Lax Vowels in Canadian French

The phonology of Canadian French includes lax vowels. The high vowels /i/, /u/ and /y/ also have lax counterparts. This is in contrast to European French, which does not have lax vowels. In Canadian French only high vowels are lax.

The lax vowels of Canadian French occur in closed syllables. However, they never come before voiced fricatives. The reason is that voiced fricatives lengthen the preceding vowel. As a result, they block the vowel laxing rule.

The following words have lax vowels in Canadian French:

fils (son)
musique (music)
ville (city)
vite (quickly)

coupe (cup)
doute (doubt)
moule (mussel)
route (route)

jupe (skirt)
lune (moon)
lutte (struggle)
minute (minute)

Unlike European French, Canadian French has lax vowels. The lax vowels are always high and occur in closed syllables. The lax vowels of Canadian French are one of the features which serves to distinguish Canadian French from European French.

Nasal Vowels

Nasal vowels are vowels that are produced with a lowered velum. This allows air flow to escape through the nose and mouth simultaneously. Oral vowels are produced without nasalization. Nasalized vowels are vowels that are influenced by adjacent nasal consonants.

The English word sand has a nasalized vowel. The vowel is influenced by the following nasal which occurs in the same syllable. However, in the case of nasal vowels, no audible nasal consonant follows the vowel.

Nasal vowels are usually a little lower than oral vowels. This is the case with the French words beau (beautiful) and bon (good). The vowel of beau has a higher tongue position than the vowel of bon.

Languages with nasal vowels include Breton, French, Polish, Portuguese and Yoruba. Nasal vowels are not so common. Every language with nasal vowels has oral vowels, but many languages with oral vowels lack nasal vowels. Nasal vowels can thus be considered marked.

Hungarian Word Order in Affirmative and Negative Sentences

Hungarian word order is relatively flexible. However, in the affirmative, the verb often follows the compliment and in the negative often precedes it.  This results in two different patterns.

The Hungarian sentence Orvos vagyok means I am a doctor. Hungarian is a pro-drop language, so the pronoun does not need to be expressed. In the sentence Orvos vagyok, the verb vagyok occurs in sentence-final position. The negative I am not a doctor is Nem vagyok orvos. Here the verb is not sentence-final.

The sentence Budapesten lakom means I live in Budapest. The negative I don't live in Budapest is Nem lakom Budapesten. In the affirmative the verb is sentence-final, but in the negative, it is not. Hungarian uses a postposition to express in Budapest, and this is written as one word.

With sentences such as Orvos vagyok and Nem vagyok orvos, the verb appears in two different positions. It is clear that the negative particle nem must occur before the verb. If the affirmative sentence is analyzed as underlying, the negative is derived by raising the verb.

The same patterns occur in Budapesten lakom and Nem lakom Budapesten. Verb-raising makes the negation more prominent in the sentence. It is clear that the negative particle nem and the be-verb from a constituent.

Hungarian has two different word orders for the verb in affirmative and negative sentences. The affirmative can be considered underlying because it is the most basic sentence. The negative word order is thus derived as a result of verb-raising.

French Simple Past

In French the simple past is usually only used in formal speeches and writing. For other situations, it is common to use the present perfect. This is different from English. The sentence I visited my sister is J'ai visité ma soeur. In formal French, however, it can be translated as Je visitai ma soeur.

The conjugation of the simple past has two regular patterns. One is for infinitives which end in -er and the other for infinitives which end in -ir and -re. Here are examples with the three infinitive endings:

parler (to speak)

je parlai (I spoke)
tu parlas (you spoke)
il/elle parla (he/she spoke)
nous parlâmes (we spoke)
vous parlâtes (you spoke)
ils/elles parlèrent (they spoke)

finir (to finish)

je finis (I finished)
tu finis (you finished)
il/elle finit (he/she finished)
nous finîmes (we finished)
vous finîtes (you finished)
ils/elles finirent (they finished)

perdre (to lose)

je perdis (I lost)
tu perdis (you lost)
il/elle perdit (he/she lost)
nous perdîmes (we lost)
vous perdîtes (you lost)
ils/elles perdirent (they lost)

The verbs être (to be) and avoir (to have) are irregular. Here are the conjugations:

être (to be)

je fus (I was)
tu fus (you were)
il/elle fut (he/she was)
nous fûmes (we were)
vous fûtes (you were)
ils/elles furent (they were)

avoir (to have)

j'eus (I had)
tu eus (you had)
il/elle eut (he/she had)
nous eûmes (we had)
vous eûtes (you had)
ils/elles eurent (they had)

In conversational French the present perfect is used instead of the simple past. However, the simple past is common in formal speeches and writing. The simple past has two regular conjugation patterns. One is for infinitives which end in -er and the other for infinitives which end in -ir and -re.

Prime Numbers

Prime numbers are whole numbers which cannot be produced by multiplying whole numbers. They are always greater than 1. A number which can be produced by multiplying whole numbers is called a composite number. The number 4 is an example of a composite number. It can be produced by multiplying 2x2.

Here is a list of all the prime numbers up to 100:

2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, 41, 43, 47, 53, 59, 61, 67, 71, 73, 79, 83, 89, 97.

The number 2 is the smallest prime number. It cannot be produced by multiplying whole numbers. The numbers 4 and 1/2 can be muliplied to produce 2, but 1/2 is not a whole number. It is a fraction.

With the exception of the number 2, all the prime numbers are odd numbers. Even numbers such as 4 and 10 can be produced by multiplying 2 and another whole number. Numbers which can be produced by multiplying whole numbers are called composite numbers.

Victory in 17

In a game of speed chess, my opponent resigned after 17 moves. He was Shorpe of the United States, who played black. Here are the moves of the game along with my commentary:

1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 e6
3. c3 Nc6

White usually plays d4.

4. d4 cxd
5. cxd d5

A better move for black is Nf6.

6. exd Qxd5

Black brings out the queen too early. A better move for black is exd.

7. Nc3 Qd8

A better move for black is Bb4, a move which aids his development.

8. Bb5 Bd7
9. d5 Nb4

It is better for black to play exd.

10. Bxd7 Qxd7

11. Ne5 Qc7

I attack the black queen. Another option for me is to castle.

12. Bf4 Bd6

Black makes a mistake. It is better to castle. My knight is very dangerous.

13. Nb5 Nc2+

Black puts me in check, but his queen is under attack.

14. Kf1 Qb6
15. Nxd6+ Ke7

Black makes a mistake. He should play Qxd6.

16. Qxc2 Qxd6

Now black takes the knight, but this is a blunder. It is better to play Nf6.

17. Nc6+

After my 17th move, black will lose his queen. For this reason he resigns. I can also win the queen with Ng6+.

My opponent makes a number of mistakes in the game. The most critical is his 15th move, Ke7. Another bad move is the sixth, Qxd5, which brings out the queen too early. The game is notable because neither player castles, and the rooks never leave their original squares.

Regional Differences in German Pronunciation

The German language has considerable variation. This extends to not only vocabulary but also pronunciation. The differences in pronunciation are often regional.

The word zwanwig means twenty. In northern Germany, the final segment is a palatal fricative. In the west of Germany, it is a voiceless alveopalatal fricative and in the south, it is a voiceless velar plosive.

The word Tag means day. In Switzerland the final segment is a voiced velar plosive. However, in Austria and most of Germany, the final segment is a voiceless velar plosive. In northern Germany, the final segment is a voiceless velar fricative.

Another word with different pronunciations is Sprache. It means language. In most regions, the /r/ is a uvular fricative, but in southern Germany and Austria, it is often realized as an alveolar trill. The /s/ is a voiceless alveopalatal fricative, but in northern Germany it is a voiceless alveolar fricative.

In Austria, Switzerland and most of Germany, the final segment of the word Burg (castle) is a voiceless velar plosive. In northern Germany, though, it is a voiceless velar fricative. This can be considered a form of lenition.

The /s/ of Rose (rose) is pronounced as a /z/ by most German speakers. The rule is that the /s/ becomes voiced intervocalically. In southern Germany and Austria, however, many do not use the voiced alveolar fricative and use the voiceless counterpart.

The pronunciation of German varies from one region to another. The alveolar trill is often used in Austria, Switzerland and southern Germany, and the voiceless palatal fricative and voiceless velar fricative are often used in the north instead of the velar plosive. The pronunciation used by speakers often helps to identify the region they are from.

Front Rounded Vowels

Front rounded vowels are less common than front unrounded ones. On the other hand, back rounded vowels are more common than back unrounded. Though front rounded vowels are more marked than front unrounded, they occur in a number of languages.

Front rounded vowels are common in the Germanic languages. However, they do not occur in English. They are not common in the Romance languages, but they occur in French and Occitan. Front rounded vowels occur in Albanian, in Turkish and in the Uralic languages of Hungarian, Finnish and Estonian. Among Asian languages, front rounded vowels are found in the Sino-Tibetan languages. Mandarin, Cantonese and Tibetan have front rounded vowels.

Front rounded vowels do not exist in English, but they were found in the southwest dialects of Old English and Middle English. In the thirteenth century, they became unrounded. Since front rounded vowels are more marked than front unrounded vowels, it is not surprising that all languages with front rounded vowels have front unrounded.

Cross-linguistically, front rounded vowels are rare. However, they are found in many major languages. These include Mandarin, Cantonese, German, French and Turkish.