A Sociophonetic Investigation of English Long Vowel Production among Pakistani ESL Learners from Diverse Linguistic Backgrounds

Abstract

This study explores the production of long vowels in the English language among first-year university students in Business and Economics programs at the University of Education. The phonemic length of the English vowels is critically important in intelligibility and it is a constant challenge to the Pakistani ESL students due to structural dissimilarity between English and local languages. The paper focuses on five long vowels of the English language: /iː/, /ɑː/, /ɔ:/, /uː/ and /ɜː/ and discusses them based on ten selected lexical units of academic discourse.

Ten target lexicon items were read out by nine speakers with a Punjabi, Sindh, Saraiki, Balochi and Pashto language background, as they read a standard academic text. Auditory phonetic transcription and comparative phonological analysis were used as the qualitative methods of analyzing their pronunciations. The results show that there is systematic variation among linguistic groups. Regional languages in Pakistan, including Punjabi, Sindhi, Saraiki, Balochi and Pashto, have their own phonological systems. Though some languages do have a difference in the length of the vowel, their phonemic distribution and articulatory nature differ from that of English. It may result in students exporting L1 sound patterns in the pronunciation of English vowels. The research aims to investigate the pronunciation patterns of the students in these language backgrounds in a controlled academic reading environment with respect to pronunciation of some English long vowels. The research does not simply address the errors, but is instead more of a sociophonetic approach as pronunciation variances are indicators of systematic phonological patterns which are influenced by linguistic heritage, identity and language contact. Relative stability in the vowel length opposition of the Sindhi and Saraiki speakers , shortening of the long vowels were prevalent in the Punjabi and Pashto speakers while Balochi speakers showed intermediate patterns. The most problematic vowel in all groups was the /ɜː/, which frequently changed to /ə/ or /ʌ/. The findings validate the impact of L1 phonological transfer and interlanguage evolution on second language speech production. The research adds to sociophonetic studies of Pakistani English and emphasizes the necessity for targeted teaching strategies in vowel length education in multilingual ESL environments.