Fricative Voicing in English Plurals

A number of English plurals exhibit fricative voicing in the stem. The fricatives are the alveolar fricative, the interdental fricative and the labiodental fricative. In the case of the interdental fricative, voicing is common in British English but not in American English.

The plurals baths and paths have a voiced interdental fricative in British English. In American English, however, the interdental fricative is voiceless. Since fricatives agree in voicing, British English has two voiced fricatives in these words, and American English has two voiceless ones.

Voicing also occurs in the plurals blouses and houses. The alveolar fricative of blouse and house becomes voiced in the plural forms.

In the following words, the labiodental fricative is voiced:

calves
halves
knives
leaves
lives
loaves
shelves
thieves
wives
wolves

In Old English the e of the plural was pronounced. The word wife was originally pronounced with two syllables. The /f/ voiced because it was between two voiced segments. This is an example of  voicing assimilation.

Certain plurals have optional voicing. Examples include elfs/elves, hoofs/hooves, roofs/rooves, scarfs, scarves, and wharfs/wharves. However, in certain plurals, no voicing can occur. Plurals which belong to this category include chiefs, cliffs and safes.

In Danish, Norwegian and Swedish voicing of the labiodental fricative is more extensive than it is in English. This is because in the North Germanic languages it applies not only to the plural but also to the singular form. For example, knife/knives is kniv/knivar in Swedish, kniv/kniver in Norwegian and kniv/knive in Danish.

Many English plurals have stem-final fricative voicing. This is the result of voicing assimilation which occurred in Old English. The voicing rule is not categorical because a number of English plurals do not exhibit fricative voicing.

Sound Correspondence Between English and Swedish

English and Swedish are both Germanic languages with many similarities. One of the similarities is a sound correspondence of the fricatives /f/ and /v/. The voiceless labiodental fricative of English is often voiced in Swedish. Here are examples:

calf kalv
deaf döv
half halv
knife kniv
life liv
of av
self själv
stiff styv
thief tjuv
wolf ulv

The English words have a voiced fricative in the plural forms such as calves, knives and wolves. The word of, though spelt with an f, is pronounced with a voiced fricative. In the words calf and half, the lateral is pronounced in Swedish but not in English.

The Swedish words are almost identical in Danish and Norwegian. Here are the Danish and Norwegian words for comparison:

calf kalv kalv
deaf døv døv
half halv halv
knife kniv kniv
life liv liv
of af av
self selv selv
stiff stiv stiv
thief tyv tyv
wolf ulv ulv

The words for calf, half, knife, life and wolf are the same in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. The word of is the same in Norwegian and Swedish but different in Danish. There is no word that is different in all three languages.

One of the many sound correspondences which English and Swedish share is that of the fricatives /f/ and /v/. This sound correspondence is also evident between English and the North Germanic languages of Danish and Norwegian. The examples illustrate that the word-final /f/ of English is often a /v/ in Swedish. The word of is an exception because it has a word-final /v/ in both languages.

Pronunciation of e in French

In standard French the letter e is often silent. This is especially true when it is word-final as in monde (world). In certain cases, the e is retained and in others it is deleted. Retention or deletion depends on the rapidity of speech, stylistic emphasis and the consonants which precede and follow the e.

The e is dropped when it is preceded by a single consonant:

épicerie (grocery)
lentement (slowly)
rapidement (quickly)

The e is retained if two consonants precede it:

appartement (apartment)
exactement (exactly)
gouvernement (government)

With certain sequences of words which occur frequently, deletion is common but not necessary. The e e is often deleted in le, me and ne.

Il me comprend. (He understands me)
Je le sais. (I know it)
Je ne sais pas. (I don't know)

The letter e can only be deleted in unstressed position. When pronounced, it is a mid front rounded vowel, but in Belgian and Canadian French, it is realized as a schwa. The e is retained when deletion results in three consecutive consonants. This can be analzyed as a syllable structure process.

Analysis of More/Most

The words more and most can be analyzed as adverbs or adjectives. Monosyllabic words usually form the comparative and superlative forms with the suffixes -er and -est, but polysyllabic words usually consist of more/most and the adjective. In this case they can be analyzed as adverbs. However, the words more/most can also be adjectives with the meaning of quantity.

The two possible analyses of the words more and most can lead to ambiguity. Consider the following sentence: I want more beautiful clothes. The sentence may mean that the speaker wants a greater quantity of beautiful clothes, or it may mean that the speaker wants clothes that are more beautiful. Context is needed to disambiguate.

a) I want more beautiful clothes. These ones are nothing special.
b) I want more beautiful clothes. Double the next shipment.

With the added context, it is clear that (a) has the meaning of the comparative suffix -er such as in prettier and (b) has the meaning of greater quantity.

With monosyllabic adjectives that combine with the suffixes -er and -est, this ambiguity does not exist. Consider the following sentences:

a) I want larger clothes.
b) I want more large clothes.

In these two sentences it is very clear that (a) refers to greater size and (b) to greater quantity. With the monosyllabic adjective large, no ambiguity occurs.

Let us consider two sentences with the word most.

(a) I want to make the most expensive dresses. The ones we currently make are too cheap.
(b) I want to make the most expensive dresses. I want to be number one in sales.

Context is needed to clarify the meaning. The first sentence has the meaning of highest in price, and the second the meaning of greatest quantity.

With monosyllabic adjectives which combine with the superlative suffix -est, this ambiguity does not exist. Consider the following sentences:

a) They own the newest properties.
b) They own the most new properties.

Here no further context is needed to clarify the meaning. In (a) it is clear that the meaning refers to age, and in (b) the meaning refers to the number of properties.

A number of words can belong to more than one grammatical category. This is the case with more and most, which can be both adverbs and adjectives. Ambiguity can occur with polysyllabic adjectives which form the comparative and superlative with more and most.

Two Pronunciations of The

The word the has two pronunciations. It is pronounced with a schwa before words that begin with a consonant, and with a high front vowel before words that begin with a vowel. This can be considered a syllable structure process.

The English schwa occurs in many words such as salmon, carrot and lettuce. In these words the schwa occurs between consonants. In the phrases the cat and the dog, the schwa occurs before consonants. However, in the phrases the apple and the orange, the schwa comes before a vowel. To avoid the sequence of a schwa and vowel, the schwa becomes a high front vowel.

The definite article has two pronunciations. One occurs before consonants and the other before vowels. The pronunciation  before consonants occurs in isolation and is unconditioned. It can thus be considered underlying.

Poem by Sara Teasdale

Sara Teasdale wrote the poem There Will Come Soft Rains. It was written in 1920, shortly after the end of World War 1. Here is the poem:

There Will Come Soft Rains

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white,

Robins will wear their feathery fire
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone.

Sara Teasdale's poem consists of twelve verses written in six rhyming couplets. It has many references to nature such as soft rains, plum trees, robins and swallows. The poem tells the reader that even if mankind is destroyed in war, nature will always triumph.

Different Vocabulary of Spanish Dialects

Spanish has many dialects. Even in Spain, a number of different dialects are spoken. The Spanish of Madrid is Castilian, and the Spanish of Seville is Andalusian. One area in which the dialects often differ greatly is vocabulary. This can be illustrated with the word straw. Here are eleven different words for the drinking straw:

absorbente (Cuba)
bombilla (Bolivia, Chile)
calimete (Dominican Republic)
cañita (Peru)
carrizo (Panama)
pajilla (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua)
pajita ( Argentina, Chile, Spain, Uruguay)
pitillo (Chile, Venezuela)
popote (Mexico)
sorbete (Argentina, Ecuador, Peru)
sorbeto (Puerto Rico)

The word pajilla is used in five countries and pajita is used in four. The words pajilla/pajita and sorbete/sorbeto are similar. The list illustrates the different vocabulary of Spanish dialects.

Names of Rivers in Different Languages

A number of rivers have names that vary from one language to another. Here are the names of ten rivers in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian:

Amazon
Amazone
Amazonas
Amazonas
Amazzoni

Danube
Danube
Donau
Danubio
Danubio

Douro
Douro
Duero
Duero
Douro

Loire
Loire
Loire
Loira
Loira

Nile
Nil
Nil
Nilo
Nilo

Rhine
Rhin
Rhein
Rin
Reno

Rhone
Rhône
Rhone
Ródano
Rodano

Seine
Seine
Seine
Sena
Senna

Tagus
Tage
Tajo
Tajo
Tago

Thames
Tamise
Themse
Támesis
Tamigi

The names of rivers can vary from one language to another, but the names are usually quite similar. The Loire is the same in English, French and German, and only a little different in Spanish and Italian. English and French share the same name for the Danube, and Spanish and Italian also share the name. German. on the other hand, has a different name. The list exemplifies the different names of rivers in five languages.

Ambiguity with Genitives

Genitives occur in various forms. They are determiners (her desk), proper nouns (John's car) and full noun phrases (the child's toy). Many examples of ambiguity are possible with genitives. Let us look at a few examples.

The sentence Erik's new novel is on the table is ambiguous. Did Erik write the novel or is the novel one which Erik wrote? Is it a novel which Erik wrote and is owned by another person? Is it a novel which Erik wrote and which Erik owns? The answer of course depends on the context of the real world.

Jane heard about Margaret's betrayal is also ambiguous. If Margaret betrayed someone, this is a subject genitive. However, if someone betrayed Margaret, this is an object genitive. The sentence can be disambiguated if more information can be added. The following sentences are clear:

Jane heard about Margaret's betrayal of her younger sister.
Jane heard about Margaret's betrayal by her boss.

The sentence I love Peter' s photograph is also ambiguous. The genitive may be possessive (Peter owns the photograph), a subject genitive (Peter took the photograph) or an object genitive (Someone photographed Peter). Context of the real word is needed to make the meaning clear.

Genitive constructions are very common. In addition to possessive genitives, subject and object genitives are also common. Many examples of ambiguity can be found in genitive constructions.