Re: 'Intrusive' phonemes in languages

I think this is the explanatrion: Usually the word quatre is
pronounce "katr&", ie. in practical language the -e- is not mute,
but pronounced as a schwa.

(I know the rules dictate this e to be mute, but this is not what
happens in real speach)

In French one usually avoid two wovels to come together at word
boundaries. To avoid this, either an otherwise mute consonant is
pronounced, or a consonant is inserted, usually a consonant often
heard in other similar combinations. In this case an -s is chosen in
analogy with other combinations of an attribute and a plural noun.
You find the same phenomenon in the combination a-t-il = has he,
where a -t is used in analogy with other similar combinations.


--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Wordingham"
<richard.wordingham@...> wrote:

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tegnalos" <tegnalos@...> wrote:
> > --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, glen gordon <glengordon01@...>

wrote:

> >
> > >
> > > > Similarly in hyper-urban French "quatre-z-heures".
> > >
> > > Hyper-urban? Anyways, if you're saying "quatres
> > > heures" as in "four hours (of duration)" then
> > > sticking -z- there makes sense because "four" is
> > > qualifying the noun "heure". Since French adjectives
> > > agree with the noun they modify in number, the
> > > -z- is pronounced as it is written before another
> > > vowel.
> > >
> >
> > Sorry, but this is wrong, "quatres" does not exist in French.

Numbers

> > above 2 do not change in Romance languages (we don't

say "cuatros,

> > cincos" in Spanish or "quatres, cincs" in French). "Quatre

heures" is

> > the only possible form.
>
> What's wrong with the alternative explanation that the plural of
> "heure" is "z'heure"? The problem then arises that the /z/ ought

to

> be part of the preceding word in writing, whence 'quatres' etc.
>
> Richard.