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'
French phonology' displays variation due to regional
dialects. This article aims at displaying a complete overview of French normal and possible
phonemes and their most common
allophones.
Phonology
Vowels
Oral vowels
| IPA | Example (IPA) | Example (Written) | Meaning | Notes |
|---|
| | ''si'' | "if" | This vowel is normally short and tense unlike the Received Pronunciation vowel in ''meet'' (which is long) and ''if'' (which is the lax ). Quebec French and some varieties of Belgian French have the lax vowel when it is short and in a closed syllable.1 |
| | ''su'' | "known" | The same vowel as , but rounded. Quebec French and some varieties of Belgian French have the lax vowel when it is short and in a closed syllable.1 |
| | ''sous'' | "under" | Similar to the English vowel in the word ''shoot''. Quebec French and some varieties of Belgian French have the lax vowel when it is short and in a closed syllable.1 |
| | ''pré'' | "meadow" | In many regions of France, mostly in the South (Meridional French), this vowel and are allophones. In other dialects, it is a different phoneme: Parisian French, for example, clearly oppose the two phonemes at word endings (''taie'', "pillowcase") and (''thé'', "tea"). However, the distinction tends to disappear in non-final syllables, where the vowels often follow the distribution, similar to Spanish, of having in open syllables and in closed ones. In careful speech, a distinction even within words is sometimes maintained, as in ''maison'' "house", ''méson'' "meson" (elementary particle), and assimilation to a following syllable may be resisted, for example ''blesser'' "injure" pronounced instead of the more common . |
| | ''ceux'' | "these" | This vowel and are almost allophones: usually is found in open syllables and in closed ones, except that only is found before in words like ''chanteuse'' . The few minimal pairs include ''jeune'' ("young") and ''jeûne'' ("a fast"), but these have merged in some European dialects. |
| | ''sot'' | "silly" | This vowel merges with in some dialects, most typically in southeastern France, subject to an allophonic distribution that produces in word-final open syllables and in all others. For example: ''photocopie'' , ''photo'' . However, appears even in closed syllables in some dialects, including Parisian and Quebec French, usually corresponding to the spelling "eau", "au" or "ô", although this often depends on the word: ''Paul'', for example, is pronounced , and the corresponding girls' name ''Paule'' is . In most dialects, only , never , appears in word-final open syllables. Some, however, have a phonemic distinction exemplified by the pair ''peau'' , ''pot'' . |
| | ''près'' | "near" | In some positions and in some dialects, this has merged with ; see above. |
| | ''maître'' | "master" | Compare ''mettre'' "put". This vowel has been virtually supplanted in the last century in European French by . In Quebec French a vowel transcribed has developed as the phonemic evolution of and as the allophone of before , most noticeably in word-final position, ''e.g.,'' ''maître'' . Before ''v'', there is a phonemic contrast between intrinsically long as in ''rêve'' "dream" and lengthened only by the presence of the vowel-lengthening consonant ''v'' as in ''grève'' . |
| | ''sœur'' | "sister" | In some positions and in some dialects, this has merged with ; see above. |
| | ''sort'' | "fate" | In some positions and in some dialects, this has merged with ; see above. |
| | ''patte'' | "leg" (of an animal) | In many European French dialects, this vowel has acquired a more central position owing to a merger with , but other dialects have kept these vowels separate. |
| | ''pâte'' | "dough" | This vowel has been lost in many dialects of French through a merger with , but is preserved in other dialects, most notably in Quebec French and Swiss French, and was prevalent in Parisian French until the 1970s. |
| | ''ce'' | "this" | This phoneme has several names, including "''e'' caduc" ("decrepit ''e''") and "''e'' muet" ("mute ''e''"). Now being more or less labialized in European French, it is closer to than to an English , but remains unrounded in Quebec. It is always dropped ("muet") before another vowel (''un(e) âme'' ), and usually when following a single consonant (''rapp(e)ler'' ). On the other hand, it is usually pronounced when its omission would create a cluster of three consonants or more (''gredin'' , ''une porte'' , ''une porte fermée'' ). |
#This laxing of the high vowels , and , in the specified context is compulsory in stressed syllables, ''e.g. lutte'' , but it is optional in unstressed syllables, ''e.g., vulgaire'' can be or . The lax allophone of a high vowel may also appear in open syllables by assimilation to a lax vowel in a following syllable, ''e.g., musique'' can be either or . The lax vowel may even be retained in derived words where the original stressed lax vowel has disappeared, ''e.g. musical'' can be or . Also, the lax allophone may arise optionally in open syllables through dissimilation as in ''toupie'' or , especially in reduplicative forms such as ''pipi'' or . These phenomena are conditioned lexically and regionally. For example, for the word ''difficile'', the expected pronunciation is found throughout Quebec, but the alternative pronunciation is characteristic of the Beauce region, while is characteristic of Montreal French.
[1]
Nasal vowels
| IPA | Example (IPA) | Example (Written) | Meaning | Notes |
|---|
| | ''sans'' | "without" | The nasalized equivalent of the oral vowel . This vowel is frequently heard as in Quebec, particularly in open stressed syllables. Some dialects in Northern France have started to merge and . |
| | ''son'' | "his, her, its" (m sg) | The nasalized equivalent of the oral vowel . One of the most stable vowels, it has few known allophones. Often articulated as in European French. |
| | ''saint'' | "saint" | The nasalized equivalent of the oral vowel . Many French speakers have merged and . This vowel is still separate from in Quebec French, Belgian French, and Meridional French, and in some of these dialects it has the allophones and . In Parisian French, usually articulated as . |
| | ''brun'' | "brown" | Many French people have merged and . This vowel is still separate from in Quebec French, Belgian French, and Meridional French however, and has the allophone . |
Vowel quantity
Certain dialects, notably
Quebec French and
Belgian French, make a distinction between
long and short vowels, in final syllables only. The occurrence of long vowels can vary widely among dialects. Generally, the following vowels are long:
★ , , and , when followed by one or more consonants, e.g. ''base'', ; ''flamme'',
★ other vowels followed by one of the voiced fricatives (), e.g. ''sÅ“ur'', ; ''brave'',
★ nasal vowels followed by one or more consonants, e.g. ''romance'', ; ''emprunte'',
Other vowels are long due to
compensatory lengthening: in syllables where a consonant in the
syllable coda has been lost, the vowel becomes long. The overwhelming majority of these cases are due to the loss of [s]:
★
Old French > Modern French "maître" vs. "mettre"
★ Old French > Modern French "bête" vs. "bette"
Consonants
Where symbols for consonants occur in pairs, the left represents the
voiceless consonant and the right represents the
voiced consonant.
Notes:
#The designation of , , and as dental has been disputed. See
Dental consonant.
#The grapheme ''r'' allows a wide range of realizations in French. , , , , and will all be recognized as "r", but most of them will be considered dialectal. For example, is considered typical of a
Parisian accent, while is sometimes found in southern France, less and less in the
Montréal area and in
Cajun French.
#The
velar nasal is not a native phoneme of French, but occurs in
loan words such as ''parking'' or ''camping''. Many speakers (mostly old people and those who are not accustomed to this foreign sound) replace it with a prenasalized sequence. In
Quebec French, is pronounced , so these loanwords rhyme with ''ligne'' and ''signe''. The velar nasal is also heard in the accent of the city of
Marseille after nasal vowels, e.g. ''malin'', .
# is slowly disappearing in favor of a sequence in some dialects
# and in French are mostly allophones of and before a vowel. The only case where contrasts with is when there is a
morphemic boundary, causing some forms of verbs ending in ''-oua'' ( or ) such as ''loua'' ("he rented") and ''noua'' ("he knotted, he tied") to
contrast with words ending with the ''oi'' () diphthong, such as ''loi'' ("law"), and ''noix'' ("nut").
Examples of French plosive consonants
| IPA | Example (IPA) | Example (Written) | Meaning | Notes |
|---|
| | ''peau'' | "skin" | |
| | ''banc'' | "bench" | |
| | ''tu'' | "you" (singular) | |
| | ''doux'' | "soft" | |
| | ''queue'' | "tail" | |
| | ''gain'' | "gain" | |
Vowel-lengthening consonants
The consonants cause automatic lengthening of the previous vowels. The consonant cluster also has this property, whereas other clusters (even including ) do not. While this is not phonemic in itself, it might cause vowels to change quality in dialects where short and long vowels are of different qualities.
See also
★
History of the French language
★
Reforms of French orthography
★
Dialects of the French language
★
French orthography
External links
★
Large collection of recordings of French words
★
Audio pronunciation of French vowels and alphabet
References
1. Denis Dumas, ''Nos façons de parler'', pp. 94-99
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![Don\](images/articles/thumbs/beachrainthumb.jpg "Don\")
