Vowel reduction

The only instances of /ə/ observed were in connected speech. In our analysis of the passage, as read by the six speakers, there were certain words in which an unstressed vowel was systematically reduced to a schwa. Examples of these words include: (a) the indefinite article a; (b) the definite article the; (c) the past singular BE form was; and (d) words with initial a like attempt. These words were predictably pronounced as [ə], , [wəz] and [əttemp(t)] respectively. Based on the language samples, it appears that vowel reduction in PakE is limited to certain (grammatical) words and environments in fast speech, rather than being a correlate of unstressed syllables.

It is possible to explain this non-reduction of unstressed vowels in terms of spelling pronunciation of PakE. A good example of this is the pronunciation of of. RP speakers realize this word as [əv] by reducing the vowel in this word to a schwa and voicing the labiodental fricative. However, in PakE this word is realized as [ɔf], based on the way it is spelt.