LAUSR

Free classification was undertaken with 70 listeners from Lahore, Pakistan with Punjabi and Urdu as their first languages in order to shed light on the English vowel features that have been most relevant in developing the “new English” variety spoken by them (Pakistani English). The stimuli were 19 hVd words carrying the Southern British English (SSBE) vowels. The responses were statistically analyzed using hierarchical clustering and multidimensional scaling. Listeners were sensitive to both F1 and F2, but could not distinguish the high-mid from the low-mid vowels. The central vowels /ɜː/ and /∧/ were in different groups indicating greater sensitivity to backness (F2): listeners classed /∧/ as back, but /ɜː/, which is more fronted in SSBE, as front. Diphthongs were grouped with monophthongs, sometimes based on the initial, sometimes on the final element; /aʊ/ /aɪ/ and /ɔɪ/, however, formed a separate group, possibly because their first and last element are most distinct. Listeners were not sensitive to d...