On June 24, 2010, The L2 Accent Reduction Centre conducted a workshop with PICS (Progressive Intercultural Community Services. One of the items we covered was the varations of the T sound in North American English. Many people who grew up learning English in India produce different T sounds, which are more closely related to British English. Most Hindi and Punjabi speakers use a strong T sound in unstressed syllables. In North American English, the sound T is replaced with a D like sound when it falls between two vowels in an unstressed syllable. Words like daughter, city, water, skating, waited… all have this D like sound but many English speakers from India say these with a strong T sound. As well, it is common that a Hindi speaker will drop the sound of T. This often happens when T is at the end of a word. Punjabi speakers, on the other hand, do not aspirate the T sound enough and it can sound more like a D to a Canadian. For more information about how to make the T sound, and more, visit our accent reduction guide.
Tags: accent guide, Hindi, India, Indian accent, Punjabi