simple question...

[Duane Meissner]

Hate to bother the gurus here with my elementary question, but could someone give me the correct pronunciation of "Pinot Noir"

Thanks,
DM

[RAD]

All strung together, its pee-noh-NWARH, with a slight accent on the noir, as indicated. C, R, F, and L are the only ending consonants pronounced in French; thus, the T in pinot is silent, but the R in noir is not.

RAD

[Duane Meissner]

thanks!

[Blue]

Just couldn't help it...

RAD you are right with the 4 consonent with one little change...the N at the end of a word if preceded by i on io, a, ai e etc. is not prononounced (as an N sound) BUT creates a distinct nasal sound...e.g. Vin (but is a sound that I cannot describe in english as it does not exist).

Other exceptions include foreign words that have been adopted e.g. pub

[Innkeeper]

Unless you want a white pinot, you only need to say: pee-no.

[barnesy]

I remember my high school french teacher telling us that the French hate foreign words and have an institution to preserve the purity of the French language and make up new words for those pesky fur'en uns.

Barnesy

[This message has been edited by barnesy (edited 02-27-2001).]

[Duane Meissner]

And I assume the stress is on the last syllable of "Pinot"????
D

[RAD]

No, actually, the syllables are stressed almost the same, with a slight bit more on the first, if at all.

RAD

[Blue]

Barnesy,

The French AUTHORITIES do hate foreign words, BUT the French people love them, therein lie the problem. The french use the words "mail" for email, week-end and airbag even though the French government has banned these words and wants them replaced by "Courier Electronique, Fin-de-semaine, and, Sac-gonflable de securite" :-) its called the Toubon law after the senator who got the bill passed (the French jokingly refer to him as AllGood as Tous Bons means all good in french).

Anyway the point is although the authorities want English out of their language, it has crept in, and in my opinion this is not a bad thing.

-Blue

[This message has been edited by Blue (edited 02-28-2001).]

[hotwine]

Imagine what the English language would be like if all "foreign" words were banned. There would be nothing left! There would BE no English language!