A 08:13 2002-01-23 -0500, John Cowan a �crit : >Middle French spelling is very unphonemic. This is the so-called >"aspirated h", which still blocks liaison even though it is >quite silent now.
[Alain] Not only quite, but absolutely mute, one must not be so shy. We use the word "aspirated" to distinguish them from all other "mute" h's just because the h has an effect on pronunciation, but the h itself is never pronounced in French. Example of "aspirated" h (they are exceptional anyway) in French : � des h�ros � (which means � [some, many] heroes �)... pronounced � day 'ayro � (which distinguishes the words from � des z�ros � (� dayzayro �), which means � [some, many] zeroes �. Alain LaBont� Qu�bec
