30.2: Liaison

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Liaison

Liaison ("linking") refers to the way the final consonant sound of a word is carried over to the beginning of a following word that begins with a vowel sound. This is a common phenomenon; we do basically the same thing in English in normal speech. However, it is significant in French because so many words end in consonants that are not pronounced at all except in this way, and technically the term liaison refers only to the linking of final consonants that would not be pronounced otherwise.

If you continue your study of French, you will want to learn the rules for when liaison occurs and when it does not: there are obligatory links, optional ones, and some that are forbidden. We will ask you only to note the most obvious cases of obligatory liaison and will attempt to be consistent on the cassettes for all others. It should be noted that the so-called "rules" are in flux. For example, many native speakers no longer link the s of pas to a following word in any situation; others do so only in certain contexts; others do so most of the time. We suggest you not link that s, but point out that you will hear it linked, possibly even on these tapes.

The general rule to follow is to make a liaison when the following word is part of the same unit as the word with the final consonant. By "same unit" we mean such things as the same noun phrase ("a small hotel" un petit hôtel) or a subject pronoun plus verb, in either order ("they have" ils ont; "do they have?" ont-ils).

Note that we said "following word that begins with a vowel sound." As you noted in the example above and will see in many others, the letter h sometimes allows linking through it. When the h is a so-called "aspirate" b, no liaison takes place: les héros "the heroes."³

³ The aspirate h also affects elision: vowels do not elide before words that begin with an aspirate h, as in le héros. See Sec tion 212 of the Reference Grammar

Examples. We mark the liaison with a small half-circle linking the sound to be pronounced to the following word.

⁴ Note that when verbs are inverted with the third person singular pronouns (il, elle, on), a t is inserted if the verb does not end in -t or -d. Va-t-il?, Entre-t-elle?, but Fait-on?

We suggest that, as you do the various oral exercises in the workbook, you mark passages that you are listening to, noting by means of a half-circle each case of liaison that you hear. It would be helpful also to note the instances for which you might expect liaison, but do not hear it on the tape: let's use a crossed-out half-circle for that. Following are a few sentences, marked appropriately, to illustrate how to do this exercise.

⁵ Note that we do not mark liaison between il and est: that is because the l of il is always pronounced, not just when it links to a following vowel sound.

The Alphabet

It is definitely useful to learn how to pronounce the letters of the alphabet, since speakers of French, like speakers of English, will spell out words (particularly names) when they are not clear from the context. Repeat this table often, and spell out words you are trying to learn. The symbols between bars are phonetic symbols that represent, broadly, how the name of the letter is pronounced.