French <ai> vs. <oi>

[Ben Wald]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Hewson's account jibes with my recollection of the standard French variation
between wa and wE (variation when viewed from historical perspective,
currently distinct word classes).  I remember hearing that the aftermath of
the French revolution was a critical point in the metropolitan shift in
pronunciation of many sets of (w)E words to wa.  Apparently there had
previously been class variation in Paris between the two pronunciations,
stemming from different contributing dialect developments.  wE reflects the
historically more conservative stage in the lowering of the nucleus (and is
typical of the "patois" varieties in France and in the Caribbean) -- long
after historical reversal of the position of the nucleus, from before the
glide (Oi > Oe, or something like that) to after the glide (wE).  Evidently
nasalisation took place before the lowering wE > wa, since "oin" words
preserve the wE stage in the standard.  Thus, "moins" rhymes in the standard
with "main".   In open syllables, where oiN denasalised (given the earlier
reports of words like "grand-mère" and "grammaire" being homophones), the
development wE > wa took place; thus, "soin" with wE~ but "soigneux" with
wa.

I'm speaking from memory, but I assume that Pope treats all this in her
standard account of the evolution of French phonology from Late Latin.  --
Benji

===
on 1/29/03 4:13 PM, John Hewson at jhewson at MORGAN.UCS.MUN.CA wrote:

> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> On Tue, 28 Jan 2003, Hartmut Haberland wrote:
>
> (snippet)
> words that have the [wa] pronunciation today (roi, loi, moi, Francois,
>> Danois ) and those that don't (francais, monnaie, faible) -
>> but which all were spelled with _oi_ until 1835.
>
> There are no clear patterns of causation. In fact you have Latin _rigida_
> "rigid" and _frigida_ "cold" (feminine forms for ease of example) which
> become French "raide" and "froide" respectively. And regionally in French
> you can hear [fret] and [dret] for froid and droit.
>
> I suspect the ultimate cause is the instability of postconsonantal /w/,
> which comes and goes in many languages. In the reconstruction of
> Proto-Algonkian, for example, there is a great regularity of sound change,
> but a good deal of coming and going with postconsonantal [w].
>
> There are examples in English too: the [w] is pronounced in Greenwood,
> inward (but note popular "the innards"), outward, but not in Greenwich
> [grenic], Harwich, Woolwich, Norwich, and other place names in -wich (at
> least for the original place names in England: where these have been
> transferred to elsewhere in the world the [w] may have been reinstated,
> as a spelling pronunciation).
>
> It is heard also in swore, but not in sword [sord]. And there are others.
>
> In French [we] became [wa] after the Revolution. But the [e] that remained
> after the unstable [w] was lost remained [e] and was eventually mostly
> respelled -ai- with the spelling reform you mention. Eighteenth century
> "il avoit" [il ave] became "il avait", but the pronunciation did not
> change. In the fourteenth century, however, it would have been [il avwet].
>
> Perhaps others have noticed the instability of post consonantal [w] in
> other languages. It would be good to get further confirming data.
>
> Best wishes,
> John
>
>
****************************************************************************
**> *
> John Hewson, FRSC                               tel: (709)737-8131
> Henrietta Harvey Professor Emeritus             fax: (709)737-4000
> Memorial University of Newfoundland
> St. John's NF, CANADA A1B 3X9
>
****************************************************************************
**> *