My Linguistic Analysis Page (works in progress)
Vowel Length
Coming soon!
Pronunciation & How to spot loan words
Pronunciation and intonation are among the hardest things for the Swedish second-language learner. Sadly, linguistic studies have shown that second-language learners who start learning their second-language past the age of acquisition (around puberty) will not be able to achieve perfect pronunciation (in other words, they will have an accent). This is known as imperfect learning. Still, pronunciation and intonation should be very important to a language learner.
A couple of important things to keep in mind:
*Most Swedish words will have its primary stress on the first syllable. (as with most Germanic languages.)
Examples: flicka, gata, lampa, matta, frukost, middag, skola, kvinna,
*Loan words usually keep their original stress pattern. Commonly, this is stress on the second syllable… sometimes the third.
Examples: familj, student, gardin, fåtölj, pilot, maskin,
*Compound words (noun+noun) will usually have two stresses. Either two primary stresses, or one primary and one secondary.
Examples: skrivmaskin
Sambandsord
konjunktioner [huvudsats + konj. + huvudsats]
-och-
-men-
adverb [ADV + SUBJ + (inte) + VERB + X]
If you start a sentance with these adverbs, the second half of the sentance becomes subordinate (bisats).
först
sedan (sen)
därefter
efteråt
till sist
för det första
nämligen
alltså
däremot
å andra sidan
jämfört med _______
på samma sätt som _______
i likhet med ______
avslutningsvis
dessutom (start sentance with this instead of 'och')
vidare (in the case of vidare as an ADV, you can start sentances with this)
... these are only some of what exists out there...
prepositioner []
verb []
Sentance structure analysis
(not sure if this is right because i haven't taken syntax yet)
(4/16/08)
"Det finns många anledningar till varför du bör sluta röka medan det däremot inte finns ett enda tungt vägande skäl till att du ska fortsätta röka."
Translation: There are many reasons why you should stop smoking while there isn't a formidable reason that you should continue to smoke.
Breakdown:
deponent-V ADJ N-pl. Prep. Q-word S? Sats-ADV V1 V2
"Det finns många anledningar till varför du bör sluta röka [PAUSE]
^ Huvudsats - Main Clause ^ ^ Bisats - subordinate clause ^
( Adjectival Phrase )
Conjunction NEG ADJ ADJ ADJ N Conjunction
medan det däremot inte finns ett enda tungt vägande skäl till att du ska fortsätta röka."
^ bisats ^ ^ Huvudsats ^
~Swedish Morphology Projects for LING481~
The morphemic variance of "om"
The Swedish language contains many particle words that have multiple meanings. The morphemic variance of the Swedish particle "om" presents a problem for the definition of morpheme as "One form, One meaning" (OFOM). "Om" is clearly, one form with multiple meanings, affording it multiple morphemes... at least 7.
1. om - the adverb, meaning "again" , "re"-
Examples:
"bygga om": rebuild.
"tänka om": rethink.
"om och om igen": over and over again.
2. om - the adverb, meaning "about"
Examples:
"bry sig om": care about
"sköta om": look after
"tycka om": like (literally: think about)
3. om - the conjunction, meaning "if" (conditional)
Examples:
"hjälp mig om du kan": help me if you can.
"som om inget hade hänt": as if nothing had happened.
4. om - the preposition, meaning "of", "about" (relating to)
Examples:
"en fråga om tid": a question of time.
"prata om vädret": to talk about the weather.
5. om - the preposition, meaning "of" (positional)
Examples:
"till höger om dörren": to the right of the door.
"öster om staden": east of the city.
6. om - the preposition, meaning "by" (temporal)
Examples:
"om natten": by night.
"om dagarna": by day.
7. om - the prepotion, meaning "round" (spacial)
Examples:
"en halsduk om halsen": a scarf around one's neck.
"affären om hörnet": the shop around/on the corner.
We can say that some of these have related meanings, but clearly something as different as the adverb "re-" and the conjunction "if" prove that there are multiple morphemes represented by the form: "om."
Compound Word Strucure involving -s- insertion
(disregarding gender, definite form suffix, and plural suffix)
Data set (w/ -s- insertion):
förkylningsvirus
sambandsord
utbildningslokal
ämnesomsättning
årstidsvariation
Data set (w/out -s- insertion):
beroendeskapande
influensavirus
tillika
(you need to set more restrictions on the data set. we're looking at too many different things here.)
Simplified Morphemic Breakdown:
Morphemes: förkylning-s-virus
Literally: sickness-s-virus
Form: adverb+noun+s+noun
Meaning: cold virus
Morphemes: sam-band-s-ord
Literally: together-binding-s-word
Form:
Meaning: binding word, conjunction
Morphemes: ut-bildning-s-lokal
Literally: out-education-s-premises
Form: particle+noun+s+noun
Meaning: place of education
Morphemes: ämne-s-om-sättning
Literally: substance-s-again-composition
Form: noun+s+particle+noun
Meaning: metabolism
Morphemes: år-s-tid-s-variation
Literally: year-s-time-s-varation
Form: noun+s+noun+s+noun
Meaning: seasonal variation
Morphemes: be-roende-skapande
Literally: (be)-habiting-creating
Form: particle+
Meaning: habit forming
influensa-virus
Morphemes: till-lika
Literally: antother-alike
Form: particle+adjective
Meaning: moreover
What role does the binding -s- insertion serve here? is it a possessive, or simply a means for compounding? Are there any restrictions? What are some cases of compound words without binding s's and why? (This is actually an infixation of the empty morpheme -s-, tror jag...)
fredagkväll vs. fredagskväll...
[To do: reduce data set to focus on only Noun + Noun compounds]
To compound eller ej?
imorgon . . . i morgon
imorse . . . i morse
igår . . . i går
mittemot . . . mitt emot
Order of suffixation...
-lig -het
-vis
-ligen
Verbs and particles...
på-, be-, om-, till-,
Swedish verbs with prefix be-
finna - to find
befinna sig - to find oneself (location/point in time)
*höver - not a word
behöver - to need
rätta - to correct
berätta - to tell, to narrate
ro - to row
bero (på) - to depend (on)
sluta - to stop
besluta - to decide
stämma - to voice
bestämma - to decide, to determine
tyda - to interpret
betyda - to mean
visa - to show
bevisa - to prove
vara - to be
bevara - to preserve, to maintain
gå - to go
begå - to commit, to perpetrate
What is the relationship here???
