Re: French phonetics

From: Petr Hrubis
Message: 62717
Date: 2009-02-01

2009/2/1 tgpedersen <tgpedersen@...>:
> I am pleased to learn that Czech has loans from Danish ('fodbold') ;-)
> You should hear Finns say Kókakola.

Good joke. :-) It's a misreading of the English word, the medial /t/ >
[d] due to regressive assimilation. By the way, we say ['kOkakOla] :-D

> Btw, one of the first things I noticed in Prague was posters for a
> movie in which the protagonist was played by some Audrey Hepburnová.

Yes, this is something many learned Czechs dislike. We add -ová [ova:]
to every female surname, which is funny when done to the Russian
surnames, in which /-ova/ of the same origin changes to /-ovova:/! For
example, if a Russian man's surname is Jegorov, his wife's surname is
(probably, usually) Jegorova. In Czech we turn this into Jegorovová!
:-D This makes sense, of course, because if it were only Jegorová, it
would imply her husband's name is Jegor rather than Jegorov. Funny,
anyway. :-)

Best,

Petr