at right. Velars and may become palatalised to and before , and more variably before . Word-final may also be palatalised to . Velar palatalisation has traditionally been associated with the working class, though recent studies suggest it is spreading to more demographics of large French cities. Geminates Although double consonant letters appear in the orthographic form of many French words, geminate consonants are relatively rare in the pronunciation of such words. The following cases can be identified. The geminate pronunciation is found in the future and conditional forms of the verbs ('to run') and ('to die'). The conditional form il mourrait ('he would die'), for example, contrasts with the imperfect form il mourait ('he was dying'). In some other words, most modern speakers have reduced to , such as "il pourrait" ('he could'). Other verbs that have a double orthographically in the future and conditional are pronounced with a simple : il pourra ('he will be able to'), il verra ('he will see'). When the prefix combines with a base that begins with n, the resulting word is sometimes pronounced with a geminate and similarly for the variants of the same prefix im-, il-, ir-: ('innate') ('immortal') ('illegible') ('irresponsible') Other cases of optional gemination can be found in words like ('syllable'), ('grammar'), and ('illusion'). The pronunciation of such words, in many cases, a spelling pronunciation varies by speaker and gives rise to widely varying stylistic effects. In particular, the gemination of consonants other than the liquids and nasals is "generally considered affected or pedantic". Examples of stylistically marked pronunciations include ('addition') and ('intelligence'). Gemination of doubled and is typical of the Languedoc region, as opposed to other southern accents. A few cases of gemination do not correspond to double consonant letters in the orthography. The deletion of word-internal schwas (see below), for example, can give rise to sequences of identical consonants: là-dedans ('inside'), l'honnêteté ('honesty'). The elided form of the object pronoun l' ('him/her/it') is also realised as a geminate when it appears after another l to avoid misunderstanding: Il l'a mangé ('He ate it') Il a mangé ('He ate') Gemination is obligatory in such contexts. Finally, a word pronounced with emphatic stress can exhibit gemination of its first syllable-initial consonant: formidable ('terrific') épouvantable ('horrible') Liaison Many words in French can be analyzed as having a "latent" final consonant that is pronounced only in certain syntactic contexts when the