/ɑ/ /ɛː/ in Quebec / Belgian French: inflectional paradigm?
Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2018 4:11 pm
French varieties in places like Quebec and Belgium seem to maintain the distinction between /a/ and /ɑ/. Does this imply that, in verb conjugation, 3sg and 2sg are distinct in the future tense as well as wherever 3sg ends in -a and 2sg ends in -as?
Likewise, /ɛː/ and /ɛ/ is said to be distinguished as well. Which one does -ais use as an ending in the imperfect and conditional tenses? Is there a distinction between -ais, -ait, and aît?
e.g. are the pronunciations of each pair of verbs below distinct?
il a ↔ tu as;
il va ↔ tu vas;
il mangera ↔ tu mangeras;
il dîna (past historic) ↔ tu dînas (past historic) ↔ (qu')il dînât (imperfect subjunctive);
il sait ↔ je sais, tu sais;
il fait ↔ je fais, tu fais;
il changerait ↔ je changerais, tu changerais;
il pensait ↔ je pensais, tu pensais;
il connaît ↔ je connais, tu connais;
...
Likewise, /ɛː/ and /ɛ/ is said to be distinguished as well. Which one does -ais use as an ending in the imperfect and conditional tenses? Is there a distinction between -ais, -ait, and aît?
e.g. are the pronunciations of each pair of verbs below distinct?
il a ↔ tu as;
il va ↔ tu vas;
il mangera ↔ tu mangeras;
il dîna (past historic) ↔ tu dînas (past historic) ↔ (qu')il dînât (imperfect subjunctive);
il sait ↔ je sais, tu sais;
il fait ↔ je fais, tu fais;
il changerait ↔ je changerais, tu changerais;
il pensait ↔ je pensais, tu pensais;
il connaît ↔ je connais, tu connais;
...