Correct pronunciation of 'Chez Albert': is there a liaison?

Question

I had a little dispute yesterday on what the correct pronunciation of 'chez Albert' is. In my understanding, I would pronounce the latent 'z' of 'chez' because the next word starts with a vowel (liaison). My friend on the other hand argued that in this case the 'z' stays silent.**What is the correct pronunciation of the phrase 'chez Albert'?** If this is an exception to the liaison rule, is there a reason for this being an exception?

Answer 1

Hello,

From what I can tell, if the word following 'chez' is a proper noun, there is almost never a liaison between the words. I believe there are still disputes about this, but most native French speakers (and I am not one; I tutor the first two years of French) will not liaise to a proper noun, though they mostly do so with phrases such as 'chez elle' or 'chez eux'. I'm not sure why this disparity, but perhaps it had to do, ages ago, with a sort of 'politesse' of honoring the person whose name is mentioned.

I hope this helps, or at least adds a new wrinkle to your question! :-)