Le dimanche 16 Juillet 2006 18:05, Garth a écrit :
> Manuel Viet wrote:
> > Le dimanche 16 Juillet 2006 17:27, Winsor Crosby a écrit :
> >> I was in Japan last year and discovered that Japanese, like French is
> >> unaccented.
> >
> > What do you mean by "unaccented", exacly ?
>
> Little or no EMphasis on certain SYLLables. ;-) Unlike ENGlish, where
> you EMphasize certain parts of some words (and where the EMphasis
> changes depENDing on where in the ENGlish-speaking world you come from).
>
> This lack of syllabic emphasis always trips me up the first few days I'm
> in France visiting relatives. General hilarity ensues.
There is a tonic accent in french too, albeit a bit more subtle than in
english. All individual words are emphasized on the last syllab (save the
words ending by a mute 'e'), but in a sentence only the last word of a
logical division bears the accent. And that accent is not produced by raising
or lowering the tone, but the accented syllab is longer.
For instance (' is used before the accented syllab), you say
«pe'tite» (small) or «mai'son» (house) and «la petite mai'son». You'd also
say «la petite mai'son dans la prai'rie» (little house on the prairie)
because the last part indicates the location of the house.
It *is* subtle, and it's also a powerful social marker.
--
Manuel Viet
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