Sound Correspondence between English and Dutch/German

English has voiced and voiceless interdental fricatives. The only other Germanic language to have both is Icelandic. Danish has a voiced alveolar lateralized fricative but no voiceless counterpart. The interdental fricative of English often corresponds to an alveolar plosive in German and Dutch.

Here is a list of English words with interdental fricatives and their equivalents in German and Dutch:

bath bad (Dutch) Bad (German)
brother Bruder (German)
earth aarde (Dutch) Erde (German)
father vader (Dutch) Vater (German)
fourth vierde (Dutch) vierte (German)
leather Leder (German)
mother moeder (Dutch) Mutter (German)
thirst dorst (Dutch) Durst (German)
three drie (Dutch) drei (German)
weather Wetter (German)

The interdental fricative of English is often an alveolar plosive in Dutch and German. In fact, the interdental fricative of English often developed from an alveolar fricative. The word father was fader in Middle English. The form father was the result of lenition. This sound change never occurred in Dutch and German.

Pitch Accent in Swedish and Norwegian

Swedish and Norwegian both have pitch accent. This allows the distinction of bisyllabic words which are otherwise pronounced exactly the same. The pitch accent only applies to certain words, not to all.

In Swedish the words anden (the duck) and anden (the spirit) are distinguished by pitch accent alone. The first has tone 1 and the second  has tone 2. Norwegian distinguishes between bønder (farmers) and bønner (beans). The first has tone 1 and the second has tone 2.

The realization of tones 1 and 2 varies by dialect. In the Swedish language tones 1 and 2 are similar in central and northern Sweden. Tones 1 and 2 are similar in southern Sweden and southwestern Norway, and tones 1 and 2 are similar in midwestern Sweden and southeastern Norway.

The use of pitch accent in Swedish and Norwegian makes them different from many other languages. This feature serves to distinguish  a number of bisyllabic words. The realization of tones 1 and 2 varies from one dialect to another.

English Contractions with Modals

English has many contractions, short forms of two words. They often combine a pronoun and verb such as they're instead of they are. English contractions also combine a modal and the word not. Here is a list:

cannot can't
could not couldn't
must not mustn't
shall not shan't
should not shouldn't
will not won't
would not wouldn't

The verb could can express past tense but can also be used for politeness. An example is the request Could you please help me? The contraction couldn't can be used to request a favour, i.e., Couldn't you come tomorrow? It's less direct than Could you come tomorrow?

The modals may, might and ought to aren't contracted with not. This sets them apart from the other modals. The contraction shan't is used in British English, but is rare in American.

Contractions combine two words into a shorter form. They're very common in conversation but are inappropriate in formal writing. In addition to pronouns and verbs, many modals can combine with not to form contractions.

Bavarian Dialect

The Bavarian dialect is very different from Standard German. In fact, Bavarian can even be considered a language, but it is rarely written. Bavarian shares many similarities with Austrian German.

In Bavarian, the /s/ is voiceless in all positions. The word Rose (rose) is pronounced with an /s/ rather than a /z/. Word-initial /p/, /t/ and /k/ are not aspirated, i.e., Polizei (police), Tee (tea) and Kaffee (coffee). The consonants pf are always pronounced as written, unlike in the rest of Germany where the p is often dropped. Most Germans do not pronounce the p in Pferd (horse).The /r/ is often realized as an alveolar trill, especially in syllable-initial position. Double consonants are often pronounced long as in Suppe (soup), unlike in Standard German.

Bavarian also have different vowel qualities. The low vowel of Sand (sand) tends to be more retracted than in Standard German and the high front vowel of mich (me) is usually higher and of longer duration than in other varieties of German.

Bavarian differs significantly from Standard German. Though Bavarians learn Standard German in school, they usually speak Standard German with a Bavarian accent. Bavarian differs not only in pronunciation, but also in grammar and vocabulary.

African Languages

Many languages are spoken in Africa. It has the greatest linguistic diversity in the world with over 1500 languages. These include Arabic, English, French and Portuguese. However, a number of languages native to Africa are also widely-spoken.

A few widely-spoken native languages of Africa are Swahili, Amharic, Yoruba, Hausa, Zulu and Shona. Swahili is official in Kenya and Tanzania, and Amharic is official in Ethiopia. Yoruba and Hausa are official in Nigeria. Zulu is an official language of South Africa and Shona is widely-spoken in Zimbabwe.

Africa is the continent which has the greatest linguistic diversity. In addition to colonial languages such as Arabic, English and French, many native languages of Africa are also widely-spoken. Swahili and Amharic are two native African languages with many speakers.

Optional Reflexive Pronouns in English

English allows optional reflexive pronouns. These are pronouns which can be expressed with either a reflexive or object pronoun.  Let us look at a few examples.

In the following sentences either an object pronoun or reflexive pronoun can be used:

Michael saw a snake near him/himself.
Lisa wrapped the blanket around her/herself.
They saw a picture of them/themselves.
I pushed him away from me/myself.

When the object pronoun is used, the sentence is ambiguous. It can refer either to the subject or to another person. With the reflexive, no ambiguity occurs because it must refer to the subject of the sentence. However, the context in which the sentence is made usually makes the meaning clear.

In certain cases only the object pronoun can be used. Here are examples:

You can bring someone with you.
He has no money on him.
She pressed him to her.
Ellen put all her problems behind her.
Jack has a whole week of travel before him. 

Here it is clear that the object pronoun refers to the subject. No other interpretation is possible. Unlike in the earlier examples, here the pronoun cannot be replaced with another.

The English language allows optional reflexive pronouns. When the reflexive is used, it is clear that the pronoun refers to the antecedent, the subject of the sentence. However, in certain cases, when only one pronoun can be used in the prepositional phrase, this is an object pronoun.

Differences in Verbs of British and American English

A few verbs have different forms in British and American English. The verb get has the past participle gotten in American English, but got in British. Here is a list of verbs with different forms in the two varieties:

American English

burn/burned/burned
dream/dreamed/dreamed
lean/leaned/leaned
learn/learn/learn
smell/smelled/smelled
spell/spelled/spelled
spill/spilled/spilled
spoil/spoiled/spoiled

In British English the same verbs are usually irregular.

burn/burnt/burnt
dream/dreamt/dreamt
lean/leant/leant
learn/learnt/learnt
smell/smelt/smelt
spell/spelt/spelt
spill/spilt/spilt
spoil/spoilt/spoilt

The verbs quit and wet are both irregular in American English. In fact, they are invariable:

quit quit quit
wet wet wet

In British English they are regular:

quit quitted quitted
wet wetted wetted

Most verbs are the same in British and American English. However, a few are different. Many regular verbs in American English are irregular in British. A few regular verbs in British English are irregular in American.

Vowel Mergers before /r/

Many vowels have merged before /r/. However, the vowels have not merged in the English of all speakers. For many, though, the distinction between lax and tense vowels is neutralized before the /r/. Let us consider a few examples.

The words let and late have lax and tense vowels. However, it is also true that for most English speakers, the vowel of late is a diphthong. For many speakers, ferry and fairy are identical. For these speakers, the lax and tense vowels have merged and they only produce the lax vowel before /r/.

The distinction between lax and tense is also present in sit and seat. However, in mirror and nearer, most speakers only have the tense vowel. This is another example of a vowel merger.

The words pull and pool also have a tense-lax distinction. However, in the words poor and tour the distinction is neutralized. Here only the tense vowel occurs.

In the words bat and bought the distinction is between front and back. Nevertheless, in the words heart and cart the distinction is neutralized. Speakers use a back vowel.

The words hurry and furry have the same vowel in the English of many speakers. For those who do not, the vowels differ not only in vowel height but also in backness. For speakers who exhibit a merger, hurry has a high back lax vowel and furry has a low mid central vowel. Most speakers have neutralized the distinction and have a central vowel in both words.

In the English of many speakers, vowels have merged before /r/. This can be viewed as a form of neutralization. This merger is especially common in North America, particularly in Canada.

Alveopalatal Fricative of Argentinian Spanish

Argentinian Spanish is famous for the alveopalatal fricative. This sound is common in Buenos Aires and surrounding areas. In the rest of the country, the voiced palatal glide is used.

The alveopalatal fricative can be voiced or voiceless. It corresponds to the s of sugar and the s of treasure. The following words are pronounced with the alveopalatal fricative by many speakers from Argentina:

arroyo (creek)
ayer (yesterday)
caballo (horse)
lluvia (rain)
playa (beach)
pollo (chicken)
silla (chair)
toalla (towel)
yate (yacht)
yo (I)

The alveopalatal fricative is used not only in Argentina but also in Uruguay. Though both the voiced and voiceless fricatives are used, most speakers use the voiceless. The alveopalatal fricative isn't used in other varieties of Spanish.

Finnish Negative Verb

Finnish is not a member of the Indo-European language family. It has a number of features which are not found in Indo-European languages. One of them is the negative verb.

The negative verb is conjugated in all persons. In English the be-verb is conjugated in phrases such as I am not, you are not and he/she is not. In Finnish, however, the negative verb is conjugated while the be-verb remains the same. Here are examples:

Minä en ole varma (I am not sure)
Sinä et ole varma (You are not sure)
Hän ei ole varma (He/She is not sure)
Me emme ole varma (We are not sure)
Te ette ole varma (You are not sure)
He eivät ole varma (They are not sure)

A special feature of Finnish is the negative verb. This is conjugated just like a regular verb. Unlike in English, the negative verb of Finnish precedes the main verb.

Vanilla Berry Pudding

Vanilla berry pudding is easy to make. Popular berries include blueberry, strawberry and raspberry. Here is the recipe for this Finnish dessert:

Vanilla

2 1/2 cups milk
4 tablespoons potato flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Berry Pudding

3 cups berries
2 1/2 cups water
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup cold water
2 1/2 tablespoons potato flour

Put the milk, potato flour, sugar and vanilla extract in a saucepan.
Place over medium heat until the mixture thickens.
Do not boil.
Remove from the heat and let cool.

Bring 1 1/2 cups water, berries, sugar and vanilla to a boil.
Add the rest of the water to cool the mixture.
Mix the water and potato flour in a separate container.
Add to the remaining ingredients and turn off the heat.
Make a layer of vanilla sauce and berry pudding in a glass or bowl and serve.