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Abstract
The aim of this paper is to give an acoustic description of Hindko stops. There is a difference of burst in the production of stops according to voicing. Voiced Onset Time (VOT) of stops also differs according to their place of articulation, voicing and aspiration. This paper attempts to list these differences in Hindko stops. The results yield that acoustics properties of Hindko stops also differ according to the change in place of articulation, voicing and aspiration. VOT for stops in Hindko (spoken in Neelum valley) is greater for voiced stops than that of voiceless stops.
Keywords: Acoustic analysis, Hindko stops, voicing onset time (VOT)
Introduction
Hindko is spoken generally by the people of the plains and low hills of north central Pakistan. It shows a wide geographic range, much linguistic diversity and a line of stitching with Punjabi. Hindko is majorly spoken in Khyber Pakhtoon Khawa province of Pakistan. Majority of Hindko speakers are found in Hazara division of Khyber Pakhtoon Khawa. It is also spoken in various districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, i.e. Muzaffarabad, Neelam valley and Haitian Bala. Approximately, there are more than two million Hindko speakers in various parts of Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. There is significant dialect differentiation among the varieties of Hindko (Calvin, Calinda & Clare 1992). It is the predominant language of the Neelam valley (Rehman & Baart, 2004). Hindko spoken in Neelam Valley is slightly different from those of its dialects spoken in different areas of Azad Kashmir and Pakistan.
Hindko stops have three different contrasts, i.e. place of articulation, voicing and aspiration and these contrasts yield sixteen different stops which are given in the table below:
The following table shows the occurrence of Hindko stops at initial, medial and final positions:
It is interesting to note that unlike English, aspiration is not allophonic in Hindko rather it is a phonemic feature. The word formed by aspiration gives completely different meanings than the word having unaspirated stop.
Rehman and Baart (2004) observed twelve stops in Hindko...