----- Original Message -----
From: "Remi Villatel" <maxilys@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2003 3:20 AM
Subject: Re: OT: pronunciation question
> Mark J. Reed wrote:
>
> > I've recently encountered in written form a new name, apparently
> > popular among male French Canadians, which I have never heard
> > pronounced. It is spelled "Ghyslain", and from what little I know
> > of French orthography I would guess it is pronounced as CXS
> > [giz'l&~], but if someone who actually knows could confirm or correct
> > that, I'd appreciate it.
>
> Je dirais plutôt [ZislE~]... (Cough!) ;-)
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?
>
> I'd rather say [ZislE~] where [E~] represents the sound you can found in
> french words like "fin" [fE~], "brun" [bRE~], "vain" [vE~], "vingt" [vE~]
or
> "à-jeun" [&:jE~]. (That's all the orthographies for [E~].)
For me brun is [bR9~] and brin is [brE~]. Then if there's shit on the grass
you can get un brin brun [9~ brE~ br9~]. ;-)
And "a jeun" (Why did you write it with an hyphen?) is [aZ9~] for me.
>
> The official IPA char for [E~] is Epsilon (U+025b) with a tilde over it.
>
> In France Ghislain (with an "i") and its feminine form Ghislaine [ZislEn]
> are quite old-fashioned. But the Canadians and the Quebecers like to keep
> alive some french traditions. I guess they pronounce it with an american
> accent: [dZIsleIn].
>
> See ya,
>
> =====================
> Remi Villatel
> maxilys@normandnet.fr
> =====================
>