Mixed Conditionals

Conditional sentences consist of a main clause and a dependent clause. The dependent clause contains the conjunction if. They can be categorized into four types: 0, 1, 2 and 3. However, conditionals can also be mixed. Let us look at examples:

The following are mixed conditionals:

If I had won the lottery, I would be a millionaire.
If I had studied business, I would have more opportunities.
If she had been born here, she wouldn't need a work visa.

Notice that the if-clause expresses an event in the past, but the main clause expresses an event in the present.

Here are more examples:

If I didn't have to work so much, I'd have gone to the movies with you last night.
If James knew Italian, he would have translated the form for you.
If I had enough money, I would have bought the BMW we saw yesterday.

In these sentences the if-clauses expresses an event in the present, but the main clause expresses an event in the past.

Conditional sentences are very common. They can begin with the main clause or the dependent clause, also known as the if-clause. Among the conditional sentences are also sentences which consist of mixed conditionals.

English of Northern England

The English of northern England consists of many varieties. Famous ones include Liverpool and Manchester. Nevertheless, the accent of northern England is distinct from that of the south.

The following is typical of the English of northern England:

The trap-bath split of southern England is not observed. The words cat and cast both have a front vowel. However, the words calf, can't, half and master have a back vowel, unlike in American English.

The vowel of cat is pronounced with a central vowel rather than a front vowel. The front vowel is common in southern England. In words such as cart, palm and tomato the vowel is also central but longer than in words such as cat, man and past.

The foot-strut split is absent in northern England. The result is that but and cut rhyme. In some varieties, words such as book and look have the vowel of blue. This pronunciation is also common in Scottish English.

The diphthongs of day and snow are often pronounced as monophthongs. However, this varies across the region.

In words such as best, dress and pet, the vowel is usually lower than in southern England. The final vowel of words such as city and happy is pronounced with a lax vowel rather than a tense one by most speakers. Liverpool is a notable exception.

The north of England lacks a clear distinction between the velarized and non-velarized lateral. In the north, most speakers pronounce lake and well with a velarized lateral. The English of Manchester uses only the velarized /l/. However, in Northumberland, the /l/ is never velarized. This is also typical of Irish English.

Northern England has many varieties of  English. The pronunciation varies from one region to another. However, a number of pronunciation features serve to distinguish the English of the north from that of the south.

The Little Prince

The Little Prince is the most famous work by French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The short novel is one of the most translated in the world. In fact, it has been translated into over 300 languages. The story has themes of friendship, loneliness, love and loss.

Though The Little Prince appears to be a children's book, it makes many observations about life and human nature. In one part of the novel, the young prince meets a fox, and the fox shares messages which are famous because they deal with human relationships.

The narrator of the novel begins with a discussion of adults and their inability to perceive. Later the narrator becomes a pilot and his plane crashes in the Sahara Desert. He is far from civilization and has only enough water for eight days.

In the middle of the desert, the narrator is greeted by a young boy who he calls the little prince. The prince has golden hair and loves to ask questions. While the narrator attempts to repair his plane, the little prince tells the narrator about his life.

On the eighth day since the plane crash, the narrator and the prince are dying of thirst. The prince has become sad from his memories and longs to return home. The prince finds a well, which saves the pair. The little prince allows a snake to bite him and falls to the ground.

The next morning the narrator cannot find the body of the little prince. The reader must determine whether the prince returned home or died, or if the encounter was all part of the narrator's imagination.

The Little Prince is a famous story with many themes. The main characters are the narrator and the little prince. The story is very philosophical and explores the themes of love, loss, friendship and human relationships.

Uvular Consonant

The uvular consonant can be a fricative or trill. It can also be called an approximant. Though not as common as the alveolar trill, it occurs in a number of languages.

In European languages, the uvular pronunciation of the rhotic consonant is found in Danish, French and German. It is also found in varieties of Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese and Spanish. The uvular pronunciation also occurs in Afrikaans, Arabic, Armenian, Hebrew, Italian, Kazakh, Malay and Uzbek. Though the uvular consonant is normally not associated with Italian, it occurs in the northern city of Parma.

The rhotic is usually realized as an alveolar trill, but a number of languages use a uvular. This uvular can be a fricative or a trill. Languages with uvular consonants include Arabic, French, German and Hebrew.

Twelve Pronunciations of Water

English is a language with many dialects. One of the characteristics which distinguishes these dialects is pronunciation. Dialects can be classified as rhotic and non-rhotic. Other differences are in the vowels and in the use of the flap in certain dialects. These differences can be illustrated by the pronunciation of the word water. Here are twelve pronunciations:

1) [wɔ:tə] 
2) [wɔ:ʔə] 
3) [wɑʔɚ]
4) [wɑtə]
5) [wɑtɚ]
6) [wɑt̬ɚ]
7) [wɑɾɚ]
8) [wɔɾɚ]
9) [wɔɾə]
10) [wʊɾɚ]
11) [wo:ɾə]
12) [wo:tə]

The first pronunciation is the pronunciation of RP. It can be considered Standard British English. The second pronunciation also occurs in British English, especially in the south of England. The third pronunciation is common in southwestern England and the fourth pronunciation is typical of northern England.

The fifth pronunciation is common in Scotland and Ireland. The sixth pronunciation occurs in Irish English and has a voiceless apico-alveolar fricative.

Number 7 is common in North America. This is followed by a pronunciation which is typical of New York. Number 9 is also typical of New York but is a non-rhotic pronunciation. Number 10 is a pronunciation which is associated with Philadelphia. Here the first vowel is the vowel of put.

The last two pronunciations are typical of Australia and New Zealand. The eleventh pronunciation has a flap and the twelfth has an alveolar plosive. The twelfth pronunciation is more formal than the eleventh.

The examples illustrate the variation in English pronunciation. Though the word water has only four segments, it can be pronounced in many ways. The different pronunciations indicate that English has several dialects.

Spanish Diminutives

Diminutives are very common in Spanish. They are used more than in English. Spanish diminutives are formed with a suffix.

With words that end in a vowel, the vowel is dropped and -ita or -ito is added. With feminine nouns, the suffix variant is -ita and with masculine nouns it is -ito. Here are examples:

pájaro (bird) pájarito (small bird)
perro (dog) perrito (small dog)
casa (house) casita (small house)

With words that end in e the suffix is -cita or -cito.

café (coffee) cafecito (small coffee)
tigre (tiger) tigrecito (small tiger)
fuente (fountain) fuentecita (small fountain)

With words that end in n or r the ending is the same as with vowels.

camión (truck) camioncito (small truck)
rincón (corner) rinconcito (small corner)
mujer (woman) mujercita (small woman)

Words which end in other consonants add -ita or -ito.

låpiz (pencil) lapicito (small pencil)
pastel (cake) pastelito (small cake)
reloj (clock) relojito (small clock)

Many words lack a diminutive such as ciudad (city), edad (age) and espacio (space). A few diminutives are irregular such as pez (fish) and pececito (small fish). Spanish diminutives can be applied not only to nouns but also to adjectives and adverbs. Examples include quieto/quietecito (quiet) and rápido/rapidito (quickly).

Diminutives are used extensively in Spanish. The Spanish diminutive has suffix variants. They can also be combined with the plural suffix -s. Spanish diminutives can be formed not only with nouns but also with adjectives and adverbs.

Pronunciation of r in Brazilian Portuguese

The r of Brazilian Portuguese is different from that of Spanish. As in Spanish, the intervocalic r is an alveolar flap but in other positions, the pronunciation varies. In the south of Brazil, the r can be pronounced in all positions as in Spanish, but this is not the case for most speakers. Let us look at examples.

In world-initial position, most Brazilians pronounce the r as a glottal or velar fricative. This sound occurs in real (royal), rio (river) and roda (wheel).

When the r is word-final, it can be pronounced as a velar fricative, glottal fricative, alveolar approximant, alveolar trill or not pronounced at all. This depends on the dialect. Examples include jantar (dinner), lar  (home) and mar (sea).

Between vowels, the r is realized as an alveolar flap. Examples include amarelo (yellow), muro (wall) and ouro (gold).

Most Brazilians pronounce the double r the same as the word-initial r. It is a glottal or velar fricative. Examples include carro (car), cigarro (cigarette) and garrafa (bottle).

In words such as honra (honour), the r is not classified as intervocalic even though the first vowel is fully nasalized. Here the r is realized as a glottal or velar fricative. This is in contrast to hora (hour) in which the r is an alveolar flap.

The r of Brazilian Portuguese has different realizations. It can be a glottal/velar fricative, alveolar trill, alveolar approximant or alveolar flap. In word-final position, many Brazilians do not pronounce the r at all. Speakers who use the glottal/velar fricative do not use the alveolar trill, and speakers who use the alveolar trill do not use the glottal/velar fricative.

Variation in Spanish Pronunciation

The Spanish suffix -ismo is the equivalent of the English -ism. It occurs in a number of words such as capitalismo (capitalism), federalismo (federalism) and nacionalismo (nacionalism). This suffix also has four possible pronunciations. Let us illustrate.

The suffix -ismo has the following pronunciations:

1) [ismo]

2) [izmo]

3) [ihmo]

4) [i:mo]

The first two pronunciations are the most standard. The first one is the same as the spelling of the suffix. In the second pronunciation we have an example of voicing assimilaton. The assimilation is regressive because the voiced nasal triggers voicing in the fricative. The third pronunciation is an example of glottalization. This can also be classified as debuccalization, which is a type of lenition. The fourth pronunciation is the most complex. Here we have deletion and compensatory lengthening. The word-initial vowel lengthens to compensate for the loss of the consonant.

The first and second pronunciations of the suffix are the most formal. In contrast, the last two are the least formal. The Spanish suffix -ismo can be pronounced in four different ways. The pronunciations illustrate voicing, glottalization, deletion and compensatory lengthening.

Languages of Indonesia

Indonesia is a country with over 700 languages. Most belong to the Austronesian language family, but in eastern Indonesia many Papuan languages are spoken. Though Indonesia is the official language, most Indonesians speak other languages as their first language.

In addition to Indonesian, other languages with millions of speakers include Javanese, Sundanese, Madurese, Minangkabau, Buginese, Banjarese, Acehnese, Balinese, Betawi and Sasak.

With over 700 languages, Indonesia has the second largest multilingual population in the world. Only Papua New Guinea has more languages. Despite the presence of the Dutch for over 350 years, few Indonesians can speak Dutch. Indonesian is the language which serves to unite the country.

Language vs. Dialect

A number of languages are very similar to one another. However, for political reasons, they are often classified as languages rather than dialects. In other cases, however, languages are often classified as dialects.

The Danish, Norwegian and Swedish languages are similar to one another. Norwegian and Swedish have a similar sound system, and Danish and Norwegian share many words. Norwegian and Swedish in particular share a high degree of mutual intelligibility. Nevertheless, they are considered languages.

Hindi and Urdu are also similar. Hindi is spoken in India and Urdu in Pakistan, and the two languages have different scripts. Despite their high degree of mutual intelligibility, they are never considered dialects.

The term Serbo-Croatian was once used for the official language of the former Yugoslavia, but now the language has different names. It can be called Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian. These are all mutually intelligible, but for political reasons different names are used.

Indonesian and Malay are mutually intelligible, but for political reasons, they are usually classified as languages. There are significant differences in spelling, grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. The two varieties also use different loanwords.

The Dutch spoken in Belgium is often called Flemish. Though Flemish differs in many respects from Dutch, standard Dutch is taught in school. However, Belgians prefer to call their language Flemish.

China is a country with many languages. The most widely-spoken is Mandarin, but others such as Cantonese, Hakka and Wu are also spoken. Though they are not mutually intelligible, languages such as Cantonese are often called dialects. The reason is that they use the same script of Mandarin.

The Philippines is a country with over 100 languages. Tagalog, one of the official languages, is always referred to as a language. However, the regional languages, though they are not mutually intelligible, are often called dialects.

The difference between a dialect and a language is not always so clear. For political reasons, languages are often mutually intelligible but not considered dialects. In other cases, languages are often called dialects because they share the same writing system and because regional languages have less prestige than the official language. Languages have a higher status than dialects.

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.