Register

In sociolinguistics, register refers to the variety of language used in communication. The terms acrolect, mesolect and basilect represent different varieties of language. Acrolect represents the most prestigious, mesolect an intermediate variety, and basilect the least prestigious. The language which a speaker uses can vary from one situation to another.

The sentence "I don't understand" can be pronounced with different registers. In the most formal register, the word-final /t/ of don't is pronounced. In a less formal register, the final segment of don't is pronounced with a /d/, and in the least formal register, the /t/ is deleted. In this case, the final consonant becomes the nasal.

The term register is often used in sociolinguistics. Numerous registers can be identified in language. The terms acrolect, mesolect and basilect express different varieties of language. However, speakers may use different varieties in different situations.

Reduplication

Reduplication is a morphological process in which a word or part of a word is repeated. It may be completely reduplicated or with a small change. The reduplicated element is called the reduplicant.

Three common types of reduplication in English are ablaut reduplication, rhyming reduplication and exact reduplication. In ablaut reduplication the word is repeated and the internal vowels are altered. The first vowel is usually a high vowel and the reduplicated ablaut variant is usually a low vowel. In rhyming duplication it is usually the first segment of the reduplicated variant which is altered.

Here are examples of the three types of reduplication:

Ablaut Reduplication

chit-chat hip-hop flip-flop splish-splash zig-zag

Rhyming Reduplication

itsy-bitsy helter-skelter razzle-dazzle super-duper walkie-talkie 

Exact Reduplication

bye-bye knock-knock no-no so-so yum-yum

Reduplication is most common in informal expressions. In exact redupllication, the whole word is repeated, but in ablaut reduplication and rhymping reduplication, the reduplicated element is a little different. Reduplication can be described as a morphological process, and is common in many languages.

Informal Pronunciation of Finnish Numbers

The informal pronunciation of Finnish words often varies considerably from the formal one. In spoken Finnish, words are often shortened. This can be illustrated with the Finnish numbers. The numbers from one to ten are as follows:

yksi

kaksi

kolme

neljä

viisi

kuusi

seitsemän

kahdeksan

yhdeksän

kymmenen

In informal Finnish, these numbers can be pronounced as follows:

yks (apocope)

kaks (apocope)

kolme

neljä

viis (apocope)

kuus (apocope)

seittemän (assimilation)

kaheksan (consonant reduction)/kadeksan (consonant reduction)

yheksän (consonant reduction) ydeksän (consonant reduction)

kymmenen

In spoken Finnish apocope is a common phonological process. Other processes which can be observed are assimilation and consonant reduction. The pronunciation of the Finnish numbers eight and nine can vary. As the numbers illustrate, colloquial Finnish is quite different from formal Finnish.

Scottish Dialects

Though Scotland is a relatively small country, it has a number of dialects. They can be divided into four main ones. The four main dialects are the Insular, Northern, Central and Southern.

The Insular dialect includes the islands of Shetland and Orkney. The English of Shetland has a Norwegian influence. The Northern dialect is spoken in the northeastern part of Scotland. It is also known as Doric. The Central dialect is the most widely-spoken. It includes the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. The Southern dialect is spoken in the Scottish lowlands. It is considered a very musical dialect.

Scotland has several dialects. They can be divided into four main ones: the Insular, Northern, Central and Southern. The most widely-spoken dialect is the Central.

English Roots and Affixes

Many English words are composed of a combination of roots and affixes. Affixes can be derivational or inflectional. Derivational affixes create a new grammatical category, but inflectional ones do not. Here is a list of ten English words with their roots and affixes:

accidentally  accident + al + ly
autobiographical  auto + bio +graph + ic + al
disappointment  dis + appoint + ment
hypersensitivity  hyper + sense + itive + ity
interactions  inter + act + tion + s
internationalization inter + nation + al + ize + ation
irreplaceable ir + re + place + able
midfielder mid + field + er
mismanagement  mis + manage + ment
uncomfortable  un + comfort + able

The word accidentally has two derivational suffixes. The suffix -al creates an adjective and -ly creates an adverb. The word disappointment has a prefix and a suffix. The prefix and the suffix both attach to verbs, but the suffix converts the verb to a noun. The plural affix -s is inflectional. It does not create a new grammatical category but rather a change in grammatical meaning.

Gender in English

English does not have grammatical gender. Unlike German with three grammatical genders and Dutch with two, English has none. However, this was not always the case.

Grammatical gender in English existed until the thirteenth century. Old English had a system of grammatical gender similar to that of German with three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. Nouns followed different declension patterns depending on their gender, and determiners and attributive adjectives showed gender inflection in agreement with the noun they modified.

The article the had three forms in the nominative. They were the masculine sé, feminine séo and neuter þæt. The letter þ represented the voiceless interdental fricative and is used in Icelandic.

Grammatical gender was used in Old English. In the 1200's, however, it was lost. English used to have three grammatical genders, masculine, feminine and neutral, the same as in German and Icelandic. The loss of grammatical gender in English can be viewed as a form of simplification.