Features
Phonology
Indian accents vary greatly. Some Indians speak English with an accent very close to a Standard British (Received Pronunciation) accent (though not the same); others lean toward a more 'vernacular', native-tinted, accent for their English speech.
[edit] Vowels
In general, Indian English has fewer peculiarities in its vowel sounds than the consonants, especially as spoken by native speakers of languages like Hindi, the vowel phoneme system having some similarities with that of English. Among the distinctive features of the vowel-sounds employed by some Indian English speakers: * Many Indian English speakers do not make a clear distinction between /ɒ/ and /ɔː/. (See cot–caught merger.) * Unlike British, but like some American English, some Indian speakers don't pronounce the rounded /ɒ/ or /ɔː/, and substitute /a/ instead. This makes not sound as [nat]. The phoneme /ɔː/, if used, is only semi-rounded at the lips.[citation needed]. Similarly in South India coffee will be pronounced kaafi, copy will be kaapi etc. * Words such as class, staff and last would be pronounced with a back /a/ as in Northern British dialects but unlike Southern British dialects and standard American English, i.e., [klɑːs], [stɑːf], and [lɑːst] rather than American [klæːs], [stæːf], and [læːst]. * Most Indians have the trap–bath split of Received Pronunciation. Not using the trap–bath split is often popularly construed as attempting to imitate an American.
[edit] Consonants
Among the most distinctive features of consonants in Indian English are: * Most pronunciations of Indian English are rhotic, but many speakers with higher education are non-rhotic. * Standard Hindi and most other vernaculars (except Punjabi, Marathi & Bengali) do not differentiate between /v/ (voiced labiodental fricative) and /w/ (voiced labiovelar approximant). Instead, many Indians use a frictionless labio-dental approximant [ʋ] for words with either sound, possibly in free
Indian accents vary greatly. Some Indians speak English with an accent very close to a Standard British (Received Pronunciation) accent (though not the same); others lean toward a more 'vernacular', native-tinted, accent for their English speech.
[edit] Vowels
In general, Indian English has fewer peculiarities in its vowel sounds than the consonants, especially as spoken by native speakers of languages like Hindi, the vowel phoneme system having some similarities with that of English. Among the distinctive features of the vowel-sounds employed by some Indian English speakers: * Many Indian English speakers do not make a clear distinction between /ɒ/ and /ɔː/. (See cot–caught merger.) * Unlike British, but like some American English, some Indian speakers don't pronounce the rounded /ɒ/ or /ɔː/, and substitute /a/ instead. This makes not sound as [nat]. The phoneme /ɔː/, if used, is only semi-rounded at the lips.[citation needed]. Similarly in South India coffee will be pronounced kaafi, copy will be kaapi etc. * Words such as class, staff and last would be pronounced with a back /a/ as in Northern British dialects but unlike Southern British dialects and standard American English, i.e., [klɑːs], [stɑːf], and [lɑːst] rather than American [klæːs], [stæːf], and [læːst]. * Most Indians have the trap–bath split of Received Pronunciation. Not using the trap–bath split is often popularly construed as attempting to imitate an American.
[edit] Consonants
Among the most distinctive features of consonants in Indian English are: * Most pronunciations of Indian English are rhotic, but many speakers with higher education are non-rhotic. * Standard Hindi and most other vernaculars (except Punjabi, Marathi & Bengali) do not differentiate between /v/ (voiced labiodental fricative) and /w/ (voiced labiovelar approximant). Instead, many Indians use a frictionless labio-dental approximant [ʋ] for words with either sound, possibly in free