Re: Favre pronunciation
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In reply to:
Favre pronunciation
Patsy Kennedy 11/28/04
My maternal grandmother, Geraldine, was a Farve from Bay St. Louis, MS.I saw this thread & thought I'd comment on possible linguistic reasons for the differences in pronunciation.
In French, the standard way to say Favre is "Fawv-rah," written ['Fa:v?] in the International Phoentic Alaphabet (IPA).The French "r" is pronounced differently from the English /r/ (c.f. "robert").The "e" in Farve was probably silent in the original French . . . or else most branches would have already added an accent to the final letter to indicate its pronunciation.Are there any branches which spell the name "Farvé?"That would be an interesting variation.
Often, the final combo "-re" gets dropped altogether if it comes in the middle (but not at the end) of a sentence.For example, the "-re" in the verb "attendre" ('to wait') in spoken French would sound like "ah-tahn-dt" when followed by most consonants.This process could make the "-re" in Farve sound silent in conversational French.
It's also very possible the original Farve who settled in America didn't use /?/ like modern French speakers.Back then, most Frenchmen pronounced the "r" like Spanish or Italian speakers.The /?/ didn't gain popularity & become part of the standard dialect in Europe until after the French & Indian War [that's why Quebeckers, Cajuns, & Hatians don't pronounce "r" like European, African, & Asian Francophones].
Here is why we have a difference in English between "faahve" & "faRRRve."
In Southern American English, some dialects delete /r/.This is called "r-less"ness & this feature is common particularly in Georgia.It's similar to people in Boston dropping the /r/ in words like "park" or "car" -- only a little softer.Most other Americans pronounce a heavy /r/.This is called "r-ful"ness.This is especially true in Cajun-rich Southern Louisiana.
For Americans, it's easier to say "FaRRRRRRve" than "Fawvre" because how the mouth positions itself to say /r/ & /v/ back to back.We can say the /r/ before the /v/ faster than we can say the /v/ before the /r/.The procesis of interchanging two sounds near each other to say them easier is called metathesis.It's the same process used in mispronouncing the word "nuclear" as "nucular."
My educated guess for the reason the difference in pronunciation persists:since Mississippi & Alabama lie in that transitional area between r-less Georgia & r-ful America, people pronounce it either way depending on where they are closer to & which region has more influence.
It's also possible that it could be a long-lost imitation of trying to retain the original "r" sound the founding Favres brought with them from Europe a few centuries ago by trying to keep a trilled "r" which doesn't exist in most English-speaking dialects anymore (except Scottish).
Just my two cents.
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Re: Favre pronunciation
Stephan Krueger 2/21/10
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Re: Favre pronunciation
Stephan Krueger 2/21/10
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Stephan Krueger 2/21/10
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Re: Favre pronunciation
Stephan Krueger 8/19/09
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Re: Favre pronunciation
Darrell Gabbard II 10/08/09
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Re: Favre pronunciation