntax, lexis, grammar and morphology of language as well as the
techniques of reading, listening and writing; however it follows a rather elevated position
than that. The persons image is reflected and made dominant by the way he speaks. Other
expertise do count a lot, such as reading and writing but spoken language is the identity of
one self. Its a die llama that we do have the English medium schools but the ways the words
are pronounced is not taught to the students, the minute technicalities and ways of
pronunciation. The words two distinct sounds are being referred to as one phoneme. Hence,
the practical aspects of language are not given importance rather the textual cramming is
becoming prevalent. The texts can be used for the language learning principals. An
appropriate and dynamic approach should be followed and the students must be given
awareness from the beginning rather than at later academic levels because in that stage the
ability to comprehend a language becomes inadequate. The teachers must be given awareness
to teach the phonological structure of different alphabets to ensure the progress of the child.
Hence, to conclude i would like to say that not only external motivation matters but also
internal. If the child is inclined to learn a language and employs the technicalities in daily life
he would be able to master the phonological levels off language. Finally the exposure to the
language counts a lot the more the exposure one gets the more mastery of a language occurs.
If we will let our mother tongue interfere with English language then no difference would be
seen in our personalities and spoken content and that day wont be far when the complete
distortion of the phonemic structure of English would occur.
References:
http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/eslp025unit06.pdf
http://www.speakmethod.com/english%20pronunciaiton%20v%20and%20w
%20500%20words.html
http://pronuncian.com/podcast/Default.aspx?Episode=149&Language=
http://www.learning-english-online.net/areas/pronunciation/the-consonantal-soundsw-and-v/
http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/32800/how-can-i-differentiate-betweenthe-pronunciation-of-w-and-v
http://www.rachelsenglish.com/videos/v-sound-not-w
http://blog.authenticjourneys.info/2012/10/english-pronunciation-v-and-w.html
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/phonetic/v.shtml
http://www.eslgold.com/pronunciation/sound_v.html
http://www.eslgold.com/pronunciation/sound_v.html
Bibliography
Books:
English Phonology
Author: Jensen. John T
Appendix
Appendix-I
QUESTIONAIRE
Name:
Semester
Major:
Part I
Note: kindly mark tick ( ) on the suitable answer.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
& w?
Yes
No
8. Do you follow any particular accent?
Yes
No
9. Do you think variation of accent affects the pronunciation of v and w?
Yes
No
10. Do you think mother tongue effects the acquisition of second language which is
English?
Yes
No
11. Does your mother tongue draw distinction b/w the v and w sounds?
Yes
No
12. Have you noticed refinement in your pronunciation with age?
Yes
No
13. Do you think that you mother tongue interferes with the way you pronounce v
& w?
Yes
No
14. Do you think that any awareness should be given at the school level to ensure
Part II
1. Victors wife Vicky was very wise.
2. It was very warm all week.
3. Dont wear your valuable watch this weekend.
4. When will Vick weigh the vegetables?
5. Were you involved in Vivians wedding plans?
6. Will we view the video on Wednesday?
Appendix-II
Name of Teachers
Name of Students: