Page "Allophone" Paragraph 21

A reverse example is that of versus in Hindi-Urdu.

These are distinct phonemes in English, but both allophones of the phoneme / व / ( or / و /) in Hindi-Urdu.

Native Hindi speakers pronounce / व / as in vrat (' व ् रत ', fast ) but in pakwan (' पकव ा न ', food dish ), treating them as a single phoneme and without being aware of the allophone distinctions they are subconsciously making, though these are apparent to native English speakers.

However, the allophone phenomenon becomes obvious when speakers switch languages.

When non-native speakers speak Hindi-Urdu, they might pronounce / व / in ' व ् रत ' as, i. e. as wrat instead of the correct vrat.

This results in an intelligibility problem because wrat can easily be confused for aurat, which means woman instead of fast in Hindi-Urdu.

Similarly, Hindi-Urdu speakers might unconsciously apply their native ' v-w ' allophony rules to English words, pronouncing war as var or advance as adwance, which can result in intelligibility problems with native English speakers.