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French Language

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    One thing to consider (I don't know whether I'm correct in this or not) is that silent letters still have some use with regard to liaison. If the final letters of sans and grand were the same, how would you know to say sanz omme and grant omme? You'd have to memorize it, and is that any better than the current system of spelling? Commented Apr 5, 2024 at 17:25
  • @PeterShor Not only does it mean more (granted ultimately arbitrary) spelling to memorize, it changes the meaning. Il faut une belle dictée Bernard Pivot ? Commented Apr 6, 2024 at 2:34
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    @PeterShor Native speakers do memorize liaisons naturally without reference to how words are written. Even illiterate people are still good a doing most liaisons. A more phonetic oriented orthography of French might represent liaisons by extra letters like we already do when a liaison not backed by the regular orthography needs to be represented. e.g.: entre quatre-z-yeux. Commented Apr 6, 2024 at 2:56
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    Everything is aural and oral first, thank you. Good pataquès example and you could include in your answer how naturally liaison is acquired at home (like everything you hear, it's practically UG), and you apply the rules automatically. T'as déjà répondu 20/20 avec tant de recherche mais la question posée cette fois-ci est un peu différente. D'hommage. Commented Apr 6, 2024 at 3:54
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    @jlliagre oh my god just coming back reading these comment chains in more detail and saw what you said here about "entre quatre-z-yeux".....NEVER seen anything like that in french aside from the -t- in inversions which I thought was unique up til now. Commented Nov 15, 2024 at 8:51