Hello,
So I have these two French DJS theory questions.
-Why does SME (and Sénécal too I believe) write acheter without the so-called unstable e (A-Ch-T-E instead of A-CH-E-T-E) but include it in pèlerinage (P-E-L-E-R-I-N-J), for example (I have found many others)?
-Why write performance according to the established rule stating that -per- should be written P-R, yet write péremption with the first E? I first thought maybe SME distinguished per and pér, but then why peroxyde with P-E-R?
Another example: perdre, perdu, perdition all have the E, but perle doesn’t. Perron has it, persil doesn’t. I’m really clueless about the underlying pattern – I’m hoping there is one?
Thanks!
Yes, there is: if the per (or pel) is followed by a vowel or d, you write the inside e for legibility. But again, this is one of those cases that if you think you can transcribe the word without the e, you can omit it.
Thank you Carlos for making seemingly random choices suddenly make complete sense!
Though can I ask about that D?
I can understand how the presence of a vowel can make you want read PR, because PR+vowel is something you can pronounce, while you just can’t pronounce PR+a 3rd consonnant so you know there has to be an E in there. But then I don’t see in French how you could see the PRD sequence and not want to add an E anyway.
Thanks!
Of course. For example, in English, the word "bird" is written without the circle because of that reason, that is, there is a vowel sound implied.
(To be honest, I like the Anniversary way like Christine pointed out below much better, but that's just me. I dislike the rd stroke.)
Thanks Carlos, but I’m not sure I got your point. You said if I understood correctly that the circle is included in PER if followed by a D (or a vowel). I was wondering why D specifically and no other consonants, and I didn’t understand how the bird example relates to that (since it does not contain a circle).
No particular reason other than to increase legibility with the rd blend. More than likely, SME didn't like the look of those words without the circle. By the way, words starting with perd- in English are written without the circle ("perdition", "perdurable"), so I guess she wanted to be extra cautious and deviate from the English outline. Oh well.
Even in English DJS? Interesting!
May I insist and ask what you think about my E caduc question that’s been bothering me for weeks now?
Thanks!
In English DJS and later, the outlines with perd- are written without the e. (for example, "perdu": p-rd blend-oo hook). In English, the word "perdu" means "out of sight."
In French Simplified and DJS, the outlines are written with the e (for example, perdu: p-e-rd blend-oo hook).
Conclusion: English, no e; French, adds the e.
Sorry Carlos I realize I wasn’t clear, I actually asked two different, unrelated questions in one same posting, which was confusing.
By unstable E I refer to the E inside French words that you write in longhand but that you almost never pronounce, such as achEter which is pronounced (and written in DJS) ash-ter, pèlErinage which is pronounced pèl-rinaj (yet written orthographically in DJS), etc.
Oh, no problem. The rule is that there is no rule for that one, it depends on the word, :-). For the most part, the obscure vowel (as it is known in English) is not written. But if the obscure vowel occurs between a down straight stroke and r or l, the e is written. Here are some examples:
1. metal – "a" in tal not written.
2. leader – "e" in der not written.
3. teacher – "e" in cher written
4. cudgel – "e" in gel written
5. scrubber – "e" in ber not written
6. scrubbier – "e" ("i") in bier written
7. girdle – "e" ("i") in gir is written
8. girl – "e" ("i") in gir not writen
9. constrict – "e" ("i") in trict not written
10. direct – "e" in rect is written
For 'perdre' and the rest, in Sénécal, the explanation is rather easy: writing the circle is also a way to note the sound 'r':
Thank you Christine, yes I’ve been intrigued by this inverted circle everyone is talking about, but I’ll leave it for later 🙂