Siegerland Dialect

German is a language with many dialects. One of them is the dialect of Siegerland, spoken in western Germany. It is a Low German dialect.

One of the notable characteristics of the Siegerland dialect is the /r/. It is not a uvular fricative or an alveolar trill, but rather an alveolar approximant. It is also used in a number of Dutch dialects as well as in English.

In the Siegerland dialect, the alveolar approximant is used in all positions. In Dutch, however, it tends to be restricted to the syllable coda. The Dutch dialect spoken in Leiden, however, is an exception because it uses the approximant in all positions.

The Siegerland dialect is a Low German dialect. The /r/ is different from that of other German dialects. It is an alveolar approximant and is realized in syllable-initial, syllable-final and intervocalic positions.

Many Roads

I wish to share my latest poem. It consists of five stanzas with four verses each. In my poem the first two and last two verses of each stanzas rhyme. Each stanza has eight syllables. I hope you enjoy the poem.

Many Roads

We find so many roads each day
To take us farther on our way.
These roads lead to new adventure
Yielding surprises and treasure.

Surprises can be good or bad,
Making journeys happy or sad.
Which road to take is the question
Amid frequent indecision.

Scenic roads connect to nature
Showcasing each moving picture.
Country roads are far from cities
To help put troubled minds at ease.

Not all roads turn into treasure
But frustration and displeasure.
Wrong roads translate to resentment,
Stirring bitter disappointment.

Throughout life we meet many roads
To lock and unlock different codes.
We decide which roads to enter,
Slowly painting our own picture.

Welsh Orthography

Welsh orthography uses 29 letters. The letters k, q, v, x and z are sometimes used for loanwords, but they are not so common. They do not form part of the Welsh alphabet.

A few of the Welsh letters have different values from those of English. The letter ch forms part of the alphabet and represents the velar fricative. The letter dd represents the voiced interdental fricative, f represents the voiced labiodental fricative and ff represents the voiceless labiodental fricative.

The letter ll is used for the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative, which does not exist in English. This sound is rare in European languages but is found in African and Asian langauges, and it is common in many indigenous languages of the Americas. The letter rh is for the voiceless alveolar trill.

In Welsh the letter w can be a vowel or a consonant. The vowel is a high back rounded vowel and the consonant is the labiovelar glide. The letter y always represents a high front vowel or in certain cases a schwa.

In contrast to English, the letters k, q, v, x and z are rare in Welsh. The letter ll is used for the voiceless lateral fricative, a rare sound in European languages. Unlike in English, the letter f represents a voiced fricative.

Rhotic Accent of Southland

Southland is located in the southermost part of South Island, New Zealand. It has the only regional accent of New Zealand English. The distinctive feature of the English from this part of New Zealand is the post-vocalic /r/.

Most New Zealanders do not pronounce the /r/ post-vocalically. However, in Southland the post-vocalic /r/ is pronounced, particularly among older speakers. Among younger speakers, the trend is too speak a less rhotic variety. The result is that many younger speakers only produce post-vocalic /r/ in words such as nurse, work and term.

The rhotic accent of Southland is believed to be of Scottish origin. Many of the inhabitants of Southland are of Scottish descent. Though this region is the only one in New Zealand with a rhotic accent, rhoticity is variable among younger speakers. This probably reflects the influence of the standard language.

Now Close The Windows

Robert Frost wrote the poem Now Close The Windows. It is a short poem about the coming of winter. The word ere is a literary and archaic word which means before.The poem consists of two stanzas with four verses each. In each stanza the second and fourth verses rhyme.

Now Close The Windows

Now close the windows and hush all the fields;
If the trees must, let them silently toss;
No bird is singing now, and if there is,
Be it my loss.

It will be long ere the marshes resume,
It will be long ere the earliest bird:
So close the windows and not hear the wind,
But see all wind-stirred.

Gemination in Welsh English

Gemination is common in many languages. They include Finnish, Italian, Hungarian, Japanese and Swedish. Though it is not part of Standard English, it occurs in varieties of Welsh English.

In Welsh English, gemination occurs after a stressed vowel. Not all consonants are lengthened equally. In comparison to their single counterparts, sonorants are lengthened the most followed by plosives and fricatives.

The following words have geminates in many varieties of Welsh English:

bubble
common
dinner
luggage
medal
money
pretty
puppet
rocket
seven

Though gemination is not associated with Standard English, it occurs across word boundaries in words such as bookkeeper and irregular. However, gemination is not phonemic in English. In many varieties of Welsh English, gemination occurs intervocalically between a stressed vowel and an unstressed one. Gemination is a feature which is associated with Welsh English.

Phonology of Old French

Old French was spoken in northern France from the eighth century to the fourteenth century. It differed from contemporary French in many ways. This also extends to phonology.

The writing system of Old French was far more phonetic than it is today. Most written consonants were pronounced and word-final e was pronounced as a schwa. Today the word cuillère (spoon) is pronounced with a palatal glide, but it used to be pronounced with a palatal lateral.

The uvular fricative in words such as rouge (red) used to be an alveolar trill. The trill is used in other Romance languages such as Spanish and Italian.  Words such as poing (fist) used to be pronounced with a velar nasal. Now it ends with a nasalized vowel.

In old French the nasal vowels were not separate phonemes. They were only allophones of the oral vowels before nasal consonants. The nasal consonant was fully pronounced. For example, the word bon (good) had three segments in Old French. Today it has only two.

The phonology of Old French differed from that of contemporary French in many ways. The writing system of Old French was more phonetic with fewer silent letters than today. Unlike today, the nasal vowels were not phonemes and the alveolar trill and palatal lateral were part of the phoneme inventory.

Distribution of the Danish Glottal Stop

The glottal stop of Danish is one of the characteristic features of Danish pronunciation. Though it is often called a glottal stop, the airflow is never completely stopped. It is restrained by a constriction of the vocal chords.

The Danish glottal stop is very common in monosyllabic words. It appears in the words gul (yellow), hund (dog) and hus (house). It only appears in stressed syllables and never appears after a short vowel, only after a long one. The word stat (state) has the glottal stop, but hat (hat) does not.

The Danish glottal stop is not limited to monosyllabic words. For example, the word mand (man) maintains the glottal stop in manden (the man). This is also the case with hus (house) and huset (the house). However, the plural huse (houses) has no glottal stop.

The glottal stop may be realized after the vowel or after the consonant. When it is realized after the consonant, the consonant is always voiced. In the word gul (yellow), the glottal stop occurs after the vowel. However, in the word mand (man), the glottal stop occurs after the nasal.

Unlike the glottal stop of English, the Danish glottal stop does not completely stop the airflow in the glottis. It merely restrains it. The Danish glottal stop can appear after long vowels or after voiced consonants. It is most common in monosyllabic words.

Depalatalization in Yucatan Spanish

Depalatalization is one of the features of Yucatan Spanish. It is spoken not only in the state of Yucatan but also in the states of Quintano Roo and Campeche.  In Spanish, examples of depalatalization  can be found in word pairs. It occurs in anual (annual), which is derived from año (year).

In many cases the palatal nasal is replaced with an alveolar nasal and high front vowel. The word año is pronounced [anio] by many speakers of Yucatan Spanish. This process also occurs with words such as araña (spider), cañon (cannon), mañana (tomorrow), montaña (mountain) and niño (boy).

In certain cases no high front vowel is added. This is often the case with albañil (worker), a word which already has the high front vowel following the nasal. For this reason, it is often pronounced [albanil]. Another realization is one in which the palatal nasal is maintained and the high front vowel is added. In such cases, words such as niño are pronounced with the palatal nasal and the high front vowel. In this case, redundancy occurs.

Palatalization is a more common phonological process than depalatalization. In Yucatan Spanish, many words exhibit depalatalization. This may be the result of Mayan influence.

Spanish Alveolar Trill and Alveolar Flap

The Spanish alveolar trill and alveolar flap contrast phoemically when they occur intervocalically. The contrast is exemplified in caro (expensive) and carro (car). In other positions, however, the two sounds are in complementary distribution.

Only the trill can occur word-initially and after /l/, /n/ and /s/. Examples include rey (king), alrededor (around), enredo (plot) and desregulación (deregulation). After a plosive or fricative other than /s/, only the flap can occur such as in tren (train) and frio (cold). In word-final position, the flap is more common but the trill can also occur, especially for emphasis.

The alveolar flap can be considered underlying. It occurs after plosives, after fricatives other than /s/, intervocalically and word-finally. The trill also occurs intervocalically, and after /s/ and the sonorants /l. and /n/. The alveolar tap has wider distribution. In word-initial position as well as after the fricative /s/ and the sonorants /l/ and /n/, the trill is the result of the process of fortition.

Spanish has two rhotic sounds, the trill and the flap. Since they can both occur intervocalically, they are classified as phonemes. Elsewhere, however, they are in complementary distribution. The alveolar flap has wider distribution and is thus considered the rhotic from which the trill was derived.