ABSTRACT
This chapter is devoted to French liaison and the way it interacts with other rules of the phonology of French. It considers that floating segments are to be attached to the right by a rule we shall simply call LIAISON. The phenomenon of French liaison – a type of phonological adjustment between words – is traditionally interpreted as the pronunciation of the final consonant of a word when it is followed by a word beginning with a vowel which is closely connected to it. The consonant which appears in liaison is said to be mute otherwise. An approach formulated in terms of floating segments allows us to circumvent well-known objections raised by 'concrete' phonology against the classical generative analysis. LIAISON will fail to reallocate the /n/ to the beginning of cadeau since the onset is already filled. The vowel will therefore undergo NASALISATION and then the /n/ will be deleted by FLOATING CONSONANT DELETION.
