Obstruents and Sonorants

All sounds can be classified into two classes. They are obstruents and sonorants. All obstruents are consonants, but sonorants consist of both vowels and consonants.

The class of obstruents includes plosives, fricatives and affricates. All vowels are sonorants but nasals, liquids and approximants also belong to the class of sonorants. Nasals and liquids are consonants with more acoustic energy than obstruents.

Obstruents are often voiceless, but sonorants are usually voiced. Obstruents are sounds which are formed by obstructing airflow. This is not the case with sonorants, which have greater airflow through the oral cavity and thereby resonate.

The two largest classes of speech sounds are obstruents and sonorants. All vowels belong to the class of sonorants. Most consonants belong to the class of obstruents, but consonants such as nasals and liquids are sonorants.

Family Relationships

Terms such as aunt, uncle, grandfather and grandmother are easily understood. However, the terms first cousin, second cousin, third cousin, great-uncle and great-aunt are often less clear. Let us clarify them.

First cousins are cousins who share a grandparent. The difference between them and the grandparent is two generations. Second cousins share a great-grandparent, a difference of three generations. In the case of third cousins, they share a great-great-grandparent. The difference is four generations.

Great-uncles are brothers of one's grandparent and great-aunts are sisters of one's grandparent. In relation to one's parent, great-uncle are the uncles of one's parent and great-aunts are the aunts of one's parent.

Cousins who share a grandparent are first cousins. Those who share a great-grandparent are second cousins. In the case of first cousins, their common ancestors represents a difference of two generations. Great-uncles and great-aunts are the brothers and sisters of grandparents.

Deletion of /r/ in Frisian

Deletion of the /r/ is common in Frisian. The /r/ deletes regularly when it is postvocalic and followed by a coronal consonant. In other positions, the /r/ is an alveolar trill.

In the following Frisian words the /r/ is deleted:

bern child

earn eagle

farsk fresh

fers verse

gers grass

kaart card

koarn barley

koart short

swurd sword

wurd word

In a number of recent loanwords, the /r/ is not deleted. Here are examples:

eksport export

fjord fjord

konsert concert

modern modern

start start

The postvocalic /r/ followed by a coronal consonant is deleted in Frisian. This is an example of weakening or lenition. However, in recent loanwords the /r/ is maintained. Many dialects of English also delete postvocalic /r/, but Frisian only does so before coronal consonants.

Numbers in Galician

Galician is a language spoken in northwestern Spain. It is similar to Portuguese. Let us compare the numbers from one to ten in Galician, Portuguese and Spanish:

un um uno

dous dois dos

tres três tres

catro quatro cuatro

cinco cinco cinco

seis seis seis

sete sete siete

oito oito ocho

nove nove nueve

dez dez diez

The numbers for one, two and four are different in the three languages. However, the numbers for five and six are the same in all three. The Galician word for four, catro, has no labiovelar approximant. The numbers for seven to ten are the same in Galician and Portuguese.

Six of the numbers are identical in Galician and Portuguese. Only two of the numbers are identical in Galician and Spanish. However, it is clear that the numbers are similar in all languages.

Galician is a Romance language that shares many similarities with Portuguese. However, Galician is a minority language in Spain and speakers of Galician are bilingual in Galician and Spanish. Though Galician is a language of Spain, it is more closely related to Portuguese.

Grammatical Case In English

A grammatical case is a category of nouns and modifiers. Languages such as Russian and German have extensive case systems. However, English does not. English nouns have two cases and English pronouns have three.

The two cases of English nouns are nominative and genitive. For example, in the sentence Linda has arrived, the subject Linda is in nominative case. We can make Linda the object of the sentence and say I see Linda, but Linda has no accusative marker. The form is the same as the nominative. An alternative analysis is that the accusative marker is 0, but regardless the noun has the same form.

The genitive case is marked with 's and indicates possession. The sentence I borrowed Paul's book has an example of genitive case. With inanimate nouns, possession is often expressed with a prepositional phrase such as the name of the school.

English pronouns have three cases. In the sentence They love to study, the subject They is in nominative case. The accusative form is them such as in the sentence I know them. In the sentence I love their new home, the word their is in genitive case.

Many languages use extensive case systems. English does not because nouns have only two cases and pronouns have only three. The English case system was once more extensive, but it simplified over time.

Allophones of Spanish

Allophones are variants of a phoneme. They occur in a specific environment. Let us examine a few examples of allophones in Spanish.

Many Spanish words end with the voiced interdental fricative. It occurs in words such as ciudad (city), edad (age) and verdad (truth). However, the word-final interdental fricative can also be deleted. The deleted formal is considered less formal and is an allophone of the voiced interdental fricative.

Words such as amor (love), regular (regular) and sabor (flavour) can be pronounced with a word-final alveolar flap or alveolar trill. The alveolar trill sounds emphatic. In varieties such as Paraguayan Spanish, the final consonant can be an alveolar approximant. The alveolar flap is the phoneme.

In the words esmeralda (emerald), isla (island) and cisne (swan), the fricative can be pronounced /s/ or /z/. The /z/ occurs as a result of regressive assimilation. The assimilation can also occur across word boundaries such as in dos rosas (two roses). In isolation, however, dos is always pronounced with a voiceless fricative. The voiceless fricative is the phoneme.

The dental fricative in words such as esmeralda (emerald), isla (island) and cisne (swan) can also be pronounced as a glottal fricative or deleted. This is common in varieties of Spanish such as the Spanish of southern Spain, Panama, Cuba and Chile. Deletion of the fricative is considered more casual than the realization of the glottal fricative. These two realizations are allophones of the voiceless fricative.

The pronunciation of Spanish consonants can vary. However, the allophones create no change in meaning. This is different from phonemes that create a difference in meaning. 

Frisian Vocabulary

Frisian is the closest Germanic language to English. However, it is closer to Dutch than it is to English. Nevertheless, many Frisian words are quite similar to English. Here is a list of ten words:

cheese tsiis kaas

church tsjerke kerk

day dei dag

ear ear oor

green grien groen

key kaai sleutel

rain rein regen

red read rood

sheep skiep schaap

year jier jaar

The Frisian word for key is much closer to English than it is to Dutch. With the other tsjerke (church), the first sound is a voiceless alveopalatal affricate in both English and Frisian. In Dutch, however, the first sound is a voiceless velar plosive. 

The word for ear is identical in both English and Frisian. The word dei (day) has a diphthong in Frisian and in English. In Dutch, however, dag (day) has a monophthong.

Though Frisian is undoubtedly closer to Dutch than to English, many Frisian words are very similar to English. A number of Frisian words are more similar to English than they are to Dutch. Nevertheless, English and Frisian are not mutually intelligible. 

Phonology of Mexican and Castlilian Spanish

Spanish has many dialects. Two well-known varieties are Mexican and Castilian. Let us explore the phonological differences between them.

Castilian Spanish has an apicodental voiceless fricative. Mexican Spanish, however, does not. The apicodental fricative is produced with the tongue tip. The Mexican Spanish fricative is produced with the tongue blade. In the word casa (house), Castilian Spanish uses an apicodental fricative, but Mexican Spanish uses a voiceless dental fricative.

In the word yate (yacht), Castilian Spanish uses a palatal approximant. The palatal approximant is also used in Mexican Spanish, but many speakers use a voiced alveopalatal affricate. The voiced alveopalatal affricate is not used in Castilian Spanish.

The velar fricative in joya (jewel) has a more dorsal pronunciation in Castilian Spanish. Many linguists classify it as post-velar or even uvular. The uvular pronunciation only occurs before back vowels.

In the word centro (centre), Castilian Spanish has a voiceless interdental fricative. In Mexican Spanish, the word begins with a voiceless dental fricative. The voiceless interdental fricative is not used in Mexican Spanish.

Castilian Spanish and Mexican Spanish have different phonology. The voiceless interdental fricative, the post-velar fricative and the apicodental voiceless fricative are not used in Mexican Spanish. On the other hand, the voiced alveolpalatal affricate and the voiceless dental fricative are not used in Castilian Spanish. The phonological differences serve to distinguish the two varieties of Spanish.