Low Front Vowel of Eastern Andalusian Spanish

Spanish has five vowel phonemes. The lowest vowel is the low central unrounded vowel. However, in Eastern Andalusian Spanish, the mid central unrounded vowel becomes front before an underlying /s/.

In Eastern Andalusian Spanish, the low front unrounded vowel is realized in the following phrases:

el castor (the beaver)

el sastre (the tailor)

la cascada (the cascade)

las madres (the mothers)

las plantas (the plants)

The low vowel occurs when the underlying /s/ is glottalized or deleted. This also applies across word boundaries. The low front vowel is an allophone of the low central vowel because it occurs before an underlying /s/. Its occurrence can be predicted.

The low front unrounded vowel does not occur in standard Spanish. However, in the Eastern Andalusian dialect, it occurs before an underlying /s/. This is a feature which serves to distinguish Eastern Andalusian Spanish from other varieties of Spanish.

Sound Correspondence Between German and Dutch

German and Dutch are both West Germanic languages. Though they are similar, they are quite different in their pronunciation. It is often the case that a word-initial /t/ in German is a /d/ in Dutch.

Here is a list of ten words for comparison:

Tag dag (day)

Tanz dans (dance)

tausend duizend (thousand)

tief diep (deep)

Tier dier (animal)

Tochter dochter (daughter)

tot dood (dead)

Traum droom (dream)

trocken droog (dry)

Tür deur (door)

The German voiceless consonant is often voiced in other Germanic languages also. The word Tag (day) is dag in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish and the word Tochter (daughter) is datter in Danish and Norwegian, and it is dotter in Swedish.

The initial voiced alveolar plosive became voiceless in German. German devoices word-final plosives, but it also has voiceless alveolar plosives in words which have voiced alveolar plosives in other Germanic languages. This process is known as fortition.

Differences in Pronunciation of Dutch and Afrikaans

Dutch and Afrikaans are Germanic languages. The Afrikaans language evolved from the Dutch language in the eighteenth century. Despite their similarity, there are significant differences in pronunciation.

The following words are identical in the two languages:

been (leg)

groot (big)

neus (nose)

Though the three words share the same spelling and meaning, they are pronounced differently. In Afrikaans the three words have diphthongs. The three words can also be pronounced with diphthongs in Dutch, but this is only the case in the northern dialects. Nevertheless, even in those dialects which use diphthongs in the three words, the components of the diphthongs are different.

In Dutch, been  is pronounced with a mid front unrounded tense vowel. In the northern dialects, the word has a diphthong. The second component is a high front unrounded lax vowel. In Afrikaans, the word also has a diphthong, but it is different. The first component is a high front unrounded lax vowel and the second is a schwa.

In Dutch, groot is pronounced with a mid back rounded tense vowel. The nucleus is diphthongized in the dialects of the north. In this case, the second component is a high back rounded lax vowel. In Afrikaans, however, the pronunciation is quite different. The first component is a high back rounded lax vowel and the second component is a schwa.

The word neus has a mid front rounded tense vowel in Dutch. In the northern dialects, the word has a diphthong. In this case the second component is a high front rounded lax vowel. In Afrikaans, the first component of the diphthong is a high front unrounded lax vowel and the second is a mid front rounded tense vowel.

The pronunciation of Dutch and Afrikaans is not identical. In the words groot, neus and been, the pronunciation varies in the southern and northern Dutch dialects. In the southern dialects, the words have monophthongs, but in the northern ones they have diphthongs. In Afrikaans, the words all have diphthongs, but they are different from the diphthongs of the northern Dutch dialects. 

Poem (February Twilight)

The American poet Sara Teasdale wrote February Twilight.  It is a short poem with two stanzas of four verses each. The poem is full of imagery.

February Twilight

I stood beside a hill

Smooth with new-laid snow.

A single star looked out

From the cold evening glow.

There was no other creature

That saw what I could see--

I stood and watched the evening star

As long as it watched me.

In the poem the second and fourth verses of each stanza rhyme with one another. It is a very quiet evening and only one star is visible. The star and the narrator are both alone and they spend time watching one another. The poem February Twilight expresses the beauty of nature, solitude and winter.

Negation in Finnish and Hungarian

Finnish and Hungarian are Uralic languages. Though they belong to the same language family, they are distantly related. The two languages express negation differently.

In Hungarian the adverb of negation is invariable and the verb is inflected. However, in Finnish the adverb of negation is inflected and the verb is invariable. Here are examples:

En puhu espanjaa.

Et puhu espanjaa.

Hän ei puhu espanjaa.

Emme puhu espanjaa.

Ette puhu espanjaa.

He eivät puhu espanjaa.

Nem beszélek spanyolul.

Nem beszélsz spanyolul.

Nem beszél spanyolul.

Nem beszélünk spanyolul.

Nem beszéltek spanyolul.

Nem beszélnek spanyolul.

The sentences mean the following:

I don't speak Spanish.

You don't speak Spanish.

He/she doesn't speak Spanish.

We don't speak Spanish.

You don't speak Spanish.

They don't speak Spanish.

The word order is the same in the two languages. However, Finnish always uses the pronoun in the third person. Hungarian can omit it in all persons. In Hungarian the adverb of negation (nem) is invariable. However, in Finnish the verb (puhu) is invariable.

Though Finnish and Hungarian belong to the same language family, they express negation differently. The structure of the Hungarian verb phrase with negation is similar to that of many other languages. However, the structure of the Finnish verb phrase with negation is different. It inflects the adverb of negation but not the verb.

Voiceless Alveopalatal Fricative of Northwestern Mexican Spanish

The voiceless alveopalatal fricative does not occur in most varieties of Spanish. However, it does occur in the Spanish of northwestern Mexico. It is used instead of the voiceless alveopalatal affricate.

The following words are pronounced with a voiceless alveopalatal fricative in the Spanish of northwestern Mexico:

champú (shampoo)

cheque (cheque)

chocolate (chocolate)

cuchillo (knife)

cuchara (spoon)

leche (milk)

lechuga (lettuce)

noche (night)

ocho (eight)

techo (roof)

The Spanish of northwestern Mexico has the alveopalatal voiceless fricative of English. In northwestern Mexico, the word champú sounds similar to the English word shampoo. In other parts of Mexico, the voiceless alveopalatal affricate is used.

Linear Equations With One Variable

 A linear equation with one variable is an algebraic equation with one solution. The linear equation x + y = 5 has many solutions. The value of x could be 2 and y could be 3, x could be 1 and 4, and x could be 5 and y could be 0. These all satisfy the equation. However, the linear equation x + 1 = 2 has only one solution. The value of x must be 1.

Let us look at a few linear equations. Here are five examples:

x + 6 = 10

3x + 2 = 17

y - 3 = 15

4x + 4 = 8

x + x + 3 = 7

The linear equation can be solved by putting the variable on one side of the equation and the numerical value on the other. The equations can be solved as follows:

x + 6 = 10

x = 10 - 6

x = 4

3x + 2 = 17

3x = 17 - 2

3x = 15

x = 5

y - 3 = 15

y = 15 + 3

y = 18

4x + 4 = 8

4x = 8 - 4

4x = 4

x = 1

x + x + 3 = 7

2x + 3 = 7

2x = 7 - 3

2x = 4

x = 2

Linear equations with one variable have only one solution. The variable is often represented by x or y,  but other letters such as a and b are also common. To solve linear equations, the variable is placed on one side of the equation and the numerical value on the other.