What is the correct pronunciation of Chez Hélène from the 60s CBC TV show?

  • Thread starter DaveC426913
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In summary, the show was broadcast on CBC TV in the 60s and does not seem to be well-known. There is information and samples available online, but I am not sure if they provide a definitive pronunciation. There may be an exception to the rule where the 'z' is pronounced in the word 'chez'. The name 'liaison' may be pronounced like 'shehz-a-leen' or 'shehz-a-yuhn'.
  • #36
DrDu said:
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/289947341.pdf
This article states that the liaison is facultative after chez, but certainly, as Helene is muet, it is possible. So either pronounciation is correct.

The relevant part of your document to this case is the following (my translation):

3.2.3 The optional liaison

The optional liaison is the one that leaves the most latitude. The more we do, the closer we get to the oratory style. The less we do, the closer we get to spontaneous speech which eliminates more and more liaisons, for linguistic economy. (Léon & Léon, 2009: 41)

As noted by Léon & Léon above, the optional liaisons are the markers of the speech level. They are also the broadest category in the sense that the frequency with which they are carried out fluctuates according to the type of optional liaison but also based on, for example, the level of speech, age, sex and regional affiliation of the speaker.

More generally, Encrevé says that "the number of liaisons made by a speaker is linked to its social affiliation, which makes it a very sure guide to identify this affiliation” (Encrevé, 1983: 42), or in other words, that "liaison is an explicit social indicator” (Encrevé, 1983: 42).
And that is what I was trying to say in post #30. Doing this type of liaison would make you sound like part of the King's court and, well, you know what happened to them in France ...

Just don't do the liaison unless you aim to be a butler at the Palace of Versailles.
 
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  • #37
geordief said:
Seems to be what they are saying ,but geordief répond que "l'Académie Française is a joke"

According to them the regular usage is an "erreur".
From what I know, l'Académie certainly wouldn't like you throwing in an English word there!
 
  • #38
jack action said:
And that is what I was trying to say in post #30. Doing this type of liaison would make you sound like part of the King's court and, well, you know what happened to them in France ...

Just don't do the liaison unless you aim to be a butler at the Palace of Versailles.
I remember when I was at a quantum chemistry conference near Paris at about 1998. I think it was Raymond Daudel, le grand seigneur of french theoretical chemistry, who gave the opening speech, evidently in French, and it was one of the few times I have heard spoken passé simple :-)
 
  • #39
@DrDu Would that be the tense that is purely literary?

I wonder if letter writing is anything of a half way house and whether literary types might communicate in that way .
.
"Quel temps il fit ce jour-là!" :smile:
 

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