the Indian accent

H   Wed Apr 29, 2009 1:25 pm GMT
The Indian accent is easily recognizable, but I can’t define what exactly constitutes it.
Maybe, a very soft, palatilized [ l ]; some rhythmic pattern. Could you tell me what else?

Thanks.
Amoeba   Wed Apr 29, 2009 3:36 pm GMT
You have to shake your head when you speak with an Indian accent.
Shake your head rhythmically and your Indian accent will come out naturally.
Rupert Rhys-Davies   Wed Apr 29, 2009 4:03 pm GMT
I find this to be true.
Johnny   Wed Apr 29, 2009 9:08 pm GMT
I think it is mainly the intonation, maybe along with some fronted vowels and lack of reduction in unstressed syllables, that is, there's no schwa. Maybe. But maynly the intonation.
Entbark   Fri May 01, 2009 1:24 am GMT
Most noticeable to me is the lack of aspiration with certain consonants. You will find more details here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_English.
H   Mon May 04, 2009 4:29 am GMT
the retroflex completely replaced the alveolar; in fact, it has been found that the entire series of English alveolar consonants tends to be replaced by retroflex consonants
Some interesting things seemed to be happening with the articulation of /ð/ (as in then), which normally is pronounced as an interdental /d/, but which sometimes seemed to become alveolar. Also, listening to the taped discussions revealed that sometimes a was used in front of vowel-initial words (1.4.2) before which North American English and British English speakers would use an.
Other items listed by Trudgill and Hannah (1994) are that Indian English tends to have a reduced vowel system; /r/ tends to become a flap or retroflex flap; the consonants /p/, /t/, and /k/ tend to be unaspirated; and in some regions, /v/ and /w/ are not distinguished (volleyball is the same as wallyball), while in others, /p/ and /f/, /t/ and /θ/, /d/ and /ð/, and /s/ and /š/ are not (1.4.4). They also note that "Indian English tends to be syllable rather than stress-timed. Also, syllables that would be unstressed in other varieties of English receive some stress in Indian English and thus do not have reduced vowels. Suffixes tend to be stressed, and function words which are weak in other varieties of English (of, to, etc.) tend not to be reduced in Indian English"

Tnx, guys.