Indian English

* The voiceless [[Stop consonant|plosives]] {{IPA|/p/, /t/, /k/}} are always unaspirated in Indian English, (aspirated in cultivated form) whereas in RP, General American and most other English accents they are aspirated in word-initial or stressed syllables. Thus "pin" is pronounced {{IPA|[pɪn]}} in Indian English but {{IPA|[pʰɪn]}} in most other dialects. In native Indo-Aryan languages, a predominant language family in India, the distinction between aspirated and unaspirated plosives is phonemic, and the English stops are equated with the unaspirated rather than the aspirated phonemes of the local languages.{{Sfn|Wells|1982|pp=627–628}} The same is true of the voiceless postalveolar affricate {{IPA|/tʃ/}}. The local unvoiced aspirated plosives are instead equated with English fricatives, namely {{IPA|/f/}} and {{IPA|/θ/}}.

* The voiceless [[Stop consonant|plosives]] {{IPA|/p/, /t/, /k/}} are always unaspirated in Indian English, (aspirated in cultivated form) whereas in RP, General American and most other English accents they are aspirated in word-initial or stressed syllables. Thus "pin" is pronounced {{IPA|[pɪn]}} in Indian English but {{IPA|[pʰɪn]}} in most other dialects. In native Indo-Aryan languages, a predominant language family in India, the distinction between aspirated and unaspirated plosives is phonemic, and the English stops are equated with the unaspirated rather than the aspirated phonemes of the local languages.{{Sfn|Wells|1982|pp=627–628}} The same is true of the voiceless postalveolar affricate {{IPA|/tʃ/}}. The local unvoiced aspirated plosives are instead equated with English fricatives, namely {{IPA|/f/}} and {{IPA|/θ/}}.

* The [[Alveolar consonant|alveolar]] stops English {{IPA|/d/}}, {{IPA|/t/}} are often [[Retroflex consonant|retroflex]] {{IPA|[ɖ]}}, {{IPA|[ʈ]}}, especially in the north of India.{{sfn|Wells|1982|p=628}} In Indian languages, there are two entirely distinct sets of coronal plosives: one [[dental consonant|dental]] and the other retroflex. Native speakers of Indian languages prefer to pronounce the English alveolar plosives sound as more retroflex than dental,{{Sfn|Ball|Muller|2014|ps=: The comments on retroflex consonants also apply to northern Indian languages such as Hindi, [[Bengali language|Bengali]], [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]]. and [[Marathi language|Marathi]]. Speakers of these languages tend to use their own retroflex consonants in place of English alveolar /t, d, n/. Although these languages do have non-retroflex stops, these are dental, and it seems that English alveolar stops are perceived as closer to the retroflex stops than to the dental ones.}} and the use of retroflex consonants is a common feature of Indian English.{{Sfn|Ball|Muller|2014|p=289b|ps=: This use of retroflex consonants is very characteristic of Indian English, and the retroflex resonance is very pervasive ...}}{{Sfn|Sailaja|2007|p=252|ps=: 1.4 ''Indian (Telugu) English'': All the adults who participated in this study spoke a Telugu variety of Indian English. Telugu pronunciation of English is heavily influenced by the spelling. Two identical letters in a word are articulated as geminates. The articulation is also mostly rhotic ... In place of the alveolar stops, retroflex sounds are used. Some speakers would also use a retroflex nasal in place of the alveolar nasal, and a retroflex lateral in place of the alveolar lateral.}} In the [[Devanagari]] script of Hindi, all alveolar plosives of English are transcribed as their retroflex counterparts. One good reason for this is that unlike most other native Indian languages, Hindi does not have ''true'' retroflex plosives (Tiwari, [1955] 2001). The so-called retroflexes in Hindi are actually articulated as apical [[Postalveolar consonant|post-alveolar]] plosives, sometimes even with a tendency to come down to the alveolar region. So a Hindi speaker normally cannot distinguish the difference between their own apical post-alveolar plosives and English's alveolar plosives. Languages such as [[Tamil language|Tamil]] and [[Malayalam]] have ''true'' retroflex plosives, however, wherein the articulation is done with the tongue curved upwards and backwards at the [[Palate|roof of the mouth]]. This also causes (in parts of [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[Madhya Pradesh]] and [[Bihar]]) the {{IPA|/s/}} preceding alveolar {{IPA|/t/}} to allophonically change to {{IPA|[ʃ]}} ({{angbr|stop}}, {{IPA|/stɒp/}} → {{IPA|/ʃʈap/}}). Mostly in north India, some speakers allophonically further change the voiced retroflex plosives to voiced [[retroflex flap]] {{IPA|[ɽ]}}, and the nasal {{IPA|/n/}} to a nasalised retroflex flap. Among [[Malayalam]] speakers, the realisation of English /t/ follows systematic rules. Word-initial /t/ is typically realised as retroflex {{IPA|[ʈ]}}, while in non-initial positions it may be either alveolar {{IPA|[t]}} or retroflex {{IPA|[ʈ]}}, depending on word structure. For example, better is pronounced {{IPA|[bettɐr]}} (alveolar), whereas butter is pronounced {{IPA|[bɐʈʈɐr]}} (retroflex). This is influenced by the fact that Malayalam already contrasts alveolar and retroflex plosives.

* The [[Alveolar consonant|alveolar]] stops English {{IPA|/d/}}, {{IPA|/t/}} are often [[Retroflex consonant|retroflex]] {{IPA|[ɖ]}}, {{IPA|[ʈ]}}, especially in the north of India.{{sfn|Wells|1982|p=628}} In Indian languages, there are two entirely distinct sets of coronal plosives: one [[dental consonant|dental]] and the other retroflex. Native speakers of Indian languages prefer to pronounce the English alveolar plosives sound as more retroflex than dental,{{Sfn|Ball|Muller|2014|ps=: The comments on retroflex consonants also apply to northern Indian languages such as Hindi, [[Bengali language|Bengali]], [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]]. and [[Marathi language|Marathi]]. Speakers of these languages tend to use their own retroflex consonants in place of English alveolar /t, d, n/. Although these languages do have non-retroflex stops, these are dental, and it seems that English alveolar stops are perceived as closer to the retroflex stops than to the dental ones.}} and the use of retroflex consonants is a common feature of Indian English.{{Sfn|Ball|Muller|2014|p=289b|ps=: This use of retroflex consonants is very characteristic of Indian English, and the retroflex resonance is very pervasive ...}}{{Sfn|Sailaja|2007|p=252|ps=: 1.4 ''Indian (Telugu) English'': All the adults who participated in this study spoke a Telugu variety of Indian English. Telugu pronunciation of English is heavily influenced by the spelling. Two identical letters in a word are articulated as geminates. The articulation is also mostly rhotic ... In place of the alveolar stops, retroflex sounds are used. Some speakers would also use a retroflex nasal in place of the alveolar nasal, and a retroflex lateral in place of the alveolar lateral.}} In the [[Devanagari]] script of Hindi, all alveolar plosives of English are transcribed as their retroflex counterparts. One good reason for this is that unlike most other native Indian languages, Hindi does not have ''true'' retroflex plosives (Tiwari, [1955] 2001). The so-called retroflexes in Hindi are actually articulated as apical [[Postalveolar consonant|post-alveolar]] plosives, sometimes even with a tendency to come down to the alveolar region. So a Hindi speaker normally cannot distinguish the difference between their own apical post-alveolar plosives and English's alveolar plosives. Languages such as [[Tamil language|Tamil]] and [[Malayalam]] have ''true'' retroflex plosives, however, wherein the articulation is done with the tongue curved upwards and backwards at the [[Palate|roof of the mouth]]. This also causes (in parts of [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[Madhya Pradesh]] and [[Bihar]]) the {{IPA|/s/}} preceding alveolar {{IPA|/t/}} to allophonically change to {{IPA|[ʃ]}} ({{angbr|stop}}, {{IPA|/stɒp/}} → {{IPA|/ʃʈap/}}). Mostly in north India, some speakers allophonically further change the voiced retroflex plosives to voiced [[retroflex flap]] {{IPA|[ɽ]}}, and the nasal {{IPA|/n/}} to a nasalised retroflex flap. Among [[Malayalam]] speakers, the realisation of English /t/ follows systematic rules. Word-initial /t/ is typically realised as retroflex {{IPA|[ʈ]}}, while in non-initial positions it may be either alveolar {{IPA|[t]}} or retroflex {{IPA|[ʈ]}}, depending on word structure. For example, better is pronounced {{IPA|[bettɐr]}} (alveolar), whereas butter is pronounced {{IPA|[bɐʈʈɐr]}} (retroflex). This is influenced by the fact that Malayalam already contrasts alveolar and retroflex plosives.

* Most major native languages of India lack the dental fricatives {{IPAc-en|θ}} and {{IPAc-en|ð}} (spelled with ''th''), although [ð] occurs variably as [[Intervocalic consonant|intervocalic]] allophones in [[Gujarati phonology|Gujarati]]{{sfnp|Cardona|Suthar|2003|p=665}} and [[Tamil phonology|Tamil]]. Usually, the [[Aspiration (phonetics)|aspirated]] [[voiceless dental plosive]] {{IPA|[t̪ʰ]}} is substituted for {{IPA|/θ/}} in the north (it would be unaspirated in the south) and the unaspirated [[voiced dental plosive]] {{IPA|[d̪]}}, or possibly the aspirated version {{IPA|[d̪ʱ]}}, is substituted for {{IPA|/ð/}}.{{sfn|Wells|1982|p=629}} For example, "thin" would be realised as {{IPA|[t̪ʰɪn]}} instead of {{IPA|/θɪn/}} for North Indian speakers, whereas it would be pronounced unaspirated in the south.

* Most major native languages of India lack the dental fricatives {{IPAc-en|θ}} and {{IPAc-en|ð}} (spelled with ''th''), although [ð] occurs variably as intervocalic allophones in [[Gujarati phonology|Gujarati]]{{sfnp|Cardona|Suthar|2003|p=665}} and [[Tamil phonology|Tamil]]. Usually, the [[Aspiration (phonetics)|aspirated]] [[voiceless dental plosive]] {{IPA|[t̪ʰ]}} is substituted for {{IPA|/θ/}} in the north (it would be unaspirated in the south) and the unaspirated [[voiced dental plosive]] {{IPA|[d̪]}}, or possibly the aspirated version {{IPA|[d̪ʱ]}}, is substituted for {{IPA|/ð/}}.{{sfn|Wells|1982|p=629}} For example, "thin" would be realised as {{IPA|[t̪ʰɪn]}} instead of {{IPA|/θɪn/}} for North Indian speakers, whereas it would be pronounced unaspirated in the south.

* The English of [[Delhi]] often has [[yod-dropping]] after coronals, unlike RP.

* The English of [[Delhi]] often has [[yod-dropping]] after coronals, unlike RP.

* The [[rhotic consonant]] /r/ is pronounced by most speakers as an [[alveolar tap]] {{IPA|[ɾ]}}, but may also be pronounced as a retroflex flap {{IPA|[ɽ]}} or [[alveolar trill]] {{IPA|[r]}} based on the influence by the native phonology, or an [[Alveolar and postalveolar approximants|alveolar approximant]] {{IPA|[ɹ]}} like in most varieties of English.{{cite book |last1=Spitzbardt |first1=Harry |title=English in India |date=1976 |page=31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eqIOAAAAMAAJ&q=indian+english+rolled+r|access-date=2 September 2019}}{{cite web |title=Indian English Phonologics |url=https://phonologics.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Report-Indian-English.pdf |website=Phonologics |publisher=Linda J. Ferrier-Reid, Robert MacAuslan and Joel MacAuslan |access-date=7 November 2019 |archive-date=7 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191107104832/https://phonologics.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Report-Indian-English.pdf |url-status=dead }}

* The [[rhotic consonant]] /r/ is pronounced by most speakers as an [[alveolar tap]] {{IPA|[ɾ]}}, but may also be pronounced as a retroflex flap {{IPA|[ɽ]}} or [[alveolar trill]] {{IPA|[r]}} based on the influence by the native phonology, or an [[Alveolar and postalveolar approximants|alveolar approximant]] {{IPA|[ɹ]}} like in most varieties of English.{{cite book |last1=Spitzbardt |first1=Harry |title=English in India |date=1976 |page=31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eqIOAAAAMAAJ&q=indian+english+rolled+r|access-date=2 September 2019}}{{cite web |title=Indian English Phonologics |url=https://phonologics.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Report-Indian-English.pdf |website=Phonologics |publisher=Linda J. Ferrier-Reid, Robert MacAuslan and Joel MacAuslan |access-date=7 November 2019 |archive-date=7 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191107104832/https://phonologics.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Report-Indian-English.pdf |url-status=dead }}