The Danish/Norwegian Word Ikke

The word ikke means not in both Danish and Norwegian. Though the word is identical in both languages, it is pronounced quite differently. Let us compare the pronunciation in the two languages.

In Norwegian the word ikke is pronounced with a high front unrounded lax vowel, a long voiceless velar plosive and a schwa. In Danish, the first vowel is a mid front unrounded tense vowel and the plosive is a voiced velar. Unlike in Norwegian, the Danish plosive is not long. The final vowel is also a schwa.

Danish has another possible pronunciation. The word-final vowel can be deleted. In this case, the word has only one syllable and not two. The monosyllabic pronunciation is considered less formal.

Danish and Norwegian share many words in common. The word ikke means not in both languages. However, the word is pronounced quite differently in the two languages. In fact, Danish and Norwegian are not so similar with respect to pronunciation.

Lack of Vowel Reduction in Southern Brazilian Portuguese

In parts of southern Brazil, the unstressed mid vowels retain their full value. In other words, they are neither raised nor reduced. This is especially true of rural areas with significant immigration from Germany, Italy and Slavic countries.

The words importante (important) and carro (car) are pronounced with word-final high vowels in most of Brazil. This is also true in Portugal. However, in parts of southern Brazil, they are mid vowels. 

This phonetic characteristic is considered conservative. There may be two factors to explain it. Southern Brazil received many immigrants who spoke German, Italian and Slavic languages. The phonetic structure of their languages reinforced the articulation of unreduced vowels. Another is the geographical proximity to Spanish. The south has borders with Uruguay and Argentina. Constant historical contact with Spanish, a language that completely lacks vowel reduction, further stabilized the preservation of unstressed mid vowels in the region.

Vowel reduction, also known as vowel raising, is common in Portuguese. However, it is often resisted in the dialects of southern Brazil. This may be explained by the arrival of immigrants whose languages did not have vowel reduction and by the geographic proximity to Spanish.

Languages of Indonesia

The official language of Indonesia is Indonesian. It is similar to Malay, and in fact, Indonesian and Malay are mutually intelligible. In addition to Indonesia, many other languages are spoken in the country.

Javanese has many speakers, and most of them are on the island of Java. Sundanese also has many speakers, and many of them are found in the western part of Java. Madurese is primarily spoken on the island of Madura. In western Sumatra, there are many speakers of Minangkabau. Two other prominent languages are Balinese and Acehnese.

Though most Indonesians can speak Indonesian, many other languages are spoken in the country. After Indonesian, the most widely-spoken languages of Indonesia are Javanese and Sundanese. Indonesia is a  country of great linguistic diversity.

Words Used By Conservative Norwegian Speakers

Norwegian has many dialects. However, there are two official written languages. Though there are two written languages, the number of dialects is far greater. A number of Norwegian words are not official, but they are used by a minority of Norwegian speakers. They tend to be elderly and wealthy speakers.

Here is a small list of words used by conservative speakers. The word to the right is the official form.

ben bein (leg)

efter etter (after)

farve farge (colour)

frem fram (forward)

nu nå (now)

røk røyk (smoke)

selv sjøl (self)

sne snø (snow)

sort svart (black)

sten stein (stone)

The words used by conservative speakers are definitely in the minority. Words such as efter, farge and nu are definitely only used by a few. However, other words such as frem, sort and sten are more widely-used, but nevertheless by a minority of Norwegians.