French Word-Final Vowel Weakening

Many French words have a word-final e. This is in contrast to other Romance languages which preserve a word-final a or o. The change to e is word-final vowel weakening. The front mid vowel shares the tongue height as the schwa and is also unrounded.

The process of word-final vowel weakening is very common in French. This can be illustrated by comparing words from Italian, Portuguese and Spanish with words from French. In the following list the French word is given first followed by the same word in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish:

colline collina colina colina (hill)
école scuola escola escuela (school)
église chiesa igreja iglesia (church)
heure ora hora hora (hour)
lune luna luna luna (moon)
montagne montagna montanha montaña (mountain)
orange arancia laranja naranja (orange)
semaine semana semana semana (week)
soupe zuppa sopa sopa (soup)
vie vita vida vida (life)

cône cono cono cono (cone)
corne corno corno cuerno (horn)
cube cubo cubo cubo (cube)
diccionaire dizionario dicionário diccionario (dictionary)
filtre filtro filtro filtro (filter)
livre libro livro libro (book)
monde mondo mundo mundo (world)
siècle secolo século siglo (century)
trône trono trono trono (throne)
tube tubo tubo tubo (tube)

Word-final vowel weakening is very common in French. As a result, French can be considered more innovative than Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. In addition to word-final vowel weakening, French has also undergone vowel deletion. This is because the orthographic e has no phonetic value- it is no longer pronounced.

Prosthesis in Spanish and Portuguese

Spanish and Portuguese insert a word-initial e to the front of words with an s and consonant. This is a form of epenthesis called prosthesis. It changes the beginning of the word from CC to VCC.
Here are examples of Spanish and Portuguese words with prosthesis.

escuela escola (school)
esfera esfera (sphere)
espagueti espaguete (spaghetti)
especial especial (special)
esponja esponja (sponge)
estación estação (station)
estadio estádio (stadium)
estado estado (state)
estilo estilo (style)
estructura estrutura (structure)

Spanish and Portuguese do not allow the sequence sC word-initially. The rule may be represented as follows: sC --> esC/ #_. The rule affects the distribution of word-initial segments and is governed by phonotactics.

Adjective and Noun Agreement in Romance and Germanic Languages

In English attributive and predicate adjectives are invariable. However, this is not the case in many other languages. Let us examine adjective and noun agreement in a number of Germanic and Romance languages.

In German and Dutch predicate adjectives are not inflected. For example, the German sentence My car is red is Mein Auto ist rot. Here the adjective red is uninflected. However, in the sentence I have a red car, the adjective is inflected. The sentence is Ich habe ein rotes Auto. In Dutch the sentences are Mijn auto is rood and Ik heb een rode auto.

In Danish, Norwegian and Swedish both attributive and predicate adjectives can be inflected. The sentence My car is red is Min bil är röd in Swedish, but My cars are red is Mina bilar är röda. The adjective agrees with the plural noun. In Danish and Norwegian the sentences are Min bil er rød and Mine biler er røde.

Spanish also inflects both attributive and predicate adjectives. The sentence Mi carro es rojo means My car is red. However, the sentence My cars are red is Mis carros son rojos. Here are the same sentences in Portuguese, Italian and French:

O meu carro é vermelho. Os meus carros são vermelhos.
La mia auto è rossa. Le mie auto sono rosse.
Ma voiture est rouge. Mes voitures sont rouges.

In Italian the word auto (car) is feminine. For this reason the adjectives for red are rossa and rosse. However, with masculine nouns, the forms are rosso and rossi. This is illustrated with the phrases i libro rosso (the red book) and i libri rossi (the red books).

Number and gender are important in not only Italian but also the other languages illustrated here. This is very different from English, which does not have gender. However, Old English did.

In many languages adjectives agree with nouns in gender and number. In German and Dutch, predicate adjectives are not inflected, but in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish they are. The Romance languages of Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian also inflect both predicate and attributive adjectives. This sets them apart from English.

Words With Bound Morphemes

A number of words have bound morphemes. They cannot occur independently but must always be attached to another form. The following words have bound morphemes from Latin:

conceive contain
deceive detain
perceive pertain
receive retain

The base of conceive is ceive and the affix is con. In the word detain, the base is tain and the affix is de. The words in the list are semantically opaque because the precise meaning is not evident.

Let us analyze the etymology of the words in the list. The affix -con means with and the base ceive means take. To conceive a child is to take a child in the womb who will be with the mother until birth. The same affix is present in contain. The base tain is from Latin and means hold. To contain is to hold inside or within an object.

The affix -de means from. To deceive is to take from the truth. In other words, it means to mislead. The word detain means to hold from. In other words, the individual is held and prevented from going to his or her destination.

The affix -per has the meaning of through. To perceive is to become aware through the senses. The word pertain means to belong. The prefix -per means through and the base tain is hold. To hold through is to stretch and to reach. To pertain is to relate and apply to a particular area.

In the words receive and retain, the prefix -re means back. The meaning is different from that of the prefix in redo. In this case the prefix means again. However, in return, it is clear that -re means back and not again.

The word receive literally means to take back. However, the current meaning is simply to get. The word retain means to hold back. To hold back is to keep.

Words with bound morphemes tend to be semantically opaque. Neither the prefix nor the base can occur in isolation. Unless English speakers are familar with Latin, the meanings of the morphemes are not likely to be clear.

Types of Negation

Negation is a very important part of language. It has many types. These include the use of intonation as well as verbs and affixes.

Verbal negation is very common. Here are examples:

He can't come.
I don't like shopping.
I hope not.

To strengthen the negation of the sentences, the adverb no can also be added. No, he can't come is stronger than He can't come.

Intonation can also express negation. Rising intonation is positive, but falling intonation is negative. Consider the question How is the food? The answer OK is far more positive when it is expressed with rising intonation. If it is expressed with falling intonation, the answer is not so positive.

Affixes also express negation. The following prefixes are negative:

illegible
irresponsible
unkind

The suffix -less also expresses negation. Here are examples:

fearless
hopeless
tasteless

All languages have various types of negation. In English these include negation in verb phrases, morphological affixes and intonation. Another common form of negation is the use of the adverb no.

Palatalization in Brazilian Portuguese

Quantifier Float

Predeterminers often move into the verb phrase. This is the case for predeterminers such as all and both. This phenomenon is termed quantifier float.

Compare the sentences All the students passed and The students all passed. In the second sentence, all still modifies students even though it no longer precedes the noun. Both can behave in exactly the same manner. Compare the sentences Both my sisters love sports and My sisters both love sports. In both cases both modifies sisters.

The term quantifier float can be used to explain the situation. The predeterminer, which normally occurs before the subject head, can move to the right of the subject or to the right of the auxiliary verb. Here are examples for the latter:

All his children have studied abroad.
His children have all studied abroad.

Both his sons have married.
His sons have both married.

Quantifier float is the term used to describe the movement of predeterminers into the verb phrase. As a result of movement, the predeterminer is placed after the determiner. However, the meaning of the phrase remains the same.