Pakistan 3

Listen to Pakistan 3, a 25-year-old woman from Islamabad, Pakistan. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 25

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 17/07/1988

PLACE OF BIRTH: Islamabad, Pakistan

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Pakistani

OCCUPATION: advising coordinator

EDUCATION: MBA

AREAS OF RESIDENCE OUTSIDE REPRESENTATIVE REGION FOR LONGER THAN SIX MONTHS: N/A

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

Subject studied English throughout her education. Also, her best friend is from New York City, and she says she is addicted to American films and sitcoms.

The text used in our recordings of scripted speech can be found by clicking here.

RECORDED BY: Kathleen Mulligan

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 17/01/2013

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

So, hi. My name is anonymous, and I was born and raised in Islamabad, and growing up in, uh, this beautiful city has been great. Even though it’s, it can’t be called a metropolitan city; it’s not that big. But it’s really beautiful. It’s sort of like a hill station, maybe? Um, it’s really — you know — we’ve got the mountains, we’ve got the trees, we’ve got the wildlife — so it’s, it’s like gorgeous. It’s living in paradise. And I’ve, I’ve always been into business. So, I did my BBA. And then I also did my MBA from a very reputable institute in Islamabad because my parents weren’t happy in letting me go outside of the city. So, after completing my MBA, I finally got my first job. And right now I’m actually in a pretty OK spot in my life. I’ve got one brother. We’re only two siblings. It’s me and my older brother. He’s four years older to me. He’s working in a multi-national company and he’s also happy. Uh, my parents originally belong from Lahore and [clears throat] I have all my, uh, paternal and my maternal grandparents and all that family living in Lahore. Uh, other than that, uh, I’m very much into “Lord of the Rings,” which might sound a little bit nerdy, but it’s true, actually. Um, whenever my semester would finish I would actually go through an entire nine-hour-long marathon of “Lord of the Rings.” And when “The Hobbit” came out, I was extremely excited, and I was actually the first person to go in and watch it. Uh, other than that, I’m also a big “Harry Potter” fan. But uh, “Lord of the Rings” obviously is something that I’m really passionate about. Other than that, I’m a lot more into books, like heavy, uh, novels as well. Like “Les Miserables,” I heard the movie came out as well. I’m very much interested in watching that as well. But the book was just awesome. And other than that, I’m very much into Japanese Manga if, uh, uh, I know there is a lot of Ghibli Studio going on. Um, there is a lot of, you know, um — I think correspondence or some sort of an affiliation between Walt Disney and Ghibli Studios like “Spirited Away” and, uh, “Howl’s Moving Castle” and all, so, I’m very much into those as well and Japanese movies. Other than that — I think that’s all that needs to be told so, thanks.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Stephen Humes under the supervision of Kathleen Mulligan

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 08/05/2014

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY:

The subject shows a lack of aspiration in the [p, t, k] consonants. In addition, the /t/ consonant is retroflex, with the tongue contacting the roof of the mouth farther back than the alveolar ridge. This is also seen with the /d/ and /n/ consonants. The consonant /r/ is tapped and retroflex, so its point of contact is similar to the /t/. The fricatives /θ/ and /ð/ are pronounced as /t/ and /d/ (again recognizing a retroflex tongue position in the mouth.) The /l/ consonant is never dark. Even when it follows a vowel, the consonant is kept forward, making it slightly brighter than a general American /l/. Interestingly, the labio-dental consonant /v/ is pronounced as bilabial, making it sound like /w/ (i.e., “vet” = “wet”), however, the reverse is not present.

This speaker changes certain American diphthongs into pure vowels. The [oʊ] diphthong is pronounced as a pure /o/, and the [eɪ] diphthong is often the pure /e/. The /ʊ/ vowel of “foot” glides into another vowel, making it sound like a diphthong [ʊɪ]. The subject appears to follow the American model of English, so she attempts to add rhoticity when /r/ follows a vowel (as opposed to the British model, which is non-rhotic.) However, this is not consistent, as there is a marked lack of rhoticity in certain unimportant words. (Note the pronunciation of the word “her.”) There are certainly British influences in the speech, most notably the vowels of the “thought,” “lot,” and “bath” sets, which are pronounced as /ɔ/, /ɒ/, and /ɑ/, respectively. The British influence is also present in certain special pronunciations (i.e., “sanitary” as /sɑnɪtri/.)

COMMENTARY BY: Stephen Humes under the supervision of Kathleen Mulligan

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): 08/05/2014

The archive provides:

 

• Recordings of accent/dialect speakers from the region you select.
• Text of the speakers’ biographical details.
• Scholarly commentary and analysis in some cases.
• In most cases, an orthographic transcription of the speakers’ unscripted speech.  In a small number of cases, you will also find a narrow phonetic transcription of the sample (see Phonetic Transcriptions for a complete list).  The recordings average four minutes in length and feature both the reading of one of two standard passages, and some unscripted speech. The two passages are Comma Gets a Cure (currently our standard passage) and The Rainbow Passage (used in our earliest recordings).

For instructional materials or coaching in the accents and dialects represented here, please go to Other Dialect Services.