On 18 April 2011 14:04, Samuel Stutter <[log in to unmask]
> wrote:

> Sorry for hijacking the topic, but it reminded me of something I couldn't
> remember the name of too;
>
> The example I remember being told about was that, in Parisian French, there
> was a tendency to finish consonant final words with a short schwa. I don't
> know if this is a valid example (there may be constraints as to which
> consonants cause this) but I guess "la fille" would be pronounced /la
> fil(ə)/.
>
>
That would be "la file" (the queue). "La fille" (the girl/daughter) is /la
fij/.

Adding a final schwa to words in French only happens in some types of
argots, especially those spoken in Paris indeed. But it's not limited to
words ending in a pronounced consonant. In some cases (mostly in emphatic
speech), you'll hear it at the end of words ending with a vowel as well.
/mɛˈnɔ̃.ə(ː)/ for instance is a very emphatic way to say "no" :P .


> Also, from my limited experience of Swedish (i.e. having watched loads of
> Wallander) I think it may happen there too (I might just be mishearing
> though), maybe only limited to the Ystad sort of area, and only when the
> noun isn't definite;
> "min hatt" /hat(ə)/ "hatten" /'hatən/
>
> I would like to point out that I don't speak Swedish and my current
> experience of French is a GCSE and Engrenages on BBC4 :D
>
> But I swear there's a word for it...
>

"Paragoge"? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paragoge
Adding a sound in front of a word is prothesis (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosthesis_%28linguistics%29), and in general
adding a sound is called epenthesis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epenthesis
).
-- 
Christophe Grandsire-Koevoets.

http://christophoronomicon.blogspot.com/
http://www.christophoronomicon.nl/