ABSTRACT
The Syntax of Liaison in French
1 . Introductory Comments
In French, there is a very general tendency to delete word-
final consonants. A word in isolation is pronounced without its
final consonant(s). So is a word uttered in a phrase or sentence--
unless tne word appears in certain syntactic contexts. In these
syntactic contexts, which I will call the contexts of liaison ,
word begins witn a consonant. If it is a vowel that begins the
next word, the final consonant of the first word remains. For
example, in the sentence Lorenzo est petit en comparaison de Jean ,
[lorenzo £ pati a kSpar£zo d& j a ] , the final /t/ of petit is lost
because that word is not in a liaison context. The final /t/ of
est, on the other hand, is lost only because the following word
Degins with a consonant. The copula est is in a liaison context,
as the pronunciation of Lorenzo est un petit enfant [lorenzo et
ce. patit afa] shows. In this sentence, the final /1 / of est is
pronounced. Moreover, the adjective pet it is in a liaison con
text in this sentence and retains its /t/, the following word
being vowel-initial. The purpose of this chapter is to provide an account of the
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syntax of liaison. 1 will develop an analysis which will predict
all the occurrences of liaison in French / therefore eliminating
tne necessity of making lists of the contexts where liaison can
and can't occur, as the traditional grammarians do. It will be
saown why certain syntactic contexts are liaison contexts and
otners aren’t.
