Developing a Pronunciation Lexicon for Pakistani English: A Manual and Computational Analysis of Phonemic Variation

Abstract

It has been observed that the pronunciation of English words by Pakistani speakers often differs from Standard British English due to regional, social, and linguistic factors. A number of studies are available on different aspects of English pronunciation; however, limited research is available on the manual construction of a pronunciation lexicon for Pakistani English. The present study aims to fill this gap by constructing a pronunciation lexicon using 100 words selected from the novel “A Case of Exploding Mangoes” by Muhammad Hanif. By applying qualitative methodology and phonemic transcription through Praat software, the study explores regional pronunciation variations and phonemic patterns among Pakistani speakers. The findings highlight that local language influence and regional accents significantly affect the rhoticity, epenthesis, vowel fronting, and monophthongisation of Pakistani English pronunciation. The study further suggests that constructing a pronunciation lexicon can contribute to the development of phonetic awareness, language teaching, and computational linguistic resources in Pakistan.