Baranxtuan pronunciation of English

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Although no uniform Baranxtuan pronunciation of English exists, there are a number of typical features of a foreign Baranxtuan accent for people from Baranxtu who learned English as a foreign language.

The accent of Baranxtuans largely depends on their mother language, naturally, and the following article details the major accents Baranxtuans may have when speaking English.


Asuaneï Accent

Baranxeï Accent

Speakers of Baranxeï face a number of difficulties when speaking English. Although the phonetics of Baranxeï generally make for a proper pronunciation of most individual English sounds, the native accent of Baranxeï speakers may carry over into English. Additionally, English grammar poses some traps Baranxeï speakers are prone to fall into.

Phonological aspects

  • Assimilation of nasals: The place of articulation of a nasal may change according to the following phoneme because this is what happens in most dialects of Baranxeï. Thus, the pronunciation of [nb] changes to [mb] (inborn -> imborn); this does usually also apply at word boundaries (in Baranxtu -> im Baranxtu). Additionally, this may also affect nasals preceding stop clusters (empty -> enty).
  • Confusion of [T] and [D]: As they are not graphically distinguished, Baranxeï speakers may confuse the words pronounced with [T] and [D] (for example, pronounce the <th> in thorn the same way as in the, or the other way around).
  • Affricates such as [tS] or [dZ] in initial positions may be reduced to [S] or [Z] (charm -> sharm).
    • Conversely, partially silent sound clusters in loan words (like the initial [ps] in psychology) may be pronounced fully (as they are pronounced in Baranxeï, for example in psixologja).
  • Some variations are based on the natural dialect of the speaker:
    • Speakers of Southern and Eastern dialects:
      • They may merge [t], [d], [l] and also [r] into an alveolar flap or trill.
      • Final stops may either turn into fricatives (cap -> caf, mat -> math) or affricates (cap -> capf, mat -> mats or match).
    • Speakers of Western dialects:
      • They may have difficulties with consonant clusters made up of plosives and eliminate the first one (connect -> connet, apt -> at).
      • They may also devoice final voiced consonants (fad -> fat, leg -> lek).
    • Speakers of Northern dialects:
      • They may eliminate the first consonant of a cluster if it is a velar, and in turn voice the following consonant (connect -> conned, exact -> ezad, facts -> fadz).
      • They also tend to voice all intervocalic consonants, also across word boundaries (at eleven -> ad eleven, effort -> evort).

Grammatical aspects

  • Confusion of tenses: As Baranxeï has only four tenses (present, future, past, pluperfect), it is rather common for speakers of Baranxeï to mix up the tenses of English, especially the aspects (progressive vs. simple), for example "I go shopping now." or "I am going to the shops every Tuesday."
  • Articles: Baranxeï has no articles, and thus, speakers may forget or mix them up when using English ("Look at tree!" - "What the nice tree!")
    • Conversely, as a form of hypercorrection, articles may be inserted in unnecessary or wrong places ("I am at the school.", "It's harmful for the nature.")
  • Calquing of Baranxeï syntax: This is a common mistake for novice learners, but usually disappears with more advanced learners, namely, switching to the Baranxeï word order when speaking English ("I to shops go.", "He down the street walks.").
  • Carrying grammatical gender over into English: As Baranxeï has grammatical gender also for inanimate objects, it can happen Baranxeï speakers use it also in English ("Do you see the street?" - "Yes, she is beautiful!"; Bar. pritη is grammatically female).


Masenar Accent

Nidajii Accent

Phipul Accent

Speakers of Phipul face a number of problems when learning English. Whereas theoretically, their language has most consonants English has, the nature of their use in Phipul (namely, as allophones) can seriously hamper their pronunciation. Additionally, the larger extent of isolation in Phipul grammar can prove problematic, as well.

Phonetic aspects

  • Plosives:
    • Final voiced plosives ([b], [d], [g]) are devoiced (cab -> cap, fad -> fat, leg -> lek). This is usually one of the longest lasting features of a Phipul accent.
  • Stridents:
    • Initial [s], [S] and [tS] are often pronounced [T] (simple -> thimple, sharp -> tharp, charm -> thtarm).
    • Intitial [z] and [dZ] are often pronounced [D] (zoo -> dhoo, journey -> dhourney).
    • Within a word, [T], [S] and [tS] are often pronounced [s] (pathway -> passway, cashier -> cassier, catcher -> catser)
    • Within a word, [Z] is often pronounced [z] (pleasure -> pleazure).
    • Final [T] and [s] are often pronounced [S] (path -> pash, pass -> pash).
    • Final [z] is often pronounced [Z] (pads -> paj).
  • Vowels:
    • Final [i] is often pronounced [y] (tree -> trü).
    • Final [e] and derived diphthongs are often pronounced [2] (okay -> okö).

Grammatical aspects

  • Past tense: speakers of Phipul are prone to use did for all past tense constructions ("I did see him." instead of "I saw him.).
    • If they do use regular past tense formation, they often take long to learn how to use irregular verbs ("I seed him.", "I did seen him., "I did saw him.")
  • Articles: Like speakers of Baranxeï, the lack of articles in Phipul often causes mix-ups when speaking English ("Look at tree!" - "What the nice tree!").
  • Confusion of voices: As Phipul has three instead of two voices like English does, speakers may confuse the use of these two voices ("The friend is broken the window." instead of "The friend breaks the window.")
  • Confusion about moods: As Phipul grammatically expresses certain moods, speakers may confuse their formation in English ("He want goes to the cinema." instead of "He wants to go to the cinema.").

Qi Accent