Re: Why Ligatures?

From: Alain La Bont\i - ordi3dgsig (alb@sct.gouv.qc.ca)
Date: Thu Oct 16 1997 - 10:02:49 EDT


A 13:26 97-10-16 GMT+0100, Herman Ranes a écrit :
>Den 15 Oct 97 klokka 17:29 skreiv Alain LaBont\i - ordi1dgsig i «Re:
>Why Ligatures?»:
>
>> coexistence, coercitif, Groenland
>> [the joined digraph is prohibited, and there is no diaeresis to give us a
>> clue]
>>
>
>I am curious: I suppose the French name is derived from the danish
>"Grønland", which is pronounced with an /ö/-sound. Why then is not
>Gr<oe>nland used in French --- with the same /ö/-sound??

[Alain] :
It is historical. I don't know the reason. Fact is that it is pronounced
Gro-en-land in French... Perhaps (pure speculation!) it could have come to
French via German, who might have transcribed ø as ö and then as oe... Now
oe in French (unless it is a joined digraph) is always pronounced as two
separate vowels (unlike in German).

To respect the exact ø sound in French it would have required to be
transcribed as "Greunland".. or (; as Grœnland (Gr<oe>nland). That is not
the case though, and pronunciation in French is what it is.

Alain LaBonté
Québec



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