Semantic Features of Nouns

Semantics is the branch of linguistics which focusses on the study of meaning. All nouns can be analyzed with semantic features. The features +/-- animate, +/-- human, +/-- , +/-- adult and +/--male can be used to differentiate the meaning of words.

The following diagram uses basic features to distinguish the meanings of six English words:

               book     horse     girl     woman     boy     man

animate     --            --          +            +            +        +

human       --            --          +            +            +        +

male          --            --          --            --           +        +

adult          --            --          --            +            --       +

The diagram  illustrates the properties of six nouns. It does so with four basic features. The number of features can be increased to make more precises distinctions in the meaning of nouns.

 

Countries Without Articles in Portuguese

In Portuguese most countries require a definite article. This is the case with countries such as o Brasil (Brazil) and a Alemanha (Germany). However, a few countries do not use an article.

Here is a list of a few countries that do not use an article:

Andorra

Angola

Cape Verde

Cuba

Israel

Luxembourg

Monaco

Mozambique

Portugal

Sao Tome and Principe

The names of most countries are used with an article in Portuguese. However, a few countries do not use a definite article. The list shows countries that do not use one.

Danish Affricated Voiceless Alveolar Plosive

Danish is a language with strong aspiration. Unlike in Norwegian and Swedish, it has an affricated voiceless alveolar plosive. It occurs before stressed vowels and also stressed vowels preceded by a voiceless labiodental fricative and a palatal approximant. Affrication does not occur when the plosive is followed by a uvular fricative.

The following words have an affricated voiceless alveolar plosive:

tand (tooth)

tanke (thought)

te (tea)

tid (time)

time (hour)

tjeneste (service)

tog (train)

tunge (tongue)

tvilling (twin)

tyve (twenty)

Many of the Danish words with an affricated voiceless alveolar plosive have a voiceless alveolar affricate in German. Compare tand/Zahn, tid/Zeit, and tog/Zug. In certain Danish dialects such as those of northern and western Jutland, a voiceless alveolar plosive is used instead of an affricated one.

Raised Non-Sonorant Alveolar Trill of Czech

The raised-non sonorant alveolar trill of Czech is a rare consonant sound. It is produced by simultaneously rolling the tongue and creating a fricative without vocal fold vibration. In Czech it is represented by the letter ř.

Many Czech words have the consonant. It occurs in words such as  řeka (river), dveře (door), tři (three) and lékař (doctor). The raised non-sonorant alveolar trill of Czech can occur in all word positions: initial, medial and final.

The raised non-sonorant alveolar trill no longer occurs in Polish, but it once did. Though Slovak is closely related to Czech, it does not occur in Slovak. The raised non-sonorant alveolar trill of Czech is a rare consonant that is both a fricative and a trill.

One Sentence in Four Norwegian Dialects

Norwegian can be classified into four main dialects. They are the eastern, western, central and northern. To illustrate the differences, let us look at one sentence in the four languages. It is important to mention that the sentences can vary within the dialects themselves because they also exhibit variation.

The English sentence is I don't know what they want. Here it is in the four main dialects:

Jeg vet ikke hva de vil. (eastern)

Eg veit ikkje kva dei vil. (western)

Æ veit itj ka dæm vil. (central)

Æ veit ikkje ka dei vil. (northern)

The four sentences are similar, but they are clearly different. Only the eastern dialect uses the word hva for what. The sentences reveal a few differences with respect to Norwegian dialects.

Centering Diphthongs in Received Pronunciation

Received Pronunciation has centering diphthongs. They are found in words with post-vocalic r. The centering diphthongs of Received Pronunciation consist of a high lax vowel and schwa.

Examples of words in Received Pronunciation that have centering diphthongs include beer, cure, here, tour and you're. The result is that words such as be and beer sound quite different.

The word bee has a high front unrounded tense vowel. However, in beer there is a diphthong. The first component of the diphthong is a high front unrounded lax vowel and the second is a schwa

In rhotic accents of English, centering diphthongs do not occur. However, in Received Pronunciation, they do. They consist of a high vowel followed by a schwa. The lax high vowel is either front unrounded or back rounded.

Variation in the Swedish of Stockholm

The Swedish spoken in Stockholm is considered the variety that is closest to standard Swedish. It is the variety of Swedish that is often heard on radio and TV. However, it is not complely uniform. There is variation in the Stockholm dialect.

Stockholm Swedish is known for its approximant r. The approximant is especially common in syllable-final position. However, it is not used by all speakers. Those who do not use the approximant use an alveolar flap instead.

The palatovelar fricative is common in words such as sju (seven) and stjärna (star). It is used not only in Stockholm but in much of Sweden. However, there are speakers of Stockholm Swedish who do not use it. They use a retroflex alveopalatal fricative. In fact, the use of the retroflex alveopalatal fricative is associated with wealthy speakers.

The vowels i and y can be pronounced with retracted pronunciation. Though this pronunciation can be considered marked, many speakers use it, and it is often associated with Stockholm. Many of those who use it are wealthy speakers.

The vowel ä in words such as näsa (nose) and räka (shrimp) is pronounced with a mid front unrounded lax vowel in most of Sweden. However, in Stockholm, there are speakers who use a mid front unrounded tense vowel. The use of the tense vowel is associated with the Swedish of Stockholm.

The Swedish of Stockholm forms the basis of standard Swedish. It is the variety that is usually taught to learners of the language. However, the dialect is not uniform. There is variety in the dialect of Stockholm.