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Subject: [HWE] Re: Feh -reh
Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2003 18:28:43 EDT

Just to be awkward , it also depends on your own English/American vowel
sounds . Do you pronounce Feh like I do? Possibly not <grin>
So what does Feh -reh sound like? Imagine this pronounced by a Liverpudlian ,
or by Dick Van Dyke thinking he sounds like a Cockney ( ugh ) or by
President Bush? Do you get the same sounds? So which English do we use when we try to
give guides to the French sound?
Also........ the sounds of French , like all languages , have changed over
the years. Which century do you want the pronounciation for? The r sound has
shifted a lot in some regions of France. And pronounced by whom? A local person
50 years ago on the Isle of Wight would pronounce Whitwell as Wittle (the
middle consonants having a slight swallowed effect ) but someone from the mainland
might have said Wit-well. Most Islanders these days say Wit-well, because of
the huge influx of incomers. Is your French village to be pronounced by a
Parisian notary or a local peasant?
Best wishes,
Robert ( you say tomato , I say tomato ) Hillier

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