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<plus> and Other Semi-silent French Words

  Tags: Pronunciation | French
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1e4e6
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 Message 1 of 22
25 December 2013 at 4:48am | IP Logged 
I have always learnt <plus> in French as an exception that must be pronounced fully, as
in exactly how it is spelt instead of like <plu> in <plupart>, but I notice that some
pronounce it as <plus> and some pronounce it as <plu>; which one is correct, or are both
correct? And are there other phenonema in French wherein the words can be pronounced
exactly as spelt as an exception? i.e. I learnt <tôt> as pronounced without the final
<t>, but I am not sure if some regions pronounce it fully as spelt. I became confused
because I always knew <plus> pronounced like <plus> as its only pronunciatiin, and this
was probably eight years ago.

Edited by 1e4e6 on 25 December 2013 at 4:50am

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tastyonions
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 Message 2 of 22
25 December 2013 at 5:31am | IP Logged 
It varies according to the context / function of "plus" in the sentence. Here is a good explanation: link

It has nothing to do with regionalisms, as far as I know.

As far as words that are "pronounced as spelt", or have final consonants that are pronounced that would "normally" be silent, there are plenty. Some have origins from scientific Latin (like "infarctus" and "rictus") or come from other languages (like "qat"). Then there are other "autochthonous French" words that don't come to mind at the moment...
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vermillon
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 Message 3 of 22
25 December 2013 at 3:26pm | IP Logged 
And since the "ne" part of the negation is dropped in colloquial speech, in online chat we often find ourselves having to indicate which "plus" we meant (except if context helps "je veux plus d'argent / je veux plus de problèmes") and ask things like "plu or plusse?".

If only we'd write using the IPA!
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stelingo
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 Message 4 of 22
25 December 2013 at 3:46pm | IP Logged 
http://www.lepointdufle.net/ressources_fle/plus.htm#.UrruKtd FCRI
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tastyonions
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 Message 5 of 22
25 December 2013 at 3:50pm | IP Logged 
Ooh, another good Latin-origin one is "consensus," which is doubly odd because the final "s" is pronounced and the "sen" syllable is pronounced like "sin" rather than "san."
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Spiderkat
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 Message 6 of 22
25 December 2013 at 4:48pm | IP Logged 
vermillon wrote:
And since the "ne" part of the negation is dropped in colloquial speech, in online chat we often find ourselves having to indicate which "plus" we meant (except if context helps "je veux plus d'argent / je veux plus de problèmes") and ask things like "plu or plusse?".

If only we'd write using the IPA!

No, if only some people would write/speak properly using the negation the way it should be written/spoken. It would be less confusing for everybody, for learners and natives as well.




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vermillon
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 Message 7 of 22
25 December 2013 at 4:56pm | IP Logged 
Spiderkat wrote:
No, if only some people would write/speak properly using the negation the way it should be written/spoken. It would be less confusing for everybody, for learners and natives as well.


If you say so. And people should avoid using polysemic words as well, just for the sake of clarity. And use Simple English.
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LaughingChimp
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 Message 8 of 22
25 December 2013 at 5:00pm | IP Logged 
vermillon wrote:
and ask things like "plu or plusse?".


Why don't you always write it like that then?

Spiderkat wrote:

No, if only some people would write/speak properly using the negation the way it should be written/spoken. It would be less confusing for everybody, for learners and natives as well.


It would be much less confusing if written French was modernized so that it's not written as it was spoken several centuries ago. I never understood why some people think that the way they speak is wrong.


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