Dividing "Villacoublay"
 

For any native French speaker: I am in the process of a project involving many notations of the word "Villacoublay." Question: How is "Villacoublay" properly hyphenated (divided)? Is it "Villacou-blay" or "Villacoub-lay"?

Thanks for your assistance in advance.

RA

Re: Dividing "Villacoublay"
 

Villacoublay, one word.

Re: Dividing "Villacoublay"
 

Very good question.
Answer is between two consonant - generally - if you got two consonant but here the sound/pronociation is lost so must be Villacou-blay.
Vil-lacoublay is perfect ... If possible. Villa-coublay is also perfect.
Cheers,
Franck.

Re: Dividing "Villacoublay"
 

Tonic accent always in last syllable in french, that is why the french hv very few good singers, not the same for german or of course for the italian.
Rémi
When I speak of singers, I mean educated singers,

Re: Dividing "Villacoublay"
 

Yes RT, but often french could be said with no tonic accent at all. Maybe useful for singing, but more difficult for learning English...I like french music but I love English rock n roll groups !!

Re: Dividing "Villacoublay"
 

Mr "De tout", you are right , in fact french could looking as flat, but as the last syllable is the last we are hearing , nd that is necessary to cut the words one from an other , so last syllable, in a flat world , is the one accentueted.

Concerning the R nd R, I hv to be polite, so no comments:D,

Rémi

Re: Dividing "Villacoublay"
 

Actually the French rule is the following:
_ if you have two same consonant, you divide between the two: Vil-lacoublay.
_ if the consonants are different, it depends if they are said together or not. For example in carte (card), the r and t are pronounced independently so you divide car-te, while in quatre (four), the tr are said together so you divide qua-tre.

Re: Dividing "Villacoublay"
 

Sur Villacoublay—

Thank you all, each and every one, for your comments on the division of Villacoublay. As M. Ouidjat keenly observed, it's a "very good question," isn't it?

I had two years of French in high school (lycée), two more years in university, followed by a thèse using seventeenth century French sources, including hundreds of handwritten manuscripts. A pretty good education in French, yet it did not give me the insight needed for Villacoublay.

Tomorrow, Monday, 5 April, I shall phone up the cultural attaché at the embassy in Washington, D.C. I suspect that it will in turn consult l'Académie Française. When I receive an answer, I shall post it.

Meanwhile, thank you all so much yet again.

RA

Re: Dividing "Villacoublay"
 

Even if the things , are quickly changing in France, the Académie Française, still speak like ... the Académie Française! so differently than 99.5 % of the french locuting people leaving in France And they, among them, Laurent nd Ouijdat, pronounced, Villacoublay, without any effect, accent, or lengthening of any syllable,

Rémi

Re: Dividing "Villacoublay"
 

Pure speculation, but if you set your word processor’s language to French and enabled hyphenation of paragraphs, would it give an acceptable result?

P.S. to Rémi, if French people don’t speak like les flics de la Deuxième DPJ in « Engrenages » then my illusions are shattered!

Re: Dividing "Villacoublay"
 

You are a great "Cinéphile", Nick, regarding pronunciation in fact , not only the frenchs are concerned by the poor speaking, in every country, people is lazy , use max 200/300 words, nd speak like they hv crushed potatoes in the mouth.


Rémi

Re: Dividing "Villacoublay"
 

And please add regional accents and different kind of slang (Verlan and so on)...

Re: Dividing "Villacoublay"
 

Bonjour,
I teach Histoire, Geography and EMC. I am fortunate to work in the same “collège” with Gilles Duhil who teaches French. He also teaches Latin in the University of Tours.
Here is his response :
« Par le fait que l'accent tonique est fixe car placé sur la dernière syllabe du mot, ce qui peut donner l'impression que notre langue est monotone, pour ne pas dire terne comme on peut le lire sur la discussion de ton forum.
Mais, après, leur discussion sur la césure du mot Villacoublay est un peu inutile ... L'essentiel est dit dans la contribution de Laurent Rizzoti. En français, les mots se coupent en fonction de leur syllabe : Vil-lacoublay ; Villa-coublay ; Villacou-blay. Selon toute vraisemblance, le nom remonte au latin villa auquel a été associé le patronyme gallo-romain Escoblenus (ce qui empêche le découpage Villacoub-lay au passage) ».

A translation (good one ?) gives this text :
“By the fact that the tonic accent is fixed because it is placed on the last syllable of the word, which can give the impression that our language is monotonous, not to say dull as we can read on the discussion of your forum.
But, afterwards, their discussion on the hyphenation of the word Villacoublay is a little useless, ... The essential is said in the contribution of Laurent Rizzoti. In French, the words are broken according to their syllable: Vil-lacoublay; Villa-coublay; Villacou-blay. In all likelihood, the name dates back to the Latin villa with which the Gallo-Roman patronymic Escoblenus was associated (which prevents Villacoub-lay being cut in the process)”.

Philippe

Re: Dividing "Villacoublay"
 

SIC
Obviously I wrote nothing, didn't I? #3 :D

Re: Dividing "Villacoublay"
 

Sur Villacoublay—

Mes amis sur TOCH, as I wrote earlier, I have put the question of dividing "Villacoublay" to the Cultural Attaché at the French Embassy in Washington, DC.

The office(s) were closed Monday, 5 April, but this morning, Tuesday, 6 April, I reached M. Vincent Michelot, Cultural Attaché for Higher Education. I put my Villacoublay question to him. He immediately and graciously responded that "Villacoublay" could be divided at several places, but the one of interest to us lies after the "u." C'est à dire, Villacou-blay.

Ouidjat and Canonne, special thanks for your kind interest and knowledge in this question.

Best of weeks for all.

RA
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Re: Dividing "Villacoublay"
 

Ciao Anton,
you're welcome, indeed but even if we theorically have three possibilities I, personnaly, will avoid the Villacou-blay addind or removing some syllabics in the line. ;)
This said, same question for "aïeul" !!! I let you play.
Cheers,
Franck.