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: Nasal
Welsh challenge (5)
This post is the 5th instalment of the Welsh leg of my current Celtic challenge. It covers chapter 4 of Colloquial Welsh. For earlier instalments, please see Welsh Archives – Language Miscellany Mutation Table 1 provides a reminder of the aspirate and nasal mutations discussed in earlier instalments. Table 1. Aspirate and nasal mutations RadicalAspirateNasalcchnghpphmhtthnhg ngb md n…… Continue reading Welsh challenge (5)
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
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
How modern Greek spells some English consonants
Modern Greek uses digraphs to spell some voiced consonants that do not appear in modern native Greek words. Greek spellingTransliterationSoundμπmp[b]ντnt[d]γκgk[g]γγgg[g]τζtz[dz] Notes These combinations are pronounced as stops [b, d, g] at the start of words or after a consonant, but often as nasal followed by stop [mb, nd, ng] in the middle of words. Before…… Continue reading How modern Greek spells some English consonants
Polish nasals
There are 2 nasal vowels in Polish: ɛ̃ (written<ę>); and ɔ̃ (written <ą>). Nasal phoneme or partly nasal diphthong? There are 2 views of the 2 nasal vowels in Polish: the nasal vowels are a single vowel phoneme (a single vocalic unit). Advocates of this view include Rothstein (1993). the nasal vowels are diphthongs having…… Continue reading Polish nasals
Sounds of Vietnamese
Vietnamese (tiếng Việt) is in the Vietic subgroup of the Austroasiatic language family. Vietnamese is spoken as a first language by around 85 million people, mainly in Vietnam, where it is the official language. It has several times as many native speakers as all other Austroasiatic languages combined. This post covers: syllable structure word structure consonants vowels reduplication…… Continue reading Sounds of Vietnamese
Another way to classify English consonants
I have discussed before how many consonants there are in English. In this post, I consider whether it is possible to classify English consonants in a more economical way. Previous post In an earlier post, I discussed how many consonants there are in English. The variety of English I looked at was standard southern British…… Continue reading Another way to classify English consonants
Language sketch: Maori (1)—sounds
Maori is the language of the Māori people of New Zealand. It is known in Maori as te reo Māori (‘the language Maori’) or simply te reo (‘the language’) for short. Te reo Māori was made an official language in New Zealand in 1987, along with New Zealand Sign Language. There is a useful short…… Continue reading Language sketch: Maori (1)—sounds
How German speakers pronounce English
Someone’s first language tends to cause consistent errors when they speak a second language. I’ve always found it interesting see what types of error people make in speaking (or writing) English they have learnt as a foreign language. Those errors can be useful pointers to the features of the speaker’s first language. Spotting those errors…… Continue reading How German speakers pronounce English