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Could someone please give examples of the differences in the pronunciation of "Au revoir" by regional accent (Belgium, etc)?

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1  
I don't see any, excepted the quite wide variations in the pronunciation of r and elisions made in more relaxed level of language (which isn't a regional variation). – Un francophone Aug 29 '11 at 15:48
Belgium: The au is usually prononced short like in the word mot instead of like in haut. (I'm quite flabbergasted that the IPA codes for both is [o], by the way.) – Joubarc Aug 29 '11 at 17:01
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@Joubarc, for once we differ. I pronounce au revoir with [o], not with [ɔ]. – Un francophone Aug 29 '11 at 17:19
To be clear, I think the [o] pronunciation is incorrect, but that's the way we say it most of the time anyway. – Joubarc Aug 29 '11 at 17:24
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au is sometimes pronounced [ɑ̃] near Orléans. – Evpok♦ Aug 29 '11 at 20:16
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2 Answers

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  • Official pronunciation: [o ʁə.vwaʁ] — see le wiktionnaire
  • Global : the e in revoir is often omitted as in au r'voir, so revoir is closer to [rvwar]
  • Belgium: a lot of people shorten the au and thus pronounce [ɔ] instead of [o]
  • Orléans: au is sometimes pronounced [ɑ̃]
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I can't see the Orléans phonetic markings. – Zoot Sep 1 '11 at 14:21
The prononciation mentionned for Orléans is one we hear often in Lorraine (with a leading [ɑ̃] sound). The omission of the [ə] is standard also, for a final result of [ɑ̃rvwar]. – Romain VALERI Jun 11 '12 at 13:55
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I'm from the south of the Poitou-Charentes (precisely often in Cognac, Saintes and La Rochelle) and as Joubarc mentions, it is also common to ear there either [ɔʁvwaʁ] or [ɑ̃ʁvwaʁ] (what I personally say).

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