Rounding of the Back Vowel in Canadian and American English

The back vowel in words such as bother and daughter shows variation in rounding. In Received Pronunciation, the back vowel is rounded. In Canada and the United States, however, this varies according to the region.

In western Canada, central Canada and the northeastern United States, the rounded vowel is common. The unrounded vowel is common in the western United States, the southern United States and Atlantic Canada. In other regions, the use of the rounded and unrounded vowels varies more. For example, the rounded vowel is common in western Pennyslvania, but the unrounded one is common in eastern Pennsylvania.

Though Received Pronunciation consistenly uses a back rounded vowel in words such as bother and daughter, this is not the case in Canada and the United States. In Canada, the rounded vowel is common in the west and the unrounded in the east. In the United States, the unrounded vowel is common in the west, but in the east many speakers use the rounded vowel. The back vowel exhibits variation in rounding in Canada and the United States. 

Articles

Articles are used to give extra information about the noun they modify. In English the definite article is the and the indefinite article is a/an. However, many languages do not have articles. Here is a list of languages with no articles:

Languages Without Articles


Czech
Farsi
Hindi
Indonesian
Japanese
Korean
Malayalam
Mandarin
Polish
Punjabi
Russian
Shona
Slovak
Swahili
Tamil
Thai
Ukrainian
Urdu
Yoruba
Zulu

Articles are used in many languages. The Germanic and Romance languages all have articles, but they are not found in many of the major languages of the world such as Hindi, Mandarin and Russian. Many linguists believe that Proto-Indo-European, the ancestor of the Indo-European languages, did not have articles.

The Rainbow

The English poet Christina Rossetti wrote many beautiful poems. One of them is titled The Rainbow. Here it is:

The Rainbow

Boats sail on the rivers,
And ships sail on the seas;
But clouds that sail across the sky
Are prettier than these.

There are bridges on the rivers,
As pretty as you please;
But the bow that bridges heaven
And overtops the trees,
And builds a road from earth to sky,
Is prettier far than these.

The poem consists of only two stanzas and ten verses. Christina Rossetti feels that the beauty of clouds that sail across the sky is greater than that of boats and ships that sails on rivers and seas. She also tells the reader that the rainbow which connects heaven and earth is more beautiful than bridges over rivers. The Rainbow is a testament to the beauty of nature.

Names of Fruit and Nut Trees in Spanish

The names of many fruit and nut trees in Spanish end with an o. A common pattern is to change the final a of the nut and fruit to an o for the tree. Here is a list:

almond almendra almond tree almendro
apple manzana apple tree manzano
cherry cereza cherry tree cerezo
chestnut castaña chestnut tree castaño
grapefruit toronja grapefruit tree toronjo
guava guayaba guava tree guayabo
orange naranja orange tree naranjo
papaya papaya papaya tree papayo
plum ciruela plum tree ciruelo
pomegranate granada pomegranate tree granado

Many names of fruit and nut trees in Spanish are similar to the names of the fruit and nut. The ending with a is feminine and the ending with o is masculine. However, this is not the only pattern. The name for fig is higo and fig tree is higuera. However, the pattern illustrated here is used for a number of fruit and nut trees in Spanish.

Null Morpheme

The null morpheme is a morpheme with no phonetic form. It can be considered an invisible affix. The null morpheme is often represented with the symbol Ø.

The singular of English nouns can be represented with the null morpheme. This contrasts with the plural morpheme -s. Here are examples:

book + Ø = singular
book + s = plural

chair + Ø = singular
chair + s = plural

table + Ø = singular
table + s = plural

The null morpheme can also indicate the plural of irregular nouns:

sheep + Ø = singular
sheep + Ø = plural

The null morpheme also marks the present tense of verbs which are not third person singular.

he/she run + s = third person singular
they run + Ø = third person plural
I run + Ø = first person singular

The null morpheme is common not only in English but also in other languages. It is very useful for illustrating contrasts with overt morphemes. In English the null morpheme exhibits contrasts with the plural morpheme and the third personal singular verb morpheme.

Yod-Dropping in Norfolk Dialect

Many English speakers have yod-dropping after coronals. Words such as dew, duke, new, student, tune are usually pronounced with no palatal glide in American English. However, the dialect of Norfolk exhibits yod-dropping not only after coronals but after all consonants. The palatal glide is only preserved when it is word-initial as in unit and usual. The following words have yod-dropping in the Norfolk dialect:


beauty
cute
few
human
humour
museum
music
music
pew
view

Yod-dropping after coronals is common in American English, but it does not occur after labials and velars. However, the dialect of Norfolk exhibits yod-dropping after all consonants. This makes the Norfolk dialect very innovative with respect to yod-dropping.

Velar Palatalization in Caribbean English

Velar palatalization is a feature of Caribbean English. The palatalization occurs with velar plosives followed by low vowels. A glide is inserted after the velar plosive. Here are examples:

can
car
cart
cat
gallery
garden
gas
gone
got

Many English speakers palatalize the consonants of duty, tube and news. However, Caribbean English also exhibits velar palatalization. This palatalizes velar plosives before low vowels. This is a distinctive feature of Caribbean English.