u/aa_drian83

Question mainly for native speakers or pretty much any francophones who are passionate about pronunciation in general :

Is there any scenario, either soutenu or courant, where : Thomas a / Julien a / Tom a / Camille a would be pronounced with enchaînement?

I'm asking because based on YouTube video :
Master French LIAISONS: Rules for Mandatory & Forbidden Liaisons (timestamp 1:09 ; video id -xYGbnLkfbA&t=125s) from Parlez-vous FRENCH : Learn French Online :

Featured sentence:
"Patrick arrive aux États-Unis demain." with enchaînement between "Patrick" and "arrive".

IPA transcription:
[pa.tʁi.ka.ʁi.vo.z‿e.ta.z‿y.ni.də.mɛ̃]

She mentioned that it's an enchaînement (and therefore mandatory).

While on several other unrelated videos read by a different native speaker, in storytelling style, she omitted the enchaînement for Thomas a / Julien a / Tom a / Camille a, and provided this feedback :

>I tend to pronounce them independently to make it more clear, it’s often the case when someone narrates a story. You could pronounce it with enchaînement 

Edit : YouTube reference
French Listening Practice | Story for Learners - Natural Speed. (timestamp 1:07 ; video id -PDNBOw6b-Jo&t=5s) from Excuse My French

So now in terms of learning on how to pronounce this correctly depending on the situation, would you say that it's indeed an enchaînement, but somewhat "optional"?

Because from text books it's stated that liaison facultative is "optional", but enchaînement should be mandatory, so now I am confusing myself.

Do you see yourself doing : either with or without enchaînement, with the same logic as the liaison facultative, depending on formal vs informal or courant vs soutenu?

Edit : or should this be split instead into:

• enchaînement consonantique (e.g. Patrick arrive / Tom a / Camille a) with liaison (pronounced)
• enchaînement vocalique (e.g. Thomas a / Julien a) with no liaison (not pronounced) ?

I hope my question is clear enough... Merci !