ON LANGUAGES

ASHOK R. KELKAR

MARATHI ENGLISH : A STUDY IN FOREIGN ACCENT

0. Introduction : Quite a few Indians can speak English, but very few of them have had an opportunity to listen to native speakers of English as a model, and fewer still make any conscious attempt to speak in a style described in, say, a manual of English phonetics. Here is a situation in which we may very well expect that the influence of the speaker’s native language on his use of the foreign language will tend to perpetuate itself, since the teaching of that language is in the hands of Indians, who in turn have most probably acquired the language in a similar manner. A fair number of Indians, it is true, will consult the phonetic respellings provided by English dictionaries. – those in the Concise Oxford Dictionary, for example. But the pronunciation of English by Indians remains largely influenced by the phonologies of their respective native languages and conventional English spelling.

It should make a certain amount of sense, therefore, to take a specific speech community of India, say Marathi,¹ and to speak of the phonology of ‘Marathi English’ as a subject for descriptive analysis. We should realize how this style of pronunciation has acquired a certain autonomy as a tradition and as a system. Thus, if a speaker of Marathi aspirates his stops or pronounces his r’s without trilling when speaking English, he will be considered to be speaking in all affected, if not incorrect, manner! In any case his speech is going to be less intelligible to others. The analysis that follows, therefore treats this way of speaking English as if it were a language in its own right – its resemblance to educated colloquial Marathi on the one hand and to Southern British “Received” English or Scottish English on the other being, as it wee synchronically incidental, though no doubt very significant historically.

There is, as might be expected, a certain amount of diversity among individual speakers, which can usually be described either in terms of a different distribution of phonemes in given lexical items (e.g. /vhi:ṭo/velto instead of the more common /vhe :ṭo:/) or as a transition dialect between the norm described here and some other norm, say the speech of a dialectally assorted group of native speakers of English with whom the speaker has come into contact and whom he wishes to approximates.

1) Phonemic Inventory : First, a table of the unit phonemes of “Marathi English” (together with some “cover symbols” for classes of phonemes or phoneme sequences).²

C p ṭ č k S y h w P ˇ ˊ ˈˈ

b ḓ d ǰ g V i: u:

ṱʻ kʻ

f s š i u

v z e: ə: o: J +

m n ŋ e ә o ! ↑ ↓

r æ ә

l e

We also need a few other cover symbols, |#| stands for utterance initial, +, |, ↑ or, ↓; a stretch between two /=/ s is a MICROSEGMENT. /T/ stands for utterance initial, |, ↑ or↓; a stretch between two /T/s is a MACROSEGMENT.

The only sequences of the type /VS/,/VSS/, etc that can occur before /C/ or /#/ are / ay aw Ɔy/. A NUCLEUS (symbol /V′/ is either /ay aw ɔy/ or a /V′/ in any other position. The stretches of segmental material composed of /C/s and /S/s that would be left if we took away all the /V/ s in a micro-segment are the MARGINS: the symbol is /c/.

/C΄/ stands for /tʻ, kʻ/; and /P΄/ for /΄ ΄΄/,

This is the skeleton. We must now clothe it with phonetic and phonemic – distributional flesh.

2) The Phonetic Correlates of the C.S. and V Phonemes : This is not a formally complete statement, nor has any attempt been made to exhaust all the details that could be noted by the ear. Only a few salient features are described here.

/p/ [p]. not aspirated; /b/ [b]

/ḓ’/ [ḓ]; /ṱ’/ [ṱ^h] – tongue tip against back surface of upper front teeth; fairly strong aspiration in the latter.

/ṭ / [ṭ]: / ḍ / [ḍ] – tongue tip curled back and brought into contact with the region just behind the tooth –ridge, retroflex but not cacuminal; /t/ not aspirated; /d/ rather flap-like in the environments /V’-V/ /V-C/, /V-S/, /V - #/.

/č/ [t_y š]; ‘J’ [d_y^z] – tip and blade against front part of the hard palate, no lip rounding; /c/ not aspirated; /J/ has a rather weak stop element before /h/.

/k/ [k]. not aspirated; /g/ [g], very short in /n-C/, n-#/; /k/[k^h], with fairly strong aspiration.

/f/ [f],the friction is rather weak/

/v/ [vˇ], very lenis, except before /h/, when sit has some friction; the inner side of the lower lip touches the upper front teeth, slight, lip rounding; the back part of the tongue is raised; optional full lip rounding before /i i:/ :[v^v] ~ [v^vu]

/s/ [s],

/z/ [d^z’] affricate with a rather weak stop element.

/š/ [š], pre palatal groove fricative, no lip-rounding.

/m/ [m],

/n/ - [n_y] alveolar palatalized before /č ǰ /; [n] alveolar before /z r/; [ṇ] retroflex before /ṭ ḍ /; [ṋ] dental elsewhere, even before the alveolar / š / and the palatal /s/.

/ ŋ / [ŋ]

/r / [r], trilled, the difference between /r/ and /r r/ consisting in the fullness of the trilling: [ṙ ] versus [r̄]

/I/ [I] – retroflex in / ṭ - # /, / ḍ -# /, alveolar before or after /ṭ ḍ / in other cases, dental elsewhere; with ‘clear’ resonance except in /C-# / where it has ‘neutral’ resonance.

/y/ - [Iˇ] in /V - #/, [I] in /V-C΄V/, [i] in /V-C/ V-C ΄#/. [ḽˇ] elsewhere.

/h/ [ḫ], murmured; voiced aspiration after /b ḓ ḍ ǰ g v z m n r΄1/.

/w/ [ṷ] bilabial, with lip rounding.

/i i:/ - high front unrounded. Short and long.

/e e:/ - high mid front unrounded, short and long

/u u:/ - high back rounded, short and long/

/o o:/ - high mid back rounded, short and long

/‘i: e: u: o: / - half long before / ə /.

/ ə / - [ə˘] - low mid central ungrounded in /I:y - = /; [ə΄] high mid to mid central unrounded elsewhere.

/ə:/ [əˆ>] high mid back of the center ungrounded, longer than /ə /.

/ae/ [ae], higher low front ungrounded.

/ Ɔ / [Ɔ], higher low back rounded

/a/ - [aˇ] higher low central ungrounded, before /y w /; [a] low central ungrounded elsewhere.

/ æƆa/ - half long, when compared with /i u e o ә / and their long counterparts.

3 Examples of some of the ‘Sames’ and ‘Differents in C, S and V Sequences. Here under each phoneme or phoneme sequence are listed the examples attesting its occurrence. So that the reader could inspect for himself the identifications as well as the contrasts in “Marathi English” especially when they are characteristically different from normal or standard English. To simplify matters the examples are so selected that no juncture and prominence phonemes are involved other than those in a simple one-word statement –a stress / ΄/ at some point in the micro segment (this is a macro segment with only one micro segment in it, and no positional contrasts are available at this level) and the juncture /↓/.

/b/ aboard /_əbo:rḍ/.

/bh/ abhor / əbhər/.

/f∼ph/ fine, offer, calf /kaf/, stafÍ /sṭaf/

/v/ wine, hover, flower /fÍəvər/have / haəve/ halving / having/, which /vič/

/vh/ vine, whine, calve, /kavh/

/w/ cow /kawl/ vowing /vhawiŋg/.

/ ḓ / then, that, thee the / ḓ i:/

/ḓh/ this /dhis/

/ ṱ ‘/ thin, death

/ ṭ / tin, ten, eight, tune / ṭyu:n /

/t ṱ’/ eighth /e: ṭ ṱ’/.

/ d, / den, aid, duke / ḍ,yu:k/.

/ḍh/ ad hoc /æḍ ,hɔk/dt/ breadth

/č / chin, finch, kitchen

/ǰ/ gin, singe, vision / vhiǰən/ pigeon

/ǰh/ pleasure / pleǰher/

/s/ sin, since sins /sins/ listen, lesser, juice, fars /fə:rs).

/š/ shin, mission, pressure/

/z/ lose, dogs

/s~z/ loose

/zh/ zip, bronze, risen, razor /re:zhər/, ooze, furze

/k/ crime

/k’/Christ (krayst)

/g/ goal

/gh/ ghost /gho:sṭ /

/m/ plum, summer, hammer, lime

/mb/ plumber /pləmbər/. amber

/m ~mb/plum, climb

/n/ sin, sinner

/ng/ engulf, penguin/pengvin/

/ŋg/ sing, singer, finger, longer, engage, angle / æ ngә/, language (læŋgvelǰ)

/r/ ride

/rh/ rhyme

/l/ idel / ayḍl /

/ әl/ idol / tayḍәl/

/l~ әl/ simple / simbәl simplə/.

/ әl~ɔl/ symbol / simbal simbəl/.

/C/ Gilchrist / gilk’risṭ, / anthem / aent’әm/

/Ch/ bookhouse, anthill /ænṭhil/ hitch –hike

/VC₁C₁V/ fully / fulli/ irrational / irræšәnәl/

/i ə/ rill, sil, spirit, mirror

/i:/ reel, seal, hero, martyr/ marṭi:r/, tidy (ṭayḍi:/

/i:ə/ real, hearing sleer, freer, beard,ideal

/iyə/ Sodium, junior

/I:yə/ idea, India

/e/ bet, merit, Mary, merry,apron/ epren / cricket, wicked, Place / pæles /

/e:/ bait, rarious / ve:riyәs/, sacreḍ / se:kred/, bay

/e: ә/ mare, fairy, scarce

/e:yә/ mayor, sprayer, betrayal

/æ/ bal, bad, carrol, marry, chariot, attack / æṭæ’k/, harass, /hæræs/, Sam

/ә/ but, curry, furry, yet, yellow, general/ǰәnrәl/I, sum, some, prism /prizhәm/, fitter.

/ə:/ deter, differ / ḍifә:r/, fur, kernel, colonel /kә:rnәl/

/a/ retard, starry, psalm/sam /, sofa, bar, farce, father, ask

/ɔ/ cot, caught, nor, horse, aural, orange, sorry, because, authority.

/o/ obey, oration, transportation, thorough/ ṱ‘әro/

/o:/ coal, okay, older, oval, fellow, four /fo΄:r/, hoarse / ho:rs/, orient/o:rient/story, oral.

/o~o:/ open / opәn~ o:pәn/.

/o:ә/ more, roaring, scored.

/u/ full, book, hurray, superior / supi:riyer/.

/u:/ fool, boot, tour, touring, loot, screw, rude

/u~u:/ food, July, whose /huz~hu:z/ routine/ruṭin~ru:ti:n/roof

/u:e/ poorish, poor, sure, doer

/yu/ new, lute, W / dәblyu:/

/yu:/ unite, regular

/u:~yu/ blew, blue.

/yu:ә/ dial, higher, hire, hiring, lired / ṭayerḍ/, iron/ ayәrn/.

/ay/ toy, boil, moist, Moira, boyish / bɔyš/, heroic/ hirɔyk/

/aye/ royal, coir, lawyer, employer

/o:i/ Stoic, coincide, flowing

/aw/ cow, dowry / ḍawri:/, vowing

/av/ halving /having/

/ɔvә/ sour, hover, Cowan, flowry

/әvә/ our, hour

4. Some Distributional Restrictions: Only such restrictions need be noted here as cannot be inferred from those in English

The following phonemes or phoneme sequences occur only in the environments specified against each :/n/ before /kgk’/;/C₁C₁/ in /V-V/; /h/ before /y V/ and, when preceded by /vzǰ / before /C # /;/w/ after /a/; / ә:/ before /rC’/or /r#/ ; /I:yә/ before |#|.

The following never occur in the environments specified against each: /y/ in V, C – I, I:/; /VS VSS/ etc., other than / ay aw ay/ before /C΄ = ## ; V΄ / other than / I;u: e: other than /ay aw әy/ before /C/ = ;’ /V/ other than /I: u: e: o: ay ɔy / before /ә/; iye i: ә/before / =/; /V΄/ other than /ә ә: ɔ a before |r# / or /rC/;/e o æ/ before /#/; /o/ before C΄#/.

5. Juncture, Prominence, and Intonation Phenomena. Every /V΄/ (nucleus) is accompanied by an occurrence of a /P/ phoneme, and vice versa. Moreover every microsegment must include at least one /V΄/ and /P/ combination. In other words, /s + co΄ol+ today ↓ / for example cannot occur in “Marathi English”.

The phonemes of prominence are:

/΄/ [˝ ]

/΄ [΄]

/˅/[ˆ]

[ˋ]

[ˆ]

Phonetically the degrees of prominence [ʺ ʹ ˄ˋ˅ ] in descending order, are as much degrees of sonority and length as of stress. Distribution ally a micro segment may consist either wholly of /˅/ or of one /P΄/ with or without additional / ˅/ s.

Let us consider the former possibility first – what may be called the “unstressed” micro segment. The three allophones of /˅/ can be determined in the following manner: (1) write the segmental material in phonemic transcription. Mark all the /V/ is in the micro segment as strong (/I: u: e: o: ә: ay aw ɔy/). and weak (/o ә/). (2) The last strongest /V΄/ bears {˅} (3) Out of the remaining /V/ s the strong bear [,] the medium and weak { } (4) Overriding rule: /i u ә/ before /#/ always take [΄]. Examples follow in semi-allophonic transcription segmental material in phonemic and prominence features in allophonic transcription; [ә‘ ṭÙḓә‘~ḓì sò:fă àyḓìy áykyû: lɔ̑ bâylɘ̆, hɔ̆lô:, ò:kê:, ŏklɔ̑k,lĭmìṭ, hǝ̆bɘ‘ b,ărmì:,vhâwĭŋg, hăvìŋh, ĭmmɔˋrɘl,ĕmplɔ‘y,kyn ĕs ŏpìnyǝ̆n, nĭgè:ṭĭv, ĭnḍîyen,mî, ḍǐəˋm,klȋǝr, nyùklî:ǝ̆r, héî ǝ̆r màysĕlf, hĭmsêlf, bŭkhâws, rèlvêpôăḍ].

Note the distributional limitation that / ə:/ never occurs in a [ˋ] or [ ˇ] position and that /o/ always occurs in a [ˇ ] position

Now if we were to replace a [ ˆ] in an “unstressed’ micro segment (and there can be at the most just one by the rules) by either /’/ or /”/, we get the second possibility mentioned above. There is no positional contrast possible so far as prominence phenomena within a micro segment are concerned. For that we must go beyond the micro segment, which means that we first establish juncture contrast.

The simplest case is that of two “unstressed” stretches differing as to the plus juncture (/ + /).

/ ǝ̆kĭn/ akin [^{⌢ ⌣} ] :: / ǝ̆̆ + kĭn / a kin [ ^־֜⌢ ]

[ ]/ fĭtǝ̆̆r [ ] :: /ḍĭfǝ̆:r/differ, defer (^{⌢ ⌣} ) :: /ḓǐ+ f ǝ̆:r~ḓǝ̆+f ǝ̆:r/ the fur [^{־֜ ⌢} ]. /blæ̂k

bǝ̆:rḍ/ blackbird [^⌢ kb ^⌢ ] :: /blæk + bǝ̆:rd / black bird [^⌢kb^⌢]

/năṭytrǝ̆:ṭ/ nitrate [^⌢ Iṭr ^⌢] :: /nay + ṭrǝ̆̆:ṭ / Nye trait [^⌢ I˅ṭr ^⌢]::

/năyṭ+ rě:ṭ/night rate [^⌢ it’r ^⌢] :: / naytdres/night-dress [ɪ̭ṱḍṙ ^⌣.]

A macro segment consists of one or two “stressed” micro segments (that is micro segments that include a /P’/) with or without additional “unstressed” micro segments. The stress (/P΄/s) may be either one /΄/ or one /΄΄/ or, in longer macro segments, both a /΄/ and a /΄/ in either order. The following examples illustrate some of these prominence contrast in macro segments spanned by a /↓/.

It is a blackbird.

/iṭiz + ǝ + blæk bәˊ:rḍ ↓ / “with little or no emphasis”

/iṭiz + ǝ + blæk bәʺ:rḍ ↓/ “and not a crow!”

/iṭiz + ǝ+ blæk bә:rḍ ↓/ “ and not a bluebird”.

It is a black bird.

/iṭiz + ǝ + blæ k bә΄:rḍ ↓ / “descriptive, with little or no emphasis”

/iṭiz + ǝ + blǽ k bә:rḍ ↓ / “and not a blue or a white one!”

/iṭiz + ǝ + blæk bәʺ:rḍ ↓ / “and not a black flag!”.

You get it:

/yu: + géṭ + iṭ / ~/yü: + geṭìṭ ↓/_/ unemphatic statement or imperative”

/yu: + gȅṭ + iṭ ↓/ “don’t worry about the consequences!”

/yu: + geṭ + iṭ / you and nobody else.

Using the last set we can now illustrate ˄ ˅ and | in minimal contrast spanning a macro segment.

/yu: + géṭ+ iṭ / “statement or Imperative”

/yu: + géṭ + iṭ / “Question, … there is nothing really difficult, about it, you know.

/yu: + géṭ + iṭ / ~z yu:+géṭ + iṭ ) “…. and you no longer want it.”

Phonetically the terminal contours³ are.

/’…↓/ [‘31…] with diminuendo;

/’…↑/ [‘32…2..] with speeding up;

/’…/ [‘32…2) with a slight drawl on the last /Vˋ/

with /ʺ/ rather than /’/ the pitch contours will be:

/ʺ..↓/ [:41…]; [ʺ…__/ [ʺ41…..]; /ʺ…|/ [ʺ41…22].

The contour between the initial /T/ and the next succeeding /Pˋ/ maybe described as follows:

/…ʹ/ 22˄…3]: /…ʺ/[22ʹ…ʺ4]

If there are two /P’/s without any intervening ‘T’ (that is, if they are within the same macro segment), the contour between them is phonetically:

Examples of these two sequences:

/iṭ+vɔz+y ü: әr+әŋkәl/(↓) hum + vi: + mét + ṭuḍe: ↓

/vheṭ+ yu: + Sì: + ḓә:әr (|) izә + blǽk + bә:rḍ↓/

A minimum utterance may be defined as one consisting of only one macro segment and its terminal juncture. The alternatives indicated above in parentheses illustrate utterance–media ↓ and |, which break up the utterance into two macro segments as a consequence. We can add an example of utterances – medial|. ↑

(if+yu:+géṭ ↑ǰәṭ +iṭ ↑ jesṭ + leṭ + mi + nò: ↓ /

(/|/ in place of / ↑ / would connote more suspense; thus, /|/ alone and not / ↑ / would be possible after.

(if + yu: + geṭit + әṭɔˈl…/…)

6. Comparison with Marathi and English. So far I have set forth the structure of minimal utterances in “Marathi English”, all other utterances can be described, so far as their phonology is concerned, as if they consisted of a series of such minimal utterances. This was accomplished without bringing in either Marathi or English – which we can now safely do.

Hence, I shall juxtapose for comparison the phonemic inventories of Marathi (I) and of English (II), the latter accompanied not by of Marathi (I) and of English (II), the latter accompanied not by the inventory for “Marathi English” (for which see section I) but by a parallel presentation of the typical ‘reflexes’ that show up in “Marathi English” correspondingly at the lexical level (IIa). For Marathi I have depended on my on unpublished analysis of the Poona educated colloquial dialect.₄ for English I have used the Trager and Smith analysis⁶ as applied to Southern British English. The inventories include some noteworthy recurring phoneme sequences besides the unit phonemes and are followed by a few phonetic indications that might be of help.

I. MARATHI

p	t	ṭ	c	č	k	y	h	v	˘ ΄ ˝ {‘PROMINENCE’) ˆ ˇ(certain kinds of ‘clipping’ and ‘drawing’ effects which accompany segmentalphonemes as well asterminal contours) +// (‘junctures’) ∣↑↓ (Pitch contours).
h	d	ḍ	z	ǰ	g
f		ṣ	s	s		i(:ɨ		u(:
m	n	ṇ			n	o	ə (:	o
	|	ḷ				.	∧
			r			æ	a	ɔ

(nasalization, accompanies vowels)

Notes: /c z/ are hissing affricates. /h/ is strong aspiration after /p t ṭ e č k b d ḍ z ǰ g m n n 1 r v/. / ɨ / is not very common and occurs only in the sequences /r ɨ l ɨ /. The phonemes /f æ ɔ / are found chiefly in borrowings from English. Moreover many speakers of Marathi will use / ph ya a /respectively in heir place. It should be noted that /y i/. v/ u/ regularly contrast in positions after another vowel.

II. English					IIa. “Marathi English”
p	t		č	k	p	ṭ		č	k
b	d		ǰ	g	b	ḍ		ǰ	g
f	o	s	š		f	ṱ	s	š
v	ð	z	ž		v(h	ḓ (h	z(h	ǰ j(h
m	n			ŋ	m	n			ŋ (g
		l				1
		r				r

y	h	w	hw~w		y	h	v	vh
i	ɨ	u	iy	nw	i	e/i	u	i:	u:
c	ə	o	ey	ow	e	ə /i	ɔ	e:	o(:
æ	a		ay	aw	ae	ə		ay	aw
			oy					ɔy
ih			uh		i:( ə			u: (ə
eh		ah			e:( ə		ə (:
aeh		ah		oh	æ		a	C/o: ə
ayh		awh		oyh	ay(ə)		aw/ɔv ə	Cy(c ə
˘	̀	ˆ	`	+	˘	˘	˘	″/′	Cj/+
1	2	3	4		[1]	[2]	[3]	[4]
|	||	#			|		↑	↓
The lost r’ El, ɨl not followed by a vowel					r I/ ə l/il cj – ‘close juncture’)

Note : Under IIa have been included only such correspondences as fall into some sort of a pattern, even though their ‘phonetics’ can sometimes, to say the least of it, be pretty obscure. There are several other correspondences, of course, that are ‘aberrant’ in one way or the other - /k/:/k’/, for instance. (See the Appendix for more examples).

The only contrast in Southern British English that invariably fail to show up in “Marathi English” are : / æ /:/ æ h/, both / æ /; /o/:/oh/ (apart from items spelt with an r),⁶ both / ɔ /; / ə /:/a/ (as non-weak syllabic nuclei), both / ə /, Examples: /bæd/ “past of bid”./bæhd/ “opposite of good” (cf. béhd.”past of bare”); /sód/ sód: /sóhd/sawed (ef. /sóhd/sawed( c. /sóhd/ sored, sword, / šóh~ šúh/sure); / ǰəst/ “adverb”; / ǰást/ “adjective”.

It may seem that the structural leveling out of / ΄ ΄ ˘ / into /˅/ as well as the disappearance of /1234/ from the phoneme inventory must also be included in this category. This, of course, would not be quite correct. The stress contrasts are partially, though not wholly, taken care of by a different distribution of /+/ and by the vocalic contrasts: note especially the role of the oppositions /e ǝ_:/ and /oo:/. The opposition /ʹ/:/ʺ/ takes over some of the functions of /3/and /4/.

7) Implications: The phonological sketch (section 1-5) could of course be followed up with a morph-phonology, a word morphology, a clause morphology, and a lexicon. Specially interesting or surprising material will be encountered chiefly in the last two. For instance, the rather meager stock of into national morphemes might be noted – in comparison with the rich systems to be found both in Marathi and in English.⁷

The ‘comparison’ (section 6) in its turn may be extended to (a) those elements of Marathi structure and lexicon that could be traced historically to English; (b) the pidgin Marathi – a Marathi framework with English and Marathi filling – sometimes used by English knowing speakers of Marathi when talking among themselves; (c) English as spoken by bilinguals in the Marathi –speaking area who claim English to be their ‘first language’.

Such a study –even when informally carried out –will have obvious practical use for someone teaching English to speakers of Marathi and, possibly to speakers of other Indian Languages too. From a different angle, it will help someone learning to speak English with these speakers.

It will not be out of place here, I think, to indicate also the possible theoretical interest of describing a foreign accent style such as this one. It may help us to answer some important questions. In the first place, we may ask, to what extent will a foreign accent style exhibit the properties of a natural Language or dialect as ordinarily understood? Will its ostensible ‘phonologic structure’ satisfy our usual expectations and / or demands from a phonologic structure? Or will it show kinks that will betray, as it were, that it is not the authentic thing? Closely related to this problem is another one- the whole distinction between historical processes that give rise to genetic relationships and those responsible for such adventitious relationships as area groupings, between true sound change and sound substitution,⁸ between analogy.

Within a Language and analogy across Language or dialect boundaries. This second kind of analogy can be classified into analogy by ‘borrowing’ and analogy through ‘bilingualism’ (usually known as substratum influence). If we try to account for or motivate the correspondences between English and ‘Marathi English,” we will be looking into processes akin to all of these.

The approach in section 6 suggests the possibility of a more inclusive frame of reference that will bridge the gap between typological comparison and historical or etymological comparison. Only then can we gain the proper perspective for studying the synchronic relationships between Languages (whether they are genetically related or not) including “language contact” and linguistic acculturation.

Finally, the present study even with its limited scope may throw light, I hope, on the phonology of English proper; some of the structural tensions of the latter may reveal themselves, as it were, when subjected to this kind of ‘treatment’.

Poona, India

Cornell University, Ithaca. N.Y.

APPENDIX

The following list further illustrates what might be called ‘sporadic correspondences’ – not covered by the more general formulas like /iy/:/I:/. The English words are given alphabetically in conventional spelling, each followed by the “Marathi English” version in phonemic transcription.

Abarhalabrahaml

ado / əḍ o: advertisement (æḍvhərṭayzmenṭ/ algebra / ɔlǰibra ~ əlǰibra any/ e:ni:/ argue / ərgyu: Asia / e: śi:yə~ aši:yə/ associate / əso: šie: ṭ/ authority / əṱ’ɔri ṭi:~ aet’ɔriṭi:/ break / brek Cabin / ke:bin/ demy / demi:/ develop / ḍevhləp ~ ḍevhələp/ diameter / ḍaymeṭer/ diamond /ḍaymənḍ/ economics /ikɔnɔmiks~ ikɔnəmiks/ Eliot / I:liəṭ~ i:lyəṭ/ Europe/yuro:p/ evening / I:viniŋg/ exaggerate / egzhægəre:ṭ ~ egzhæ- ǰə er:ṭ/ exercise / egzhərsayz ~ egzhər-sayzh/ fergus(s) on / fərgyu:sən/ flour /llo:ər/ fool /fu: ṭ/ generous / ǰənrəs~ ǰənərəs/ gentle / ǰnṭl/ gentlemen / ǰənṭlmen/ geography / ǰɔgrəfi:~ ǰɔgərfi:/ ghastly /ghasṭly:/ gross / grɔs~gro:s/ gymkhana / ǰimkanə/ healthy / helḓi:/ heavy / he:vi:/ hostel /ho:sṭel/ hotel / hɔṭel~hoṭel houses / hawses/ immoral / immɔrəl/ intelligent / inṭliǰənṭ interesting / inṭresṭiŋʹg/ Irwin / ayərvin/ legend. li:ǰəṇḍ leisure / li: ǰhər/ loose / lu:z/ lullaby / lələbi: lələbay/ mankind/ mənkayṇḍ many /me:ni:/ Mature / mæču:ər/ maximum / mægzhiməm/ minor /maynɔr/ mixture / mikščər/ minsieur / mɔnsyu:r/ Mrs./mises/ nazi/nazhi:/ versus / vhərses~ vhə:raəs vedo /veho:ṭo~ vha:ṭo/ Watt / væṭ/ wealthy / velḓi:/ Wednesday / veḍnəsḍe:~vensḍe: were/ve:əe/ William / Villyəm/	Canal / kænɔl/ Carriage /kæreǰ/ Charles /Ćarləs/ Chocolate /Ćəkle:ṭ/ Christmas /k’risməs/ Cigar /sigar/ Cigarette / sigaret / Cleanly /kli:nli: / (adj. : adv). Cricketer / kriketi:ər)
	Cucumber /kəkəmbər/ negative / nige:ṭiv/ Norwegian / nɔrve: ǰiən/ novice / novhays/ Of / ɔf/ oxen / ɔgzhən/ Paragraph / pærigṛaf/ Photography /fo: ṭo:grafi:~fo: ṭo:- grəfi:/ Preside (prisayḍ / President /presiḍent/ Pretty / prêṭ:/ Principal / (purisipɔl) (noun) Principal / prinsipəl/(adj.) Principle / prinsipəl Penounaw Principal Prounciation .pronawnise: šən/ purpose/pə:rəz~pəpəz/ quality/kvaliṭi quarttex/kvarṭr/ quote/ko:ṭ ~kvo:ṭ/ Registrar /reǰisṭər/ registrar /rəǰisṭrar/ relative / rile: ṭiv/ rhythm/rhiḓəm said / se: ḍ/ satire / səṭayər/ salirical /səayrikəl/ sew / syu:~ so: sewell / sivel sincerity / sinsi:riṭi:/ sour / so:ər/ Stephen / sṭi:fən/ Succinet / səsiŋṭ/
	Sunday / sənḍe:/ supremacy / supriməsi:/ surrender/sərənḍer/ swan / svan Switzerland / sviṭsərlənḍ~ sviḓzhərlənḍ target/ ṭarǰeṭ/ Target/target/ thither / ṱ‘ḓə r~ ḓhiḓər/ Thomas (ṱ‘ɔməs/ tomato / tomæ ṭo/ triangle / ṭræŋgəl/ Tuesday /cʹu:zḍe:/ e:/ tuition . /tyu:śən/ with /viṱ/ wool / vu:1/ woolen / vulən~ulən/ Xmas / eksməs/ Yeats /yi:ṭs/ zoology / zhu:ləǰi:/

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1. Marathi is an Indo-European language spoken by over 24 million people in Western India. Specifically, we are concerned here with speakers of the Poona educated colloquial dialect. English became known in the 1830 ‘s with the coming of British rule to this part of India and with it the Department of Public Instruction and later the University of Bombay. The future of “ Marathi English” is o f course bound up with status of English in India.

Besides being my own information, I also checked with other speakers and drew on my memory as member of this speech community. My thanks are due Professors James W. Downer, Samuel E. Martin, Charles A. Ferguson, Gordon II. Fairbanks, and Uriel Wineriech for encouragement and suggestions.

2. The following symbols call explanation: dot below a consonant for ret flexion, single turned comma for aspiration, are below t, d, n for dental articulation after a consonant for lenis articulation, ̬ below for voicing, superior h, u, etc. for glides, inferior y, etc, for co articulations, swung dash for free variation [~] or free alternation /”/ , as the case may be. For symbols under P (prominence) and J (juncture) see section 5.

3. Pitch levels relative to the speaker’s normal pitch ([2]) are indicated by [1] (low) to [4] (high). [2ˆˆ]is a pitch indefinitely higher than [2] . {2... ] is an indefinite stretch of [2], the length depending on the /vˊ/ s available at that point.

4. To gain some idea of the kind of data which this analysis interprets, the reader may consult H. M. Lambert, Marathi Language Course, Bombay, 1943.

5. George L. Trager and Henry Lee Smith Jr. An Outline of English Structure, 2^nd corrected printing, Washington, D. C., 1956 ch. 1. passim. I have used this analysis as a convenient point of reference, and not necessarily because I feel competent to accept it. I have taken the liberty of making a few modifications (/č ǰ o ow/ for their / c j ɔ əw / ) and extrapolations (‘æh ayh awh ɔyh/and /ɨ/ as a weak syllabic nucleus) primarily for ease of comparison.

6. To Southern British / ohr/ and/oh/ in items pelt with an r correspond “ Marathi English” /ɔr/ (short) /o:r/ (sword) and /o:ər/ (door) . For more examples see section3. For/æ compare Damiel Jones, An Outline of English Phonetics 8^th ed., Cambridge, 1956, §§ 279 , 874f.

7. This might analogous, Professor Weinreich suggests, to the poverty of intonation and gesture sometimes attributed to the children of American immigrants in comparison both with their foreign parents and with more securely established Americans

8. Phonetic substitution’s as defined by Bloomfield (Language, New York, 1933, indexed reverences). Compare also his use of the expression ‘phonetic replacement’. (ibid., P. 390).

COLOPHON:

Begum, as tutorial script in the summer school of 1956, this was published is word 13:2, 229-82, August.1957.