Old English Adverbs

Old English had adverbs that are no longer used in English. They are whither, wence, thither and thence. These forms were used to indicate the source and the destination. Let us illustrate with examples.

The question Where are you going? asks about direction. In Old English the word whither was used in such situations. However, where are you from? asks about source or origin. The Old English word whence was used in such situations.

The words thither and thence work in the same way. To say I'm going there, the word thither was used and to say I came from there, the word thence was used. The word pairs were were-there, whither-thither and whence-hence. The word hence survives in English, but only with the meaning of therefore.

Old English had locative adverbs that are now archaic. The locative adverbs were used to indicate direction and source. Their loss is an example of language change.

Famous Danish Phrase

A famous Danish phrase that Danes often ask foreigners to say is rødgrød med fløde.  It means red berries with cream. The berries can be any that are red such as raspberries, strawberries and red currants. The reason the phrase is famous is that it can be challenging to pronounce.

The first word of the phrase, rødgrød, begins with a uvular fricative. The first vowel is mid front rounded lax and is followed by a consonant that only exists in Danish. The consonant is an alveolar velarized laminal approximant. Following the approximant there is a glottal stop.

The second part of the compound, grød, begins with a voiced velar plosive. The other segments are the same as in the word rød. It also ends with a glottal stop.

The second word, med, has a bilabial nasal followed by a mid front unrounded tense vowel. It is followed by an alveolar velarized laminal approximant and a glottal stop.

The final word, fløde, has no glottal stop. It begins with a labiodental fricative and an alveolar lateral. The first vowel of the word is a long mid front rounded tense vowel. It is followed by an alveolar velarized laminal approximant and a schwa.

The Danish phrase rødgrød med fløde is challenging for many learners. It has the alveolar velarized laminal approximant, a sound that only exists in Danish, and the glottal stop. It also has the uvular fricative and two different mid front rounded vowels. The phrase is exemplary for illustrating the complexities of Danish pronunciation.

Spanish Grammatical Marker for Persons and Pets

Spanish has a grammatical marker used with persons and pets. It is the word a and is always used before direct objects with no equivalent in English. Let us explore its function.

The sentence " I see my brother" is Veo a mi hermano in Spanish. The word a is used because the direct object is a person. It can also be used with pets such as in the sentence I don't see my cat, which is No veo a mi gato. If the animal is not a pet, no grammatical marker is used. The sentence I see three elephants is Veo tres elefantes.

The grammatical marker a is also used with the pronouns alguien (someone) and nadie (no one). Examples include No veo a nadie (I don't see anyone) and Tienes que decirle a alguien (You have to tell someone).

The personal a of Spanish is a grammatical marker that is used before direct objects. It is for people and pets. In other Romance languages such as French, Italian and Portuguese, it is not used. The grammatical marker is truly unique.

Compound Words with Ache

The word ache can combine with different parts of the body to form compound words. However, the list of words is limited. The adjective sore combines with many more.

Compound words with ache include backache, bellyache, earache, headache, heartache, stomachache and toothache. The word bellyache is an informal word for stomachache. In contrast to the other words, heartache does not describe physical pain but emotional.

For most parts of the body, the adjective sore is used. Examples include sore foot, sore knee and sore shoulder.  However, the word ache is used for a few parts of the body. It derives from Old English.

Danish Consonants

Danish consonants have properties that make them different from those of other Germanic languages. Word-initial consonants are always voiceless but can be voiceless aspirated or voiceless unaspirated. Word-final consonants are always voiced, and voiced consonants can also occur in consonant clusters with a voiceless alveolar fricative.

The word bil means car. It has a voiceless unaspirated consonant. The word pil means arrow and has a voiceless aspirated consonant.

In the word sort (black), the final consonant is voiced. It is the consonant /d/. However, it is partly devoiced. The words bæk (brook) and kop (cup) end with the voiced consonants /g/ and /b/.

Consonant clusters with the voiceless alveolar fricative combine with voiced plosives. For example, the words skole (school) and busk (bush) have the consonant cluster /sg/. In sprog (language) and stol (chair), the consonant clusters are /sb/ and /sd/.

In most languages, consonant clusters agree with one another in voicing. The English word books has two voiceless consonants in the coda and dogs has two voiced ones. However, Danish allows the combination of a voiceless consonant and a voiced consonant. This is not the case in Norwegian and Swedish, two similar languages.

Danish only allows voiceless consonants at the beginning of the word and only allows voiced consonants at the end. The combination of a voiceless /s/ and voiced plosive occurs in consonant clusters. In languages such as English, such a combination is not possible. Danish consonants are thus unique.

Apocope in Northern Norwegian Dialects

One well-known feature of northern Norwegian dialects is apocope. Apocope is the loss of vowels. In northern Norwegian dialects, it is common in verb endings and at the end of words. It is a type of vowel lenition or weakening.

The use of apocope can vary from one dialect to another. An example of a sentence without apocope is  Han vil synge en vise og jeg skal kjøpe en kake. This sentence means He wants to sing a song and I want to buy a cake. It is typical of the Norwegian spoken in Oslo and other parts of southeastern Norway.

In many northern Norwegian dialects, the sentence is as follows: Han vil søng ei vis og e skal kjøp ei kak. Notice the use of apocope. The final vowel of the infinitive synge (sing), the noun vise (song), the infinitive kjøp (buy) and kake (cake) are missing. The apocope of northern Norwegian dialects reduces the number of syllables.

Apocope is a common phonological process in many Norwegian dialects. The deleted vowel is always unstressed. It is also common in many northern Swedish dialects.

Ten Pronunciations of Butter

The word butter can be pronounced in many ways. The pronunciation depends on the dialect. Here are ten different pronunciations: 

1) bʌtə This pronunciation is common in southeastern England.

2) bʌɾə This pronunciation can occur in Australia, New Zealand and parts of the USA

3) bʌdə This pronunciation is common in Australia and New Zealand.

4) bʌʔə This pronunciation is typical of the variety called Cockney English.

5) bʊtə This pronunciation is common in northern England.

6) bʌtɚ This pronunciation is common in Ireland and Scotland.

7) bʌʔɚ This pronunciation is common in southwestern England.

8) bʌɾɚ This pronunciation is common in Canada and the United States.

9) bʊdɚ This pronunciation can occur in Ireland.

10) bʊtɚ This pronunciation can also occur in Ireland.

The pronunciations illustrate the variety of English dialects spoken around the world. The first vowel in butter can be a central vowel or a back vowel, the word-medial consonant can be a voiced or voiceless plosive or a tap, and the final vowel can be a schwa, or it can be r-coloured. The first pronunciation is the pronunciation of RP and the eighth pronunciation is the most common in Canada and the USA.