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What is the capital of Tunisia?

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What is the capital of Tunisia?

Liaison in Québécois: six minutes, dix minutes, six kilomètres etc

Yes there is.

It is pronounced “si-minut” and not “sis-minut”. Same apply for “dix”.

In fact, I can only found sample of “sis” and “dis” when enumeration number (i.e. in a standalone way).

In french, “x” of “six minutes” is not pronounced because of “contraction des consonnes x et m” rule.
However, if we ask “combien de minutes?“, the response should be “six” (pronounced “sis”).
When the same rule is is applied to “dix minutes“, it gives “di-minut”

There’s a pretty comprehensive write-up on six and dix on the Québec banque de dépannage linguistique detailing when the final x is pronounced like an s, like a z or not at all.

To answer your question directly, the standard pronunciation of French would not voice the final x in your examples (i.e. pronounce like si-minutes, etc.):

  • As-tu vu les six mignons chatons? [simiɲɔ̃] (si-mi-gnon)
  • Vingt-six mille billets sont disponibles. [vẽtsimil] (vin-tsi-mil) […]
  • Cette entreprise vaut environ soixante-dix millions de dollars. [swasãtdimiljɔ̃] (swa-san-t-di-mi-li-on)

In term of word (category) combination, Num-Measure is a liaison context

Deux z-euros

But most measure nouns are not liaison triggers. None of your examples feature liaison triggers (minute, kilomètre).

Quantifiers like 6 and 10 have a special property for French liaison, they have three different forms:

  1. liaison context before a trigger (e.g. enfants): siz, diz
  2. liaison context not before a trigger (e.g. personnes): si, di
  3. not liaison context: sis, dis (six sont venus, dix ont séché)

But for “dix mars”, we could maybe say it both ways. Both di-mars and dis-mars could be used, although di-mars is probably the most common by a wide margin. dis-mars is not shocking to me though.

Copy/paste of the answer I provided here: Six janvier, dix mars, etc
There are actually three possible situations, depending mainly on the word following six or dix:

  1. If the following word starts with a consonant or an aspirated h, then the final consonant shouldn’t be pronounced. Examples : Le six mars, le dix mai, pronounced si and di.
  2. If the following word starts with a vowel or a mute h, then the final consonant is pronounced as a (z). Example : Le six avril pronounced le sizavril.
  3. In the other cases (mainly when six or dix are alone, or finishing a sentence, but also when they are used as a pronoun), the final consonant is pronounced (s). Example : Il m’en reste dix à faire (diss à faire). Le mot que tu cherches se trouve à la page six. (siss).
    Source : https://www.fpjq.org/pdfs/08-05_outils-nombres.pdf (along with my everyday experience of my native language).

To take in consideration : according to the region of France you live in, liaisons and pronunciation of a final letter are subject to change ; in the south, people are more up to pronounce the final x of six & dix as an s, less in the northern half ; there are even some regions (more in the north-eastern country) where the final t in vingt is being pronounced(but not the g), which always surprises me.

 

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What is the capital of Tunisia?