Subject and Topic

The terms subject and topic are often used in semantics. Sometimes the subject and topic are the same but not always. Let us illustrate with an example.

The sentence The pencil is on the table consists of a subject (the pencil) and a verb phrase. The verb phrase can further be divided into a verb phrase (is) and a prepositional phrase (on the table). However, the sentence can be used to emphasize different information. If one hears the question What's on the table? it's sufficient to answer The pencil. But if one hears the question Where's the pen? it's sufficient to answer On the table.

In the sentence The pencil is on the table the subject is the pencil. In response to the question What's on the table? the phrase the pencil is also the topic. However, in response to the question Where's the pencil? the topic of the sentence is on the table. In this case the subject and the topic are different.

In English the subject usually occurs at the front of the sentence because English has SVO order. The topic, however, can occur in either subject or object position and is the focus of the conversation. Languages such as Japanese and Korean have separate markers to indicate the subject and topic of the sentence.

Minimal Pairs With the Alveolar Flap

The alveolar flap is common in North American English. It occurs in intervocalic position between an unstressed vowel and a stressed one. In other varieties of English such as Irish, Australian and New Zealand the alveolar flap is also common. For those speakers who have an alveolar flap, the following words are pronounced the same:

Adam atom
coding coating
ladder latter
leader litre
medal metal
odder otter
pedal petal
rider writer
tidal title
tudor tutor

In Canadian English and also in varieties of American English, the pairs rider/writer and tidal/title are not identical. Due to vowel raising in words such as write, speakers who maintain a distinction have a raised vowel in writer but not in rider. In the case of tidal/title, speakers who distinguish the pair have a raised vowel in title. In addition to the raised vowel in writer and title, the vowel in rider and tidal has a longer duration.

Though many speakers pronounce words such as leader/litre and pedal/petal identically, the meaning is usually understood from context. In the sentences I have a tutor and I bought one litre, the meaning is clear. For this reason misunderstandings are rare.

Catenative Verbs

Catenative verbs are verbs that can be directly followed by another verb. The second verb can be an infinitive or gerund. The name catenative derives from the ability of the verbs to form chains as in the sentence We promised to try to practise more.

The following sentences illustrate catenative verbs:

I advise leaving now.
I regret telling him everything.
I love to swim in the ocean.
He didn't dare answer.
They have gone to see an action movie.
They helped pack her bags.
They helped to pack her bags.
We want to please all our clients.
You are allowed to wear casual clothes.
You seem to be tired today.

The verb help can be followed by the bare infinitive or the to-infinitive in the examples. This is different from other verbs such as want in which the to-infinitive must follow rather than the bare infinitive. Catenative verbs can combine with other verbs which are in either gerund or infinitive form.

Foot-Goose Merger

The foot-goose merger refers to a merger of the high back vowels in the words foot and goose. It is found in the English of Scotland and Northern Ireland. In the foot-goose merger, both words are pronounced with a high back rounded tense vowel.

In Northern Ireland and Scotland, many speakers pronounce foot and goose with the same vowel, the vowel of goose. For these speakers, the words Luke and look sound identical and the words food and good rhyme. The distinction between the tense vowel of goose and lax vowel of foot is lost.

The foot-goose merger neutralizes the distinction between the tense and lax high back vowels of English. The marked lax vowel is replaced with the unmarked tense vowel. The foot-goose merger also exists in Singapore English. In Singapore English, however, the vowel is not as advanced as in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The foot-goose merger is one of the many mergers in English.

Romanian

Romanian is a Romance language spoken primarily in Romania and Moldova. Romanian nouns have three genders- masculine, feminine and neutral. Definite articles are suffixed to the end of the noun rather than placed in front. In Spanish the apple is la manzana. In Romania this is marul, which is composed of mar (apple) plus the definite article. Here are the numbers in Romanian from one to ten:

unu
doi
trei
patru
cinci
șase
șapte
opt
nouâ
zece

Unlike in other Romance languages, the word for four begins with a p (Spanish quatro and French quatre) and the word for ten begins with a z (Spanish diez and French dix). Distinguishing features of Romanian include three genders for nouns and postnominal definite articles. However, the numbers illustrate the similarity of Romanian to other Romance languages.

Prune Tart

This Agen prune tart is delicious and doesn't take so long to make. Agen is located in the southwest of France. Here is the recipe:

Pastry

1 cup flour

7 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon sugar

5 tablespoons water

pinch of salt

Filling

400 grams pitted prunes

1 egg

6 tablespoons icing sugar

1 tablespoon flour

1/2 cup cream

1/2 tablespoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon vanilla sugar

Let the prunes soak in boiling water for half an hour.

Prepare the pastry.

Let it rest for an hour and then roll it to fit the pan.

Grease and flour the pan before adding the pastry.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Drain the prunes and add them to the pastry.

Sprnkle two tablespoons of sugar over the prunes.
Bake for twently minutes.

Mix the egg with the icing sugar, 1 tablespoon of flour and the cream.

Add the cinnamon.

If you wish, you can also add a bit of Armagnac.

Pour over the prunes and bake another 25 minutes.

Sprinkle with vanilla sugar.

Enjoy!

False Friends in Spanish and Portuguese

Spanish and Portuguese are closely related. However, they have a number of false friends. Here is a list with the Spanish word on the left and the Portuguese on the right:

cadera (hip) cadeira (chair)
cena (supper) cena (scene)
doce (twelve) doce (sweet)
exquisito (exquisite) esquisito (unusual)
largo (long) largo (wide)
polvo (dust) polvo (octopus)
pronto (soon) pronto (ready)
rato (while) rato (rat)
rojo (red) roxo (purple)
salsa (sauce) salsa (parsley)

As the list illustrates, certain words in Spanish and Portuguese are false friends. The difference in meaning is often great as in the case of polvo- dust in Spanish and octopus in Portuguese. For this reason it is good to be aware of the false friends in the two languages.

Beer Porridge

Beer porridge is a Dutch dish which is simple to make. Despite the name, it is often served as a drink. Here is the recipe:

2 cups milk
2 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup dark beer
1 tablespoon sugar

Bring two cups of milk to a simmer.
Dissolve the flour in two tablespoons of milk.
Add to the warm milk.
Bring the milk to a boil and stir until the mixture thickens.
Lower the heat and stir in the sugar and beer.
Mix well and cook a minute longer.
Serve warm in mugs or bowls.

Latest Poem

Here is my latest poem. I wrote it for my wife's birthday.

My Wife

It was cloudy, it was rainy,
Nearly dinner time when we met.
From this moment began our story
With background weather grey and wet.

Who knew what would come from this encounter?
Who could say that marriage was near?
But after our first day together
My heart told me to reappear.

With every moment spent with you,
In conversation and adventure,
Every moment felt so new
And our love deepened further.

I remember well our time together.
You are my day, my night, my life.
Days with you are filled with wonder.
I am proud to call you my wife.

My poem has four stanzas with four verses each. The rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef ghgh. The second stanzas begins with two questions. The title of the poem appears in the final two words.

Distribution of English Phonemes

The distribution of English phonemes varies. Many phonemes can occur word-initially and word-finally, but others only occur word-initially or word-finally. Let us look at the distribution of various phonemes in English.

The velar nasal of sing only occurs word-finally. Unlike the bilabial nasal of me and the alveolar nasal of now, the velar nasal never occurs word-initially. It is the case that this phoneme never occurs word-initially in European languages.

The glottal fricative of house never occurs word-finally. English once had a velar fricative in words such as night, but this is no longer the case. In German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian, glottal fricatives are also restricted to word-initial position.

The voiced interdental fricative of the can occur word-initially and word-finally, but it is more common in word-initial position. An example of the voiced interdental fricative in word-final position is bathe.

The lax vowels of end and it occur word-initially and word-medially, but not word-finally. However, this is not true for all dialects of English because in certain dialects, the high front unrounded lax vowel occurs in words such as happy,

The lax vowel of good never occurs word-initially or word-finally. It occurs after a word-initial consonant such as look and should. It has a much more restricted distribution than the tense vowel of boot.

The examples illustrate that English phonemes occur in different environments. The phonemes with restricted environments are marked. Thus the lax vowel of look is a marked vowel, but the vowel of boot is unmarked. The distribution of phonemes varies not only in English but in fact in all languages.

Resignation after 11 moves

In a game of speed chess, my opponent resigned after my eleventh move. I forced his bishop to retreat, which took away the escape square for his rook. When it was clear he couldn't save his rook, he resigned. My opponent was Starianovea of South Korea, who played white. Here are the moves of the game along with my commentary:

1. e4 c5
2. Bc4 e6

White develops the bishop early. I play e6 so that I can later play d5.

3. e6 Nc6

Black prevents d5.

4. Nf3 a6
5. a4 f6

Black prevents b5.

6. exf Nxf6
7. d3 Be7
8. Bg5 0-0
9. Bxf6 Bxf6

Black's move is very committal. My bishop now has control of the f6-a1 diagonal.

10.  0-0 d5

I can play Bxb2, but I want to drive back the bishop so that the rook loses its only escape square.

11. Ba2 Bxb2

White blunders. He should play Bb3 to give his rook an escape square. By playing Bb3, he loses his rook.

Down a pawn and unable to save his rook, white resigns. His eleventh move leads to the loss of his rook and his ninth move gives me control of an important diagonal. In a difficult position, white decides to resign early.

Strawberry Cake

There are many recipes for strawberry cake. This Swedish recipe is easy and very tasty. Here is the recipe:

8 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon lemon peel
2 cups strawberries
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
1 cup flour

Melt the butter.
Butter a pan and coat with breadcrumbs.
Chop the strawberries into small pieces.
Mix the eggs and the sugar.
Add the baking powder and vanilla sugar.
Now add the flour, melted butter and lemon peel.
Mix well.
Put in the pan.
Place the chopped strawberries on top.
Bake at 175 degrees Celsius for 35 minutes or until the cake has a golden colour.

French Influence Of English

The French language has strongly influenced English. During the Norman occupation, around 10,000 words were incorporated into English and more than half of them are still in use today. This influence extends not only to vocabulary, but also to pronunciation and word order.

Many French words and words of French origin are used in English. Here is a small list:

beef 
brunette
carte blanche
cordon bleu
deja vu
double entendre
encore 
fondue
genre
haute cuisine
je ne sais quoi
joie de vivre
laissez-faire
mutton
noblesse oblige
nouveau riche
pirouette
pork
puree
rapport
rendez-vous
veal
venison
vis-a-vis
vol-au-vent

French has also influenced English pronunciation. Words such as vol-au-vent have a nasalized vowel not present in native English words. Old English had the voiceless fricatives of for, she, sit and three, but French added the voiced counterparts of mirage, the, valley and zone. 

Another area of French influence is word order. The compounnds secretary-general and surgeon general retain the word order typical of French rather than the adjective + noun sequence used in English.

The English language exhibits many signs of French influence. These can be seen in many words as well as word order and pronunciation. Despite this reality, many English speakers are not fully aware of the extent to which French has influenced English.

Italian Words with a Final Consonant

Most Italian words end with a vowel. However, this is not the case for all words. Here is a list of Italian words which end with a consonant:

ananas (pineapple)
con (with)
est (east)
film (film)
in (in)
non (not)
nord (north)
ovest (west)
per (for)
sud (south)

Word-final consonants also occur as a result of apocope. For example, the word bello means beautiful, but in a beautiful dream, this becomes un bel sogno. The word for sea is mare, but in Mediterranean Sea, this becomes Mar Mediterraneo. Apocope is also common in poetry.

Italian has few words that end in a vowel. In the list, the words are prepositions or borrowed words such as ananas and film. The Italian language has fewer words with a final consonant than the other Romance languages.

Lenition of /k/ in Liverpool English

The accent of Liverpool is a distinct English accent. Of the features associated with the accent, one is lenition of the /k/. This occurs word-finally and in certain speakers also word-medially.

An example of lenition of the [k] occurs in the word back. In standard English the final sound is [k] but in Liverpool English this becomes either [kx] or [x]. Lenition can also occur word-medially. For example, the word chicken has a word-medial [kx] or [x] in the English of many speakers of Liverpool English.

The word-final /k/ lenition of Liverpool English bears resemblances to German. For example, the German words for book and cook are Buch and Koch. Lenition is a weakening process and is common in many languages. In the Liverpool accent, the /k/ never lenites word-initially but it can lenite word-medially and categorically lenites word-finally.

Antonyms

Antonyms are words which express opposite meanings. They are found in binary relationships such as big/small, long/short and possible/impossible.  Antonyms are pairs in a set of opposites. They can be classified into three types- gradable, complementary and relational.

Gradable antonyms are antonyms with meanings which lie on a continuous spectrum. For example, hot and cold are gradable antonyms because they lie at extreme ends of the temperature spectrum. Between hot and cold we can add warm.

Complementary antonyms have meanings which do not lie on a continuous spectrum. The existence of one excludes the other. For example, dead and alive are complementary antonyms because they are the only words used to describe life. If A is dead, he/she cannot be alive and likewise if A is alive, he/she cannot be dead. Life and death cannot be expressed in degrees. Other examples of complementary antonyms include entrance/exit, off/on and occupied/vacant.

Relational antonyms express a relationship. The word student has no lexical opposite, but in the context of a relationship, the opposite is teacher.  Other examples include buy/sell, husband/wife and doctor/patient.

Antonyms are word pairs which express an incompatible relationship. One word in the pair entails that it is not the other. The relationship between the two words is known as opposition. Antonyms can be further divided into three types.

Woman/Women in New Zealand English

The words woman and woman are pronounced differently. The difference is heard in the first syllable of the two words. However, in New Zealand English, many speakers pronounce the two words identically.

New Zealand English is a dialect which permits schwas in stressed position. As a result, the first syllable of women can be pronounced with a schwa. This produces a word which is pronounced very similarly to woman. Perhaps because of this similarity, many New Zealanders have neutralized the distinction of the two words and now pronounce them the same.

In New Zealand English, the words woman and women tend to be pronounced identically. This makes New Zealand English distinct from other varieties of English. The pronunciation of the two words is evidence of language change.

The Schwa

The schwa is a mid central vowel sound. In English this sound normally occurs in unstressed positions, but in certain languages it occurs more frequently as a stressed vowel. The name schwa is sometimes used for a neutral and unstressed vowel that is not necessarily mid central.

The word schwa comes from Hebrew. It was first used by the linguist Eduard Sievers in the 19th century. The spelling is of German origin.

The schwa is the most common vowel sound of English. It is a reduced vowel which is found in many unstressed syllables. A short vowel, the vowel quality varies depending on the adjacent consonants. In most varieties of English, it occurs almost exclusively in unstressed syllables. However, in New Zealand English, the high front vowel of words such as sit has shifted and now has a vowel quality similar to that of a schwa. This is true for many speakers of South African English as well.

In non-rhotic varieties of English, the schwa is common in word-final position in words such as here, there and pure. The schwa serves to distinguish words such as he and here. 

French has a vowel similar to the schwa, but the French vowel is rounded and less central. In fact, the French vowel has a more advanced articulation than the schwa of English. It also occurs in unstressed position, but languages which allow stressed schwas include Afrikaans, Albanian, Bulgarian and Slovenian.

Many English speakers delete the schwa in certain positions. However, deletion is variable. Deletion of the schwa can occur in words such as interesting, family and memory.

The schwa is a common vowel not only in English but in many other languages. It usually occurs in unstressed positions, but a number of languages also allow the schwa in stressed positions. It is classified as mid central unrounded and reduced vowel.

Word-Final Obstruent Devoicing

Word-final obstruent devoicing is a phonological process which occurs in many languages. Though it does not occur in English, English obstruents are partly devoiced when word final. Languages with word-final obstruent devoicing neutralize the contrast between voiced and voiceless obstruents.

Languages with word-final obstruent devoicing include Afrikaans, Bulgarian, Catalan, Czech, Dutch, German, Maltese, Polish, Russian, and Slovak. Though common in the Slavic languages, it does not exist in Croatian, Serbian or Ukrainian. Among the Germanic languages, it is not found in Danish, English, Norwegian or Swedish.

Languages with word-final obstruent devoicing often have homophones. For example, the Dutch words hard (hard) and hart (heart) are pronounced identically. The same is true for the German pairs Rad (wheel) and Rat (advice).

Word-final obstruent devoicing is common in many languages. Many languages with word-final obstruent devoicing also have syllable-final devoicing, but in certain cases only if the following obstruent is voiceless. Catalan is unique among Romance languages because it exhibits word-final obstruent devoicing.