From: Arnaud Fournet
Message: 62232
Date: 2008-12-21
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick McCallister" <gabaroo6958@...>
Québec is the only French-speaking place I've been. I used to live about 20
KM form the border. So I can only go on what I heard there. Phoque
definitely sounded like fuck and bonne like bun. I also heard some strange
sounding pronunciations /septsil/ for Sept-Iles; /smEn. for semaine, /out.
outr@/ for autre, /Souz, Souz@/ for chose --e.e. /sEtoutr@...@/ in
advertisements and, of course, the stereotypical /dzIs/ for /dis/ dix
========
Apparently you have not got enough about that.
I notice that all words you (Rick and Andrew) have mentioned start with
labial initials : phoque /f/, bonne /b/, and motte /m/.
I believe you erroneously interpret labial formants coming from the
consonants as labial formants of the vowel.
So that Fr /o/ a really labial back vowel is confused with Eng /V/ a
(normally) non-labial vowel
It's also possible that standard American E tends to labialise /V/ in that
context #P/F/M_-
A phonological split under way ?
V > o #P/F/M_-
V remains V elsewhere ?
American English has a "hole" between /u/ and /A/ (written o) in the set of
back vowels.
Diphthongs uw Aw ow (bone) exists but there is no short o.
the stereotypical [dzi] for /di/ is probably a Parisian working-class
feature and not a western (Breton) feature.
A.