Analyzing the Errors of Basilect Pakistani English: A Phonological Study

This study examines the phonological features of the basilect Pakistani English (PakE), and in particular the determination of systematic deviation in the segmental and syllable level patterns. Through the Error Analysis framework developed by Corder (1974), the spoken data with words frequently used in the English language were put through analysis in order to categorize mistakes as substitution, addition and omission. The results show that interlingual transfer of Punjabi including replacement of interdental fricatives (/th, dh/ by dental stops (/t k, d k)/), manifestation of the /w/ in /v w/ and vowel shift (lengthening and shortening) are consistent. Also, cluster simplification, epenthesis, and prothesis were quite common, with the effects of L1 phonotactic constraints. The deviations were also related to some orthographic overgeneralization, which pointed to the intralingual learning impacts. Works are examples of words with such systematic patterns, e.g. varaks and though touth. Comprehensively, the paper illustrates that basilect PakE is a sociolect that is rule governed and not a series of mistakes and has important implications in the linguistics and English language teaching.