>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Christophe Grandsire" <christophe.grandsire@...>
> To: <CONLANG@...>
> Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2003 10:26 PM
> Subject: Re: OT: pronunciation question
>
>
> > En réponse à Jean-François Colson :
> >
> >
> > >That's right, but in Belgium there's a town (near Mons) named
> Saint-Ghislain
> > >and I've always heard it pronounced [sE~gilE~]. Is that an old or an
> > >alternative pronunciation?
> >
> > Alternative. Today I even heard my French colleague (who comes from
Lille)
> > talking about a cousin of his called [gilE~]. I knew this pronunciation
> > existed, but hadn't heard it for real until today. Talk about
> > synchronicity! ;))
> >
>
> A quarter of an hour is enough to go from Lille (France) to Tournai
> (Belgium).
> Should /gilE~/ be more common in Belgium and /ZislE~/ more common in
France?
> After all Lille (Rijsel in Dutch) has been a part of the Netherlands
during
> the Middle-Age and Dutch is still spoken in the Northern half of Belgium
and
> a bit in France near the border.
>
> 12 years ago I had a Teacher in Belgium whose family name was Ghislain
> /gilE~/.
> 3 years ago in the Université de Valenciennes et du Hainaut-Cambrésis
(UVHC,
> in France) there was a student whose family name was Ghislain /ZislE~/.
>
>
> Jean-François Colson
> jfcolson@belgacom.net
>