This post summarises the spelling and pronunciation of Spanish. I discuss below mainly standard Spanish of Spain (Castilian), but point out a few of the differences for Spanish regions and Latin America. Spanish Alphabet The Spanish alphabet includes: 26 letters also used in the English alphabet (though <k> and <w> are rare, used mainly in…… Continue reading Sounds and spelling of Spanish
Tag: Vowel
Schwa, the vowel with no letter of its own
The commonest English vowel has no separate letter to represent it in the English alphabet. The vowel is called ‘schwa’ and is found as, for example, the first vowel in about. Schwa is a mid central unrounded vowel: mid means that the highest part of the tongue is neither high (where it is for /i/…… Continue reading Schwa, the vowel with no letter of its own
Prescribing a proscription
The UK government recently proscribed an Iranian state organisation, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). I was listening the other day to a BBC radio presenter discussing this with a BBC journalist. Both of them repeatedly said prescribe /prɪˈskraɪb/rather than proscribe /proʊˈskraɪb/. When talking slowly and precisely, people might pronounce prescribe as /prɪˈskraɪb/, but when…… Continue reading Prescribing a proscription
Irish challenge (2)
This post is the 2nd instalment of the Irish leg of my current Celtic challenge. It covers parts of chapters 1 and 2 of Teach Yourself Irish (and part of appendix 2) . I will cover the rest of chapters 1 and 2 in the next post. The 1st instalment covered Irish spelling and pronunciation.…… Continue reading Irish challenge (2)
Sounds of Czech
In this post, I summarise the sound system of Czech and comment on spelling and on contrasts between Czech (a West Slavonic language) and Russian (n East Slavonic language). Consonants Table 1 lists Cech consonants. Table 1. Czech consonants LabialAlveolarPalatalVelar /GlottalNasalmnɲ PlosivepbtdcɟkgAffricate t͡s(d͡z)t͡ʃd͡ʒ FricativefvszʃʒxɦTrill rr̝ Approximant lj Comments on consonants the letters <ň ď ť > represent palatal consonants, although…… Continue reading Sounds of Czech
How do you say Magyar?
A few weeks ago, Hungary elected a new Prime Minister, Péter Magyar. Perhaps that is an instance of nominative determinism—his surname Magyar means ‘Hungarian’. The Hungarian word for ‘Hungary’ is Magyarország. English speakers sometimes use Magyar as semi-jocular synonym for Hungarian, but I have the impression that this has become less common in recent decades.…… Continue reading How do you say Magyar?
Irish spelling and pronunciation
I’ve set myself a challenge of working through textbooks on Welsh (Colloquial Welsh) and Irish (Teach Yourself Irish). I’ll work through the 2 books in parallel. Spotting similarities and differences will help me learn both these Celtic languages more thoroughly and more quickly. I’ve already covered Welsh spelling and pronunciation. Learning Welsh and Irish – Language…… Continue reading Irish spelling and pronunciation
Learning Welsh and Irish
I’ve set myself a challenge of working through textbooks on Welsh (Colloquial Welsh) and Irish (Teach Yourself Irish). I’ll work through the 2 books in parallel. Spotting similarities and differences will help me learn both these Celtic languages more thoroughly and more quickly. I’ve had a copy of Teach Yourself Welsh for about 50…… Continue reading Learning Welsh and Irish
Suppletive aspectual pairs in Russian
Most Russian verbs are a pair of linked verbs marking one of 2 ‘aspects’: ‘perfective’ or ‘imperfective’. Different aspects are different ways of depicting the event or state described by the verb. Speaking very roughly, the perfective aspect depicts an event or state as a single undivided whole, whereas the imperfective looks inside the event…… Continue reading Suppletive aspectual pairs in Russian
The future of German noun plurals
Native German nouns typically form their plurals with a variety of markers, including vowel changes (‘Umlaut’), -(e)n, -(e) and (-er). The marker -s is used for some words borrowed from other languages and for items such as acronyms, abbreviations and some proper names. Janda (2021) predicts (perhaps surprisingly) that -s will ultimately become the regular…… Continue reading The future of German noun plurals