FWIW regarding/confirmingdiff, the 1906/7Century Dictionary also has a consonant-final pronunciation forvalet, listing it as \val´et\ or \val´ā\ (wherevalid is \val´id\ and \et\ is how they transcribe the end ofticket andunquiet), as do the modern Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com.- -sche(discuss)05:47, 21 June 2018 (UTC)Reply

A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English (1953) offers /ˈvælɪt/ and dismisses t-free pronunciations as pseudo-foreignization.--Prosfilaes (talk)03:26, 22 June 2018 (UTC)Reply

Hmm, but the French do drop thet...- -sche(discuss)17:34, 22 June 2018 (UTC)Reply

But they didn't in Middle French, when we borrowed it, and they pronounce it /va.lɛ/, not /væleɪ/. (He makes a big deal about vowels being different in foreign pronunciations.)--Prosfilaes (talk)20:57, 22 June 2018 (UTC)Reply

The thing is, though, that it is more intended to approximate the French pronunciation than to flawlessly duplicate it. We (at least where I live) pronouncegarage as /ɡəˈɹɑːʒ/. That is not quite identical to the French /ɡa.ʁaʒ/, but itis an approximation of it with English vowels and consonants. A similar attempt at this can be seen in one British pronunciation of the word, /ˈɡæɹɑː(d)ʒ/. At the same time, the more plain British pronunciation /ˈɡæɹɪdʒ/ exists as well. Furthermore, we have done the same thing tovalet as we have to the wordhomage (at least in some senses). Traditionally pronounced /ˈhɑmɪdʒ// /ˈhɒmɪdʒ/, it is sometimes pronounced /oʊˈmɑːʒ/ now.Tharthan (talk)21:31, 22 June 2018 (UTC)Reply

That's his issue, not necessarily mine. I do see the point that valet is not from French, it's from Middle French, that pronounced the t. There's no reason to change the pronunciation away from the etymology-correct pronunciations that's also more consistent with the spelling. Also if you want to speak French, speak French; why should we change the pronunciation of perfectly good English words to be more like French?--Prosfilaes (talk)21:54, 22 June 2018 (UTC)Reply

Oh, don't get me wrong. Personally I'm far, far more fond of the Germanic languages than the Romance languages. And although this doesn't apply in this case, in some cases, for instance, when there is a word which shows the blatant impact of the Great Vowel Shift, but there exists an alternative pronunciation which does not, or has been influenced by it much less, then I would rather use that pronunciation. Similarly, if we have thoroughly butchered a word in our attempt to pronounce it (or have thoroughly butchered it in both spelling and pronunciation), then I would rather use a pronunciation that is less butchered. Take, for example,karaoke,Julius Caesar,niche,Nevada andColorado. There exist thoroughly "Englished" pronunciations for these, but there also exist approximations of the pronunciations in the languages that we have borrowed them from (or from where they ultimately come from). I am particularly put off by the "Englished" pronunciation ofniche. It just sounds bad to my ears. I am also the type of person who pronouncesCelt with a /k/, spellsüber withü (I try to approximate the German pronunciation of that word as well) spellsgrey asgrey (I'm not fond of spelling words with /eɪ/ with "ay" or "ai" if I don't have to. Since nine times out of ten I do have to, I'll happily take the instance where I don't have to and choose not to). There are some exceptions to this, though. I prefer "Englished" forms of many German words and, especially, names (especially when there areWs involved).Tharthan (talk)22:34, 22 June 2018 (UTC)Reply

Funny enough, I was watchingAround the World in Eighty Days (1956) and a character pronounced valet with a /t/ at the end. I don't know was current in 1956 or was used as a Victorian pronunciation, though that would be exceptional care to detail.--Prosfilaes (talk)01:10, 25 June 2018 (UTC)Reply