Portuguese Stress Rules

Portuguese words which do not have accent marks are stressed on the final syllable or on the penultimate. The acute accent is used for open vowels, and the circumflex is used for closed vowels. Words ending with the consonants r, l and z are stressed on the final syllable, and words ending in i and u are stressed on the final syllable. Other words are stressed on the penultimate syllable. For words which do not follow these rules, stress is indicated with an accent mark.

The following Portuguese words have accent marks:

águia (eagle)

avó (grandmother)

avô (grandfather)

baía (bay)

bebê (baby)

café (coffee)

exército (army)

máquina (machine)

táxi (taxi)

útil (useful)

Portuguese stress rules are similar to those of Spanish. However, Spanish lacks the closed vowels of Portuguese and does not use the circumflex. Another difference is that all Spanish words with a word-final vowel usually have penultimate stress, and in Spanish words with a word-final n are normally stressed on the penultimate syllable. The accent marks are used to indicate the stress in a word which does not follow regular stress rules.

German And Dutch Past Participles

German and Dutch are West Germanic languages. English is also a West Germanic language. However, unlike English, German and Dutch form many past particles with a circumfix. The circumfix consists of the prefix -ge before the verb stem and the suffix variants -t, -et or -en. Here are examples of Dutch and German past participles:

(come) gekomen gekommen

(drunk) gedronken getrunken

(eaten) gegeten gegessen

(heard) gehoort gehört 

(made) gemaakt gemacht

(read) gelezen gelesen

(said) gezegt gesagt

(seen) gezien gesehen

(spoken) gesproken gesprochen

(written) geschreven geschrieben

The Dutch and German past participles are similar. The fricative /z/ is spelt with an s in German.

The prefix -ge is always unstressed. In Old English, irregular past participles were formed with the prefix -ge, but unlike German and Dutch, it did not retain the prefix.

Pattern of Schwa Deletion in English

Unstressed vowels in English often delete. The deleted vowel is always a schwa and may thus be termed schwa deletion. In words which end with the suffix -ly, schwa deletion often occurs.

Schwa deletion occurs in the following words:

basically

chronically

dynamically

historically

idealistically

musically

philosophically

physically

pyschologically

realistically

However, schwa deletion usually does not occur in these words:

accidentally

communally

finally

formally

internally

materially

mentally

normally

terminally

totally

Though the two sets of words both end with -ally, they are different. In the set with vowel deletion, the root ends with a [k]. This is a velar plosive and is classified as [-coronal]. However, in the second set, the root ends with [l], [n] and [t]. These sounds are all [+coronal]. With coronal sounds, schwa deletion usually does not occur.

In words such as basically, dynamically and physically, schwa deletion creates a consonant cluster which is very common in the English syllable onset. It occurs in words such as clay, clean and cloud. However, no consonant clusters occur with adjacent coronal consonants.

Schwa deletion is a common process in English. However, it does not occur in all possible environments. Between coronal consonants, it is far less common than in other consonants.

Poem (The Life That I Have)

The English writer Leo Marks wrote the short poem The Life That I Have. It is a short love poem which employs repetition. Here it is:

The Life That I Have

The life that I have

Is all that I have

And the life that I have 

Is yours.

The love that I have

Of the life that I have

Is yours and yours and yours.

A sleep I shall have

A rest I shall have

Yet death will be but a pause.

For the peace of my years

In the long green grass

Will be yours and yours and yours.

The poem repeats the word yours and the words that I have many times. It is composed of four stanzas. The first has four verses and the last three have three. It is a poem that expresses life and love beautifully.

Gutlandic

One of the most distinctive Swedish dialects is Gutlandic. It is spoken on the island of Gotland. Characteristics of Gutlandic are the melody and the use of many diphthongs.

Gutlandic uses more diphthongs than in Standard Swedish. For example, mer (more) is meir, lök (onion) is löyk and hus (house) is heos. 

Many words have different vowels than in Standard Swedish. The word dröm (dream) has a front rounded vowel in Standard Swedish, but a mid back vowel in Gutlandic. In the word buss (bus), Standard Swedish uses a mid central vowel, but Gutlandic uses a mid back vowel.

In Gutlandic, many words that have a word-final a in Standard Swedish have a word-final e. This resembles Danish and Norwegian. For example, the words borta (away), resa (trip) and samma (same) are borte, rese and samme in Gutlandic.

Gutlandic is one of the best known Swedish dialects. It is characterized by the use of many diphthongs and different vowels from those of Standard Swedish. It is different from Gutnish, a language of Gotland with few speakers today.

Vowel Correspondence Between Spanish and Portuguese

Spanish words with the front mid vowel often have the high front vowel in Portuguese. The high front vowel is common in unstressed syllables in most varieties of Brazilian Portuguese. Most Brazilians pronounce the word fome (hunger) with a word-final [i]. Here are ten words that illustrate the different vowels in Spanish and Portuguese:

ceremonia cerimônia (ceremony)

confesión confissão (confession)

creación criação (creation)

creatura criatura (creature)

edad idade (age)

femenino feminino (feminine)

juez juiz (judge)

lengua lingua (tongue)

procesión procissão (procession)

profesión profissão (profession)

Many Spanish words with an e are spelt with an i in Portuguese. The front mid vowel of Spanish is the original vowel which also appears in many English words such as ceremony, confession and profession. The Portuguese vowel was originally the mid front vowel of Spanish and became high front. This sound change is called vowel raising.

Danish and Norwegian Spelling

One of the differences between Danish and Norwegian spelling concerns final consonants. In Danish no word can end with a doubled consonant. However, in Norwegian, doubled consonants at the end of the word are possible. Here is a list of words to illustrate the difference:

bus buss (bus)

dug dugg (dew)

dør dørr (door)

hat hatt (hat)

kat katt (cat)

kop kopp (cup)

musik musikk (music)

nat natt (night)

net nett (net)

os oss (us)

Many of the words in the list are similar to the English ones. English words which are similar include cup, door and hat. None of the English words have a doubled consonant, but English allows doubled consonants in words such as cliff, moss and tall.

Unlike Norwegian, Danish does not allow word-final doubled consonants. Swedish, a closely related language, allows word-final doubled consonants. English does also, but not to the same degree as Norwegian and Swedish.