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: Velar
An oddity of English spelling
A crossword clue made me think about one of the many oddities of English spelling. The answer was the word impinged and part of the clue was a cryptic reference to the word pinged. Impinged (past tense of the verb impinge) is pronounced with a ‘soft g’ /dʒ/, as in the consonants at the start…… Continue reading An oddity of English spelling
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
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
Lateral consonants
Lateral consonants are consonants produced with the tongue blocking (or nearly blocking) the airflow in the centre of the mouth but allowing air to flow around the side(s) of the tongue. English has one lateral phoneme: /l/, written as <l> or <L>. Definition Ladefoged and Maddieson (1996) define laterals as sounds ‘in which the tongue…… Continue reading Lateral consonants
Phonemes and allophones
Phonologists and phoneticians typically distinguish phonemes from allophones. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that distinguishes one word from another word. For example, the English word mat is distinct from pat because mat starts with the phoneme /m/ whereas pat starts with the phoneme /p/. A phoneme is not always pronounced in the…… Continue reading Phonemes and allophones
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
Hard and soft consonants in Russian
Most Russian consonants come in pairs, of one ‘soft’ consonant and one ‘hard’ consonant. A soft consonant is one that is palatalised—pronounced with the centre of the tongue raised towards the roof of the mouth (palate). A hard consonant is a consonant that is not soft. One example of a distinction in English between a…… Continue reading Hard and soft consonants in Russian
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
Hangul Day
Today (9 October) is Hangul Day. Hangul is the name used in South Korea and most of the world for the writing system used in writing Korean. Origin of Hangul Before the 15th century, most written documents in Korea were in Chinese. When Korean was written, people used Chinese characters, known in Korean as…… Continue reading Hangul Day