Robyn/Cigalechanta:

That soft "uh" ending has eluded me ever since I started my poor efforts at speaking that lovely language.

Examples I hear used often which don't fit the "rules":

--Droit...I've often been told to turn a la "DWAT-uh".

--Two men told us they live in Marseille, "Mar-SAY-uh"

--"ville" is interesting. Sometimes I hear "Veel", others "VEE-yuh". In this case I suspect it depends on what preceeds or follows.

Granted, my efforts have been limited to a couple of multi-CD programs. But I've asked around and have never found a consistent application for the "uh" ending. I think maybe it's something they do just to make their language all the more mysterious. ;;) LOL!

"Droit" as in "tout droit" means "straight ahead". It's pronounced "drwah". "Droite" means "right" -- "tournez à droite" means "turn right". It's pronounced "tour-NAY ah DRWAHT" (or "DRWAH-tuh").

"Aix" is pronounced "ex", not "aches". Sorry Mimi.

The final e on French words is pronounced more frequently in southern France than in Northern France. But there are phonetic contexts where it is pronounced at least softly in both the north and the south. Gordes (GOR-duh) and Arles (AR-luh) are two examples. The same is true of Marseille (mar-SAY-yuh). "Ville" would be "veel" in the north of France, but often "VEE-luh" in the south. Capital letters indicate a stressed syllable.

Thanks for the clarification. Indeed, now that I think about it, we heard the soft "uh" ending most while in the southern countryside.

great post! Mimi, thank you for those extra sites, I use provencebeyond a lot but hadn't used the others.