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Indian English: Phonology

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 THE PHONOLOGY OF INDIAN ENGLISH
Ravinder Gargesh

Indian English (IE) is a widely used cover term for the variation manifested in
the use of English as a second language in India. Phonological variations stem from
regional linguistic differences. Despite some differences many features converge in the
phonology of Indian English. It needs to be mentioned that English is widely used in
India - it is the 'associate official' language of the country and it also serves as a link
language between the educated. It is the most potent medium of higher education,
perhaps the sole medium of science and technology. Most books, newspapers, reports,
seminars etc directed to a nationwide audience are brought out in this language.

The distinguishing features of IE are well manifested in the domain of

phonology. The work done in this area is largely sketchy or tilted towards the use of
English by one region. Earlier work, because of focus on language teaching, looked at
IE as a 'deviant' variety with a focus on its phonetic differences with those of the
standard British English (RP). In fact, despite its widespread use no full-length
description of IE is available. English is spoken in India by a very large section ranging
from the semi-literate to the highly educated. For the purposes of this paper a random
selection has been made of educated speakers who use English as a second language.
Effort has been made to broadly cover all the four corners of the country in order to
make phonological generalizations as well as to show the range of variation in IE.

2.0 Phonology of IE:

The distinguishing features of Indian English are best manifested in the

domain of phonology. The work done in this area is largely sketchy. The present study
is based on the phonological description of the variety used by educated speakers in the
areas of education, administration, science and business etc.

2.1 Overview: The work on the phonetics and phonology of Indian English can be
divided into five broad categories. The first category consists of works describing the
phonetic aspects of IE (Prabhakar Babu 1971, CIEFL 1972, Bansal 1978; and Pandey
1980). The second category comprises studies that compare the sound system of the RP
with an Indian language and in the process implicate a variety of IE (with Hindi --
Masica et al 1963; Bansal 1971,1976,1981; with Tamil -- Balasubramanian 1972, 1973,
1975a, 1975b; with Malayalam – Warrier 1976; with Bengali – Datta 1972-73; Dhar
1977; with Punjabi – Sethi 1980a, 1980b). In the third category occur works, which
contrast the RP with a regional variety of IE (Marathi English – Kelkar 1957;
Hindustani English – Bansal 1970-71, Pandey; Rajasthani English – Dhamija 1976;
Telugu English – Prabhakar Babu 1974, Apparao 1978; Tamil English – Vijaykrishnan
1978; Bengali English – Syngle 1969; Nizam 1970). The fourth category consists of
works that study the perception and intelligibility of Indian English (Bansal 1978, Garg
1979, Upendra 1980). The fifth category consists of scholars who focus on the study of
IE in sociolinguistic contexts (Agnihotri 1991; Pandey 1994). In the process significant
phonological patterns have been highlighted by Nihalani, Tongue and Hosali (1979),
Kachru (1982:359), Trudgill and Hannah (1982:105), Bansal (1983), and Parashar
(1991:57-56). The emerging view shows that IE is largely shaped by the phonological
patterns of the respective mother tongues and it needs to be studied in depth. The
description of IE in the present work is based on tape recordings carried out in 2003
and 2004. In addition, earlier discussions of scholars already mentioned above have
been kept in mind. The elicited data consists of word lists of Wells (1982) and
Foulkes/Docherty (1999), a reading passage and a stretch of free conversation by
speakers of IE from various parts of the country. Since there is a large
transferable/migrating population in Delhi, the entire recording was done here. For the
analysis this work will first enumerate the distinctive sounds of IE and then go on to
look at the major phonological processes, and the principles of word accentuation and
intonation in it.

3.0 Distinctive Sounds of Indian English :

The distinctive sounds of Indian English have been identified by Bansal (1978:
101-111) and Nihalani et al (1979:209-212)by viewing IE as a uniform variety of an
educated group. However, much regional variation is found in the utterance of many
vowels and consonants across the length and breadth of the country. The variations are
mainly due to the following factors:

(i) The influence of the phonology of Indian languages which consist of over 200
main stream languages belonging to four distinct language families : Indo-Aryan,
Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman.

(ii) Within the languages of the respective language families there is much regional
variation.
(iii) Since English is taught to Indians by Indians the local influence of sounds can
be easily perceived.

(iv) Sociologically, IE speech community consists broadly of three kinds of speakers:

(i) a small number of people whose command over the English is very near
native, (ii) a significant number of administrators, teachers, scientists, journalists,
businessmen etc., at the middle level, whose variety is considered to be the
educated variety, (iii) and at the lower level there are many others whose
competence is severely limited and who can use English only in their restricted
domains, e.g. shopkeepers, waiters etc. (see Kachru 1965, 1966; Verma 1972,
1978).

The present study is based on an analysis of a cross-section of tape recordings

carried out in 2003 and 2004 for this specific purpose. The recordings consists of
standard lexical sets identified by Wells (1982: xviii–xix (Vol I) and by Foulkes /
Docherty (1999), a reading passage supplied by the editors of this volume and a stretch
of free conversation between some informants. It has been noticed that IE speakers
articulate/utter words in a way that they are closer for the written spellings of words
and not as they are articulated in RP or General American English (Gen Am E). 4.0
The Vowels of IE:

The vowels of IE with its variations may be represented as below:

KIT I > i:
DRESS e>>
TRAP >
LOT >>
STRUT 
FOOT  > u:
BATH a:
CLOTH  > o > a:
NURSE : >  >  > a:
FLEECE i: > I
FACE e:
PALM a:
THOUGHT : > o: > a:
GOAT o: > :
GOOSE u:
PRICE I
CHOICE I > oI > oe
MOUTH 
NEAR I > i:j > Ij: > e
SQUARE  > e: > e > :
START a:
NORTH : > a: > 
FORCE : > o:
CURE Ijo: > Ij: > Iju: > Iju
Happy I > i:
LettER 
Horses >
Comma 

The Short Monophthongs:

1. KIT: This short, stressed, high vowel is generally articulated all over India
except for the Bengal-Orissa region in Eastern India where the languages of
this region do not have the long-short vowel distinctions. Hence, this vowel
freely alternates with the long, stressed, high vowel [i:] in the category of
FLEECE.

2. DRESS: The major realizations of this vowel are [e] and []. In regions of
Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
it is realized as [e]. However, in Maharashtra, Kashmir, Punjab, Bihar, and
Orissa and in the Northeastern region of India it is realizes as []. At times it
is also realized as [].

3. TRAP: By and large the vowel is realized as [], however in Haryana,

Rajasthan and Gujarat it is often heard as the lowered ().

 4. LOT: The usual vowel realization is []. In some regions like Gujarat,

Maharashtra and Kashmir it is realized as []. Its variation [a:] can also be

heard in most parts of India.

5. STRUT: While it is usually realised as [], some informants from Kashmir,

Harayana and Uttar Pradesh (UP) articulate it as the non-tressed []. Some

follow the written convention to realize it as [].

6. FOOT: Mostly it is realized as a weakly – rounded []. However, there are

regions like Bengal, Orissa, and parts of Bihar, UP and Rajasthan where the
long back vowel [u:] can often be heard.

The Long Monophthongs:

7. BATH: It is realized as long low back vowel [a:].

8. CLOTH: It is mostly articulated as [:] and is also realizes as [o:] in Haryana,

U.P., Rajasthan and Bengal. However, in most parts of the country it is also
realized as [a:].

9. NURSE: It is mostly realized as [:]. It occurs as [] in Gujarat, Rajasthan,

Haryana, Punjab and in North-East India. In Maharashtra, UP, Tamil Nadu,

Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh (AP), and Kerala it realized as []. In areas of

Orissa and Bengal it is also articulated as [a:].

10. FLEECE: It is by and large articulated as [i:] with [I] being in variation
amongst speakers of Orissa and Bengal.

11. PALM: It is realized as the low back long nonrounded vowel [a:] as in
BATH.

12. THOUGHT: The usual realization is [], a half-open weakly rounded back

vowel. It is also realized by some speakers as [o:] and by still others as [a:].

13. GOOSE: It is usually realized as the high, back rounded [u:].

START: Mostly realized as [a:] at times with a distinct trill.

 14. NORTH: Largely it is realized as []. However, extensive variation exists in

the form [a:] and [:].

15. FORCE: Mostly it is realized as [o]. Some variation is available in the form
[].

The Diphthongs:

16. FACE: It is invariably realized as the monophthong [e:].

17. GOAT: It is usually realized as a monophthong [o:]. Some speakers articulate

it as [:] due to, probably, spelling convention in words like broad.

18. PRICE: It is realized as a diphthong [aI]. The glide element of [I] is quite
distinct.

19. CHOICE: This diphthong has three variations: [I], [oe], and [oI].

20. MOUTH: It is uniformly realized as the diphthong [a]. The latter sound of

the diphthong is relatively stronger than the one in RP.

21. NEAR: The most widespread realization is the diphthong [I]. The other

significant variations are [i:j], [Ij:] and [e].

22. SQUARE: Mostly it is realized as [:]. Other variations are [e:], [] and [e].

23. CURE: Generally the diphthong is realized as [Ijo:]. But it has variations
such as [Ij:], [Iju:], and [Iju].

24. tUEsday: Generally it is realized as [Iju:].

25. FIRE: The tripthong is realized as [aI] mainly in South India, Bengal and

Orissa. The variant form [ae] is realized in UP, Haryana, Punjab, and

Rajasthan.

26. EITHER: The initial diphthong is realized as [aI] most of the time. Its variant
form [eI] is heard more in South India, particularly in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Some speakers also realize it as [i:], and in the northeast some even as [e:].

Some more sounds:

 27. happY: Generally it is articulated as the short front high vowel [I], but its
variant form [i:] can be heard in parts of the country.

28. lettER: This is realized as [r] although in the highly educated variety it tends

to be the non-rhotic []. Generally, the trilled /r/ is highly pronounced

whenever it occurs in the graphic script in all varieties of IE as second

language.

29. horsEs : It is realized as the mid high vowel [] and at times as the low mid-

vowel [].

30. commA : It is realized as the half-lengthened [a.].

The oppositioin between // and //, // and // and // and // is highly suspect.

There is recognizable alternation between //, // and /a:/ ( LOT vs THOUGHT vs

PALM).

5.0 The Consonants of IE:

31. Stops:

32. Out of the stops P, T, K, B, D, G, it is only the former three that show different
realizations. Firstly, the voiceless stops are not aspirated in the syllable initial
position in IE. This may be due to the reason that aspirated voiceless stops
are phonemic in Indian languages. Secondly, the T, and D tend to be
retroflexed as in the words certificate [srifike:] and London [lnn].

33. Nasals : Syllable initially only /m/ and /n/ occur, and the velar nasal // is the

homorganic nasal. The velar nasal is realized as a combination of the nasal

and the voiced velar consonant as in the words sing and rung - [sIg], [rg].

The retroflexed nasal /n/ can also be heard when the alveolar nasal is

articulated before a retroflexed stop as in the words aunty and band – [a:nt

i:], [bnd].

Affricates : The affricates [t] and [d] are distinct as in the words chin and gin.
Fricatives : The labio-dental F and V are not realized in some varieties of IE.
Languages like Oriya and Bangla and mostly in the Hindi speaking belt F is realized as
[ph] and V often overlaps with /w/ as in the realizations of the word power - [pa:vr] ~

[pa: wr]. In Orissa and Bengal the labiodental fricative is also realized as [bh] as in the

realization of the word never - [nebh r].

The dental fricatives // and // are non-existent in IE. The aspirated voiceless

stop [t] is realized for // the voiced stop [d] is realized for // as in thin = [th In] and

then = [den]. In South India alveolar stop /t/ is often used instead of // as in thought -

[tt]

/s/ and /z/ do occur in IE. However, regional variations are often heard. E.g., in
Orissa /s/ is replaced by // as in [si:p] or [sIp] for ship. The [z] is also often realized as

[d] as in [phri:d] or [fri:d] for freeze and [praId] for prize.

The palato-alveolars //, // also have their variant forms. While // is realized in most

places as it is, however, in Bengal it is often replaced by a /s/ as in [si:] for she, and
[si:p] or [sIp] for ship. The // sound is mostly non-existent in IE. It is realized as /d/,

/z/ or /j/ as in [ple:dr], [ple:zr] or [plaIjr] for Pleasure.

The glottal fricative /h/ is generally realized in North India. There is, however, a
tendency of H- dropping substituted by a low tone amongst some Punjabi speakers e.g.,
house is realized as [aus] and heat as [:t]. In South India a 'euphonic' /j/ and /w/ are

sometimes realized in place of the /h/ as in [yill] for hill, [yd] for had and, [laIvliwud]

for livelihood .

IE has two liquid sounds /l/ and /r/. The /l/ is generaly clear and /r/ is a trilled
one. In consonant clusters of words like trap, drain, cry etc it is quite clearly realized.
It may be said that its phonetic realization is as per its occurrence in the written script.
It is realized post-vocalically too as, e.g., [ka:r] and [ka:rt] for car and cart respectively.

Amongst the semivowels /j/ is distinct while /w/ has an overlap with the
labiodental fricative /v / as in [pa:vr] or [pa:wr] for power. It has already been pointed

out that the 'euphonic' // and /w/ exist in most South Indian speech as can be seen in
[yevery] for every and [won] and [wonly] for own and only respectively.
6.0 Some specific phonological processes to IE:

IE has being formally learnt variety shows greater correlation between writing
and speech sounds.

In North India vowel initial consonant clusters of the type # sp- ; #st-, # sk- and
# sl- are generally broken up. While in Eastern UP, and Bihar a short high prothetic
vowel /I/ is inserted in the word initial position, in Punjab and Haryana the low back
non tensed anaptyctic vowel // is inserted between the clusters. Both these processes

convert the initial monosyllable into a disyllable. Egs., the realization of [Ispi:t] in E.

Hindi and [spi:t] for the word speech, and [isku:l] in E. Hindi and [sku:l] in Punjabi

for school etc.

In North East, particularly in Nagaland and Manipur the word final consonant
cluster is simplified by dropping the last consonant, e.g., act is realized as [k] and fruits

as [fru:t].

In South India svarbhakti operates in word final –nst # cluster. Thus, against is
realized as [age:nst].

IE also reveals at times // deletion in relatively light positions. E.gs.,

dispensary = /dIspnsri:/ = [dIspnsri:]; allegory = /lgri:/ = ['lgri:];

confederation = /knfdre:n/ = [knfdre:n].

The 'wh' words are many a time articulated with the /wh/ sequence as in [wha:i]
and [wheyr] for why and where respectively.

The gemminates are also many a times articulated both within and across
morpheme boundaries in words such as given below:

innate = [Innet]

cannot = [knnot]

fully = [fulli:]

oppressive = [oppressiv]
 IE shows greater usage of /d/ rather than of /t/ for –ed inflections after voiceless
consonants. Thus traced = [tre:sd], advanced = [dva:nsd] and packed = [pkd]. Words

like trust and trussed are homophonous in RP but they are all distinguished in IE by the
realization of [t] and [d] in the respective words.

Some speakers omit the semivowels /j/ and /w/ when following a mid or close
vowel agreeing in backness. Thus yet is realized as [t] and wont as [o:nt]. Conversely,

it has already been mentioned that some other speakers add a semivowel before an
initial vowel in exactly the same conditions, thus every = [jevri], about = [je'bat] and

old = [wo:ld], own = [wo:n] etc.

It should also be noted that the rule of syllabic consonant formation (which
converts [] plus a sonorant into a syllabic sonorant) does not apply in IE. Thus metal

= [metl], button = [btn] etc.

7.0 Prosodic features:

One of the markers of IE as a distinct variety are its own word stress and
intonation patterns. It is these that make IE less comprehensible to speakers of non
Indian/South Asian English. This is because the rules of accentuation of IE are closer
to those of Indian languages than to those of standard English.

7.1 Word stress/accentuation:

Word accentuation in IE shows a heavy influence of the filter language(s). It is

observed that in IE a syllable of a word is more prominent than in the standard variety
like the RP for it is an accented or a stressed one. A careful examination shows that
there is significant correlation between the weight and position of syllables within a
word and their prominence. The problem can be explained by accepting the tripartite
division of syllables types in terms of their weight : (a) Light = (C)V, (b) Heavy = (C)V:
/VC, and (c) Extra–heavy = (C)V:C/(C)VCC. (see Kelkar 1957), Pandey 1994, and
Singh and Gargesh 1995).

The following rules of accentuation broadly appear to apply in IE:

(a) All monosyllabic words are accented irrespective of the quantity of

the syllable.
 (b) In bisyllabic words the primary accent falls on the penultimate
syllable if it is not followed by an extra–heavy syllable, otherwise
the primary stress would full on the ultimate syllable. In a sequence
of two extra-heavy syllables, the accent falls on the antepenultimate
syllable.

(c) In trisyllabic words the primary accent falls on the penultimate

syllable if it is heavy by nature or position, otherwise it falls on the
antepenultimate syllable.

(see Singh and Gargesh 1995: )

The above rules can account for the placement of primary accent in a word of IE. The
first of these rules leads to the tendency of providing relatively strong stress to weak
syllables such as in auxiliary verb forms, articles etc. It is rules (b) and (c) that go on to
provide primary stress to a syllable in a polysyllabic word. Thus, for the application of
rules (b) and (c) the following examples can be viewed:

Rule (b): taboo = ['tbu:], degree = ['dIgri:], mistake = [mIstek],

bamboo : ['bmb], defy: [dI'fa:I] ; impact = [Impkt] ; record : [rIka:rd],

servile : [srva:Il] ; gymnast = [dIm'na:st], cartoon : ['ka:rtu:n] ; monsoon :

['m:nsu:n], concrete : ['k:nkri:t] ; abstract : ['bstrkt],

Rule (c): tendency = [tn'dnsI] ; modesty : [mo'dstI], minster = [mI'nIstr], character

= [krktr], curvature : [kr've:tr] ; literature : [litre:tr],

necessary = [n'sssrI] ; terrific : ['trrIfIk]

diminish : ['dImInI ] , category : [k'tgorI]; attestation : ['tsten].

In the case of compounds the leftmost primary stress is generally retained. Thus:

animation : ['nImen], relaxation : [rI'lksen], Chinese : ['ta:jni:z],

Japanese : [dpni:z], meditative : ['mdItetIv], drammatic : ['drmtIk],

photography: ['fotogra:fI].

As a result of the rules of accentuation many a times the shift of accent due to
grammatical factors is not observable, Thus the noun and verb form often remain the
same : E.gs.- permit : ['prmIt], transfer : [tra:nsfr], impact: [Im'pkt], protest :

[pro'tst].

8.0 Rhythm and Intonation :

IE has its own syllable timed rhythmic patterns. Here syllables are uttered with
an almost equal prominence. This also means that many a time IE does not use weak
forms of vowels in unstressed positions. Thus a sentence like- I’m thinking of you – can
be heard as: [a:I m tIig f ju:]. Here the first person singular pronoun, the

auxiliary and the preposition too have a relative stress and hence they are not realized
in their shortened forms like [a:Im] or [v] etc. Since the syllables are articulated more

fully, therefore, IE takes relatively more time in articulating similar stretches of English
language than, say, the RP.

IE reveals a falling intonation in statements, such as in:

The boy is running on the road = [d be Iz rnnI n d ro:d]. A

falling intonation can be perceived in commands and exclamations.

Rising intonation is visible in yes-no questions, tag questions, some Wh+

questions, and in dependent clauses:

Yes-No question: Are you coming? = [a:r ju:  kmI?]

Tag question: He has done the work, hasn’t he? = [hi: hz dn d vrk,

hznt hi:?].

Wh+ question: What is the financial benefit? = [wt Iz d faInnl 

b?].

Dependent clause: The boy who is playing will come here soon. = [d be 

hu: Iz va:kI  wIl km her su:n].

9.0 Current Research Issues:

The phonology of IE requires more work on the sound patterns of the regional
varieties of IE of which there is no dirth. Intonation has been a more or less neglected
 field. Given the expanse and the linguistic variations in the country there is scope for
research in anything that one may venture on.

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