Disjunct

A disjunct is an adverbial phrase with information that is not considered essential to the sentence. It expresses the speaker's attitude towards the sentence. The disjunct refers to any part of the sentence which is not fully integrated into the clausal structure of the sentence. The disjunct usually appears peripherally, at the beginning or end of the sentence.

Here are examples of disjuncts:

Fortunately for you, I can give you an extension.
Frankly, the whole presentation needs revision.
Honestly, I didn't see anything.
Luckily, she arrived on time.
Unfortunately, by the time he arrived, most of them had already left.

In certain cases, the same word or phrase can be interpreted as an adjunct or disjunct.

They seriously worked in an underground diamond mine in South Africa.

The disjunct meaning is that the speaker is serious when he/she says that they worked in an underground diamond mine. The adjunct meaning is that they worked in a serious manner while in an underground diamond mine. With the disjunct meaning seriously is a sentence adverb and with the adjunct meaning, it is an adverb of manner.

Disjuncts are adverbial phrases which are not an essential part of the sentence. They usually appear peripherally. In certain cases, the adverbial can be interpreted as either an adjunct or a disjunct.

Shetland Dialect

The Shetland dialect of Scotland is distinctive. One of the most distinctive features of the dialect is the use of the second person singular du instead of you to address family and friends. Objects are often referred to as he or she instead of it.

The fricatives of words such as this, that, thick and thin are replaced with plosives. This is also common in Irish English. The be verb is often used for present perfect. Have you heard? Yes, I've heard can be expressed with Is du heard? Yea, I'm heard.

Shetland and Orkney form part of a wider dialect known as Insular Scots. Shetland is an archipelago of islands located northeast of the Scottish mainland. The dialect was influenced by Norn, an extinct Scandinavian language.

Norwegian Variants of I

Norwegian has many dialects. The first person singular I has many forms. Let us look at a few.

In Oslo the word for I is jeg. In Bergen most speakers use eg. Region in other parts of Norway use other forms.

In Rogaland the first person singular is ek. This is e in Gudbrandsdal, and in the northernmost part of Norway, æ is used. In parts of Oppland the pronoun is je. These are only a few of the variants of the first person singular pronoun of Norwegian.

The many forms for the first person singular pronoun in Norwegian illustrate that the language has many dialects. The most common written forms are jeg and eg, but many others are used. Without doubt, Norwegian is a language with great diversity.

Deixis

Deixis refers to words and phrases which cannot be understand without additional contextual information. Examples of deictic expressions include time and space. Personal pronouns are also deictic.

The following sentences contain examples of person deixis:

I love movies.
We have already had dinner.

The following sentences contain examples of place deixis:

We love living in this city.
They were sitting over there.

The following sentences contain examples of temporal deixis:

They want to start now.
We finished yesterday.

Deictic expressions must be understood in their proper context. Pronouns such as  I can have many interpretations because they can refer to many different speakers. To interpret deictic expressions, the speaker and the hearer require adequate information for their conversation.

Pronunciation of d in Spanish

The letter d has two pronunciations in Spanish. It can be a dental plosive or an interdental fricative. The two sounds are in complementary distribution. They are thus allophones of the phoneme /d/.

The dental plosive occurs word-initially and after the alveolar nasal [n] and the alveolar lateral [l]. The interdental fricative occurs intervocalically and word-finally. The intervocalic position can also extend to word boundaries. The word diferencia (difference) is pronounced with a dental plosive, but the phrase la diferencia is pronounced with an interdental fricative. The fricative also occurs after the alveolar trill [r].

The following words are pronounced with the dental plosive:

diccionario (dictionary)
diez (ten)
dos (two)
falda (skirt)
mundo (world)

The following words are pronounced with the interdental fricative:

comida (food)
izquierda (left)
libertad (liberty)
miedo (fear)
sed (thirst)

The examples illustrate that the Spanish d has two pronounciations. The interdental fricative occurs intervocalically and word-finally, and the dental plosive occurs word-initially and can also occur word-medially. The interdental fricative can be considered the result of lenition.

Structure of English Questions

English questions can be divided into wh-questions and yes-no questions The structure of these questions varies. Let us look at examples.

Wh-questions begin with wh-words. Though how does not begin with wh, this is also classified as a wh-word. In wh-questions the verb follows the wh-word. This is illustrated in the following questions:

Where are you?
What should we do?
When can they come?

If the wh-question has a main verb other than a be verb, do support is needed.

What do you do?
When did they arrive?
Where do they live?

Yes-no questions with auxiliaries require inversion of the subject and auxiliary. This is illustrated in the following examples.

Can you sing?
May I give you a suggestion?
Must I revise my presentation?

Inversion is also needed with be verbs.

Was it interesting?
Were they happy?
Are you hungry?

With main verbs do-support is required.

Do you know them?
Did they agree with you?
Do you like my new watch?

Indirect questions can contain an embedded yes-no or wh-question. If the embedded question is a wh-question and has a be verb, inversion is needed.

I wonder where they are.
I don't know where he is going.
He wanted to know what the answer was.

In the case of indirect questions with embedded yes-no questions, the conjunction if is added.

We're not sure if they can come.
Do you know if they like fish?
Could you tell me if your parents can join us?

English questions are composed of different structures. In certain cases inversion and do-support are needed. Both inversion and do-support are seen in indirect questions, and indirect questions also contain the conjunction if. The structure of English questions is thus quite varied.

Victory in 24

In a game of speed chess, my opponent resigned after 24 moves. He was ando1893 of the United Kingdom, who played black. Here are the moves of the game along with my commentary:

1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bb5 d6
4. 0-0 Bd7
5. c3 a6
6. Bxc6 Bxc6

Material is even, but the black king is in the centre of the board.

7. Re1 Nf6
8. d4 Bxe4

I sacrifice a pawn to create open files against the black king.

9. dxe5 Bxe3

Black should play dxe5.

10. Qxf3 dxe5

I should play exf6+. This not only captures the knight but puts the black king in check. This allows Qxf3 on the next move.

11. Rxe5+ Be7
12. h3 Rb8

A better move for black is to castle.

13. Qe2 b5
14. Bg5 Rb6
15. Na3 h6
16. Bxf6 gxf6
17. Re4 Rd6
18. Re1 Rd7

If black castles, he loses a piece.

19. Nc2 Kf8
20. Nd4 f5
21. Nxf5 Rd2
22. Qg4 Rg8

Black should play Bg5.

23. Qxh6+ Kg8
24. Nxe7+

Black resigns because he will lose his queen. In this game black fails to castle and is on the defensive for much of the game. I establish strong control of the e-file.