panurge Newbie Italy Joined 5633 days ago 11 posts - 11 votes Speaks: English
| Message 1 of 12 30 May 2009 at 1:41pm | IP Logged |
Hi,
I've come across a pronunciation problem in French I can't solve myself.
Why are some word ending in -er pronounced as /e/ and others /ɛʁ/
For example:
olivier
/ɔ.li.vje/
tomber
/tɔ̃.be/
BUT
hier -> /i.ɛʁ/
hiver -> /i.vɛʁ/
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TheBiscuit Tetraglot Senior Member Mexico Joined 5734 days ago 532 posts - 619 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Italian Studies: German, Croatian
| Message 2 of 12 30 May 2009 at 4:52pm | IP Logged |
Well, all verb endings in French are stressed slightly, and you're not pronouncing the r. (tombER)
With hier and hiver, you're pronouncing the r so the sound changes?
That would be my guess.
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Halie Diglot Groupie United States Joined 5921 days ago 80 posts - 106 votes Speaks: English*, French
| Message 3 of 12 30 May 2009 at 6:30pm | IP Logged |
I think it has to do with the i in 'hier' and 'hiver'.
With practice it's something you'll just come to know without thinking about it. Listen to French people talking, frequently, and your own pronunciation will improve.
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Dark_Sunshine Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5576 days ago 340 posts - 357 votes Speaks: English*, French
| Message 5 of 12 31 May 2009 at 12:33am | IP Logged |
I think the answer is Just Because. French has irregular pronunciation, although it's still not as irregular as English in that respect.
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CRHUSA Newbie United States Joined 5555 days ago 13 posts - 18 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB2, Spanish
| Message 6 of 12 01 June 2009 at 9:07pm | IP Logged |
I think it might be that you don't pronounce the R infinitive verbs, but if a word is a noun then you do.
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GuardianJY Groupie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5496 days ago 74 posts - 72 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Italian, Swedish, French
| Message 8 of 12 01 June 2009 at 11:39pm | IP Logged |
I agree with Halie. It just happens to be pronounced differently, and likely is pronounced with or without the r by different speakers, depending on dialect. Similar to "Y'all" vs. "you all."
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