Regional Variation in Panjabi-English

The research presented in this thesis details the linguistic patterns of two contact varieties of English spoken in the UK. Based on an analysis of recordings made in two British cities, the research assesses the influence of Panjabi on the English spoken in Bradford and Leicester. In addition, it considers what the role and influence of the respective regional ‘Anglo English’ variety is having on the development of the contact variety in each location. The research here focusses on variation in voice quality, the vowels FACE, GOAT and GOOSE, and the realisation of /r/.
For voice quality, a vocal profile analysis (e.g. Laver 1980) was completed for each of the speakers included in the corpus with characteristic vocal settings observed among Panjabi and Anglo English groups. The results from a dynamic vowel analysis of F1 and F2 variation across the trajectory for FACE, GOAT and GOOSE illustrated that despite the cross regional similarities which are observable in Panjabi English, local interpretations are crucial. A combined auditory and acoustic analysis of /r/ in word initial and medial position revealed divergent regional patterns in Panjabi English.
A number of arguments are put forward to account for the linguistic parallels reported here, and more widely, in contact varieties of English in the UK. The findings of the thesis contribute to a growing body of work that explores the development of contact varieties spoken in the UK, with this thesis concentrating on the development of ‘Panjabi English’ in two locations simultaneously. The patterns observed are accounted for by considering research from both language and dialect contact research, with the thesis drawing together ideas from these two separate fields. The claims put forward argue that the similar patterns observed can be considered to be independent innovations, with contact processes accounting for the linguistic correspondences.