French of Southern France

Standard French is based on the accent of northern France. This is the variety that is usually taught to foreigners. The French of southern France is distinct.

In northern France unstressed e is usually not pronounced, but it is in southern France. This is the case in the following words:

cerise (cherry)

fraise (strawberry)

samedi (Saturday)

semaine (week)

ville (city)

Nasal vowels are often pronounced with a velar nasal. For example, pain (bread) is pronounced with a velar nasal in southern France. In northern France, the vowel is fully nasalized.

The vowels of southern France are often different from those of the north. The word lait (milk) is pronounced with a closed vowel in the south, but an open vowel in the north. The word chose (thing) has an open vowel in the south, but a closed vowel in the north. 

The French of southern France lacks a phonemic opposition between the closed and open vowels. In northern France, les (the) has a closed vowel, and lait (milk) has an open vowel, but in southern France, both words have a closed vowel. In southern France, only closed vowels occur in open syllables, and only open vowels occur in closed syllables.

The French of southern France is distinct from Standard French. Thiis is especially evident in the vowels. In southern France, the phonemic distinction between the closed and open vowels does not exist. Unlike in the north, the unstressed e is pronounced in all positions and nasal vowels are often pronounced with a velar nasal.

Pin-Pen Merger

The pin-pen merger is common in the southeastern United States. Speakers who have the merger pronounce the words pin and pen identically. The two words are pronounced with the vowel of pin.

Other words which are pronounced the same in the pin-pen merger are the following:

den-din
gem-gym
hem-him
ten-tin
when-win

The pen-pin merger occurs before tautosyllabic nasals. In words such as desk and disk the merger does not apply. The pen-pin merger is an example of neutralization.

Problems with Description of Tense/Lax Vowels

English vowels are often described with the terms tense and lax. In the binary feature system, tense vowels are [+tense] and lax vowels are [-tense]. However, many linguists consider the terms tense and lax controversial. The reason is that these vowels can be distinguished by additional factors.

Tense vowels are defined as vowels with more muscular constriction. In addition, tense vowels are diphthongized in many varieties of English. Diphthongs often have a longer duration than do monophthongs.

Phonologists have frequently divided English vowels into tense and lax, but the tongue height is not the same. The tense vowel is higher and more peripheral than the lax vowel. The tense vowel also has an expanded pharynx, a more advanced articulation, and more lip rounding. The feature ATR (Advanced Tongue Root) can be used to distinguish tense and lax vowels. Tense vowels are classified as +ATR and lax vowels are -ATR.

According to Peter Ladefoged, the terms tense and lax are just used to designate two groups of vowels that behave differently in English words. He prefers to distinguish them in terms of the syllable types in which they occur. Though all vowels can occur in closed syllables, only a restricted set can occur in open syllables.

The tense vowel of pool can occur syllable-finally but the vowel of pull cannot. Likewise, the vowel of eat can occur syllable-finally but the vowel of sit cannot. However, it is important to mention that in certain dialects of English, the lax vowel occurs in words such as city. This is the case in most dialects of northern England.

Tense vowels are usually produced with greater length than in lax vowels, but this is not always the case. Length is not the criterion for distinguishing these vowel sets. The tense and lax vowels can be distinguished on the basis of height and tongue root configuration. Tense vowels have a more advanced tongue root than lax ones.

The terms tense and lax fail to capture all the differences between the two vowel sets. In addition to greater muscular constriction, tense vowels have a higher tongue position, more advanced tongue root, greater lip rounding and expanded pharynx. They usually have a longer duration than lax vowels and are diphthongized in many dialects. It is clear that the differences between tense and lax vowels involve more than muscular constriction.

Word-Final Devoicing of Fricatives in South African English

South African English has many characteristics which it shares with the English of southern England. With the exception of a few varieties spoken in the Cape Province, South African English is non-rhotic. It also has the trap-bath split. One characteristic which distinguishes South African English from other varieties is the devoicing of word-final fricatives.

Word-final voiced fricatives tend to fully devoice in South African English. As a result, words such as bathe, luge, keys and wave are pronounced differently than in other varieties of English. However, pairs such as base-bays, face-phase, life-live and safe-save are not pronounced identically because of pre-fortis clipping. Words such as base, face, life and safe have shorter vowels than in bays, phase, live and save. As a result, they are minimal pairs.

Word-final fricative devoicing is a characteristic of South African English. However, pre-fortis clipping keeps words such as base and bays distinct. Pre-fortis clipping exists in all varieties of English and is evident in pairs such as cab-cap and sad-sat. In South African English, though, pre-fortis clipping applies not only to plosives but also to fricatives.

Papiamento

Papiamento is a language spoken on the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. They were formerly known as the Netherlands Antilles. Though Papiamento is a language based on Portuguese, it also has influences from Dutch, Spanish and African languages. Here are the numbers from one to ten:

unu
dos
tres
kuater
sinku
seis
shete
ocho
nuebe
dies

Though Papiamento is based on Portuguese, the numbers are more similar to those of Spanish. This is the case with dos, ocho, nuebe and dies which are dos, ocho, nueve and diez in Spanish. In Portuguese these numbers are dois, oito, nove and dez.

Papiamento is a Creole language which is based on Portuguese but has strong influences from Dutch, Spanish and African languages. With respect to the numbers, Papiamento reflects a strong influence from Spanish. The language has three dialects which correspond to the three islands where it is spoken.

Irregular Italian Plurals

Italian plurals are different from those of French, Spanish and Portuguese. The regular plural ending is not s. Most masculine nouns end in -i and most feminine nouns end in -e.

Here are regular plurals in Italian:

il ragazzo i ragazzi (the boy/the boys)
la ragazza le ragazze (the girl/the girls)

il libro/i libri (the book/the books)
la casa/le case (the house/the houses)

A number of Italian plurals are irregular. Here are examples:

il braccio/le braccia (the arm/the arms)
la città/le città (the city/the cities)
il dito/le dita (the finger/the fingers)
il labbro/le labbra (the lip/the lips)
la mano/le mani (the hand/the hands)
la moto/le moto (the motorcycle/the motorcycles)
la radio/le radio (the radio/the radios)
l'università/le università (the university/the universities)
l'uomo/gli uomini (the man/the men)
l'uovo/le uova (the egg/the eggs)

Certain nouns such as braccio (arm) are masculine in the singular but feminine in the plural. Nouns such as moto (motorcycle) are invariable in singular and plural. The plural of uomo (man) has an extra syllable in the plural. From the examples it is evident that Italian has a number of irregular plurals.

The Word-Initial kn of English

English words such as knee and knife have a silent k. It is not pronounced. The phonetic value is zero. However, it was pronounced in Middle English.

Before the sixteenth century, the k was pronounced in these words. This was the case in the time of William Shakespeare. However, in the beginning of the 1600s, speakers gradually stopped pronouncing it.

The reason for this sound change is not clear. It may be due to the influence of French and Latin, languages which did not have the kn cluster. It is an example of consonant cluster simplification.

The other Germanic languages did not undergo this change. The word for knife in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish is kniv, and the k is pronounced. The German word for knee is Knie, and in Dutch it is knie. In these words the k is pronounced as was the case in Middle English.

The change in the pronunciation of the kn resulted in homophones such as knew-new, knot-not and know-no. The English language retained the spelling kn despite the change in pronunciation. The spelling reflects the pronunciation of Old English and Middle English.

In word-initial kn, the k is not pronounced. The original CC sequence became C. This sound change did not occur in other Germanic languages which still retain the [kn] of Old English and Middle English.

Contrastive Vowel Length in Australian English

Australian English has a distinction in vowel length that does not occur in other varieties of English. The contrast is not qualitative but rather quantitative. The sole distinction is vowel length. Here are minimal pairs with the short vowel on the left and the long vowel on the right:

bid/beard
come/calm
cut/cart
ferry/fairy
hut/heart

In most varieties of English, vowel length is not distinctive. However, Australian English preserves phonemic vowel length in a number of word pairs. This serves to distinguish Australian English from other varieties of English.

With All My Heart

I want to share my latest poem. This is dedicated to my wife Grace. I hope you enjoy it!

With All My Heart

Never had I dared to dream
Of a love like this,
Someone who loves me
As I am.
I feel my heart can't stop beating,
As if time stood still.
When you look at me,
I feel your love.

All I am, all I have
Till my very last breath,
I will love you
With every beat of my heart.
All I ask, all I want
Is to wake in your arms
To love you every day
With all my heart.

We've conquered every mountain,
Sailed on open seas,
And now after every storm we stand.
You make life an adventure.
Let's write the next page
To be happy every day.

An incomprehensible moment
Made you my angel,
And together we are strong.

All I am, all I have
Till my very last breath,
I will love you
With every beat of my heart.
All I ask, all I want
Is to wake in your arms
To love you every day
With all my heart.

Gender Neutral Language

Feminism is the reason for gender-neutral language in English. Words such as fireman, mailman and policeman are often replaced with firefighter, letter carrier and police officer. Sometimes the word man is replaced with person.

However, words which have a negative connotation are usually not replaced with any other form. This is a clear case of inconsistency. Feminism seems to have no objection to words such as conman, gunman, henchman, hitman, madman, man-eating shark, middleman and yes-man. In the case of conman, though, con artist is also possible.

Likewise, the forms motherland, mother nature and mother tongue are never replaced. Though they are not gender-neutral, they remain because they include the word mother. If they contained the word father, it is likely that other forms would exist.

Feminism is the cause of many gender-neutral words. However, it is clear that the creation of gender-neutral words is inconsistent. Words with negative connotations usually lack gender-neutral forms, and words with mother are never replaced. Feminism only appears to resist the use of  compound words with man when such words have positive connotations.

Characteristics of the Icelandic Alphabet

The Icelandic alphabet is derived from the Roman. Unlike in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, Icelandic also has letters with acute accents. Here are a few letters of the Icelandic alphabet:

1) á is pronounced [au].

2) é is pronounced [jɛ]. 

3) í is pronounced [i:].

4) ó is pronounced as the diphthong [ou].

5) ú is pronounced [u:]. (The letter u is usually a high front rounded lax vowel).

6) ö is pronounced as in German

7) ð is usually a voiced interdental fricative

8) þ is pronounced as a voiceless interdental fricative

Though the Icelandic language is a Scandinavian language, a number of letters differ from those of Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. The alphabet has letters written with acute accents, and with the exception of ú, the difference between the acute and non-acute letters is not quantitative. The Icelandic alphabet also has separate letters for the voiced and voiceless interdental fricatives.