The word engineer is frequently pronounced by native Hindi speakers in a way that is very different than how native American English (AE) speakers pronounce it. Engineer is derived from combining the noun engine with the suffix -eer. When AE speakers pronounce words that have two syllables and end in -eer, the syllables in those words are emphasized differently. Let's look at the pronunciation of engine and then see how that compares to how engineer is pronounced.
Let's start with the pronunciation of the word engine. First, we need to understand its syllable structure. When American English speakers pronounce it, this word is pronounced with two syllables. Let's take a look at each syllable.
The first syllable of engine is en. This syllable is a stressed syllable, meaning it is emphasized by making it longer, louder, and giving it a higher pitch.
90% of two-syllable nouns are stressed on the first syllable, and this is one of them. We can predict that this syllable will be stressed because it is a strong syllable, not a weak one. We know that this syllable is a strong syllable because it ends in a consonant, and syllables that end in consonants are strong syllables. Since the first syllable of engine is a strong syllable in a two-syllable noun, when we pronounce the first syllable it gets more emphasis that the second syllable. It is longer, and louder, and has a higher pitch.
Native Hindi speakers often give this syllable emphasis as well, and when saying the first syllable of engine they often use a different vowel than AE speakers. Instead of