To better understand coordination beyond the syllable, we investigate inter-syllable coordination in French, depending on the boundary separating the syllables, i.e., a syllable boundary within a word vs. a word boundary in a subject-verb phrase. Patterns of coordination are inferred by acoustical measures of V-to-V anticipatory coarticulation and temporal Vto-V lag. The effect of the intervening consonant (/p/ vs. /ʁ/), as well as the variability in the spectral and lag characteristics across 45 repetitions, is compared across the two boundary types. Coarticulation decreases across-words compared to within-word, but only with the consonant /p/, showing the least articulatory constraint, while token-to-token variability is similar in the two boundary contexts. Vto-V lag is longer across-than within-word. Interestingly, variability in lag duration is found to increase across-words, but only with /p/. Overall, within-word cohesion between syllables translates in a specific pattern of coordination only in the context favoring gestural overlap.