Urdu L1 influence on the pronunciation of Pakistani English: a comparative study with RP

This study investigates the pronunciation patterns of English spoken by Urdu speakers in Pakistan, focusing on the phonological dynamics of Pakistani English (PakE). Urdu L1 plays an important role in forming these patterns, particularly in both vowels and consonants. This study deals with how native Urdu speakers utter English words in contrast with standard Received Pronunciation (RP) norms. The independent variable is the Urdu L1 participants, and the dependent variable is the acoustic realization of selected English phonemes. Within an exploratory framework, a comparative analysis was conducted using a sample of six Urdu-speaking participants, and their speech’s segmental features were acoustically examined and interpreted on the basis of phonological rules for the confirmation of multiple pronunciations and mispronunciations. It employs PRAAT to identify differences in sound variations between PakE and RP. The results propose implications for language results propose implications for pedagogy, pronunciation training, and phonetic research in multi-lingual contexts..