Liaison (French)

Liaison (French pronunciation: ​[ljɛ.zɔ̃]) is the pronunciation of a latent word-final consonant immediately before a following vowel sound. Technically, it is a type of external sandhi, which is disrupted in pausa.

In French, most written word-final consonants are no longer pronounced and are known as latent or mute. For example, the letter s in the word les, 'the', is generally silent (i.e., dead and phonologically null), but it is pronounced /z/ in the combination les amis /le.z‿a.mi/, 'the friends'. In certain syntactic environments, liaison is impossible; in others, it is obligatory; in others still, it is possible but not obligatory and its realization is subject to wide stylistic variation.

Classification

Liaison operates in word sequences whose components are closely linked by sense, e.g., article + noun, adjective + noun, personal pronoun + verb, and so forth. This would seem to indicate liaison is primarily active in high-frequency word associations (collocations). Liaison is a form of vestigial enchainement since both involve a follow-through between a final consonant (though otherwise mute in liaison) and an initial vowel. However, what is particularly distinct for both liaison and enchainement is that the final consonant in both cases re-syllabifies with the following vowel. Liaison is therefore an external sandhi phenomenon, that is, a phonological process occurring at word boundaries. Specifically, it is a form of consonant epenthesis and generally, though not always, involves resyllabification.

French

French may refer to:

See also

French (1790 cricketer)

French (first name and dates unknown) was an English first-class cricketer who was active in the 1780s. He was recorded playing in one match at Windmill Down in August 1790, scoring 0 and 1 not out. He held one catch.

References

Bibliography

French (surname)

French is an anglicised version of Defreine which has a Norman Irish origin.

The DeFreines, the ffrenches, and the Frenches, who were of noble blood, came to Ireland with Strongbow during the Norman invasion of Ireland from 1169 to 1172 AD. There were and still are two or three families of Irish peers who carry the names DeFréine, ffrench, and French. As Anglo-Normans the French family became one of the 14 Tribes of Galway, helping to found the town in 1425 AD, fortifying it to keep the locals out.

French is or was the family name of the following individuals (alphabetized by first name):