Common Words in English Compound Nouns

English has many compound nouns. Words such as ice cream and shopping centre are written as two separate words, but textbook and goldfish are written as just one word. Many compound nouns can be formed with common words. Here are examples:

backache earache headache heartache stomachache toothache 

baseball basketball eyeball fishball football handball meatball snowball volleyball

blackboard cardboard keyboard scoreboard skateboard snowboard surfboard whiteboard

birdhouse boathouse doghouse greenhouse loghouse hothouse

ballroom bathroom bedroom classroom restroom showroom sunroom washroom

The examples illustrate that many compounds can be generated with the words ache, ball, board, house and room. The word heartache does not refer to physical pain but to emotional. In Canadian English, the word washroom is often used instead of bathroom. Words such as baseball, basketball and football refer not just to the sport but also the ball.

As in all Germanic languages, English has many compound nouns. Many of them consist of two nouns which combine to form one word. Words such as dining room and living room are written as two separate words, but bathroom and bedroom are written as one.

Poem (Nature)

Here is my latest poem. I hope you enjoy it!

                  Nature

Nature surrounds us every day

From morning sun to stars of night,

With skies of blue and skies of grey,

With drops of rain and birds in flight.

Waterfalls show works of wonder

With water meeting earth below,

Creations of air and water

Whose fame makes annual visits grow.

Mountains can reach infinite sky

With their powerful peaks of snow.

Among white cloud they seem so high

In contrast to all down below.

Skies change colour from day to night,

From black to shades of blue and grey.

Red sunsets and rainbows of light

Paint colours of every array.

Days turn longer in summer sun.

Snowflakes fall on long winter days.

Roses signal spring has begun.

Fall leaves announce another phase.

Day and night consist of nature

Displayed in land, sky, water, earth.

They are here for us to treasure

With every passing day from birth.

Miss Brill

Miss Brill is a short story by the New Zealand writer Katherine Mansfield. The main character of the novel is Miss Brill, a middle-aged and unmarried woman who is an English teacher and a reader to an old man. Every Sunday she wears her old fur coat and visits the public park of her French town.

She speaks to her fur coat as if speaking to a person. It is an indication of her loneliness. Everything she sees and overhears fascinates her, and she loves to eavesdrop on people without their knowledge.

Miss Brill lives in her own world. At the public park she enjoys the music and imagines that all the people are characters in a play that includes her. She fantasizes about a reality that is different from her own.

She observes the people in the park carefully and hopes to hear interesting conversations. A really young, beautiful couple sit next to her. They seem like the hero and heroine of the performance. The girl refuses the boy's advance and he asks if it is because of the presence of Miss Brill. The boy insults her by calling her stupid and old, and the girl makes fun of her fur coat.

After hearing the unkind words, Miss Brill decides to walk home. She usually buys a slice of cake at the bakery on Sundays, but today she does not. At home, she climbs the stairs to her room and sits on the bed. Then she takes off her fur coat and quickly puts it back in her box. As she closes the lid, she thinks she hears something crying.

The theme of loneliness is present throughout the novel. It is also clear that Miss Brill is delusional. She does not accept her situation or how she appears to others.  Miss Brill does not speak to anyone during the story. Despite her desire to connect with people, she does not greet a single person who sits next to her.

The novel never mentions family or friends. As an English woman in France, she probably does not have any relatives near. Maybe she was also lonely in England and felt no reason to stay there.

The climax of the story is the moment the young couple destroy Miss Brill's perception of herself. She believes she is connected to those around her, but she is not. Through her short story Miss Brill, Katherine Mansfield explores the themes of delusion and loneliness.

English Words with Optional Schwa

The schwa is a very common vowel in unstressed syllables of English. In a number of words, the use of the schwa is not obligatory. It is used by certain speakers but not by others.

In  words such as fellow, potato, tomato, window and yellow, most speakers use a diphthong in the final syllable, which consists of a mid round back tense vowel and a high back round lax vowel. It can also consist of just a mid round back tense vowel. However, the final vowel can also be reduced to a schwa. The use of the schwa is not standard pronunciation, but nevertheless, it does occur.

The name Missouri, a state in the midwestern United States, can be pronounced with a word-final schwa. However, outside of Missouri, the most common pronunciation of the final syllable is with a high front unrounded vowel. In Missouri, the pronunciation of the schwa is most common in the western part of the state.

In the words program and restaurant, most speakers use a low vowel in the final syllable of each word. The word program has a low front vowel, and restaurant has a low back vowel. However, the vowel of the final syllable can be reduced to a schwa, but, it is not considered standard pronunciation.

The nouns candidate and delegate are examples of free variation. Many speakers pronounce them with the diphthong of eight, but many speakers also produce a schwa in the final syllable. For those speakers who do, the words rhyme with carrot. However, the verb delegate is never pronounced with the schwa in the final syllable.

Many English words can be pronounced in more than one way. In words such as potato and program, the use of the schwa in the final syllable is not considered standard. However, in words such as candidate and delegate, the use of the schwa and of the diphthong are both common and thus considered standard. 

Progressive and Regressive Assimilation in Portuguese

The consonants sc usually represent two sounds in Portuguese. In words such as escola (school), fresco (fresh) and máscara (mask), most Brazilians use an alveolar fricative and velar plosive. In standard European Portuguese, however, speakers use an alveopalatal fricative and velar plosive. 

In words such as excelente (excellent), nascimento (birth), and piscina (swimming pool), Brazilian Portuguese speakers use an alveolar fricative, and European Portuguese speakers use an alveopalatal fricative. Though the word excelente has an x, it is not pronounced [ks] but [s]. The reason speakers use one sound in these words is the result of ease of articulation.

The change from two sounds to one sound can be termed consonant cluster simplification. Less articulatory effort is required to articulate one fricative rather than two. Though Brazilian Portuguese has dialects that pronounce the orthograpic s as an alveopalatal fricative before consonants, i.e., escola (school), in words such as piscina (swimming pool), all varieties of Brazilian Portuguese use the alveolar fricative.

In European Portuguese, words such as piscina were once pronounced with the combination of an alveopalatal fricative and alveolar fricative. However, the fricatives became two alveopalatal fricatives. The sound change was a progressive assimilation process. The two alveopalatal fricatives later become one fricative by a degemination process.

However, in Brazilian Portuguese, words such as piscina were once pronounced with the combination of two alveolar fricatives. The sound change which reduced the two fricatives to only one was a degemination process. However, in varieties of Portuguese such as the one spoken in Rio de Janeiro, the two fricatives were once pronounced with the combination of an alveopalatal fricative and alveolar fricative. Unlike in European Portuguese, the sound change which produced one alveolar fricative was not a progessive assimilation process. In contrast, it was a regressive assimilation process. It produced two alveolar fricatives which were later reduced to one by a degemination process.

In words such as excelente, nascimento and piscina, Brazilian speakers use an alveolar fricative, but most European speakers use an alveopalatal fricative. The words used to have two fricatives, but now they have only one. The process which changed the two sounds to one was an assimilation process, but it was different in the two dialects. In European Portuguese it was a progressive assimilation process, but in Brazilian Portuguese it was a regressive assimilation process.

Excerpt From Final Battle

Final Battle is a short story that I have published online. Though I wrote it recently, the story is connected to my childhood. With our vivid imaginations, my friend and I used to invent stories of superheroes and villains. Let me present an excerpt of the story in the following four paragraphs.

Maynhart and Evilio had grown so powerful that they felt certain they'd soon rule the whole world. The incredible strength of Maynhart and the intelligence of Evilio were the greatest terror the world had ever known. Their combined powers were far greater than that of any army the world could throw at them. Now their androids and ships controlled most of the planet. Not even Red Star, White Star, Astrowoman, Tornadoman and the Fruit Group worried them. Their plan was simple but effective: cause so much destruction that world leaders would turn over their armies and financial resources to them in exchange for their lives.

The tidal waves, fierce winds and fires ravaging the earth caused a grim scene. With their powers of destruction, flight and evasion, the two villains were a powerful force. It was clear that not even the world's greatest air forces and armies were a match for their evil powers. The world now faced a dire situation: survive and accept a life of slavery or resist and face annhilation.

Brave resistance groups had made their homes underground in the hope of survival. The problem, though, was that fires and floods now engulfed much of the planet and the villains' supernatural powers defied conventional weapons.

Though outnumbered by seven superheroes, the villains' powers were formidable. Their speed and strength were greater than that of any superhero. To make matters worse, their ice bullets, fireballs, lasers, winds and psionic powers were terrifying.

The four paragraphs I have written here are the beginning of the short story. It continues with the battle and the final moments. In addition to Final Battle, I have also published two children's stories, Forest of Amusement and Forest of Knowledge.

Tragic Ending of Hamlet

The tragedy Hamlet is one of William Shakespeare's most famous plays. It is not only the name of the play but also of the main character. One day the ghost of the former King of Denmark, Hamlet's father, tells Hamlet to avenge his murder by killing the new king Claudius, who is also Hamlet's uncle. His uncle, in fear of his life, also plans ways to kill Hamlet.

At the end of the play, a duel is arranged between Hamlet and Laertes. Laertes and the king conspire that Hamlet will die either from the poisoned blade of Laertes's sword or with poisoned wine. Laertes is especially upset with Hamlet because he blames him for the accidental death of his father Polonius and for the suicide of Ophelia, his sister and Hamlet's former girlfriend. The plans fail when Gertrude, the Queen of Denmark and mother of Hamlet, unknowingly drinks from the cup of poisoned wine and dies. 

Laertes injures Hamlet with his poisoned blade, but in a later struggle, Hamlet also injures Laertes. Before he dies, Laertes confesses to Hamlet that Claudius planned the fencing duel. He also asks Hamlet to forgive him, absolving him of his and his father's deaths if he absolves him of his own. Hamlet does so and in his fury, runs towards Claudius and kills him. Moments later, Hamlet falls dead. Only Horatio, Hamlet's friend, is left to explain the truth to Fortinbras, the new king.

Hamlet is truly a tragedy. Claudius, the King of Denmark, kills Hamlet's father so that he can become king, and Hamlet's mother dies when she drinks from the poisoned cup intended for Hamlet. Hamlet kills Claudius, but shortly after doing so, he also dies. In the play, many characters lose their lives.