A 13:26 97-10-16 GMT+0100, Herman Ranes a �crit :
>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
>"Gr�nland", which is pronounced with an /�/-sound. Why then is not
>Gr<oe>nland used in French --- with the same /�/-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 � as � 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 � sound in French it would have required to be
transcribed as "Greunland".. or (; as Gr�nland (Gr<oe>nland). That is not
the case though, and pronunciation in French is what it is.
Alain LaBont�
Qu�bec
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