-t-
See also: Appendix:Variations of "t"
French
Etymology
From the -t of Latin -et, -it, which survived in Old French in some verb forms, now still spelt with -t (such as il fait, dort etc.). In Middle French, when final /t/ was no longer pronounced outside of liaison, the ending was reinstated analogically in the inversion forms of all verbs, even those in which -t had already been lost in Old French. (Note, however, that verbs with final -t, -d can make liaison generally before a vowel, while the others do so in inversion only.)
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /t/
Interfix
-t-
- an interfix, liaison or linking consonant used in inversion constructions for third-person singular verbs with orthographic forms ending in a letter other than -t or -d
- 1965 November, Carlo François, “Poésie d’André Marissel [André Marissel’s Poetry]”, in The French Review, volume 39, number 2, American Association of Teachers of French, JSTOR 384814, pages 265–274:
- Le jardinier-poète sait parfois qu’il est fécond et que son Arbre est fertile. Ne vainc-t-il pas la mort chaque fois qu’il plante un arbre-poème?
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
- Parle-t-on? ― Are we talking?
- Me regarde-t-il ? ― Is he looking at me?
- Y a-t-il un endroit? ― Is there a place?
- Quelles baleines Claire a-t-elle vues?
- Which whales did Claire see?
-
- added between vowels to prevent certain sequences of vowels
- Coordinate term: -l-
- biffeton, dépiauter, gruter, maintée
Derived terms
French terms interfixed with -t-
German
Etymology
Euphonic linking sound.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /t/
Interfix
-t-
- Used to separate two adjacent sonorants, mostly when -en is followed by -lich.
- Wesen + -t- + -lich → wesentlich
- eigen + -t- + -lich → eigentlich
Mohawk
Interfix
-t-
- joiner used with some nouns in noun incorporation