How is the name Swann pronounced in Proust's famous novel Du Cote de
chez Swann? As in English, e.g. Flanders and Swann? or is it given a
distinctively French pronunciation?
Hello MForster
Proust himself helps with this question.
"The truth is that Gilberte had become a great snob. For instance,
another girl having one day, whether in malice or from a natural want
of tact, asked her what was the name of her real?not her
adoptive?father, in her confusion, and as though to mitigate the
crudity of what she had to say, instead of pronouncing the name as
?Souann? she said ?Svann,? a change, as she soon realised, for the
worse, since it made this name of English origin a German patronymic.
And she had even gone on to say, abasing herself so as to rise higher:
?All sorts of stories have been told about my birth, but of course I
know nothing about that."
From:
Vol. 6 of Remembrance of Things Past
Marcel Proust
Translated from the French by C. K. Scott Moncrieff
(Albertine disparue, Tome 6 of la Recherche du temps perdu)
CHAPTER TWO MADEMOISELLE DE FORCHEVILLE
http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/p/proust/marcel/p96sw/chapter2.html
?C'est que Gilberte tait devenue tr s snob . C' est ainsi qu' une
jeune fille ayant un jour , soit m chamment , soit maladroitement ,
demand quel tait le nom de son p re non pas adoptif , mais v ritable
, dans son trouble et pour d naturer un peu ce qu' elle avait dire ,
elle avait prononc au lieu de Souann , Svann , changement qu' elle s'
aper ut un peu apr s tre p joratif , puisque cela faisait de ce nom
d' origine anglaise , un nom allemand ."
http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:pBxh89IoueEJ:www.ac-rouen.fr/pedagogie/equipes/lettres/francais/cote_proust/textes/snob.doc+souann+svann+swann&hl=en
I started writing some sentences about how to pronounce "Souann", but
then I found you a link to someone actually saying "Swann":
http://www3.unileon.es/dp/dfm/flenet/courstourdumonde/textesaudio/textes.html#Swann1
I even found someone singing it!
To hear part of "Du C t De Chez Swann" by Dave, click on " couter le titre" here:
http://www.virginmega.fr/default.aspx?RefererId=49&BannerId=1&FicheAlbum=100486785
For the record, I'll put my remarks on pronunciation below with my
search strategy.
Hope this answer clears things up.
Best wishes - Leli
"Souann" confirms my distant memories of hearing Swann pronounced in
France, and seems to combine an acknowledgement of the name's English
origins with a fairly "natural" way for a French speaker to say the
word: i.e. with a "sw", not a "sv", without the nasal vowel "an", and
with a consonantal "n" at the end.
Double "n" after "a" suggests a sound like Anne, panne, manne, as in
Boulevard Haussmann in Paris (occasionally mis-spelt Haussmanne). I
can't think of any French word where a nasal vowel precedes a double
"nn", though someone may find an exception which proves me wrong. The
nasal vowel indicated by a single "n" vanishes before the double "nn"
in pairs like bon and bonne, or an and ann e.
(Presumably Klein/clin reminds people of frein, rein and other "ein" words.)
You will already know that "ou" before a vowel is similar to "w", as
in "oui", and "sw" is a sound which occurs in French words like
"soigner". Souah li is the equivalent of Swahili.
Searches:
swann svann souann
://www.google.fr/search?hl=fr&q=swann++svann++souann&btnG=Rechercher&meta=
proust swann ecouter OR ecoutez audio
://www.google.fr/search?hl=fr&q=proust+swann+ecouter+OR+ecoutez+audio&btnG=Rechercher&meta=lr%3Dlang_fr
dave "chez swann" mp3
://www.google.fr/search?hl=fr&q=dave+%22chez+swann%22+mp3&btnG=Recherche+Google&meta=lr%3Dlang_fr
Also see:
Frequency of last name Swann in France:
http://www.notrefamille.com/v2/services-nom-de-famille/nom.asp?rubrique=prenoms&page=noms-popularite
Discussion of Swann as first name which led me to the song:
http://forum.aufeminin.com/forum/Matern3/__f21733_r267140_Matern3-Non.html#267136
#If you have any other info about this subject , Please add it free.#
Author
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