Re: OT: Phonetics (IPA)

Thanks to all of you who tried to answer my questions. Yes, I beleive I do
pronounce the 'ch' and 'j' sounds as palatals. I was not aware of that. It's
so natural. But, when I try to copy the newsreaders of BBC and CNN, I do get
a 'tsh' and 'dzh' sound instead. I will try to correct my pronunciation.

I was analysing the sound differences between English and Hindi. The
retroflex sounds of Hindi are 'T' and 'D'. They are pretty close to the
English t and d, which are alveolar. But the Hindi dental t and d are
different from the English alveoars. The Hindi retroflex and English
alveolars are so close, that even at the age of 15 I didn't know that they
are pronounced differently. I only found that out five days ago, when I was
analysing my own speech. I then realised that even though I pronounce the
Hin. retroflex and Eng. alveolars exactly alike, the way to pronounce them
is completely different.

So except the 'ch' and 'j' my pronunciation is British. The differences are:

Firstly, I do not aspirate the t and d when they are at the beginning of
words. I always pronounce t and d as unaspirate, no matter where it occurs
in the word.

And secondly, I pronounce vowels differently. My vowels are much more 'pure'
than the English or American ones.

Nikhil

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