Re: French vowel distribution, was: a verb aspect...

En réponse à Vasiliy Chernov <bc_@...>:

> On Mon, 23 Oct 2000 15:21:47 +0200, Christophe Grandsire
> <christophe.grandsire@...> wrote:
>
> >En réponse à Vasiliy Chernov <bc_@...>:
>
> >> So, French permits [e] in closed final syllables?
>
> >Normally not, "mél" is the only word I can think of that has it (and
> it's a
> >recent coinage, so I don't think it's representative).
>
> Even a single word is kinda... ominous. If _mél_ doesn't sound
> especially
> artificial to French speakers, this means that no ban is in force any
> more.
>
It does seem artificial, at least to me. I think that "mél" is written this way
because of the parallel with "tél." (but "tél." is only an abbreviation which is
never pronounced as /tel/).

> >Yet it's possible in
> >non-final closed syllables, like in "événement" /even'ma~/: event
> (which
> the
> >allegedly sages of the French Academy would like us to write
> "évènement",
> as if
> >it was pronounced /evEn'ma~/, a pronunciation I never heard anywhere in
> France!
>
> Interesting.
>
> >> And if you tell me that word-final [O] is possible too, I'll consider
> >> such a project seriously ;)
> >
> >Unfortunately, I don't think I ever heard it, though I have to think
> about
> it a
> >little more...
>
> Imagine you are referring to some foreign placename, while speaking
> French.
> Will it sound too odd if you preserve the foreign /O/? And is your
> French
> interlocutor likely, without knowing the foreign lang, to preserve the
> /O/
> while replying to you?
>
I think not. In fact, I also would be considered pedant to keep the original
pronunciation, so that the /O/ would fast be transformed into /o/.

> I think word-final open [ö] is possible (prend-le, IIRC). Am I wrong?
>
Open? you mean as in "peur"? Personnally, I say "prends-le" as /pra~'l@/,
phonetically [pra~'l2], not *[pra~'l9]. I cannot think of any example of a
word-final [9].

Christophe.