Rounding of the Back Vowel in Canadian and American English

The back vowel in words such as bother and daughter shows variation in rounding. In Received Pronunciation, the back vowel is rounded. In Canada and the United States, however, this varies according to the region.

In western Canada, central Canada and the northeastern United States, the rounded vowel is common. The unrounded vowel is common in the western United States, the southern United States and Atlantic Canada. In other regions, the use of the rounded and unrounded vowels varies more. For example, the rounded vowel is common in western Pennyslvania, but the unrounded one is common in eastern Pennsylvania.

Though Received Pronunciation consistenly uses a back rounded vowel in words such as bother and daughter, this is not the case in Canada and the United States. In Canada, the rounded vowel is common in the west and the unrounded in the east. In the United States, the unrounded vowel is common in the west, but in the east many speakers use the rounded vowel. The back vowel exhibits variation in rounding in Canada and the United States. 

Articles

Articles are used to give extra information about the noun they modify. In English the definite article is the and the indefinite article is a/an. However, many languages do not have articles. Here is a list of languages with no articles:

Languages Without Articles


Czech
Farsi
Hindi
Indonesian
Japanese
Korean
Malayalam
Mandarin
Polish
Punjabi
Russian
Shona
Slovak
Swahili
Tamil
Thai
Ukrainian
Urdu
Yoruba
Zulu

Articles are used in many languages. The Germanic and Romance languages all have articles, but they are not found in many of the major languages of the world such as Hindi, Mandarin and Russian. Many linguists believe that Proto-Indo-European, the ancestor of the Indo-European languages, did not have articles.

The Rainbow

The English poet Christina Rossetti wrote many beautiful poems. One of them is titled The Rainbow. Here it is:

The Rainbow

Boats sail on the rivers,
And ships sail on the seas;
But clouds that sail across the sky
Are prettier than these.

There are bridges on the rivers,
As pretty as you please;
But the bow that bridges heaven
And overtops the trees,
And builds a road from earth to sky,
Is prettier far than these.

The poem consists of only two stanzas and ten verses. Christina Rossetti feels that the beauty of clouds that sail across the sky is greater than that of boats and ships that sails on rivers and seas. She also tells the reader that the rainbow which connects heaven and earth is more beautiful than bridges over rivers. The Rainbow is a testament to the beauty of nature.

Names of Fruit and Nut Trees in Spanish

The names of many fruit and nut trees in Spanish end with an o. A common pattern is to change the final a of the nut and fruit to an o for the tree. Here is a list:

almond almendra almond tree almendro
apple manzana apple tree manzano
cherry cereza cherry tree cerezo
chestnut castaña chestnut tree castaño
grapefruit toronja grapefruit tree toronjo
guava guayaba guava tree guayabo
orange naranja orange tree naranjo
papaya papaya papaya tree papayo
plum ciruela plum tree ciruelo
pomegranate granada pomegranate tree granado

Many names of fruit and nut trees in Spanish are similar to the names of the fruit and nut. The ending with a is feminine and the ending with o is masculine. However, this is not the only pattern. The name for fig is higo and fig tree is higuera. However, the pattern illustrated here is used for a number of fruit and nut trees in Spanish.

Null Morpheme

The null morpheme is a morpheme with no phonetic form. It can be considered an invisible affix. The null morpheme is often represented with the symbol Ø.

The singular of English nouns can be represented with the null morpheme. This contrasts with the plural morpheme -s. Here are examples:

book + Ø = singular
book + s = plural

chair + Ø = singular
chair + s = plural

table + Ø = singular
table + s = plural

The null morpheme can also indicate the plural of irregular nouns:

sheep + Ø = singular
sheep + Ø = plural

The null morpheme also marks the present tense of verbs which are not third person singular.

he/she run + s = third person singular
they run + Ø = third person plural
I run + Ø = first person singular

The null morpheme is common not only in English but also in other languages. It is very useful for illustrating contrasts with overt morphemes. In English the null morpheme exhibits contrasts with the plural morpheme and the third personal singular verb morpheme.

Yod-Dropping in Norfolk Dialect

Many English speakers have yod-dropping after coronals. Words such as dew, duke, new, student, tune are usually pronounced with no palatal glide in American English. However, the dialect of Norfolk exhibits yod-dropping not only after coronals but after all consonants. The palatal glide is only preserved when it is word-initial as in unit and usual. The following words have yod-dropping in the Norfolk dialect:


beauty
cute
few
human
humour
museum
music
music
pew
view

Yod-dropping after coronals is common in American English, but it does not occur after labials and velars. However, the dialect of Norfolk exhibits yod-dropping after all consonants. This makes the Norfolk dialect very innovative with respect to yod-dropping.

Velar Palatalization in Caribbean English

Velar palatalization is a feature of Caribbean English. The palatalization occurs with velar plosives followed by low vowels. A glide is inserted after the velar plosive. Here are examples:

can
car
cart
cat
gallery
garden
gas
gone
got

Many English speakers palatalize the consonants of duty, tube and news. However, Caribbean English also exhibits velar palatalization. This palatalizes velar plosives before low vowels. This is a distinctive feature of Caribbean English.

Filler Words in Different Languages

Filler words are words that mark a pause in speech. They are classified as interjections. A common filler word in English is um. Here is a list of filler words in different languages:

Danish øh
Dutch ehm
Finnish niinku
French euh
German äh
Hungarian ő
Indonesian anu
Italian ehm
Norwegian øh
Portuguese é
Romanian deci
Spanish este
Swedish öhm
Tagalog ah
Turkish yani

Filler words have no meaning. They are used to signify a pause or hesitation in speech. Many filler words are monosyllabic and consist of simple syllables.

Norwegian Numbers

In Norwegian there are numbers with more than one form. The number 7 can be either sju or syv, 20 can be tjue or tyve and 30 can be tretti or tredve. Most Norwegians say førti for 40, but some say førr. The result is that Norwegian numbers can be said in many ways.

Norwegians who use sju for 7 tend to use tjue for 20 and tretti for 30. Those who use syv for 7 often use tyve for 20 and tredve for 30. In the traditional counting system, numbers such as thirty-one place the ones before the tens. This is the same as in German and Danish. The number 31 is thus literally one and thirty. In the modern counting system, the tens are placed before the ones, the same as in English. To illustrate, here are a few Norwegian numbers with the modern counting system and the traditional one:

Modern System

22 tjueto
35 trettifem
49 førtini
55 femtifem
63 sekstitre
74 syttifire
88 åttiåtte
91 nittien
96 nittiseks
97 nittisju, nittisyv

Traditional System

22 toogtyve, toogtjue
35 femogtretti, femogtredve
49 niogførti, niogførr
55 femogfemti
63 treogseksti
74 fireogsytti
88 åtteogåtti
91 enognitti
96 seksognitti
97 syvognitti, sjuognitti

Norwegian has two counting systems. One is traditional and the other is modern. The modern system is taught in schools and used on the news, but many continue to use the traditional system.

Weak Vowels in Received Pronunciation

In English the schwa is very common in unstressed syllables. It is the first vowel in ago and potato. However, Received Pronunciation, a variety of English that does not have the weak-vowel merger, also uses the high front unrounded lax vowel extensively.

In the past, the word visibility was pronounced with the high front unrounded lax vowel in the second and fourth syllables, but this is now rare. Most speakers today use the schwa in the second and fourth syllables. This is evidence that the use of the schwa in Received Pronunciation has increased, but the high front unrounded lax vowel still occurs in many unstressed syllables.

Received Pronunciation contrasts addition and edition. In the first word the schwa in used, but in the second the high front [I] is used. Received Pronunciation has the high front [I] in cabin, but the schwa in ribbon. In Received Pronunciation these two words do not rhyme.

Here are words which have the schwa in Received Pronunciation:

allow
anthem
apron
ballad
button
carrot
children
chorus
hamlet
happiness
joyous
palace
parrot
piglet
stomach

The following words have the high front [I]:

cabbage
event
finish
language
lettuce
liquid
magic
magnet
millet
office
puppet
rabbit
spirit
toxic
trumpet

Many words with the schwa can also be realized with syllabic consonants such as middle, open and rhythm. A number of observations can be stated. The schwa occurs in the diminutive suffix -let such as in booklet, piglet and ringlet and in the derivative suffix -ness such as in forgiveness, happiness and kindness. The high front [I] occurs in word-final -ic such as in basic, classic and historic and also in word-final -age such as in advantage, baggage and manage. In Received Pronunciation both the schwa and the high front lax vowel occur regularly in unstressed syllables.