An Acoustic Analysis of Vowel Nasalization in Pakistani English

Nasalization is allophonic in English but phonemic in many Pakistani languages. This has contributed to different degrees of nasalization in Pakistani English (PakE) vowels in nasal context as compared to British English (BE) vowels. The current study aims to acoustically investigate vowel nasalization in PakE using the parameters of A1-P1 and spectral flattening in a sample of PakE speakers with six different L1s, Sindhi, Punjabi, Pashto, Baluchi, Shina, and Urdu, to show similarities and differences with BE. A higher degree of nasalization was observed in CVN and NVN contexts throughout PakE speakers, regardless of L1, as compared to BE sample where nasalization was altogether absent in NVC context. While BE speakers nasalize vowels regressively, PakE speakers nasalize regressively and progressively.