Re: CHAT: Synesthesia and conlanging (was Re: The ConlangInstinct)

Nik Taylor wrote:
>
> Dan Sulani wrote:
> > Is this, more or less, what
> > recent postings about French mean by "liaison"?
>
> No, liaison is like this:
> il vient = [i vjE~] (He comes)
> vient-il? = [vjE~ti] (Does he come?)
>
        Funny, you forgot the [l] in the pronunciation (it is not silent) but
this way you just reinvented one dialect of French :) . 'il' is
pronounced often [i] in the countryside near Rouen in Normandy. This
dialect is also famous for one saying: "p'te^t ben qu'oui, p'te^t ben
qu'non" (pronounced exactly [ptEt'bE~:kwi ptEt'bE~:knO~], yes, with a
long nasal :) ) which means: maybe yes, maybe no (clearly: I don't know
at all, so why bother? :) ). It also tends to add meaningless syllables
at the end of short sentences, like "C,a va-t'y ?" [sava'ti] for "C,a va
?": how are you? are you OK? ('C,'is c-cedilla).
        I come from Rouen, and my grand-parents come from this countryside, so
I learned also a little this dialect (with a few dialectical words I
didn't even know they were dialectical before people told me they
couldn't understand the words I used). I generally don't use it at all
(except the words that are rooted in my lexicon) except to make fun or
to raise attention (or to try to make worried people smile a little :)
). This dialect has a connotation of fun, maybe because countrymen of
Normandy are seen as easy-living, never worried (see the saying).
        For the rest, my pronunciation is pretty standard and people generally
are unable to know where I am from in France when I'm speaking.

        OK, it was really off-topic, but I found that funny :) .

> That is, the -t of _vient_ is only pronounced when it is followed by a
> vowel like in _il_
>
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        Christophe Grandsire

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