> > Your definition of "LatinVowel" is problematic. Is "Y" only a
vowel in
> > French? In a word such as "yeux", it certainly is a consonant. Could
> > this lead to problems?
>
> I don't think so, but I wait for the opinion of French speakers.
>
> What I can see is that things like "l'yaourt" [lja'ur] are normal in
> French
> spelling, and sometimes are to be found also in Italian ("l'yoghurt"
> ['ljogurt]).
"y" is either a vowel or a semi-consonant. When a semi-consonant, an
initial "y" does not cause elision, so "le yaourt". Of course, there are
exceptions: "yeuse" (oak), "y�ble" (?) and "yeux" (eyes). The usage is
both ways for "yole" (skiff). There are a few words starting with a
vowel "y": "y" (there), "yp�rite" (mustard gas), "ytterbium" (?),
"yttrium" (?). Finally, there is elision before most proper nouns
starting with "Y": "Yonne" (a river), "York", etc.
That being said, here are a few problematic cases for your proposal:
"prud'homme" (a member of an industrial tribunal) is a single word, as
are his relatives "prud'homal", and "prud'homie".
Grevisse ("Le bon usage", "the" authority on French usage) gives five
verbs which are considered a single word: "entr'aimer (s')",
"entr'apercevoir", "entr'appeler (s')", "entr'avertir (s')",
"entr'�gorger (s')"; Le Petit Robert (1988, a well respected dictionary)
gives only the second one.
There is elision before the names of the consonants f, h, l, m, n, r, s,
x: "admissible � l'X" (accepted at X = �cole Polytechnique), "devant
l'n" (before the n).
"grand'm�re" is definitely one word for me, but "grand'rue",
"grand'chose" are not so clear. All are archaic forms and Le Petit
Robert does not list any of those (modern: "grand-m�re", "rue
principale", "grand chose"').
Then there is spoken French: "j'suis all� m'promener" for "je suis all�
me promener" (I went for a walk). There are many such cases of elision
before a consonant.
This spoken French is of course very close to many dialects, or even
close languages (e.g. Picard, spoken in the North of France).
Did we mention that one never breaks a line after an apostrophe that
represents elision?
Speaking of French line break problems, there is also the case of the
";", which takes a space before and after: "foo ; bar". Of course, one
never breaks on the space just after "foo". Same for ":".
Eric.
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