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How to pronounce "France's" correctly?

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Pierre/Peter

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Jul 13, 2010, 4:33:47 PM7/13/10
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Should I say it like "Fransis" or simply omit the last s ?

Ian Jackson

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Jul 13, 2010, 4:45:44 PM7/13/10
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In message
<09e911ac-751e-467c...@d37g2000yqm.googlegroups.com>,
Pierre/Peter <newp...@gmail.com> writes

>Should I say it like "Fransis"
Yes.

> or simply omit the last s ?
No.
--
Ian

musika

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Jul 13, 2010, 6:22:58 PM7/13/10
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In news:09e911ac-751e-467c...@d37g2000yqm.googlegroups.com,
Pierre/Peter <newp...@gmail.com> typed:

> Should I say it like "Fransis" or simply omit the last s ?

Fransiz

--
Ray
UK

Iain

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Jul 13, 2010, 8:43:02 PM7/13/10
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After saying it so many times to myself, I agree with
Fransiz

The names Francis/Frances (m/f) would be
Fransis

--
Iain
BrE

John Lawler

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Jul 13, 2010, 10:33:11 PM7/13/10
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On Jul 13, 5:43 pm, "Iain" <s...@smaps.net> wrote:
> musika wrote:
> > In
> >news:09e911ac-751e-467c...@d37g2000yqm.googlegroups.com,
> > Pierre/Peter <newpt...@gmail.com> typed:

> > > Should I say it like "Fransis" or simply omit the last s ?
>
> > Fransiz
>
> After saying it so many times to myself, I agree with
> Fransiz
>
> The names Francis/Frances (m/f) would be
> Fransis
>
> --
> Iain
> BrE

Right. The final "s" is voiced, as a /z/.

The rule for pronouncing the regular plural
ending (spelled "s") in English is:

a) /-əz/ after sibilants
(/s z ʃ ʒ č ǰ/)
-- that's the one here, since
'voice' ends with an /s/ --
b) /-z/ after vowels, semivowels (/y w/),
and other voiced consonants
(/b d g v ð m n ŋ r l/)
c) /-s/ after other voiceless consonants
(/p t k f θ/)

-John Lawler http://www.umich.edu/~jlawler
"Truthful words are not beautiful;
beautiful words are not truthful.
Good words are not persuasive;
persuasive words are not good."
-- Laotze

John Lawler

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Jul 13, 2010, 10:37:57 PM7/13/10
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> -John Lawlerhttp://www.umich.edu/~jlawler

>    "Truthful words are not beautiful;
>      beautiful words are not truthful.
>      Good words are not persuasive;
>      persuasive words are not good."
>                             -- Laotze

Oh, and this rule also applies to the "-s" that
marks the third person singular present indicative
verb form ("gives", "goes", "wraps", "dices"), as
well as the one that marks the possessive form
of nouns, as in "France's". There are only 9
inflections in English, and three of them are
identical. This is not a normal inflectional
system; more like Cheyne-Stokes breathing.


John Lawler * http://www.umich.edu/~jlawler
"The truth you believe and cling to makes you
unavailable to hear anything new."- Pema Chödrön

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