Beyond British and American Norms: A Praat-Based Phonetic Analysis of Accent Variation in a Non-Native English Speaker

Abstract

This study investigates accent variation in the English pronunciation of a non-native speaker, with particular attention to phonetic features that diverge from conventional British and American English norms. Drawing on the theoretical perspective of World Englishes, the study examines the pronunciation of selected lexical items, including cup, pumpkin, tea, taste, roar, rubber, what, water, measurement, and schedule. A qualitative phonetic analysis was conducted to identify variations in vowels, consonants, aspiration, nasalization, rhoticity, plosives, and diphthongal and triphthongal realizations. The findings reveal considerable pronunciation diversity, with several features that cannot be consistently classified within either standard American or British English. The speaker demonstrates distinctive patterns such as unaspirated plosives, nasalized transitions, vowel substitutions, variations in aspiration, voiced alveolar trills, altered vowel qualities, and non-standard realizations of diphthongs and triphthongs. At the same time, the pronunciation of schedule displays features associated with American English, suggesting that the speaker's accent may incorporate influences from different English varieties. The overall findings indicate that the speaker's pronunciation represents a complex combination of linguistic influences and may reflect an emerging individual idiolect rather than conformity to a single established native-speaker model. The study contributes to the growing scholarship on World Englishes by demonstrating the diversity of English pronunciation and emphasizing the need to recognize non-native accents as legitimate manifestations of global English rather than simply deviations from British or American standards.

Keywords: World Englishes; Accent Variation; Non-Native English; Phonetic Analysis; Pronunciation; Idiolect; British English; American English; Global English; Phonological Variation.