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Grant, you're wrong. I admire your attempt to understand the pronunciation rules of French, but I doubt your depth of knowledge in the subject.
When a noun is plural in French, its adjectives must also be plural. In this case, "arts" is the noun which is plural, and "beau" when made plural is "beaux". So far, so good. Now for pronunciation. You are correct that the otherwise silent last consonant (there are some exceptions) of "beaux" is pronounced when followed by a word beginning with a vowel (there are some exceptions). Now, moving on to "arts", if it was singular ("art") the pronunciation would be "arrr". However, when it is plural, the NEW final consonant is silent but the second-to-last consonant should now be pronounced: "art". Thus, "beaux arts" is pronounced "boze art".
Amicalement,
Renée
Welcome.
I respectfully disagree. The singular and plural of the French art/arts are pronounced the same, both with a final r sound, assuming no following liaison. It is extremely common for French nouns ending with silent consonants to take an s in the plural and to be pronounced identically in singular and plural.
chat chats
pied pieds
So what are the best toppers for gifts of fine art? Bows are!
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Please note that my remarks are for French pronunciation, and not an indication of my opinion on the English pronunciation, which I would vary in different contexts. The French I am using for pronunciation reference is standard academic language spoken in France.
I added the text after the [edit] note. It occurred to me later that I should clarify these points.
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Here is a news video: Exposition Giuseppe Penone au musée des Beaux Arts de Nantes. Listen to the opening by the female voiceover. The last words she speaks before the artist's first words, around 17 seconds in, are … du musée des Beaux Arts. Ignore the artist's pronunciation: he speaks French with a thick Italian accent.
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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