Romance language, official in 29 states, including France, Belgium and Côte d'Ivoire.
1
vote
2answers
72 views
How are these rolled “r”s pronounced?
I recently came upon a viral/funny Quebecois video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InMJopurNTE
In it, the guy is pronouncing his "r"s (e.g. in gros, bras) very oddly. I can't reproduce this sound, ...
3
votes
3answers
156 views
Similarity between Salut in French and Salaam in Arabic
I noticed a similarity between the word Salut in French and the word سلام in Arabic which is pronounced Salaam and they both mean "safety and well-being" and are both used as a general greeting to ...
3
votes
0answers
50 views
Animated phonetic sound of Arabic and French
I randomly found this terrific site that contains a good structured collection of images, animations and videos to show how a sound is articulated in some languages. I need a similar resource for ...
5
votes
1answer
292 views
Why don't the French pronounce consonants at the ends of words?
I am curious what could have caused the shift in pronunciation. I presume it must have occurred after the spelling of words was standardized. According to the History of French wikipedia article, this ...
2
votes
1answer
75 views
How does the sound change from L. “benedictionem” to O.Fr. “beneiçon” happen?
benison
c.1300, "blessing, beatitude," from O.Fr. beneiçon "blessing, benediction," from L. benedictionem (see benediction).
Similarly, the word malison comes in the exact way described above.
...
1
vote
1answer
81 views
Are there ways to infer the ending of the French past participle? [closed]
The French past participle (participe passé) is easily inferable with regard to first and second group verbs:
manger -> mangé
finir -> fini
I would like to know if there is any way to infer ...
1
vote
4answers
154 views
What is the present tense expressing future?
Perhaps this question has been asked before, I may have looked for the wrong terms then because I haven't found the answer.
I would like to know more about the usage of the present tense in sentences ...
3
votes
5answers
299 views
Plural “you” in different language families connoting respect
I recently found out that French has two different words for "you."
From here:
Tu is the familiar "you," which demonstrates a certain closeness and informality. ... Vous is the formal "you." It ...
2
votes
3answers
267 views
Regarding the th sound
Why some languages don't have the "th" sound? (voiced and voiceless dental fricatives)
They say languages such as French, Turkish etc don't have the "th" sound as in "thin" and "then".
I sometimes ...
11
votes
4answers
424 views
When and how did French become a non-null-subject language?
First of all, what does "null-subject" mean? Taken from the Wikipedia page for "Null-subject languages":
[…] a null-subject language is a language whose grammar permits an independent clause to ...
8
votes
3answers
302 views
How can adjective-noun order in French be explained by parameter theory?
I just finished reading The Atoms of Language. The gist is that languages have parameters, one of which will tell you which side of a phrase to add a new word.
But in some languages, like French and ...
9
votes
3answers
316 views
French conjugation, spoken vs written
French verbs are conjugated depending on the subject's person and number (ex. je parle, tu parles, il parle, etc.) However in spoken language most of these sound the same anyway because the end part ...
