Re: French -ois (jara: YAC: Widse -- a conlang based on Ygyde)

En réponse à John Cowan <jcowan@...>:

>
> Two acutes is a silly spelling, unless they are saying [kebek] now
> instead of
> [kebEk].
>
I hope this was a joke (as maybe is indicated by the next quote), or else it
shows a complete misunderstanding of the French orthographic rules (yes! It
does have *rules*!!! ;)) ). You indeed write "Québec", pronounced [ke"bEk]
following the regular rule that says that |e| is pronounced [E] in closed
written syllables. But the rule also says that |e| is pronounced [@] in open
syllables, so a spelling like *"Québecois" would be pronounced *[keb@"kwa] (or *
[keb@"kwE]) which is absolutely not the case!! Since it's pronounced
[kebe"kwa], you *have* to write "québécois", the second accent being the only
way to show the right pronunciation. French spelling is quite phonetic, if
sometimes in a quasi-Etabnanninous way.

> "The province was named after the King, named according to tradition
> 'Louis'
> (pron. [kwIbEk])."
>         --_It All Started With Columbus_
>
LOL ;))) .

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.

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