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The chap in the picture is, of course, François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande, the 24th President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. For a couple of seconds while watching the news last night I thought he had changed his name. Nick Robinson, BBC political editor, seemed to be talking about someone called Rollande, as pictures of the new Pres were shown. frɒnswɑːrɒlɒnd was what he said. I wonder how many more mangled variations of the guy’s name we are going to be subjected to.
I thought intrusive R was supposed to be OK these days
I’m constantly hearing about the “Obama radministration” etc. from the BBC.
What do the French use here — hiatus, glottal stop or something else? I would expect hiatus in casual speech.
Dw,
Intrusive /r/ has always been OK by me, but in a French name?????
I’m no expert in French phonetics, but I would guess [fʁɑ̃swa ɔlɑ̃d]
Why is it “worse” in a French name than anywhere else?
My first reaction to this thre·d was to briss·le at the political incorrectness of the wording ‘intrusive’. Inserted/linking r is okay by me too. So is the anglicisation /frɒ̃swɑ ɒ`lɒnd/.
Just after his election I he·rd two or three presenters make what they no dou·t imagined was the usual French linking [s] which made it sound as if France had acquired a female president ‘Françoise Hollande’.
For me it’s all about the irony of them trying so hard to get it right and not pronounce the h that they end up saying it with an even more English trait. Poor dabs!