General Indian English Pronunciation, Juncture, Ellison and Assimilation
General Indian English Pronunciation
There are several regional varieties in
English pronunciation, as spoken by the people of different social classes in
India. The Tamils pronounce in one way, the Keralites in another way and the
Bengalis in a third way.
The
following are the characteristics of the General Indian English Pronunciation.
i)
In the place of the diphthong
/eɪ
/ , we use an elongated / ɜː/.
ii)
The diphthong /ɔː/
is replaced by ɑː/. Boy / bɔːɪ/ / bɑːɪ/.
iii)
The diphthong / əʊ/
is difficult for us and we use a simple vowel /ɔː/.
iv)
In the place of
diphthong /eə/ , we use elongated /eɪ/.
v)
The diphthong /əʊ/
is replaced by /uː/. Tour / təʊ/ / tuːr /.
vi)
/ ɔ/
and /ɔː/
are often replaced by /ɑː/. Pot / pɔt/ / pɑːt/.
vii)
/ə/
is difficult for us. We replace it by /ʌ/.
viii)
/ v/ and /w/and also / θ /and / ð / are not distinguished properly by
Indians.
ix)
/ r/ is pronounced in all positions. Car / kɑː/ / kɑːr /.
A large number of Indians are accepted
as excellent speakers of English.
Juncture
Juncture means joining. There arises a
problem when we have to combine words like Pea stalks and Peace talks. The
problem is whether the / s
/ should be added to / pɪː/ or / tɔːk s /.
On occasions like this we introduce a pause between two boundaries. This pause
is known as juncture. Junctures serve as proper punctuation marks to avoid
confusion.
There are four types of
juncture.
I)
Open
juncture: it is also known as Plus juncture. It
is indicated by the mark /+/ between two word boundaries.
i)
a) a +
name / ə neɪm/.
b) an + aim / ən eɪm/.
ii) a) a
+ nice man / ə naɪs mæn/.
b)
an + ice man / ən əɪs mæn/.
iii) a) I
+ scream / aɪ skrɪːm/.
b)
ice cream / aɪs krɪːm/.
II) Single bar juncture: It is indicated by
a single bar: /.
This is used in the place of a comma or to mark the tonal group.
a) Generally,
I go to school at ten
/ dʒenrəlɪ, aɪ gəʊ tə skuːl ət ten/.
b) Being
ill, he did not go to college.
/ bɪːŋ ɪl, hɪː dɪd nɑt g əʊ tə kɑlɪdʒ/.
Double
bar juncture: This is indicated by //. This is
used at the end of a clause or a sentence.
Sita
sang a song.
/sɪːtɑː sæŋ ə sɑŋ/.
Double
cross juncture: This is indicated by #. This is
used at the end of a passage or a paragraph.
Ellison
Ellison
is the omission of a sound or a letter in a word.
We
have to pronounce unstressed syllables rapidly in order to maintain the rhythm
of English. In this process, certain speech sounds are omitted. This called Ellison.
Omission
of letters:
I’ve for I have
I’m for I am
He’s for He is
I’ll for I will
We’re for We are/ We were
I’d for I had
Isn’t for Is not.
Omission
of sounds:
Sounds
which are produced in slow, careful speech are not found in rapid speech.
Ellison
of vowels:
Wednesday / wenz dɪ/.
Bread and butter / bred n bʌtə/.
Wait and see /weɪt n sɪː/.
Philosophy / fəlɑsəfɪ/.
Ellison of consonants:
A
common example is the loss of /t/
or /d/
in combination with other consonants. We call this consonant – consonant
junction formed by more than two consonants.
/t/ is elided in Christmas /krɪsməs/.
Next day /neks deɪ/.
Last day /lɑːs deɪ/.
Postman
/pəʊs mən/.
Act badly /æk bædlɪ/.
/d/ is elided in Hand kerchief /hæŋ kətʃf/.
Fixed
deposit /fɪks dɪpɑsɪt/.
The /t/ of the negative /-nt/ is often elided
particularly in disyllables before a following consonant:
You mustn’t lose it / jʊ mʌst luːz ɪt/.
Doesn’t she know? /dʌzn ʃɪ nəʊ/.
The
/θ/
is lost in clusters in rapid speech
Sixth place /sɪksθ pleɪs/. -
careful speech
/sɪks pleɪs/. - rapid speech
Elison
in weak forms:
/hi/ in medial position /h/ is lost: does he know? /
dʌz ɪ nəʊ/.
/his/ in medial position /h/ is lost: I met his father. / aɪ met ɪz fɑːðə/.
/him/ in final position/h/ is lost: I met him. / aɪ met ɪm/.
/her/ in final position/h/ is lost: I met her. / aɪ met ə/.
Assimilation
In continuous utterance, speech sounds
are influenced by the adjacent speech sounds. This is known as Assimilation.
Assimilation involves i) Phonemic variations.
ii) Allophonic variations
Phonemic variations:
It is at word - boundaries in connected
speech that most cases of phonemic change occur.
1. Phonemic
variations within the pair of voiced/ voiceless variations.
a) In
a pair, the first word ends in a voiced sound but the next word begins with a
voiceless sound.
In such a pair, the final voiced sound
is replaced by its corresponding voiceless sound or by its voiceless counter
parts.
Example:
/ b /
is replaced by / p
/ in rob peter
/ d / is
replaced by / t / in
bad taste
/ g / is
replaced by / k / in
big can
/ dʒ / is replaced by / tʃ
/ in bridge course
/ ð / is
replaced by / θ / in
with thanks
/ z / is
replaced by / s / in
these socks
/ v / is
replaced by / f / in
we’ve found
b) In
a pair, the first word ends in a voiceless consonant and the next word begins
with a voiced consonants.
In
such a pair, the final voiceless consonant of the first word is replaced by its
voiced counter parts.
Example:
Top
boy / tɔb bɔː/.
Nice
girl / naɪz gɜːl/.
Half
done / hɑːv dʌn/.
Black
dog /blæg dɔg/.
2. Phonemic
variations involving variation in the place of articulation.
a) Initially
of final Alveolar
/t/ /
p / before/ p, b, m/ That place / ðæp plɪs/.
That
boy /
ðæp bɔː/.
That man / ðæp mæn/.
/d/ / b/ before / p, b, m/ Good
pen /gʊb pen/.
Good
boy / gʊb bɔː/.
Good man / gʊb mæn/.
/t/ / k / before / k , g/ That Cup / ðæk kʌp/.
That Girl / ðæk gɜːl/.
/ d / / g / before / k , g/ Good
concert / gʊg kɔnsət/.
Good Girl / gʊg gɜːl/.
/ n / / m / before / p, b, m/ Ten
players /tem
pleɪəz/.
Ten boys / tem bɔːz/.
Ten man / tem
men/.
/ n / / ŋ / before / k , g/ Ten Cups / teŋ kʌps/.
Ten Girls / teŋ gɜːlz/
/ s/ /ʃ/ before /ʃ, j / This
shop /ðɪʃ ʃɔp/
This year / /ʃ, j / ɪʃ jɜː/
/ z/ /ɜ/ before /ʃ, j / Those
young man /ðəʊɜ jɜː/
Has she hæɜ ʃɪ/
/hæʃ ʃɪ/
/b/
coalescence of /t, d, s, z/ with /j/ giving /dʒ, tʃ, ʃ, ɜ/ medially
in a word.
Example:
/t/ + /j/ - What
you want /wɔtʃʊ wɔnt/
/d/ + /j/ - Would you /wʊdʒ ʊ/
/s/ + /j/ - in care
you need it /ɪŋ keɪʃʊ nɪːd ɪt/
/z/ + /j/ - has your
letter come /
hæɜ ɔː lelə kʌm/
Allophonic
Variations:
Assimilation involves
a)
Place of articulation within a
word and at word boundary.
b)
Voice within a word and at word
boundary.
c)
Lip position within a word and at
word boundary.
d)
Nasalization within a word and at
word boundary.
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