ABSTRACT
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 the word appears in certain syntactic contexts. In these syntactic contexts, which I will call the contexts of liaison, the final consonant of a word will delete only if the following 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, https://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> [ l ɔ r εnzo ε pǝti a ~ k ɔ ~ parεz ɔ ~ da ℨ ã ] https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315687995/cf7cd0dc-2493-4acc-b31d-760cb174b819/content/inline-pg205_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> , 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 [lɔrεnzo εt https://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> æ ∼ https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315687995/cf7cd0dc-2493-4acc-b31d-760cb174b819/content/inline-pg205_2_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> pətit ãfã] shows. In this sentence, the final /t/ of est is pronounced. Moreover, the adjective petit is in a liaison context in this sentence and retains its /t/, the following word being vowel-initial.
