Vowel Length in Scottish English

English has a rule that vowels are longer before voiced consonants than before voiceless ones. In word pairs such as cab/cap and seed/seat, the vowel of the first word in each pair is longer than in the second. However, this is not the case in Scottish English. In Scottish English, the vowel length is the same in each word.

Scottish English has a length distinction in certain cases. The Scottish Voice Lengthening Rule explains that the vowels lengthen in words with morpheme boundaries. In most varieties of English, the words raise/rays and road/rowed are pronounced the same. However, in Scottish English they are not. The words rays and rowed have longer vowels. The reason is that they have morpheme boundaries.

The words rays and rowed have two morphemes. The first word consists of a noun and plural suffix. It can be analyzed as ray + s. The second consists of a verb and simple past suffix, and it can be analyzed as row + ed. Since they can be divided into separate morphemes, the vowels of the root are long. In the words raise and road, there are no separate morphemes, and as a result, the vowels are short.

Vowel length in Scottish English is different from vowel length in other varieties of English. It does not apply in words such as cab and seed, but does in words such as rays and rowed. In Scottish English, the rules of vowel lengthening are different than in other varieties of English.

Identical Words in Swedish and Norwegian in Contrast to Danish

The vocabulary of Danish and Norwegian is very similar. In fact, Danish and Norwegian share many words. The degree of lexical similarity between Danish and Norwegian is greater than with Swedish. However, in certain cases, Norwegian and Swedish share the same word, but Danish does not. Here are ten words to illustrate:

bok bog (book)

buss bus (bus)

fot fod (foot)

hotell hotel (hotel)

landskap landskab (landscape)

mage mave (stomach)

mat mad (food)

natt nat (night)

skog skov (forest)

språk sprog (language)

Danish does not allow doubled consonants in word-final position. This prohibits words such as buss and natt in Danish. In many cases the letters b, d and g in Danish correspond to p, t and k in Norwegian and Swedish. This is the case in word pairs such as bok/bog and fot/fod. Despite the differences in vocabulary, it is clear that the three languages have very similar vocabulary.

Use of Present Continuous For Future

The present continuous can be used to express future tense. It is especially common in conversation. However, there are two cases in which it is never used to express the future.

One case is with predictions. It is not used in a sentence such as It will rain tomorrow.  The sentence It is going to rain tomorrow is also correct. However, the use of the present continuous  such as in the sentence It is raining only applies to the present tense.

Another case in which the present continous is not used is the result cause of conditional imperatives. An example is Take an umbrella or you'll get wet. The sentence can also be expressed with going to, i.e., Take an umbrella or you're going to get wet. The use of the present continuous in such a sentence is incorrect. The sentence can also be expressed with the conjunction if. In the sentence If you don't take an umbrella, you'll get wet is not expressed with the present continuous.

The present continuous is fine in sentences such as I'm meeting them tomorrow and The movie is coming out soon. However, with predictions and conditional imperatives, the present continous is never used to express future tense. In certain cases, the present continuous cannot be used to express the future.

Open Vowels in the Portuguese of Rio de Janeiro

The Portuguese of Rio de Janeiro uses more open vowels than the Portuguese of Sao Paulo. In fact, the use of open vowels in Rio de Janeiro is a feature that it shares with European Portuguese. Let us compare the varieties of Portuguese spoken in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

In Rio de Janeiro, the word café (coffee) has an open vowel in the final syllable. However, in Sao Paulo, it has a closed vowel. Likewise, the words atleta (athlete) and belo (beautiful) have an open vowel in the Portuguese of Rio de Janeiro, but they have a closed vowel in the Portuguese of Sao Paulo. Other words that have an open vowel in Rio de Janeiro and a closed one in Sao Paulo are agradável (pleasant) and incrível (incredible).

Other words with open vowels in Rio de Janeiro are corpo (body), glória (glory), história (history), hoje (today) and tênis (tennis). The same words have closed vowels in Sao Paulo. One reason that the Portuguese of Rio de Janeiro is often considered a bit closer to European Portuguese than other varieties of Brazilian Portuguese is the use of open vowels.

The Portuguese of Rio de Janeiro is distinct from other varieties of Portuguese. In contrast to the Portuguese of Sao Paulo, it uses more open vowels. The open vowels are always the mid front unrounded vowel and the mid back rounded vowel. In this regard, it is similar to European Portuguese.