What is it about?
Malaysian English stands as a unique variety on its own, shaped by the complex social and linguistic factors of a multilingual society. We have demonstrated the influence of heritage languages spoken by the major ethnic groups in Malaysia on their pronunciation through both qualitative and quantitative methods.
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Why is it important?
Our research shows that Malaysian English is not a homogenous variety of English, owing to its complex sociophonetic characteristics. The lack of aspiration in the initial stop consonants of Malaysian English appears to be a shared phonetic feature among many postcolonial Englishes, largely due to the common phonological features found in local languages of the regions. These findings may offer insights into the phonetic and phonological features of Englishes worldwide and contribute to advancements in voice-assisted technologies across interdisciplinary fields.
Perspectives
I find it intriguing when I hear people from different social, cultural and regional backgrounds speak the same language differently. Yet, most of the time, we still manage to understand each other. And when we don’t, it often leads to a good laugh. I am grateful for the opportunity to analyse how my own community speaks in their distinctive ways and share it with the world. It is amazing how human communication transcends boundaries!
Dr Bee Kee Ng
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Phonetic variation of initial stop consonants in Malaysian English, English World-Wide A Journal of Varieties of English, November 2024, John Benjamins,
DOI: 10.1075/eww.24005.ng.
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