Liaison (Linguistics)

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IPA mark ◌‿◌
IPA number 509
IPA character description Liaison sheet
Unicode U + 203F
HTML (dec.) & # 8255;
X-SAMPA _
Kirshenbaum

In French (and partly also in other languages) liaison (French: 'bond'; German also co- bond ) refers to the occurrence of non-existent consonants at the end of a word (in other contexts) if the following word starts with a vowel and the preceding one with a forms a prosodic unit (e.g. phonological phrase or intonation phrase ). It is an external sandhi .

The Liaison corresponding to the reproduced typographically International Phonetic Alphabet by the Liaison sheet (◌‿◌ Unicode UNDERTIE U + 203F). This is not to be confused with the combining character (below ) for the ligature bow (◌͜◌ Unicode COMBINING DOUBLE BREVE BELOW U + 035C). Both characters have the same number in the IPA alphabet: 509.

A distinction is made between mandatory, optional and false liaison:

Mandatory liaison

  • Within the noun phrase , the liaison is mandatory between the determinative preceding the noun and the noun (also between the determinants): les‿enfants , deux‿ours
  • between a personal pronoun or an indefinite pronoun and the verb : nous‿avons , elles‿aiment , with inversion: ont-ils , allons-y
  • in certain fixed phrases: c'est‿-à-dire, de temps‿en temps, États‿-Unis, non‿-agression, petit‿ à petit, peut‿-être, le pied‿-à-terre, premier‿ avril

Optional liaison

If the liaison is not forbidden or necessary, it can mainly be conducted in well-kept language. It is particularly common in metrical presentations ( poems , songs ).

The liaison is optional in the following cases:

  • after prepositions : sous un abri
  • after modifying adverb : pas encore , trop heureux , très aimable

Wrong or prohibited liaison

The liaison is not permitted:

  • after certain words like et , toujours , vers
  • after a noun in the singular : sujet intéressant , un savant anglais 'an English scientist' (in contrast to un savant‿Anglais 'a learned Englishman' with savant as a preceding adjective)
  • if the word ends in more than one consonant, only the last of which is mute: il pe r d un ami , je prends pa r t à votre deuil
  • in certain fixed phrases: nez à nez , corps à corps
  • before certain words that begin with a silent h (h aspiré) : les haricots , ils halètent , les handicapés
  • before prepositional completion within noun phrases,
  • between noun ( subject ) and verb: les femmes arrivent
  • between interrogative pronoun and verb,
  • after the ending of the second person singular: tu parles aimablement

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