Aboriginal Canadian English

Aboriginal Canadian English refers to the English used by the indigenous peoples of Canada. The English of the different indigenous groups varies from one speaker to another. However, it is often identifiable to those who are not indigenous.

Differences in the English of indigenous peoples of Canada are primarily due to the influence of indigenous languages. Other factors include geographical and social isolation. Many aboriginals live in the north, in remote communities and on reserves.

A few differences which can be observed in the speech of many Canadian aboriginals are little or no aspiration in plosives, retracted vowels, monophthongs and intervocalic laterals without velarization. In addition, many Canadian aboriginals have low intonation and do not have a strong contrast in the length of stressed and unstressed syllables. In other words, their speech can be classified as syllable-timed rather than stress-timed.

Many of the aboriginals of Canada speak a distinct variety of English. Though this varies from one speaker to another, a number of features can be identified. They include little or no aspiration in plosives, monophthongs and syllable-timed rhythm.

Phonology of Faroese

Faroese is spoken on the Faroe Islands, an archipelago in the North Atlantic located approximately halfway between Norway and Iceland. The phonology of Faroese is similar to that of the closely related Icelandic language. However, the two languages also exhibit notable differences.

As in Icelandic, Faroese has an aspiration contrast for plosives rather than a voicing contrast. Also, the two languages share front rounded vowels, a large number of diphthongs and qualitative rather than quantitative differences in vowel quality.  The two languages also preserve a contrast between short and long consonants.

However, Faroese lacks the interdental fricatives of Icelandic. As in many varieties of Norwegian, Faroese has a retroflex sibiliant, but Icelandic does not. The alveolar trill of Icelandic is an alveolar approximant in Faroese. In contrast to Icelandic, Faroese has a voiceless alveopalatal affricate.

Faroese phonology is similar to that of Icelandic. The two languages preserve an aspiration contrast for plosives. Differences include the alveolar approximant of Faroese and the lack of interdental fricatives.

Frisian Vocabulary

The Frisian language is considered the closest to English. Frisian is spoken in the northern Netherlands and northern Germany. Here is a list of twenty Frisian words along with the equivalents in English, Dutch and German:

brea (bread) (brood) (Brot)
dei (day) (dag) (Tag)
ear (ear) (oor) (Ohr)
fisk (fish) (vis) (Fisch)
goes (geese) (gans) (Gans)
grien (green) (groen) (grün)
it (it) (het) (es)
jier (year) (jaar) (Jahr)
kat (cat) (poes) (Katze)
ko (cow) (koe) (Kuh)
read (red) (rood) (rot)
rein (rain) (regen) (Regen)
sied (seed) (zaad) (Samen)
skiep (sheep) (schaap) (Schaf)
stjer (star) (ster) (Sterne)
tsiis (cheese) (kaas) (Käse)
tsjerke (church) (kerk) (Kirche)
wei (way) (weg) (Weg)
wêr (where) (waar) (wo)
wiet (wet) (nat) (nass)

Many of the Frisian words are very close to English. In a number of words such as grien (green), skiep (sheep) and tsiis (cheese), English and Frisian maintain the high front [i], but German and Dutch do not. The list helps to illustrate the similarity of English and Frisian.

German Past Participle

The German past participle is often formed by adding the prefix -ge to the verb stem. Regular verbs end with a t and irregular verbs with en or n. Irregular verbs often undergo a change in the vowel of the verb stem. Mixed verbs end with a t but exhibit a vowel change in the stem. They are called mixed because they exhibit features of both regular and irregular verbs. Here are examples:

Regular Verbs

machen gemacht (make/made)
sagen gesagt (say/said)
spielen gespielt (play/played)
tanzen getanzt (dance/danced)
wechseln gewechselt (exchange/exchanged)

Mixed Verbs

bringen gebracht (bring/brought)
denken gedacht (think/thought)
senden gesandt (send/sent)
sitzen gesessen (sit/sat)
wissen gewusst (know/known)

Irregular Verbs (Only Prefix Added)

geben/gegeben (give/given)
kommen gekommen (come/come)
lesen gelesen (read/read)
sehen gesehen (see/seen)
schlafen geschlafen (sleep/slept)

Irregular Verbs (Stem Change)

fliegen geflogen (fly/flown)
schreiben geschrieben (write/written)
singen/gesungen (sing/sung)
trinken/getrunken (drink/drunk)
sprechen gesprochen (speak/spoken)

The past participle eaten has an epenthetic g which prevents a sequence of two vowels by inserting a consonant. This is seen in essen gegessen (eat/eaten). However, no epenthesis occurs in enden/geendet (end/ended).

The German past participle is usually formed with the prefix -ge. The rules for forming the past participle vary for regular, mixed and irregular verbs. Regular verbs are also known as weak verbs and irregular verbs as strong verbs.

Cod with White Wine

Cod with white wine is a simple and tasty French dish. Here is the recipe:

1/2 kilo salt cod
3 potatoes
75 grams butter
1 onion
1/2 cup white wine

Remove the salt from the cod.
Place the cod in a container with cold water.
Replace the water every two hours for twelve hours.
Drain the salt cod and place in a pot.
Peel and chop the onion.
Peel the potato and slice thinly.
Add to the pot.
Add the white wine.
Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the pot.
Cover and cook over low heat for one hour.
Serve on a dish with chopped parsley and slices of lemon.

Enjoy!

Two Hungarian Words for Red

The Hungarian language has two words for red. They are piros and vörös. The two words are not interchangeable.

The word vörös is often used for the colour found in nature, plants and animals. For example, vörös róka is red fox, vörös vér is red blood, vörös haj is red hair and vöröshagyma is red onion.

In contrast, the word piros is often used for man-made objects. For example, piros toll is red pen, piros autó is red car, piros labda is red ball and piros pötty is red dot.

The distinction between piros and vörös does not always correspond to man-made objects and objects of nature. The phrase for red apple is piros alma but for red carpet it is vörös szőnyeg. Roses and tulips are both flowers, but the phrase for red rose is vörös rózsa and for red tulip it is piros tulipán.

Hungarian has two words for red, piros and vörös. The word piros is used more than vörös, but both are common. With objects found in nature it is more common to use vörös, and with man-made objects it is more common to use piros.

Comparative of Disyllabic Adjectives

In English monosyllabic adjectives usually attach the suffix -er to express the comparative and adjectives with three of more syllables use the word more. The suffix is known as the synthetic form and the adverb as the analytic. However, in disyllabic adjectives there is often variation.

Disyllabic adjectives with word final -y (optionally with -ly) form the comparative with -er. This is the case with the words happy, lovely and pretty. Other disyllabic adjectives form the comparative by inserting the word more. This is the case with pleasant, solid and vivid.

Certain disyllabic adjectives can be formed with the synthetic or the analytic form. The following words show variation:

clever 
common
friendly
gentle
likely
narrow
polite
quiet
simple
subtle

Here is how I express the comparative of these adjectives:

Synthetic A + -er

friendly
likely
narrow
quiet
simple

Analytic more + A

clever
common
gentle
polite
subtle

The comparative of disyllabic adjectives often varies. The form that speakers choose for the comparative tends to be the same for the superlative. It may be that the analytic form has become more common than it was in the past.

Latest Poem

I want to dedicate my latest poem to my wife. I hope you enjoy it.

Together

I found you at the airport.

The city was big and cold.

I saw you were new in the north.

You were now in a new world.

You left your home and family

To begin your life with me.

Leaving summer and entering winter,

For the first time you felt so free.

You gave me your warmest smile,

Angel of summer in winter.

How can I ever forget the moment

We started our new life together?

It seems you arrived yesterday

Even though you arrived years ago.

Every day opens a new chapter

As we continue to learn and grow.

You left summer weather one morning

And flew miles across land and sea.

Thank you for your sacrifice,

For flying far to be with me.