Consonants

Rhoticity

PakE, based on the language samples collected, may be labeled a rhotic variety of English. [r] is pronounced in all contexts, including after a vowel, by most speakers. Examples of this were found in both the Sheffield set and in the passage: [fɔ:rs] ‘force’ and [wɑ:rm] ‘warm’.

Postvocalic [r] is produced variably – individual speakers did not pronounce it all the time. However, the presence or absence of [r] was not categorical for any given speaker. For example, the same speaker was observed to use [r] in start, cure and letter, but to drop it in force. The rules and distribution for such variation need to be explored.

Rahman (1990) states that the degree of rhoticity in PakE varies based on sociolinguistic factors. He claims that speakers of an acrolectal variety of PakE may or may not pronounce instances of postvocalic [r]. However, the exact distribution of rhoticity within acrolectal speakers of PakE is not discussed. He further states that mesolectal and basilectal varieties of PakE are rhotic and speakers of these varieties pronounce [r] in all contexts. While it may be possible to identify sub-varieties of PakE using this terminology (as has been done for other varieties of English, e.g. Singaporean), we have avoided doing so. To date, there is very limited documentation of the linguistic features of PakE (in any social context) and therefore we feel that it is too early to sub-categorize PakE and attempt descriptions of possible sub-categories. Rahman’s work is based on only 10 speakers (from various L1 backgrounds), and his data was collected (rather anomalously) from Pakistanis living in the United Kingdom. His study has accordingly been severely criticized for a number of reasons.