Use of Tu and Você in Brazilian Portuguese

In Brazilian Portuguese the second personal singular pronoun you has two forms. One is tu and the other is você. Most speakers use only one of the two.

The word você is used on all official documents, but tu is common in the south and in the north. It is also used by the working class of Rio de Janeiro. In cities such as Sao Paulo and Brasilia, você is common.

Among speakers who use both tu and você, tu is intimate and você is formal. For example, tu is used with family and friends, but você is used with bosses and the elderly.

In Brazilian Portuguese, você is more common than tu, but both words are used. However, all speakers use only one form for the second personal plural, vocês. The difference between tu and você in Brazilian Portuguese is regional. The form você dominates in central Brazil, but tu dominates in the south and the north.

Analysis of English Numbers from Twenty to Ninety

The numbers from twenty to ninety are multiples of ten. In English they end with -ty, a suffix that was -tig in Old English and meant ten. Let us analyze the multiples of ten in English.

The numbers sixty, seventy and ninety contain the words six, seven and nine. The number eighty contains the word eight, but eighty is written with only one t instead of two. The number forty has no u even though it is present in the word fourteen.

It is clear that the spelling of the numbers twenty, thirty and fifty does not include the numbers two, three and five. They reflect that languages are not completely regular. In the word twenty, the w is pronounced, but in two, it is not.

English multiples of ten are formed with two parts. The first is the number and the second is the suffix -ty. Other Germanic languages form multiples of ten similarly. The number ninety is neunzig in German, negentig in Dutch, nittio in Swedish and nitti in Norwegian. Though the multiples of ten do not include the word ten, the suffix -ty was -tig in Old English, and it meant ten.

Number of Nasal Vowels in French

French has many nasal vowels. In Belgium and Canada, the number of nasal vowels is four. In Paris and many other parts of France, it is only three.

The words an (year), cinq (five) and bon (good) have nasal vowels. In Belgium and Canada, the word un has another nasal vowel. In France, however, many speakers use the same nasal vowel in cinq and un.

For speakers who have four nasal vowels, the phrase un bon vin blanc (a good white wine) include all four. For those who only have three nasal vowels, the phrase has three because un and vin have the same nasal vowel.

The words brin (stalk) and brun (brown) sound the same for speakers who only have three nasal vowels. For speakers who have four nasal vowels, they sound different. Belgium and Canada have four nasal vowels and thus retain the earlier pronunciation in words such as un.

The numbers of French nasal vowels depends on the dialect. In Belgium and Canada, speakers have four nasal vowels. In France, however, many speakers use the same vowels in words such as brin and brun. The result is that many French speakers from France only use three nasal vowels.

Equatoguinean Spanish

Equatoguinean Spanish refers to the Spanish of Equatorial Guinea. It is the only African country in which Spanish is an official language. The phonology of Equatoguinean Spanish is distinct.

The distinction between casa (house) and caza (hunting) is maintained. The word casa has a voiceless alveolar fricative, and the word caza (hunting) has a voiceless interdental fricative. It is a distinction that occurs in Castilian Spanish but not in Latin American.

In words such as nada (nothing) and todo (everything), the intervocalic consonant is not an interdental fricative. It is an alveolar flap or plosive. The process of spirantization does not occur.

The distinction between the alveolar flap of caro (expensive) and carro (car) is neutralized. In Ecuatoguinean Spanish both words are pronounced with an alveolar trill.

The alveolar fricative /s/ is pronounced in all positions. Unlike in many varieties of Spanish, the /s/ in words such as fresco (fresh) and dos (two) is never glottalized or deleted.

The Spanish of Equatorial Guinea maintains the distinction of the interdental fricative and alveolar fricative of Castilian Spanish. However, unlike in standard Spanish, the distinction between the alveolar flap and alveolar trill is neutralized, and the voiced alveolar plosive does not become a fricative intervocalically.

Use of Pronouns in European and Brazilian Portuguese

European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese use pronouns differently. In European Portuguese it is very common to place pronouns after the verb. In Brazilian Portuguese, however, it is common to place them before the verb. Another difference is that Brazilian Portuguese often uses the same pronouns in both subject and object position.

The sentence I saw them is Vi-os in European Portuguese. The subject pronoun eu is not needed because the verb vi is only used with the first person singular. The pronoun is placed after the verb. However, in Brazilian Portuguese, it is common to say Eu vi eles. The word eles is also used in subject position such as in the sentence Eles são vizinhos, which means They are neighbours.

The sentence I saw them yesterday and gave them presents is expressed differently in European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese. In European Portuguese it is Ontem vi-os e dei-lhes presentes. However, in Brazilian Portuguese it is Ontem eu vi eles e dei presentes para eles. 

Compare the sentence Yesterday I saw you in the park in the two varieties of Portuguese. In European Portuguese it is Ontem vi-te no parque, and in Brazilian Portuguese it is Ontem eu te vi no parque. The pronoun follows the verb in the European Portuguese version, but precedes it in the Brazilian Portuguese version.

Let us compare two more sentences. The sentence I love you is Amo-te in European Portuguese. In Brazilian Portuguese, it is Eu te amo. The pronoun follows the verb in the European Portuguese version, but it precedes the verb in the Brazilian version.

The use of pronouns is different in European and Brazilian Portuguese. In European Portuguese, it is common to place the pronoun after the verb, but in Brazilian Portuguese, it is common to place it before the verb. The subject pronoun is dropped more often in European Portuguese. Another difference is that Brazilian Portuguese often uses the same pronouns in subject and object position, but European Portuguese does not.

Sentences With And and But

The co-ordinating conjunctions and and but are often used to combine clauses. They are placed between independent clauses to create compound sentences. Let us look at a few compound sentences with the two conjunctions.

Compare the following two sentences:

1a) It was hot yesterday, and today it is cold.

1b) It was hot yesterday, but today it is cold.

The meaning of the two sentences is a bit different. In (1b), the conjunction but expresses contrast. The speaker may be surprised that the weather has changed. However, in (1a), the speaker expresses no surprise.

The following sentences only differ in the use of the conjunction:

2a) I like tea, and she likes coffee.

2b) I like tea, but she likes coffee.

The first sentence expresses two preferences, but does not contrast them. In the second sentence, the use of the conjunction but emphasizes the difference between the two preferences.

The final pair of sentences again illustrates the difference.

3a) They like to have breakfast early, and they want to have breakfast at eight.

3b) They like to have breakfast early, but they want to have breakfast at eight.

In both sentences, it is clear that they like to have breakfast early. However, (3b) expresses a contrast. It appears that the speaker does not consider eight o'clock an early breakfast. In (3a), however, the speaker makes no judgement and may consider eight o'clock an early breakfast. In (3a), the speaker does not imply that eight is not an early breakfast, but in (3b), the speaker does.

Many compound sentences are formed with the conjunctions and and but. Though they can combine identical clauses, the meaning of the two sentences is not identical. The conjunction and is neutral about the meaning of the individual clauses, but but can be used by the speaker to highlight contrast, indicate surprise and also disagreement.

Newfoundland English

Newfoundland English is a variety of English that is spoken in Newfoundland. The English spoken in the province of Newfoundland is very distinct from that of the rest of Canada. However, many Newfoundlanders speak a variety of English that is similar to standard Canadian English. The English spoken in Newfoundland can vary significantly from one speaker to another.

Newfoundland English is mainly rhotic. However, in certain regions of the country, it is not rhotic. This is different from standard Canadian English, which is rhotic.

In the western part of Newfoundland, initial fricative voicing occurs. The result is that a phrase such as a fine summer is pronounced with a /v/ in fine and a z/ in zummer.

H-dropping is common in many parts of Newfoundland. Words such as hat, here and hunter are often pronounced without the initial consonant.

Final consonant clusters are often simplified. For example, the words gold, shift and west are often pronounced without the final consonant.

In many parts of Newfoundland, the lateral is not velarized. This feature is also common in Irish English. For example, the word all can be pronounced without velarization of the lateral, unlike in other varieties of Canadian English.

Another common feature of Newfoundland English is the pronunciation of the interdental fricative as a plosive. For example, the words these and those are often pronounced with /d/, and the words thick and thin are often pronounced with /t/.

The vowels of Newfoundland English can also be distinct. In words such as mother, many Newfoundlanders use the low back vowel and in words such as father, many Newfoundlanders use the low central vowel rather than the low back vowel of standard Canadian English.

The English spoken in Newfoundland is distinct from the variety of English spoken in the rest of Canada. It is a variety of English that has been influenced significantly by the English of the West Country and of Ireland. It was the last province to join Canada, in 1949.

Old English Letter Ash

In Old English, the letter æ was pronounced ash. The pronuncation varied from the low front vowel of cat to the mid front vowel of ten. Though it is no longer used in English, it is used in Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic and Faroese.

Many English words used to be spelt with the letter æ. Examples include encyclopædia, hyæna, musæum, mediæval and phænomenon. However, the letter æ only survived until the thirteenth century.

Though the letter æ was used in Old English, it is no longer part of the English alphabet. However, it is used by the International Phonetic Alphabet and represents a low front unrounded vowel. It is also used in the alphabets of other Germanic languages.

Myers-Briggs Personality Types

The Myers-Briggs personality types are determined by a questionnaire. They indicate different psychological preferences regarding the way people perceive the world and make decisions. The test assigns a binary value to each of four categories: introversion or extraversion, sensing or intuition, thinking or feeling and judging or perceiving. 

One letter is taken from each category to produce a four-letter test result. Examples include ESFP and INTJ. The test was developed by two Americans, Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers. They were inspired by the book Psychological Types written by Karl Jung.

Karl Jung speculated that people experience the world with four principal psychological functions- sensing, intuition, feeling and thinking. In his view, one of the four functions is dominant in a person most of the time. According to the Myers-Briggs test, each person has one preferred quality from each category, which produces 16 types.

The 16 types are indicated by an abbreviation of letters. They are the initial letters of the four type preferences with the exception of intuition, which uses the abbreviation N to distinguish it from introversion. 

The 16 personality types are the following:

ENTJ ENTP ENFJ ENFP

ESTJ ESTP ESFJ ESFP

INTJ INTP INFJ INFP

ISTJ ISTP ISFJ ISFP

The Myers-Briggs test does not measure aptitude. It simply indicates the preference of one quality in each category. However, the test does not indicate the degree to which a person prefers one quality over another. Nevertheless, Isabel Myers considered the direction of the preference to be more important than the degree of the preference.