je m'appelle l'amour.

The realisation of the variable liaison in French and its pragmatic causes: the augmentation of social status and the preservation of power.

I just thought my project title sounds epic. That's all.


I'm getting at something with this project! Will update when I'm done. Which is who-knows-when. This week, for sure.


eeeeeee I still have to write my French fairy tale for comp class!

And I still want/need to read all these ling books I checked out for the break!!!

Mostly psycholinguistics. Language and Music---! I'm really persistent with this idea, aren't I. I'm really trying to get into undergraduate research with this.



So much for a "break"!




SOD:

DOUBLE SOCKZ! Polyester OTKs, shiny orange x cotton toeless socks, purple. Kinda Halloween-y.

You know what bothers me?

Tutoyer.


It really bothers me when my French classmates use "tu/toi" instead of "vous/vous" when addressing the teacher or a guest speaker. Tu is informal, and vous is formal. Tutoyer is the verb for addressing someone as "tu," and vousvoyer is the verb for addressing someone as "vous."

I'm not sure how much of the formal vous the French language is losing over time, but I still find it rude when people do that.

Maybe my sensitivity to formality comes from my Japanese roots.



AND STOP PRONOUNCING SILENT LATENT CONSONANTS IN FRENCH.

kthx.


SOD:

Knit legwarmers (grey) x crochet stockings (black; made in Japan, made in U.S. (UrbanOutfitters), respectively. I love wearing slouchy socks/legwarmers with booties.

うぃっす。

I think I had a dream in French today. I think. Unfortunately I don't remember the details, but I hope that it actually was in French. Because that would be awesome.


I have some pet-peeves in French class. Overall, it's the fact that... many of my classmates don't sound...French. I mean, they are speaking French vocabulary. But if you ask me, that doesn't mean they're speaking the language, though. I sense the notion that they are still... deliberately translating their sentences from English to French in their minds. I can point out some evidences.

First, they keep their English (American) intonation when speaking French. How do I describe this... of course French isn't a tonal language or anything, but the certain subtle tone emphasis are different from English.

Particularly, there's a typical Southern American gal in my class who (in English) raises her intonation at the end of clauses or sentences (as if interrogative) while dragging the final vowel sound. E.g., "Like, oh my gooooooosh? (declarative intentions)". The thing is, she applies it to French, too.

"Ouiiiiiiiiiiii? Ummmmmmmmmm, je pense que c'est tray (très) bieeeeeeeen?"

It annoys the hell out of me.

But that's an overly blatant example. I hear the lack of the "French accent" in a lot of my classmates. I mean, I'm not saying that I'm some Japanese-French goddess here, but I at least I try to sound French, you know? I know what to avoid to not offend the prideful French people. I think the key is to THINK in French when you're speaking French.

Notice also how her [ɛ] sound in "très" [tʁɛ] turned into a diphthong [eɪ], like the Southern Uh-murrr-i-kan accent. Eck.

And please, pronounce the French "r" correctly. It's not the same as the English "r." It varies from region to region in France, but you can safely pronounce it as a (voiced) uvular fricative. Stick the tip of your tongue against your bottom teeth. Make an "r" sound from your throat, almost like a gag. That's approximately the French "r." Hold it out longer like a gargle, and you've roughly accomplished the uvular trill, too.


And I can't believe some people still pronounce English cognates in French in its original American form (cognates=borrowed words from other languages). For example, the word "information." In French, it's still "l'information." But compare the pronunciations:

English, "information": in-fer-mei-shuhn [ɪnfɹmeɪʃn] (syllabic consonant notation omitted, because I don't know how to insert it)

French "information": aen-for-ma-see-yon [ɛ̃fɔʀmasjɔ̃] The first syllable is the nasal /ɛ/. Say "eh." Now say it through your nose (nasal cavity). Should sound like an obnoxious version of the 'a' in "an." French is noted for its nasal vowels. I think English speakers have a hard time with the nasal vowels, because it's unnatural?

Mais oui, some French learners fail to use the adapted pronunciation of cognates.



Finally, personally, I think this is a pretty darn important aspect to consider if you want to sound closer to a native:

Um.

Yes, "um." The verbal filler to show hesitation in speech and/or thought. Notice in the infamous quotation earlier, the girl says "Ummm" among her French expression.

That bothers me. A lot.



People around the world fill pauses in their own languages. And hear this: it's NOT always "um"!

You have to say "um" the French way!

The French say something that sounds like "euh." Euuuuuhhhhh.

*Other examples borrowed from the witty book about the science of verbal blunders, Um... by Michael Erard:

In Britain they say "uh" but spell is "er," just as they pronounce the "er" of "butter" ("buttah").

Serbs and Croats say ovay, and the Turks say mmmm.

In Dutch you can say uh and um, in German ah and ahm.

In Swedish it's eh, ah, aaah, m, mm, hmm, ooh, a, and oh; in Norwegian, e, eh, m, and hm.

According to William Levelt, a Dutch speech scientist, "uh" is the only word that's universal across languages.

While some languages fill pauses with a low vowel, other languages do so with actual words An English speaker can say "well," "so," and "you know," while speakers of Turkish say shey, shey, shey, which literally means "thing."

The Japanese say eto and ano, the Spanish este and eh.

In Mandarin Chinese, people say neige, which means "that," and in Yue Chinese, they say ku, which can also mean "this."

Cantonese speakers in Hong Kong say tsik hai, or "equal," and in the Wichita language, people say kaakiri, which means "something."



See? You can't just stick "um" as it is in any language. Wouldn't it be strange if I said, 「この問題のの答えは、Ummmmmm...わかりません。」 (kono monndai no kotae wa, ummmmm, wakarimasenn; 'The answer to this problem is, ummmmm... I don't know.')？ Unless I were code-switching with another bilingual. But if I were speaking to a Japanese monolingual, how would he process "ummmm"?

So why use it in French, too? It's the same situation, no? How will the French perceive "um"? Don't become used to it.

I mentioned code-switching. Technically as a mere French student, you can't be code-switching. Code-switching (language-mixing) typically happens in native bilingualism. So saying "um" in another language as a non-native is simply ignorance and lack of experience, not some natural impulse to substitute expressions. It's just franglais.

Saying "Um" instead of "Euh" is like saying "j'ai un dog" instead of "j'ai un chien."


The answer to this problem is, ummmmm... I dunno.
この問題の答えは、え～っと（e-tto)．．．わかりません。
La solution à ce problème est, euuuhh... je ne sais pas.




I'll end with a link to the video of "Foux de Fafa" by the Flight of the Conchords: Foux de Fafa

They do a (humorously) excellent job of "sounding" French... even though the lyrics are pretty much composed of vocabulary from the French I textbook. It's hilarious. Baguette! Oh ho ho! Voila mon passeport. HAha!

They say my favorite French word, le pamplemousse!

Hear Jemaine say "euh!"


Ciao☆