PHONEMIC DESCRIPTION OF THE SUBVARIETIES OF PAKISTANI ENGLISH

Abstract

English, the official and most prestigious language, in Pakistan is a non-native variety of Standard British English. This variety is now accepted and referred to as ' Pakistani English'. However, Pakistani English is not a single variety but a group of localized varieties shaped and influenced by the local languages. Therefore, these verities can be referred to as the localized sub-varieties of Pakistani English which possesses prominently typical and marked characteristics. The features of this non-native variety of English can be explored at the levels of phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. Thus, the aim and focused intention of the study was to do the phonological analysis of phonemes of the sub-varieties of Pakistani English focusing these sub-verities as different varieties of English and not as inferior or impoverished English . Following endonormative standards in the course of phonological exploration, this study not only found out the phonemic differences but also conducted a phonemic comparison of these sub-varieties with Standard British English. It has, firstly, accounted for the variation of phonemes of the sub-varieties of Pakistani English. Secondly, it has explained which segments of British English are influenced in Pakistan by the mojor local languages; Urdu, Saraiki, Sindhi, Balochi, Pashto, and Punjabi. Thirdly, it has investigated the phonetic reshaping of RP phonemes, which is due to transfer process, in Pakistan. Fourthly, the phonemic inventories of the sub-varieties were developed out. Lastly, it was a descriptive study which involved both qualitative and quantitative scales in the course of analysis. Sample data was accessed from the English speakers ofthe six major languages of Pakistan. Data was collected by employing Wells' framework for vowels, and a list of carefully sel ected words for .: ) consonants aiming at elicitation of the data through recordings from· tJfe natives of standard dialects of each language with equal number of sample of Urdu, Punjabi, · Sindhi, Balochi, Pashto, who speak English as second or third language.