Sorbet

[Damien Hall]

Matt asked:

>Is the word [sorbet] pronounced in French without the final /t/?

Yes.

Always in France, anyway, and I think probably also in most of Canada. I
don't really know the details of Canada, but what makes me hesitate is that
there are some words with etymological <-t> which has now fallen out of the
pronunciation in most varieties, but is retained by a minority. The only
example which springs to mind is _août_ 'August', mostly /u/ but, for some
people, /ut/. In fact, in this case the difference between t-pronouncing
and non-t-pronouncing varieties is not geographical but probably idiolectal
as far as I can see: it varies in France and Canada.

But I would still be highly surprised if anyone pronounced _sorbet_ in
French with a final /t/, because the <-et> is orthographically identical to
a common diminutive ending which is still slightly productive and never has
a final /t/. Which vowel it has depends on your dialect: conservatively it
would be /E/, and that's still pretty universal in Canada, but,
increasingly in France (and always in the South of France), the open
syllable leads to a mid-close vowel /e/.

Damien

--
Damien Hall

University of York
Department of Language and Linguistic Science
Heslington
YORK
YO10 5DD
UK

Tel. (office) +44 (0)1904 432665
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http://www.york.ac.uk/res/aiseb/

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