Portuguese of Porto Alegre

Porto Alegre is a city in the south of Brazil. The Portuguese spoken in the city is distinct from that of other parts of Brazil. Let us discuss a few characteristics of the accent.

The Portuguese of Porto Alegre is known for its intonation. The /r/ is pronounced word-finally as an alveolar flap or trill. This differs from many other parts of Brazil, which often do not pronounce the /r/ in word-final position.

The lateral is velarized in word-final position. This pronunciation is the same as in European Portuguese. In the rest of the country, however, the /l/ is vocalized word-finally.

In words such as arroz (rice) and dez (ten), the accent of Porto Alegre does not diphthongize. The vowels are always monophthongs. In words such as ouro (gold), diphthongization does not occur either.

The accent of Porto Alegre shares many similarities with the Portuguese of Sao Paulo. However, it is characterized by features such as velarization of the word-final lateral, the articulation of the /r/ in word-final position and the lack of diphthongization in many words.

Speakers of Norwegian Dialects

Norwegian has many dialects. It can be divided into four main dialects: northern, central, western and eastern. Oslo belongs to the eastern dialect and Bergen to the western. In each dialect there is considerable variation. 

The northern dialect has the fewest speakers. It is spoken by approximately 9% of the population. The central dialect includes the city of Trondheim and is spoken by approximately 15% of the population. The western dialect is spoken by approximately 26% of the population and the eastern dialect by approximately 50%. Thus the two most widely-spoken dialects, the eastern and the western, account for about 3/4 of the population.

In Norway there are many dialects. However, they can all be divided into four main groups. Of the four groups, the eastern dialect is the one with the most speakers.

Simple Past in Yes/No and Wh-Questions

With be verbs, English questions mark the simple past with the main verb. In the question, Where were they?, the verb were is in the simple past. However, with other verbs, only the auxiliary verb is in the simple past. It is used in combination with the main verb.

Consider the question What did you say? The first verb is in the simple past, did. However, the main verb say is not. This pattern is also true for yes-no questions. Consider the example Did she agree? Only the auxiliary verb is in the simple past. The main verb is not in the past tense.

The same structure is used for emphasis. The sentence They went is more emphatic with the structure They did go. In this structure, the auxiliary verb is in the simple past, but the main verb is not.

In English questions with be-verbs, the be-verb is in the simple past. However, with other verbs, English adds an auxiliary verb. This process can be called do-support. The auxiliary verb is in the simple past but the main verb remains in the base form.

Pronunciation of Stressed er in Scottish English

The letters er occur in many English words. In Scottish English, the stressed vowel is not r-coloured but two segments. In contrast to other varieties that have a central vowel, the Scottish vowel is a front vowel such as in the word bear.

The following words are pronounced with a front vowel and alveolar approximant in Scottish English:

certain

early

emergency

learner

permanent

person

search

service

university

verb

In Scottish English, the words in the list are pronounced with a front vowel. This is different from other dialects of English such as American English and RP, which pronounce the words with a central vowel. Another distinction is that Scottish English does not use r-coloured vowels but rather a combination of a vowel and rhotic consonant.