ok, back to French grammar. LOL
I am working my way through five pages of single-spaced criticism of my first 55 minutes of Book 2
I hope he is not contradicting all I say !
Ce sol désert ne manque point de trésor caché, diamants et or; nous ne manquons point non plus d’habileté ou d’art pour en étaler la magnificence: et qu’est-ce que le ciel peut montrer de plus?
l.22: diamants et or: you should link the words.
when I read your friend was "French teacher from Paris" I really started to become self-conscious. Could I really dare to go against a man who should obviously know better ? Well, I did not simply want to have this burden on my shoulder alone, so I asked a friend of MINE, also a native French speaker, who studied French literature in Strasbourg and who now works in the literary archives here in Luxembourg, so one can safely say, she knows what she is talking about as well.
I gave her the sentence to read aloud, without saying what I was expecting, without mentioning to be careful of liaison or anything. She should simply read it as she normally would.
She did NOT say the 's' before "et", but made a little pause, like I would have done. Afterwards I told her what I was looking for and she agreed that sometimes in "expressions fixes" one could make liaison (most famous example: mesdames et messieurs, faites vos jeux, in the casino: here you say the 's' before "et", it's more fluent) so there are exceptions, but usually to make it quite clear she would not say the 's', because often it becomes ambiguous if you do.
She said: it might be optional to say the 's' but it's definitely always correct if you don't make the liaison, the other is only optional, not the rule. She started to say to herself many sentences with 'et' and and always agreed that she would never say the 's' in that case. It sounded wrong to her.
So let's agree with the teacher that it might not be altogether "forbidden" as I first stated, but it's really mostly not done in spoken French and it's definitely NOT compulsory to make the liaison
before "et". And
after "et" it's definitely forbidden, but he did not say anything to contradict that rule, I hope !!!!
l.23: plus /plɥ/ without the ‘s’. If you hear the ‘s’ sound, it means ‘more’, without the ‘s’, it means ‘no more’.
Although M. Signard appears to be very learned, I am dubious. Not only does he contradict your rule about liaison before "et" but he also contradicts both the "How to Pronounce" site and the Forvo site on the pronunciation of "plus" in this construction.
not sure which "plus" he meant here, there are two in this sentence:
"nous ne manquons point non plus d’habileté" - mute 's' because it means "we lack
neither ..."
"qu’est-ce que le ciel peut montrer de plus" - spoken 's' because it means "what can heaven show
more"
so it depends which one he was referring to
On another occasion I questioned his advice about a liaison in "poursuivis et frappé" and he responded as follows:
The 'liaison' is indeed between 'poursuivis et...'
The rule is very simple: first word ending with a consonant, second one beginning with a vowel: in this case: 's' et 'e'.
this blunt statement is SO not true as a universal rule that I begin to doubt the credentials of this guy. There are many instances where it is definitely FORBIDDEN to make the liaison. You cannot say simply because there is a consonant and a vowel that you can make liaison.
Remember, I gave you this site where there are do's and don't's and there are rules that forbid liaison, and those words also always start with vowel (otherwise there would be not point if it was not a vowel LOL)
I am quite comfortable with taking his advice cum grano salis if you advise me to do so
I would definitely advise you to
. I am not saying that I am 100% sure about everything I say, as I admitted in the beginning, I am only "coming close" to native speaker. But I have native speakers here at hand if I am unsure and I would never write anything if I wasn't sure about it.
My friend also said "overdoing liaison" is a mistake that should not be made. When in doubt, preferably make a little break in the sentence and mute the 's', this is never really wrong. It might not always be so fluent, but it's not wrong. But saying liaisons where it's forbidden, that is much worse than omitting one that usually should be said.
So go with your gut feeling and don't overdo it.
Sonia