The "How do You Pronounce X" Thread

[Pole, the]

Faribault

First instinct: [fɑɹ̠ˁiˈboɫ]
Then remembering Americans make a national hobby of slaughtering names: [ˈfɛɪ̯ɹ̠ˁɪˌbɔɫt̚].

Second attempt is much closer than the first!

Oh, come on. We all know the names of towns in the US are more like assigning a random string of phonemes to a name, than any predictable set of rules.

[Zaarin]

Faribault

First instinct: [fɑɹ̠ˁiˈboɫ]
Then remembering Americans make a national hobby of slaughtering names: [ˈfɛɪ̯ɹ̠ˁɪˌbɔɫt̚].

Second attempt is much closer than the first!

Oh, come on. We all know the names of towns in the US are more like assigning a random string of phonemes to a name, than any predictable set of rules.

It's true.

[Sumelic]

Faribault

First instinct: [fɑɹ̠ˁiˈboɫ]
Then remembering Americans make a national hobby of slaughtering names: [ˈfɛɪ̯ɹ̠ˁɪˌbɔɫt̚].

I would expect a French pronunciation to have a silent l, like "Proulx". But actually, I haven't found any sources that mention the pronunciation of "Faribault" in French. Wikipedia says the city of Faribault in Rice County, Minnesota is pronounced /ˈfɛərboʊ/.

[linguoboy]

Faribault

First instinct: [fɑɹ̠ˁiˈboɫ]
Then remembering Americans make a national hobby of slaughtering names: [ˈfɛɪ̯ɹ̠ˁɪˌbɔɫt̚].

Second attempt is much closer than the first!

Oh, come on. We all know the names of towns in the US are more like assigning a random string of phonemes to a name, than any predictable set of rules.

If there were predictable rules, this would be no fun at all!

[Zaarin]

Faribault

First instinct: [fɑɹ̠ˁiˈboɫ]
Then remembering Americans make a national hobby of slaughtering names: [ˈfɛɪ̯ɹ̠ˁɪˌbɔɫt̚].

I would expect a French pronunciation to have a silent l, like "Proulx". But actually, I haven't found any sources that mention the pronunciation of "Faribault" in French. Wikipedia says the city of Faribault in Rice County, Minnesota is pronounced /ˈfɛərboʊ/.

To be fair, <l> isn't usually silent in French; Proulx is a rare exception. See, for example, fil, loyal, sal, seul, Noel, etc.

[Pole, the]

Oh, come on. We all know the names of towns in the US are more like assigning a random string of phonemes to a name, than any predictable set of rules.

If there were predictable rules, this would be no fun at all!

We have better ways to have fun in Poland: reading books, playing pool, drinking alcohol, bringing down the government…

[linguoboy]

Oh, come on. We all know the names of towns in the US are more like assigning a random string of phonemes to a name, than any predictable set of rules.

If there were predictable rules, this would be no fun at all!

We have better ways to have fun in Poland: reading books, playing pool, drinking alcohol, bringing down the government…

How's that last one coming?

[Sumelic]

Faribault

First instinct: [fɑɹ̠ˁiˈboɫ]
Then remembering Americans make a national hobby of slaughtering names: [ˈfɛɪ̯ɹ̠ˁɪˌbɔɫt̚].

I would expect a French pronunciation to have a silent l, like "Proulx". But actually, I haven't found any sources that mention the pronunciation of "Faribault" in French. Wikipedia says the city of Faribault in Rice County, Minnesota is pronounced /ˈfɛərboʊ/.

To be fair, <l> isn't usually silent in French; Proulx is a rare exception. See, for example, fil, loyal, sal, seul, Noel, etc.

Yeah, but both of these exceptions occur in the same context: after an vowel digraph ending in "u" and before a written consonant letter. Historically, it was regular in French for /l/ to be lost before a consonant and (after any vowel except for /i/) to be replaced in this context by /u̯/: hence the /l/-lessness of "vaut" from Latin "valet", "faut" from Latin "fallit", etc. The sources I've read say that spellings with aulC/oulC/eulC rather than auC/ouC/euC result from etymological re-insertion of the letter "l"; this was once common for many words but now survives mostly in proper nouns like "Proulx" and "Faribault". However, I haven't heard of any trend of French speakers pronouncing this "l" the way English speakers have developed spelling pronunciations with /l/ for words like "vault" and "fault".

[Zaarin]

Faribault

First instinct: [fɑɹ̠ˁiˈboɫ]
Then remembering Americans make a national hobby of slaughtering names: [ˈfɛɪ̯ɹ̠ˁɪˌbɔɫt̚].

I would expect a French pronunciation to have a silent l, like "Proulx". But actually, I haven't found any sources that mention the pronunciation of "Faribault" in French. Wikipedia says the city of Faribault in Rice County, Minnesota is pronounced /ˈfɛərboʊ/.

To be fair, <l> isn't usually silent in French; Proulx is a rare exception. See, for example, fil, loyal, sal, seul, Noel, etc.

Yeah, but both of these exceptions occur in the same context: after an vowel digraph ending in "u" and before a written consonant letter. Historically, it was regular in French for /l/ to be lost before a consonant and (after any vowel except for /i/) to be replaced in this context by /u̯/: hence the /l/-lessness of "vaut" from Latin "valet", "faut" from Latin "fallit", etc. The sources I've read say that spellings with aulC/oulC/eulC rather than auC/ouC/euC result from etymological re-insertion of the letter "l"; this was once common for many words but now survives mostly in proper nouns like "Proulx" and "Faribault". However, I haven't heard of any trend of French speakers pronouncing this "l" the way English speakers have developed spelling pronunciations with /l/ for words like "vault" and "fault".

Ah, yes, I forgot French went through a phase of L-vocalization.

[Salmoneus]

The obvious parallel (to the -ault spelling) would be mediaeval (continental) Hainault, although in modern spelling the 'l' has been dropped.

There's also the etymologically-unrelated Hainault in London (pronounced hay-naught).

[jal]

"Renault" [ʁəno] anyone?


JAL

[alynnidalar]

How is -ault supposed to be pronounced, anyway?

In Sault Ste. Marie, the first word is pronounced /su:/, but I assume that's wrong.

[linguoboy]

How is -ault supposed to be pronounced, anyway?

In contemporary Standard French, [o]. I couldn't tell you about other geographical or historical variations.

In Sault Ste. Marie, the first word is pronounced /su:/, but I assume that's wrong.

Or it reflects some archaic/regional pronunciation like placenames with /oi/ or /weː/ for oi in the former Louisiana Territory.

[ˈd̪ʲɛ.gɔ kɾuˑl̪]

crocheting

[Zaarin]

crocheting [kʰɹ̠ˁəʊ̯ˈʃɛɪ̯iŋ]

[Travis B.]

[ˌkʰʁoˈʃeːɘ̃ŋ]

[ˈd̪ʲɛ.gɔ kɾuˑl̪]

Tonga

[Zaarin]

[tʰɒŋgə]

[Travis B.]

[ˈtʰɒ̃ːŋgə(ː)]

[ˈd̪ʲɛ.gɔ kɾuˑl̪]

eighths

[Travis B.]

[eθs]

[linguoboy]

Quelques en français:

celui-là
quelqu'un

[Ryusenshi]

[səlɥi la] if I'm careful, [sɥi la] otherwise.

[kɛlkæ̃], possibly [kekæ̃] when speaking quickly.

[Imralu]

[ˈtʰɔŋɐ] without /g/... there are a lot of Tongans in Australia.
[æe̯t̪θs] (I hope that's the dental diacritic - I suddenly couldn't remenber)

[linguoboy]

Tonga

[ˈtʰɒŋ.ɡə]

eighths

[ˈɛɪ̯θs]