Methodology for Oral Didactic: Retroflex Consonants of Indo-Aryan Languages Vidishaa Prakaash, INALCO, France The Fifth Annual International Conference on Languages, Linguistics, Translation and Literature 2-3 February 2021, Ahwaz For more information, please visit the conference website: WWW.LLLD.IR

1. METHODOLOGY FOR ORAL
DIDACTIC: RETROFLEX
CONSONANTS OF INDO-
ARYAN LANGUAGES
Vidishaa PRAKAASH
(INALCO & Sorbonne-
Nouvelle)

2. AIM
The aimof this paper is to propose a methodology for :
- Training perception and production of retroflex consonants a pertinent trait in Indo-Aryan languages
- By focusing on Hindi/Urdu phonology in particular
- Using the methodology given by Monique Callamand1981, for teaching pronunciation of French to second
language learners.

3. HINDI : BASIC CHARACTERISTICS
Origin: Indo-European > Indo-Iranian > Indo-Aryan
 Official status : 1 out of 22 scheduled languages of India
 Linguistic area : Northern India (Hindi belt ), Fiji, other Caribbean islands
 Speaking population : 615 million ( as L1 & L2 )
 The 4th most spoken language in the world.
 It has an alpha-syllabary writing system with a verb final syntactic order.
(S-O-V)

4. HINDI : PERTINENT TRAITS (1)
 It consists of 45 phonemes with a one-to-one graphic-phonic
correspondence, that is 38 consonants and 12 vowels each with
their own individual graphemes
 It is a system where the vowel is marked on the consonant thus
creating consonant-vowel clusters i.e. boundaries between
syllables are distinctly marked between vowels.
 The inherent vowel, schwa (ə) needs to be taken under account.
Example 1: Syllable boundaries
ātā
[aːʈaː]
flour
[aː] [ʈaː]
V CV
Example 1: CV clusters
likhnā
/lɪkʰəna/
to write
/lɪ/ /kʰə/ /na/
CV CV CV

5. HINDI : PERTINENT TRAITS (2)
Consonants in Hindi’s phonological system
oppose on 4 traits :
- Place of articulation
- Manner of articulation
- Voicing
- Aspiration
Labial Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Plosive
Voiced
Unaspirated b d ɖ ʤ g
Aspirated bʰ dʰ ɖʰ ʤʰ gʰ
Voiceless
Unaspirated p t ʈ ʈʃ k q ʔ
Aspirated pʰ tʰ ʈʰ ʈʃʰ kʰ
Tap/Flap (Voiced)
Unaspirated ɾ ɽ
Aspirated ɾʰ ɽʰ
Fricative
Voiced (Unaspirated) v z ʒ ɣ ɦ
Voiceless (Unaspirated) f s ʂ ʃ x h
Nasal (Voiced) (Unaspirated) m n ɳ ɲ ŋ
Approximant (Voiced) (Unaspirated) ʋ l j
Table 1. Hindi Sound System
Manner
of
articulati
on
Voicing
Aspiratio
n

6. RETROFLEX CONSONANTS
Retroflex Consonants are defined as coronal consonants
defined on the basis of their place of articulation, i.e.
sound made when the tip of the tongue is curled back in
the direction of the front part of the hard palate – in other
words, just behind the alveolar ridge.
[Defn.Dictionaryoflinguisticsandphonetics]
Image : Subapical retroflex plosive
(Wikipedia)

7. RETROFLEX CONSONANTS IN
HINDI Retroflex consonants in Hindi may vary on manner of
articulation, voicing.
Plosive retroflexes ʈ/ ; /ɖ/ may also differ on aspiration ʈ/ ; /ɖ/ ;
/ʈʰ/ ; /ɖʰ/
They are considered as indigenous consonants of the language
and are found in most language families of the Indian linguistic
area.
/ʂ/ is commonly velarised by educated speakers and
pronouncedas /ʃ/ and is inopposition to /ʒ/ and not /ʐ/
Table1: characteristics of retroflex consonants
Voiceless Voiced
Plosive
Aspirated ʈ ɖ
Unaspirated ʈʰ ɖʰ
Tap/Flap
Aspirated ɽ
Unaspirated ɽʰ
Fricative
Aspirated
Unaspirated ʂ (ʒ)*
Nasal
Aspirated ɳ
Unaspirated
* palatal

8. APPROACH OF FAVOURABLE
CONTEXTS (1)
 Proposed by CALLAMAND, 1981 in book
« Méthodologie de l'enseignement de la prononciation : organisation de la matière phonique du
françaisetcorrection phonétique »
 It aims to facilitate and systemise the teaching of pertinent sounds of the language using inheren
characteristic relations between vowels and consonants
 It uses three operational traits of phonemes on three different planes, namely:
- Articulation : the degree of labialization
- Motor : the tenseness or tensing
- Acoustic : the acuteness or sharpness

9. APPROACH OF FAVOURABLE
CONTEXTS (2)
Vowels
Table 1 : table of vocalic relations (acute)
no labialization (Degree of labialization) labial
(L°) (L+)
tense
(T+) i y
e ø
ə
ɛ œ
ɛ̃ œ̃
(T-)
lax
a
Vowels are categorised on the basis of their acoustic
properties.
Inacutevowels:
High vowels /i/&/y/being considered more tense while
nasalised mid open vowels /ɛ̃/&/œ̃/ being considered less
tense
Similarly,
Rounded vowels like/y/&/œ̃/ are morelabialized

10. APPROACH OF FAVOURABLE
CONTEXTS (3)
Vowels
Table 1 : table of vocalic relation (grave)
tense
(T+)
u labial
(L+)
o õ
ã
(T-)
lax
ɔ ɑ (L-)
less labial
Amongst gravevowels :
High vowel /u/ is considered more tense while mid open vowels /ɔ/&
/ɑ/ areconsidered less tense
Similarly,
Rounded vowels like /ã/&/õ/ are morelabialized

11. APPROACH OF FAVOURABLE
CONTEXTS (4)
Consonants
Table 1 : table of consonant relations
Tense
(T+)
Acute Grave Neutral
Non-Labial
(L°)
Labial
(L+)
Non-Labial
(L°)
Labial
(L+)
(neither acute
nor grave
not labial)
t p k
s ʃ f
d b g
z ʒ v
n
(T-)
Lax
l m R
j ɥ w
Consonants on the basis of their acoustic properties mycategorised
into acute, graveand neutral.
All grave consonants ( in French)are labialised
Neutral consonants are neitherlabial nor grave/ acute
 Theapproach also encourages variation of speech, intonation
and prosodic features.

12. Labial Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Plosive
Voiced
Unaspirated b d ɖ ʤ g
Aspirated bʰ dʰ ɖʰ ʤʰ gʰ
Voiceless
Unaspirated p t ʈ ʈʃ k q ʔ
Aspirated pʰ tʰ ʈʰ ʈʃʰ kʰ
Tap/Flap (Voiced)
Unaspirated ɾ ɽ
Aspirated ɾʰ ɽʰ
Fricative
Voiced (Unaspirated) v z ʒ ɣ ɦ
Voiceless (Unaspirated) f s ʂ ʃ x h
Nasal (Voiced) (Unaspirated) m n ɳ ɲ ŋ
Approximant (Voiced) (Unaspirated) ʋ l j
Table 1. Hindi Sound System
Table 1 : table of consonant relations
Tense
(T+)
Acute Grave Neutral
Non-Labial
(L°)
Labial
(L+)
Non-Labial
(L°)
Labial
(L+)
(neither acute
nor grave
not labial)
t p k
s ʃ f
d b g
z ʒ v
n
(T-)
Lax
l m R
j ɥ w
PROPOSED APPROACH FOR TEACHING
RETROFLEX CONSONANTS (1)
The table of consonant relations given for French is
juxtaposed on that of the Hindi phonological system to find
out the corresponding values of tenseness and labialisation

13.  Consonantswitha place of articulationin the
frontsuchas labialconsonants---grave.
 Consonantswitha place of articulationin the
back suchasvelar,uvular,andglottal ---neutral.
 Consonantswitha place of articulationin the
middle of the mouth suchasalveolar,palatal,and
retroflexconsonants ---acute.
 Voicelessconsonants ----tense
Voicedconsonants---lax.
Table 1 : Hindi phonologial chart
Labial Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Plosive
Voiceless
Unaspirated p t ʈ ʈʃ k q ʔ
Aspirated pʰ tʰ ʈʰ ʈʃʰ kʰ
Voiced
Unaspirated b d ɖ ʤ* g
Aspirated bʰ dʰ ɖʰ ʤʰ* gʰ
Fricative
Voiceless (Unaspirated) f s ʂ ʃ x h
Voiced (Unaspirated) v z ʒ ɣ ɦ
Tap/Flap (Voiced)
Unaspirated ɾ ɽ
Aspirated ɾʰ ɽʰ
Nasal (Voiced) (Unaspirated) m n ɳ ɲ ŋ
Approximant (Voiced) (Unaspirated) ʋ l j
grave acute ? acute neutral
(L+) (L°) ? (L+) *affricate
PROPOSED APPROACH FOR TEACHING
RETROFLEX CONSONANTS (2)

14. PROPOSED APPROACH FOR TEACHING
RETROFLEX CONSONANTS (3)
Table 1 : table of consonant relations : Hindi (proposed)
Tense Grave Acute
Neutral
(T+) (A°) (A-) (A+) (A++)
pʰ tʰ ʈʰ ʈʃʰ kʰ
p t ʈ ʈʃ k q ʔ
f s ʂ ʃ x h f
bʰ dʰ ɖʰ ʤʰ gʰ
b d ɖ ʤ g
v z ʒ ɣ ɦ
ɾʰ ɽʰ
ɾ ɽ
m n ɳ ɲ ŋ
(T-) ʋ l j
Lax (L°) (L-) (L+)
Degree of labialization
Retroflex consonants can be defined in this system as acute with
labialization more than alveolar because in acute phonemes acuteness is
directly proportional to labialization A+ = L+
[Callamand,1981, Relationsvocaliques,p.91]

15. PROPOSED APPROACH FOR TEACHING
RETROFLEX CONSONANTS (4)
Table 1 : table of consonant relations : Hindi (proposed)
Tense Grave Acute
Neutral
(T+) (A°) (A-) (A+) (A++)
pʰ tʰ ʈʰ ʈʃʰ kʰ
p t ʈ ʈʃ k q ʔ
f s ʂ ʃ x h f
bʰ dʰ ɖʰ ʤʰ gʰ
b d ɖ ʤ g
v z ʒ ɣ ɦ
ɾʰ ɽʰ
ɾ ɽ
m n ɳ ɲ ŋ
(T-) ʋ l j
Lax (L°) (L-) (L+)
Degree of labialization
Therefore, retroflex consonants of Hindi are proposed to have the following
properties (in relation to it’s system) :
- Aspirated retroflex consonants are more tense than their unaspirated
counterparts
- Voiceless retroflex consonants are more tense than their voiced
counterparts
- Retroflex consonants are more acute and labialised than their alveolar
counterparts.

16. APPLICATION
To produce a Laxer Consonant (T+ → T-):
Theconsonant’s position inthe word should beeither at the end or between two vowels
Thecontext of the words should havea descending intonation
 To produce a Tenser Consonant (T- → T+):
A consistent high intonation should be used suchas exclamation
Theconsonant’s position inthe word should bein the beginning of the word
Possibly a CV cluster with front vowels like[i] &[e]

17. APPLICATION
 To produce an Acuter Consonant (A- →A+) :
A consistent high intonation should be used suchas exclamation
Theconsonant’s position inthe word should bein the beginning of the word
Possibly a CV cluster with front vowels like[i] &[e]
 To produce a GraverConsonant (A+ →A°) :
Thecontext of the words should havea descending intonation
Possibly a CV cluster with back vowels like [u]&[o]

18. EXAMPLE
Therefore an example such as;
/ʈʰik hɛ^/ in a context with an exclamatory tone
will help learners especially beginners with perception of the phoneme [ʈʰ]
[tʰ]– [ʈʰ]
[tʰ] zrtgyhujikdn,d,;s [ʈʰ]
- Acute (A-) ; + Acute (A+)
- Labial (L°) + Labial (L-)
+Tense (T+) +Tense (T+)

19. BIBLIOGRAPHY
 HALL, T. A. (1997),“The historical development of retroflex consonants in Indo-Aryan” in Lingua, 102(4), 203–221,
doi:10.1016/s0024-3841(96)00050-2
 Hindi, Minimal Pairs, https://courses.washington.edu/hindi31x/101/minimal-pairs.html, visited 15 dec 2019
 Ethnologue – Hindi, https://www.ethnologue.com/language/hin, visited 15 dec 2019
 CALLAMAND, M. (1990), Méthodologie de l'enseignement de laprononciation :organisation de lamatière
phonique dufrançaisetcorrection phonétique, Paris, 191 pages
 LADEFOGED, P. & MADDIESON, I. (1996), “Retroflex”, The sounds of the world's languages, John Wiley and Sons
Limited, 2009.

20. THANK YOU