Edit: and as for the OP, I would also go with Shatto Day, with a French accent.
I always wondered if there were a difference between French and Swiss-French is this respect. I know for a fact that you hear the "x" in Aix-les-Bains, but really wasn't sure about Bex etc.
There are many other regional dialects in France, of course. Notably, some of the pronunciations of place names (and other terms) in the Savoie regions vary quite a lot between the Savoyarde and more 'standard' French dialects.
I think we need to ask someone who comes from ' showed fon'
Pronounced like des
I had to say that out loud to get it
As in Des O'Connor?
Never heard that anywhere, and especially not in the Romandie . It's definitely wrong.
But then, it's not impossible you heard that. I mean, how many Swiss TV presentators say "Tchicago," "Mitchigan," "ArkAnnsass," "Mackinack" etc.? And they even get paid for that!
I can still understand what is ark 'n Ann's ass, but what is Mackinack?
Anyway, I always thought there wasn't much doubt about that silent "x" in Bex and shatterday,
but in popular belief there might be some mixe-up with the "x" thing in "Bruxelles", e.g.
Btw. I think I once heard "Ice-en-Provence" in Aix, even if in high French it should be "Eggs".
The French pronounce the "x", thus Gex is "jex", but Bex is "Beh". In most swiss name places the "x" is silent. I live near some "...ex" places and all the people asking for directions prouncing the X are from France, a local would not make that mistake and the x is silent. e.g. Trelex, Arnex...X is silent.
And yes it is Chateau "deh"
You mean, like the people that live there too?
Once I had a dodgy curry. The next morning I rushed to the toilet and Château-d'Œx.
You mean those few Swiss TV presentators that emigrated to Chicago?
Oh, and I forgot to mention Conneckticut.
She-CAAAAAAAH-ga.
MC, still proud of her South Side roots.
Spot on! Even the French don't agree among themselves. The Parisians say 'ChamoniX' but the locals do not prounounce the 'X' at the end. It always a joke in the UK too when Londoners come to Norfolk... how do you think they pronounce 'Stifkey' or 'Happisburgh' locally? Town/place names rarely follow the rules.
so that those who pronounce it as "d ééé" are correct ?
It's not a France/Swiss difference but regional local French and Swiss romands against the rest of France. Here the explanation:
This -x is an old regional franco-provençal way of indicating that the last syllable is both short and stressed. The sign for long and stressed is -z. The French people from Savoie/Ain/Dauphiné and the Swiss romands know that, the non-local have no idea and pronounce it with -x if they feel like it because it is foreign to them. The Alpine country is all franco-provençal but also a huge touristic area, both winter and summer, so whole France come there and pronounce the names in all kinds of variations.
There are other -x and -z at the end of names that do NOT originate from this old regional spelling habit, so that they might be pronounced in other places in other regions. F.ex. Aix, its' not a franco-provençal silent shortening -x, one pronounces it.
P.S. The difference déééé vs. dèèèè has also to do with French regional accent and to a certain extent generational differences. There was a TV advertising for milk 20 years ago, the voice pronounced it léééé, that made a huge debate about the pronunciation of lait by various people in various places. It's the same with some endings but not all.
Zero surprise really. But some TV speakers here pronounced it as "d éé" and so got it correctly.
At the other hand, many people already have problems to pronounce village names nearby correctly, but insist to be right. The name Schötz is NOT pronounced "Schöttz" but "Schööz" . And the famous French Marshal Foch is not pronounced "Fosh" but "Fogg"
I think the fact that the "é/è" of Château d'Oex comes at the end of the word might tend to push it in the direction of a more closed "é".... whereas it's easy to say Chèèèèèèxbres with as long and open a vowel as you want. Or indeed Gnèèèèèève :-)
At least that's how it feels to me.
It's a general but complex phonetic law of French (google "loi de position français"):
- Open syllable, closed vowel
- closed syllable, open vowel
It is strictly observed in the southern accent, it's more complex in northern French.