Macedonian

The Macedonian language is a Slavic language and is spoken predominantly in North Macedonia. It is most closely related to Bulgarian. Macedonian is written in the Cyrillic alphabet.

Macedonian has five vowel phonemes. Two are front vowels, one is central and two are back. The tongue position of the mid vowels can vary significantly from one speaker to another. Unlike in Russian, the vowels are never reduced.

In words of three syllables or more, Macedonian usually has antepenultimate stress. In a trisyllabic word, it is the first syllable of the word that is usually stressed. In disyllabic words, it is usually the penultimate syllable. 

Macedonian words have a large number of vowels relative to consonants. This is in contrast to other Slavic languages such as Polish, languages which are known for their many consonant clusters. Macedonian is a South Slavic language, and one of the features of South Slavic languages is less palatalization than in other Slavic languages such as Russian, Slovak and Polish. Another is that word-final obstruents are not devoiced.

Macedonian has far fewer speakers than Slavic languages such as Russian, Polish and Ukrainian. This is probably the reason that is not a very well-known Slavic language. It is the official language of North Macedonia.

Puerto Rican /r/

The /r/ of Puerto Rico can be an alveolar flap or trill. This is the same in other varieties of Spanish. However, the /r/ can also be realized with a voiceless velar fricative. The use of the voiceless velar fricative for the /r/ is limited to Puerto Rico.

The voiceless velar fricative is a consonant of Spanish. It occurs in words such as gelatina (gelatin), jardín (garden) and juguete (toy). However, the same sound can be used in Puerto Rican Spanish for the /r/. In Puerto Rican Spanish, the voiceless velar fricative can occur in the following words:

carro (car)

hierro (iron)

perro (dog)

razón (reason)

rey (king)

río (river)

roca (rock)

rueda (wheel)

tierra (land)

torre (tower)

In Puerto Rico, the voiceless velar fricative can be used instead of the voiced alveolar trill. However, in words such as caro (gold), oro (gold) and pero (but), all Spanish dialects use the alveolar flap. The alveolar flap of Spanish only occurs intervocalically.

Puerto Rican Spanish is quite different from other varieties of Spanish. Many Puerto Ricans use the voiceless velar fricative instead of the voiced alveolar trill in words such as those in the list above. The use of the voiceless velar fricative in such words is distinctive of Puerto Rican Spanish.

Hungarian Word-Final Vowels

Hungarian has fourteen vowel phonemes. Certain dialects have fifteen, but the number is fourteen in the standard language. The fourteen vowel phonemes can be classified on the basis of length. Seven are short, and seven are long. The front vowels consist of four pairs, and the back vowels consist of three.

Word-final vowels can be short or long. However, the mid front rounded vowel and mid back rounded vowels are always long when they are word-final. For example, the Hungarian word for snow is hó and the word for grape is szőlő. This restriction does not apply to the other vowels. The word for village is falu and the word for menu is menü.

The vowels of Hungarian can be divided into seven pairs that are short and long. These vowels can appear in all word-positions with the exception of two vowels, the mid front rounded long and mid back rounded short vowels.. These two vowels never appear in word-final position. In word-final position, the vowel length of the Hungarian mid vowels is neutralized.

Suffix -ant/-ent

The suffix -ant/-ent can attach to verbs to create adjectives and nouns. The forms -ant and -ent are variants of the same suffix. They occur in many English words.

The words different and persistent are adjectives. They are formed from the verbs differ and persist. Other adjectives are important and observant. These are formed from the verbs import and observe.

These suffixes can also be used to form nouns. Examples include assistant and servant with -ant and resident and student with -ent. They are formed from the verbs assist, serve, reside and study. 

The spelling dependent is used for the adjective, and dependant is used for the person. It is possible to say that dependants are dependent on those who look after them. Both words are formed from the verb depend.

The affix -ant/-ent is very useful in English. To indicate that -ant and -ent are variants of one suffix, we can use -Vnt to indicate the underlying form. The suffix is a type of affix that is attached to the end of words. It is not necessary to specify the vowel because it can be either. Though they have different forms, the two variants are pronounced the same because the affix is always unstressed and the vowel is a schwa. 

Old English Adverbs

Old English had adverbs that are no longer used in English. They are whither, whence, 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 where-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.