Tinto de Verano

Tinto de Verano is a very popular drink in Spain. It's similar to sangria but simpler. Here's the recipe:

1 part red wine
1 part sparkling water
slice of lemon (optional)

This is poured over ice. For a sweeter drink sugar can be added to the sparkling water. Instead of sparling water, a pop such as Sprite and 7-Up can also be used.

This is a very refreshing drink. It's especially popular in summer. Enjoy!

Swedish Possessive Adjective

Swedish has a third person possessive adjective which doesn't exist in English. This allows two interpretations for sentences such as Peter spoke to the neighbour about his house. In English it isn't clear whether his refers to the subject or object of the sentence. However, in Swedish it is.

Here is the sentence in Swedish:

Peter talade till grannen om sitt hus. The word sitt indicates that Peter spoke to the neighbour about his own house. If Peter spoke to the neighbour about the neighbour's house, the sentence would be Peter talade till grannen om hans hus.

Swedish has a possessive adjective which refers to the subject of the sentence. This allows a distinction which other languages don't. Besides Swedish, Danish and Norwegian also have this distinction.

Echo Questions

Echo questions repeat all or part of a sentence or question. They are often used when the hearer wishes to verify that the entire utterance was understood. Echo questions can also be used to express surprise and to probe for more information.

Here are examples of echo questions in conversation:

We're flying to Hawaii.
You're flying to Hawaii?

They're coming at six.
They're coming at six?

Paula wants to eat duck.
Paula wants to eat what?

Do you understand me?
Do I understand you?

Wendy needs to go home.
Who needs to go gome?

I have a headache.
A headache?

Echo questions are very common in conversation. They echo all or part of a previous utterance. In many cases echo questions are used to confirm or verify information.

Clipping

Clipping is a morphological process also known as shortening or truncation. This results in words which have been reduced from their original form. English has many examples of clipping.

In final clipping the final part of the word is removed. Examples include bra (brassiere), gas (gasoline) and photo (photograph).

In initial clipping the initial part of the word is removed. Examples include burger (hamburger), gator (alligator) and phone (telephone).

In medial clipping the initial and final parts of the word are removed. Examples include flu (influenza), fridge (refrigerator) and ma'am (madam). In ma'am, the final part of the word is retained, but it can be regarded as medial clipping because the middle of the word is removed.

Clipping is a process which shortens words. It can be classified into three types- final clipping, initial clipping and medial clipping. Of these three the most common is final clipping.

Word-initial /pf/ in German

The German language allows the affricate /pf/ at the beginning of a word. Though written as two letters, this is one sound. The /pf/ developed from /p/ and in fact often corresponds to a /p/ in English.

Here are ten German words which begin with /pf/:

Pfad path
Pfahl pole
Pfanne pan
Pfirsich peach
Pflanze plant
Pflaume plum
Pflug plough
Pfeffer pepper
Pfeife pipe
Pfund pound

The word-initial /pf/ is pronounced /f/ by certain speakers. This affricate often corresponds to a /p/ in English and other Germanic languages. The word  pepper is also pepper in Norwegian, peper in Dutch, peber in Danish and peppar in Swedish. German is unique among Germanic languages for allowing word-initial /pf/ .  

French Etymology

French etymology is not very phonetic. The reason is that it's based on old French, spoken from the 9th to 14th centuries. The pronunciation of French has changed significantly since this period.

Here are ten words which reflect the difference between spelling and pronunciation in French:

mot (word) the t is silent
sept (seven) the p is silent
vous (you) the s is silent
fils (son) the l is silent
samedi (Saturday) the e is silent
bras (arm) the s is silent
pied (foot) the d is silent
doigt (finger) the g and t are silent
oeufs (eggs) the f and s are silent
haricot (bean) the h and t are silent

From the examples, we can see that French spelling has many silent letters. They were pronounced in Old French but not today. Thus French spelling reflects the changes in pronunciation which the language has undergone over time.

Linking R

English has a phenomenon known as linking R. This only occurs in non-rhotic varieties of English They pronounce the /r/ when it is in the syllable onset and occurs before a vowel. In the case of linking R, however, the /r/ is word-final.

Non-rhotic varieties of English pronounce word-final /r/ when the following vowel begins with a vowel sound and there is no pause between the segments. For example, the /r/ of winner can be pronounced in the phrase the winner is. However, in the English of many non-rhotic speakers of the southern USA, linking R fails to apply.

Non-rhotic varieties of English often apply linking R. This /r/ always occurs across word boundaries. It isn't categorical, however, because it's blocked if there's a pause between the two segments.