Negative Imperative of Danish and Norwegian

Danish and Norwegian are both Germanic languages, and they share many similarities. However, they also have a number of differences. Let us illustrate with the negative imperative.

The imperative with the negative ikke (not) has a different word order in the two languages. Norwegian places the word ikke at the beginning of the sentence, but Danish places it at the end. Compare the following examples:

Ikke kom! (Don't come!)

Kom ikke! (Don't come!)

Ikke gå! (Don't go!)

Gå ikke! (Don't go!)

Ikke skynd deg! (Don't hurry!)

Skynd dig ikke! (Don't hurry!)

Ikke stopp! (Don't stop!)

Stop ikke! (Don't stop!)

Ikke glem! (Don't forget!)

Glem ikke! (Don't forget!)

Though Danish and Norwegian are related languages, they use different word orders for the negative imperative. Danish places the negative adverb ikke at the end of the imperative, but Norwegian places it at the beginning. This is an important distinction between the two languages.

Hedda Gabler

Hedda Gabler is a play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It is about the experiences of Hedda, the daughter of a general, who is trapped in a house and a marriage that she does not want. Hedda's married name is Hedda Tesman, and Hedda Gabler is her maiden name.

The play begins with Hedda's return to her villa in Olso from her honeymoon. Her husband is Jørgen Tesman, who continued his research during the honeymoon. It is clear that Hedda is not in love with him.

Eilert Løvborg is Jørgen Tesman's academic rival, a writer who just published a bestseller. In a relationship with Hedda's old schoolmate, Thea Elvsted, he shows signs of rehabilitation from his alcoholism. When Hedda and Eilert speak together privately, it becomes clear that they are former lovers.

Eilert is a competitor for the university position Jørgen has been expecting. Jørgen and Hedda have financial problems, and Jørgen tells Hedda that he cannot provide her with a regular housekeeper. When they meet Eilert, they learn he has no intention of competing for the university position, but he has spent years working on his masterpiece, the continuation of his recently published work.

Jealous of Thea's relationship with Eilert, Hedda hopes to come between them. Despite his drinking problem, she encourages him to accompany Jørgen and Jørgen's friend Judge Brack to a party. Jørgen returns from the party and reveals that he found the complete manuscript of Eilert's masterpiece, which Eilert lost while he was drunk.

Jørgen later visits his aunt, and the manuscript is in Hedda's possession. When Eilert sees Hedda and Thea, he tells them that he deliberately destroyed the manuscript. Thea is horrified, and the reader learns that the work was a collaborative effort by Eilert and herself. Hedda says nothing to them. After Eilert leaves, Hedda encourages Eilert to commit suicide, and she gives him a gun that was her father's. Then she burns the manuscript and tells Jørgen she destroyed it to secure their future.

With the news that Eilert killed himself, Jørgen and Thea try to reconstruct the manuscript from Eilert's notes, which Thea kept. Hedda is shocked to learn that Eilert's death was in a brothel, and probably accidental. His painful death contrasts with the beautiful one she had imagined. Another problem is that Judge Brack knows the origins of the pistol. He tells her that if he reveals what he knows, there will probably be a scandal. 

She realizes that he is in a position of power over her.  Hedda then decides to go to a small room and shoot herself in the head. The others assume that Hedda is just firing shots and decide to investigate. The play ends with Jørgen, Thea and Judge Brack discovering her body.

Henrik Ibsen's play explores mental illness. Hedda Gabler, a neurotic woman, is very manipulative. However, the moment Judge Brack assumes a position of power over her, she cannot accept her new circumstances and takes her own life.

Speakers of Six Swedish Dialects

Swedish has many dialects. Many linguists divide the language into six. They are Central Swedish, Western Swedish, Southern Swedish, Northern Swedish, Eastern Swedish and Gotlandic. Gotlandic is spoken on the island of Gotland, and Eastern Swedish is spoken in Finland.

Here are the six dialects with the approximate percentage of speakers:

Central Swedish 39%

Western Swedish 28%

Southern Swedish 18%

Northern Swedish 11%

Eastern Swedish 3%

Gotlandic 1%

Central Swedish is the dialect with the most speakers. It is spoken in the capital city of Stockholm and also in Uppsala. Western Swedish is spoken in Gothenburg, the second largest city in Sweden, and Southern Swedish is spoken in Malmo, the third largest city.

Northern Swedish is spoken in an area that covers more than half of Sweden, but it has a relatively small population. Eastern Swedish is spoken by approximately 5% of the population of Finland, and Gotlandic is spoken by less than 1% of Swedish speakers. The Gotlandic dialect has been influenced by Gutian, a language that is now extinct.

The Central and Western dialects are spoken by more than half of all Swedish speakers. It is important to note that many Swedish speakers use a standard form of the language but retain traces of their dialect in their pronunciation and vocabulary. Though most Swedes speak a variety of Swedish that is close to Standard Swedish, the language can be classified into six main dialects.

Florianopolitan Dialect

The Florianopolitan dialect of Brazilian Portuguese is spoken in the city of Florianopolis. It originated with immigrants from the Azores. Their isolation made the dialect distinct from other varieties of Brazilian Portuguese.

The dialect is not uniform. For example, many older speakers use an alveolar trill for the post-vocalic r, but younger speakers mostly use the glottal fricative /h/. However, the r can also be a uvular trill, velar fricative or uvular fricative.

Unlike in most varieties of Brazilian Portuguese, the s is a voiceless alveopalatal fricative in words such as dois (two), festa (party) and mas (but). The d and t are always plosives and not affricatives before the vowel /i/, as is the case in most of Brazil. Also, word-final l is a velarized lateral and never vocalized, the same as in Portugal.

The r in words such as arte (art), forno (oven) and porta (door) is a glottal fricative for most speakers. In word-final position, it is usually deleted. The exception is if the next word is spoken without a pause and begins with a vowel. The word mar (sea) is pronounced without the r, but in the phrase o mar e o sol (the sea and the sun), the r is pronounced.

The dialect spoken in Florianopolis differs significantly from other varieties of Brazilian Portuguese. Features of the dialect include the velarized lateral, the pronunciation of the s before consonants and at the end of words, and the lack of affrication of the d and t. It is one of the most distinctive dialects of Brazilian Portuguese.

Schwa in Pairs with Affixation

The schwa in English is restricted to unstressed syllables. It is a phonetic variant of English vowel phonemes. It appears in many word pairs. This is illustrated with the following ten pairs:

abolish abolition

biology biological

commerce commercial

drama dramatic

family familiar

generous generosity

moderate moderation

personal personality

photo photographer

prophet prophetic

In the word abolish, the schwa appears in the first syllable. In the noun abolition, however, the schwa is in the second syllable. The stress is in different syllables, but in both words it is penultimate.

With biology/biological, the schwa also appears in different syllables. In the first word, it is in the third syllable, and in the second word, it appears in both the second and fifth syllables. The front high vowel does not become a schwa.

In the third pair, the schwa appears in the first syllable of commercial. It appears in the final syllable of drama and in the first syllable of dramatic. The first syllable of family has no schwa, but the first syllable of familiar does.

The schwa appears in the second and third syllables of generous. However, in the word generosity, the schwa appears in the second syllable, but not in the third. The fourth syllable can be pronounced with a schwa or with a high front unrounded law vowel.

In the pair moderate/moderation, the schwa appears in the second syllable of both words. However, the third syllable of moderate is a schwa in the adjective but not in the verb. The noun moderation has no schwa in the third syllable.

The second and third syllables of personal have the schwa. In the word personality, the schwa occurs in the second syllable, but not in the third. It cannot appear in the third syllable because it is stressed.

No schwa occurs in the word photo. Though the second syllable is unstressed, it remains a diphthong. However, the schwa occurs in the first and third syllables of photographer.

With the word pair prophet/prophetic, the schwa occurs in the second syllable of prophet and the first syllable of prophetic. The third syllable of prophetic is a not a schwa but a high front unrounded lax vowel. Both words have penultimate stress.

The schwa is a very common vowel of English. In related words, the schwa often occurs in different syllables. The reason is that English stress is highly variable, and the schwa is restricted to unstressed syllables. From the examples it is clear that the position of the schwa often varies in related words.

Three English Prepositions

Three English prepositions which are used very frequently are at, on and in. They are used in a variety of situations such as for time and place. The word at is often used for the most specific point, on for an intermediate interval and in for the broadest period.

The prepositional phrases at Vancouver and in Vancouver are both possible. However, at Vancouver is used in a restricted sense. One example is Toronto is playing at Vancouver. In this instance, Vancouver is the home team and if it is a hockey game, it will be played in the rink used by Vancouver. The prepositional phrase in Vancouver has a much broader sense and can be used in a sentence such as The tournament will take place in Vancouver.

Sentences which illustrate the use of at include The exam is at one o'clock and They live at 221 Main Street. The preposition at is used for time and with street addresses. If the street address is not given, the preposition on is used instead and the sentence becomes They live on Main Street.

For months and years, the preposition in is used. Examples include The French Revolution was in 1789 and I was born in April. For days, the preposition is used as in The party is on Saturday.

The prepositions at, on and in are among the most common English prepositions. They serve many different functions. The examples illustrate that at is frequently used for the most specific time or place, on for an intermediate interval and in for the broadest period.

Spanish Word with Seven Pronunciations

Spanish is a language of many dialects. They can be divided into two, Peninsular and Latin American. However, there are many more.  Let us illustrate with seven pronunciations of the word español.

1) alveolar fricative

2) apicodental fricative

3) apicodental fricative and velarized lateral

4) glottal fricative instead of alveolar fricative

5) glottal fricative instead of alveolar fricative and also aspirated plosive

5) lengthened initial vowel and deleted fricative

6) lengthened initial vowel, deleted fricative and also aspirated plosive

The first pronunciation occurs in many countries. However, the second one is very common in northern and central Spain. The velarized lateral is common in northeastern Spain.

Many speakers in southern Spain and the Caribbean use the glottal fricative instead of the alveolar fricative. However, the aspirated plosive is especially common in southern Spain. Another pronunciation is the deletion of the alveolar fricative with compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel.

The Spanish language has many dialects. This can be illustrated with the word español. It can be pronounced in seven different ways.