Poll for Pronunciation of “Neofinetia”

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Hakumin

I'm a bit late to the thread, but I guess I'll ask a question to the French speakers out there.

So, my understanding is that certain consonants when they show up at the end of the word are not pronounced, such as the T in the surname Finet.

However, what happens when that word or name is modified in some way so that what was the last letter is no longer the last letter? It is now pronounced, no?

For example. In the name Paris, when pronounced in French, the S is not pronounced. However, when you want to talk about someone from Paris, the word is modified to Parisien or Parisienne, in which case the S is now pronounced.

Also when you feminize an adjective, a final consonant that is silent in masculine, is then pronounced in the feminine after adding the E, correct? For example Petit vs Petite, or Vert vs Verte.

And lastly, in the surname of the mathematician René Descartes, the final s is not pronounced. However when you are speaking of the Cartesianism, in French the word is Cartésianisme, where that S is now pronounced.



So, my question is, when a French person's name is used to form an epithet, does this rule follow? Because if it does follow, then I would assume the T is pronounced.

Or does it follow every other rule of French pronunciation while ignoring this basic rule?

I would say that in most cases where a word with a silent last letter becomes part of a larger word (like an adjective) , that last letter is then pronounced. Most of these words have the silent letter in the masculin version of the word, but in the féminin version the extra vowel tacked on at the end will lead to pronunciation of the silent letter. The same happens when making a larger word.

So in French, the 't' of finet will be prononced in neofinetia.

One thing to note is that prononciation of Latin names should follow the conventions, however latin being a dead language, the rules regarding Latin prononciation can differ from language to language. I know that there are differences in latin prononciations between French and Spanish(Spain) for instance, and I'm guessing that latin prononciation in anglophone countries could also be slightly different.

[Tony L]

Excellent points! Maybe that’s why the accepted pronunciation is “nee-o-fin-ET-ee-ah”.

[Shoreguy]

Originally Posted by Shoreguy

This might be a contentious issue.

What do you believe the correct pronunciation is?

This poll will close in 7 days.

At the end of the poll I will give my thoughts for what it is worth.

I was right about one thing. See my first statement above when I started this thread. I was initially embarrassed about the lack of participation when the poll ended, but it certainly has bloomed far beyond expectations.