Gary’s answer to “Hello! I am currently reading "The Hanged Man" (read "The Devil in Montmartre" last year) - hope yo…” > Likes and Comments
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It's a soft G ...and one syllable...don't listen to the Brits who make all syllables hard!
Yes, it's definitely a soft "g", one syllable. But the British "Giles" is a soft "G" too, although the Brits give it a "J" sound followed by a long "I" as in "files'. Both the French and English names are derived from the Latin Aegidius.
This iGiles [dʒaɪlz] is the Medieval English form of the name of the French hermit Saint Giles,[1] which itself is the Old French form of the Latin name Aegidius. The modern French forms are Gilles and the less common Égide.s from Wikipedia:
Very clear explanation, Gary! English and French phonetics are so radically different that everything has to be explained.
One minor note: the first syllable in the name "Achille" is "a"; the second sounds a bit like "sheel." And, unlike English, French has no stress accent; both syllables are pronounced at the same volume.
The "g" in "Gilles" and the "ch" in "Achille" are actually the same consonant with one difference: the "g" is voiced; the "ch" is unvoiced.
Both English and French have a "hard" (glottal) /g/ before a, o and u. The front vowels represented by e, i and y draw the tongue forward to make a fricative consonant, which is palatalized in English but not in French.
Now, shall we talk about the initial vowel /a/? Glottal stop in English; not in French. Or /i/? Diphthong in English; pure in French. Or the consonant /l/? Palatal in English; dental in French.
See what I mean? English and German: piece of cake. In English and French, almost everything is different.
Hi, Don! Thanks for adding your expertise to the conversation. Takes me back 50 years to my college linguistics course. Oh, those glottal stops and fricatives. I remember them well. :)
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Ray
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Mar 23, 2019 03:53PM
It's a soft G ...and one syllable...don't listen to the Brits who make all syllables hard!
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Yes, it's definitely a soft "g", one syllable. But the British "Giles" is a soft "G" too, although the Brits give it a "J" sound followed by a long "I" as in "files'. Both the French and English names are derived from the Latin Aegidius.This iGiles [dʒaɪlz] is the Medieval English form of the name of the French hermit Saint Giles,[1] which itself is the Old French form of the Latin name Aegidius. The modern French forms are Gilles and the less common Égide.s from Wikipedia:
Very clear explanation, Gary! English and French phonetics are so radically different that everything has to be explained.One minor note: the first syllable in the name "Achille" is "a"; the second sounds a bit like "sheel." And, unlike English, French has no stress accent; both syllables are pronounced at the same volume.
The "g" in "Gilles" and the "ch" in "Achille" are actually the same consonant with one difference: the "g" is voiced; the "ch" is unvoiced.
Both English and French have a "hard" (glottal) /g/ before a, o and u. The front vowels represented by e, i and y draw the tongue forward to make a fricative consonant, which is palatalized in English but not in French.
Now, shall we talk about the initial vowel /a/? Glottal stop in English; not in French. Or /i/? Diphthong in English; pure in French. Or the consonant /l/? Palatal in English; dental in French.
See what I mean? English and German: piece of cake. In English and French, almost everything is different.
Hi, Don! Thanks for adding your expertise to the conversation. Takes me back 50 years to my college linguistics course. Oh, those glottal stops and fricatives. I remember them well. :)
