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FrenchphonologyFromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

ThisarticlemainlydiscussesthephonologicalsystemofstandardFrenchbasedontheParisiandialect.NotablephonologicalfeaturesofFrenchincludeitsuvularr,nasalvowels,andthreeprocessesaffectingwordfinalsounds:liaison,acertaintypeofsandhi,whereinwordfinalconsonantsarenotpronouncedunlessfollowedbyawordbeginningwithavowelelision,whereincertaininstancesof//(schwa)areelided(e.g.whenfinalbeforeaninitialvowel)andenchanement(resyllabification),inwhichwordfinalandwordinitialconsonantsmaybemovedacrossasyllableboundary,sothatsyllablesmaycrosswordboundaries.

Anexampleofthesevariousprocessesisasfollows:

Written:Onalaisslafentreouverte.Meaning:"Thewindowhasbeenleftopen."Inisolation:/alselafntuvt/Together:[.na.l.se.laf.n.tu.vt]

Contents

1Consonants1.1Geminates1.2Liaison

2Vowels2.1Lowvowels2.2Midvowels2.3Nasalvowels2.4Schwa2.5Length2.6Elision

3Glidesanddiphthongs4Stress

4.1Emphaticstress5Intonation6Seealso7Notes8References9Externallinks

Consonants

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Distributionofgutturalr(e.g.[])inpartofEuropeinthemid20thcentury.[1]

notusual

onlyinsomeeducatedspeech

usualineducatedspeech

general

ConsonantphonemesofFrench

Labial Dental/Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar Uvular

Nasal m n ()

Plosivevoiceless p t kvoiced b d

Fricativevoiceless f s (x)voiced v z

Approximant

plain l jlabialized w

Phoneticnotes:

/n,t,d/arelaminaldentialveolar[n,t,d],[2][3]while/s,z/aredentalizedlaminalalveolar[s,z](commonlycalled'dental'),pronouncedwiththebladeofthetongueveryclosetothebackoftheupperfrontteeth,withthetiprestingbehindlowerfrontteeth.[2][4]/l/canalsobelaminaldentialveolar[l],butitismuchmorecommonlyapicalalveolar[l].[3]

Before/,f/,itcanberealizedasretroflex[].[3]Incurrentpronunciation,//ismergingwith/nj/.[5]Thevelarnasal//isnotanativephonemeofFrench,butoccursinloanwordssuchascamping,bingoorkungfu.[6]Somespeakerswhohavedifficultywiththisconsonantreplaceitwith[]or[].[7]Theapproximants[j],[]and[w]correspondto/i/,/y/and/u/respectively.Whilethereareafewminimalpairs(suchasloua[lu.a]'s/herented'andloi[lwa]'law'),therearemanycaseswherethereisfreevariation.[8]SomedialectsofFrenchhaveapalatallateral//(French:lmouill,'moistenedl'),butinthemodernstandardvarietythisphonemehasmergedwith/j/.[9]SeealsoGlidesanddiphthongs,below.TheFrenchrhotichasawiderangeofrealizations:theuvularfricatives[]and[](thelatteralsorealizedasanapproximant),theuvulartrill[],thealveolartrill[r],andthealveolartap[].Theseareallrecognizedasthephoneme/r/,[8]butallexcept[]and[]areconsidereddialectal.[]isthestandardconsonant.SeeFrenchgutturalrandmapatright.Thephoneme/x/isnotanativephonemeofFrench,butoccursinloanwordssuchaskhamsin,manhuaorjota.Peoplewhohavedifficultywiththissoundreplaceitwith//.

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Somespeakerspronounce/k/and//as[c]and[]before/i,e,,a,/andattheendofaword.[10]

Examplewords[11]

IPA Example Gloss IPA Example Gloss/m/ [mu] mou 'soft' /n/ [nu] nous 'we,us'// [ao] agneau 'lamb' // [paki] parking 'parkinglot'/p/ [pu] pou 'louse' /b/ [bu] boue 'mud'/t/ [tu] tout 'all' /d/ [du] doux 'sweet'/k/ [ku] cou 'neck' // [u] got 'taste'/f/ [fu] fou 'crazy' /v/ [vu] vous 'you'/s/ [su] sous 'under' /z/ [zo] zoo 'zoo'// [u] chou 'cabbage' // [u] joue 'cheek'/l/ [lu] loup 'wolf' // [u] roue 'wheel'

Geminates

AlthoughdoubleconsonantlettersappearintheorthographicformofmanyFrenchwords,geminateconsonantsarerelativelyrareinthepronunciationofsuchwords.Thefollowingcasescanbeidentified.[12]

Thepronunciation[]isfoundinthefutureandconditionalformsoftheverbscourir('torun')andmourir('todie').Theconditionalformilmourrait[ilmu]('hewoulddie'),forexample,contrastswiththeimperfectformilmourait[ilmu]('hewasdying').Otherverbsthathaveadoublerrorthographicallyinthefutureandconditionalarepronouncedwithasimple[]:ilpourra('hewillbeableto'),ilverra('hewillsee').

Whentheprefixincombineswithabasethatbeginswithn,theresultingwordcanoptionallybepronouncedwithageminate[n],andsimilarlyforthevariantsofthesameprefixim,il,ir:

inn[in()e]('innate')immortel[im()tl]('immortal')illisible[il()izibl]('illegible')irresponsable[i()spsabl]('irresponsible')

Othercasesofoptionalgeminationcanbefoundinwordslikesyllabe('syllable'),grammaire('grammar'),andillusion('illusion').Thepronunciationofsuchwords,inmanycasesduetoorthographicinfluence(seeSpellingpronunciation),issubjecttospeakervariation,andgivesrisetowidelyvaryingstylisticeffects.[13]Inparticular,thegeminationofconsonantsotherthantheliquidsandnasals/mnl/is"generallyconsideredaffectedorpedantic".[14]Examplesofstylisticallymarkedpronunciationsincludeaddition[adisj]('addition')andintelligence[telis]('intelligence').

Geminationofdoubled'm'and'n'istypicaloftheLanguedocregion,asopposedtootherSouthernaccents.

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OralvowelsofFrench.fromFougeron&Smith(1993:73).Unroundedvowelsareshowntotheleftofthedotsandroundedvowelstheright.Thespeakerinquestiondoesnotexhibitacontrastbetween/a/and//.Chartwithaudio

Afewcasesofgeminationdonotcorrespondtodoubleconsonantlettersintheorthography.[15]Thedeletionofwordinternalschwas(seebelow),forexample,cangiverisetosequencesofidenticalconsonants,e.g.ldedans[ladd]('inside'),l'honntet[lntte]('honesty').Geminationisobligatoryinsuchcontexts.Theelidedformoftheobjectpronounl'('him/her/it')canoptionally(innonstandard,popularspeech)berealizedasageminate[l]whenitappearsafteravowel:

Jel'aivu[l()evy]('Isawit')Ilfautl'attraper[ilfol()atape]('itmustbecaught')

Finally,awordpronouncedwithemphaticstresscanexhibitgeminationofitsfirstsyllableinitialconsonant:

formidable[fmidabl]('terrific')pouvantable[epuvtabl]('horrible')

Liaison

ManywordsinFrenchcanbeanalyzedashavinga"latent"finalconsonantthatisonlypronouncedincertainsyntacticcontextswhenthenextwordbeginswithavowel.Forexample,theworddeux/d/('two')ispronounced[d]inisolationorbeforeaconsonantinitialword(deuxjours/du/[du]'twodays'),butindeuxans/dz/('twoyears'),thelinkingorliaisonconsonant/z/ispronounced.

Vowels

StandardFrenchcontrastsuptothirteenoralvowelsanduptofournasalvowels.Theschwa(inthecenterofthediagrambesidethisparagraph)isnotnecessarilyadistinctivesoundeventhoughitisoftenrealizedasothervowels,itspatterningsuggeststhatitisaseparatephoneme(seethesubsectionSchwabelow).

Front

Central Backunrounded rounded

Closeoral

i y uClosemid e

o

Openmid()

nasal ()

Open

oral a ()

Lowvowels

Thephonemiccontrastbetweenfront/a/andback//isonlypartiallymaintainedinStandardFrench,leadingsomeresearcherstorejecttheideaoftwodistinctphonemes.[16]However,thedistinctionisstillclearlymaintainedinotherdialects,suchasthatofQuebec.[17]

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WhilespeakersinFranceshowsignificantvariationinthisarea,anumberofgeneraltendenciescanbeobserved.First,thedistinctionisbestpreservedinwordfinalstressedsyllablessuchasintheminimalpairs:

tache/ta/[ta]('stain'),vs.tche/t/[t]('task')rat/a/[a]('rat'),vs.ras//[]('short').

Therearecertainenvironmentsthatfavoronelowvowelovertheother.Forexample,//isfavoredafter/w/andbefore/z/:

trois[tw]('three'),gaz[z]('gas').[18]

Thedifferenceinqualityisoftenreinforcedbyadifferenceinlength(howeverthisdifferenceiscontrastiveinfinalclosedsyllables).Theexactdistributionofthetwovowelsvariesgreatlyfromspeakertospeaker.[19]

Back//ismuchrarerinunstressedsyllables.Itcanstillbeencounteredinsomecommonwords:

chteau[to]('castle'),pass[pse]('past').

Morphologicallycomplexwordsderivedfromwordscontainingstressed//mayormaynotretainthisvowel:

g/e/[e]('aged',fromge//[])rarissime/aisim()/[aisim]('veryrare',fromrare//[]).

Eveninafinalsyllable,back//maybecome[a]ifthewordinquestionlosesitsstresswithintheextendedphonologicalcontext:[18]

J'aitaubois/eeteobw/[e.ete.obwa]('Iwasinthewoods'),J'aitauboisdeVincennes/eeteobwdvsn/[e.ete.obwadvsn]('IwasintheVincenneswoods').

Midvowels

Althoughthemidvowelscontrastincertainenvironments,thereislimiteddistributionaloverlap,sothattheyoftenappearincomplementarydistribution.Generallyspeaking,closemidvowelsarefoundinopensyllables,whereasopenmidvowelsarefoundinclosedsyllables.Minimalpairscan,however,stillbefound:[21]

openmid//andclosemid/e/contrastinfinalpositionopensyllables,e.g.:

allait[al]('wasgoing'),vs.all[ale]('gone')

likewise,openmid//and//contrastwithclosemid/o/and//mostlyinclosedmonosyllables,suchas:

jeune[n]('young'),vs.jene[n]('fast',verb),

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ExamplewordsVowel Example

IPA Orthography GlossOralvowels

/i/ [si] si 'if'/e/ [fe] fe 'fairy'// [f] fait 'does'// [ft] fte 'party'// [s] ce 'this'/'that'// [s] sur 'sister'// [s] ceux 'those'/y/ [sy] su 'known'/u/ [su] sous 'under'/o/ [so] sot 'silly'// [s] sort 'fate'/a/ [sa] sa 'his'/'her',// [pt] pte 'dough'

Nasalvowels// [s] sans 'without'// [s] son 'his'// [b] brun 'brown'

//[20] [b] brin 'sprig'

roc[rk]('rock'),vs.rauque[rok]('hoarse'),Rhodes[rd]('Rhodes'),vs.rde[rod]('[I]lurk'),Paul[pl]('Paul',masculine),vs.Paule[pol]('Paule',feminine),bonne[bn]('good',f.),vs.Beaune[bon]('Beaune',thecity).

Beyondthisgeneralrule,knownastheloidepositionamongFrenchphonologists,[22]therearesomecomplications.Forinstance,/o/and//arefoundinclosedsyllablesendingin[z],whereasonly[]isfoundinclosedmonosyllablesbefore[],[],and[].[23]

Nasalvowels

Thephoneticqualitiesofthebacknasalvowelsarenotverysimilartothoseofthecorrespondingoralvowels,andthecontrastingfactorthatdistinguishes//and//istheextraliproundingofthelatteraccordingtosomelinguists,[24]butotherlinguistshavecometotheconclusionthatthemaindifferenceisintongueheight.[25]Thespeakerswhoproduceboth//and//distinguishthemmainlythroughincreasedliproundingoftheformer,butmanyspeakersuseonlythelatterphoneme,especiallyspeakersinParisandmostofthenorthofFrance(butnotfarthernorth,inBelgium).[24][25]

Insomedialects,particularlythatofEurope,thereisanattestedtendencyfornasalvowelstoshiftinacounterclockwisedirection.Thatis//tendstobemoreopenandshiftstowardthevowelspaceof//(realizedalsoas[]),//risesandroundsto[](realizedalsoas[]),and//shiftsto[]or[].Apartfromthis,therealsoexistsanoppositemovementfor//whereitbecomesmoreopenandunroundsto[],resultinginamergerofStandardFrench//and//inthiscase.[25][26]InQuebecFrench,thisshifthastheclockwisedirection://[],//[],//[].[27]

Schwa

Whenphoneticallyrealized,schwa(//),alsocalled"ecaduc"("droppede")and"emuet"("mutee"),isamidcentralvowelwithsomerounding.[21]Manyauthorsconsiderittobephoneticallyidenticalto[].[28][29]Fagyal,Kibbee&Jenkins(2006)statemorespecificallythatitmergeswith//beforehighvowelsandglides:

nettet/ntte/[ntte]('clarity'),atelier/atlje/[atlje]('workshop'),

inphrasefinalstressedposition:

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disle!/dil/[dil]('sayit'),

andthatitmergeswith[]elsewhere.[30]Butsomespeakersmakeacleardistinction,anditexhibitsspecialphonologicalbehaviorthatwarrantsconsideringitadistinctphoneme.Furthermore,thismergeroccursmainlyinFrenchasspokeninFranceinQuebec,//and//aredistinguished.[31]

ThemaincharacteristicofFrenchschwaisits"instability"i.e.thefactthatundercertainconditionsithasnophoneticrealization.

Thisisusuallythecasewhenitfollowsasingleconsonantinamedialsyllable:

rappeler/aple/[aple]('torecall'),

Itismostfrequentlymuteinwordfinalposition:

table/tabl()/[tabl]('table').

Wordfinalschwasareoptionallypronouncedifprecededbytwoormoreconsonantsandfollowedbyaconsonantinitialword:

uneporteferme/yn()pt()fme/[ynpt()fme]('acloseddoor').

Inthefutureandconditionalformsoferverbs,however,theschwacanbeoptionallydeletedevenaftertwoconsonants:

tugarderais/tyad/[tyad()]('youwouldguard'),nousbrusquerons[leschoses]/nubysk/[nubysk()]('wewillprecipitate[things]').

Ontheotherhand,itispronouncedwordinternallywhenitfollowsmorepronouncedconsonantsthatcannotbecombinedintoacomplexonsetwiththeinitialconsonantsofthenextsyllable:

gredin/d/[d]('scoundrel'),septpetits/stpti/[stpti]('sevenlittleones').[32]

Pronouncing[]with[]isawaytoemphasizethesyllable.Forinstance,pronouncingbiberon('babybottle')[bibr]insteadof[bibr]isawaytodrawattentiontothee(toclarifyspelling,forexample).

InFrenchversification,wordfinalschwaisalwayselidedbeforeanothervowelandattheendsofverses.Itispronouncedbeforeafollowingconsonantinitialword.[33]Forexampleunegrandefemmefutici[yn()d()fam()fytisi],wouldbepronounced[yndfamfytisi],withthe//attheendofeachwordbeingpronounced.

Schwacannotnormallyberealizedasacentralvowel([])inclosedsyllables.Insuchcontextsininflectionalandderivationalmorphology,schwausuallyalternateswiththefrontvowel//.Compare,forexample:

harceler/asle/[asle]('toharass'),with[il]harcle/asl/[asl]('[he]harasses').[34]

Athreewayalternationcanbeobservedinafewcasesforanumberofspeakers:

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appeler/aple/[ap()le]('tocall'),j'appelle/apl/[apl]('Icall'),appellation/apelasj/[apelasj]('brand'),butthisformcanalsobepronounced[ap(l)lasj].[35]

Instancesoforthographicethatdonotexhibitthebehaviordescribedabovemaybebetteranalyzedascorrespondingtothestable,fullvowel//.Theencliticpronounle,forexample,obligatorilykeepsitsvowelincontextslikedonnezlemoi/dnelmwa/[dnelmwa]('giveittome')whereschwadeletionwouldnormallyapply,anditcountsasafullsyllableforthedeterminationofstress.

Casesofwordinternalstableearemoresubjecttovariationamongspeakers,butforexampleunrebelle/bl/[bl]('arebel')mustbepronouncedwithafullvowel,incontrasttounrebond/b/[b]or[b]('abounce').[36]

Length

Withtheexceptionofthedistinctionmadebysomespeakersbetween//and//inrareminimalpairslikemettre[mt]('toput')vs.matre[mt]('teacher'),variationinvowellengthisentirelyallophonic.Vowelscanbelengthenedinclosed,stressedsyllables,underthefollowingtwoconditions:

/o/,//,//,andthenasalvowelsarelengthenedbeforeanyconsonant.E.g.pte[pt]('dough'),chante[t]('sings').Allvowelsarelengthenediffollowedbyoneoftheconsonants/v/,/z/,//,//(notincombination),orbythecluster/v/.E.g.mer/mre[m]('sea/mother'),crise[kiz]('crisis'),livre[liv]('book').[37]However,wordssuchas(ils)servent[sv]('(they)serve')ortarte[tat]('pie')arepronouncedwithshortvowels,sincethe//appearsinclustersotherthan/v/.

Whensuchsyllableslosetheirstress,thelengtheningeffectmaybeabsent.Thevowel[o]ofsauteislonginRegardecommeellesaute!whereitisfinal,butnotinQu'estcequ'ellesautebien!.[38]Inthiscase,thevowelisunstressedbecauseitisnotphrasefinal.Anexceptionoccurshoweverwiththephoneme//becauseofitsdistinctivenature,provideditiswordfinal,asinC'estunefteimportante,wherefteispronouncedwithlong//despitebeingunstressedinthatposition.[38]

Thefollowingtablepresentsthepronunciationofarepresentativesampleofwordsinphrasefinal(stressed)position:

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phonemevowelvalueinclosedsyllable vowelvaluein

opensyllablenonlengtheningconsonant lengtheningconsonant/i/ habite [a.bit] livre [liv] habit [a.bi]/e/ t [e.te]// faites [ft] faire [f] fait [f]// fte [ft] rve [v] // jeune [n] uvre [v] // le [l]// jene [n] joyeuse [wa.jz] joyeux [wa.j]/y/ dbute [de.byt] juge [y] dbut [de.by]/u/ bourse [bus] bouse [buz] bout [bu]/o/ saute [sot] rose [oz] saut [so]// sotte [st] mort [m] /a/ rate [at] rage [a] rat [a]// appte [a.pt] rase [z] appt [a.p]// pende [pd] genre [] pends [p]// rponse [e.ps] ponge [e.p] rponds [e.p]// emprunte [.pt] grunge [] emprunt [.p]// teinte [tt] quinze [kz] teint [t]

Elision

Thefinalvowel(mostoften//)ofanumberofmonosyllabicfunctionwordsiselidedinsyntacticcombinationswithafollowingwordthatbeginswithavowel.Forexample,comparethepronunciationoftheunstressedsubjectpronoun,injedors/d/[d]('Iamsleeping'),andinj'arrive/aiv/[aiv]('Iamarriving').

Glidesanddiphthongs

Theglides[j],[w],and[]appearinsyllableonsets,immediatelyfollowedbyafullvowel.Inmanycasestheyalternatesystematicallywiththeirvowelcounterparts[i],[u],and[y],forexampleinthefollowingpairsofverbforms:

nie[ni]nier[nje]('deny')loue[lu]louer[lwe]('rent')tue[ty]tuer[te]('kill')

Theglidesintheseexamplescanbeanalyzedastheresultofaglideformationprocessthatturnsanunderlyinghighvowelintoaglidewhenfollowedbyanothervowel:e.g./nie/[nje].

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Thisprocessisusuallyblockedafteracomplexonsetoftheformobstruent+liquid(thatis,astoporafricativefollowedby/l/or//).Forexample,whilethepairloue/louershowsanalternationbetween[u]and[w],thesamesuffixaddedtocloue[klu],awordwithacomplexonset,doesnottriggertheglideformation:clouer[klue]('tonail')Somesequencesofglide+vowelcanbefoundafterobstruentliquidonsets,however.Themainexamplesare[i],asinpluie[pli]('rain'),[wa],and[w].[39]Suchdatacanbedealtwithindifferentways,forexamplebyaddingappropriatecontextualconditionstotheglideformationrule,orbyassumingthatthephonemicinventoryofFrenchincludesunderlyingglides,orrisingdiphthongslike/i/and/wa/.[40][41]

Glideformationnormallydoesnotoccuracrossmorphemeboundariesincompoundslikesemiaride('semiarid').[42]However,incolloquialregisters,glideformationcanbeobservedacrossmorphemeorwordboundaries:sielle[sil]('ifshe')canbepronouncedjustlikeciel[sjl]('sky'),ortuas[tya]('youhave')liketua[ta]('[he]killed').[43]

Theglide[j]canalsooccurinsyllablecodaposition,afteravowel,asinsoleil[slj]('sun').Hereagain,onecanformulateaderivationfromanunderlyingfullvowel/i/,butthisanalysisisnotalwaysadequate,giventheexistenceofpossibleminimalpairslikepays[pi]('country')/paye[pj]('paycheck')andabbaye[abi]('abbey')/abeille[abj]('bee').[44]Schane(1968)proposesanabstractanalysisderivingpostvocalic[j]fromanunderlyinglateralbypalatalizationandglideconversion(/li////j/).[45]

Stress

WordstressisnotdistinctiveinFrench.Thismeansthattwowordscannotbedistinguishedonthebasisofstressplacementalone.Infact,grammaticalstresscanonlyfallonthefinalfullsyllableofaFrenchword(thatis,thefinalsyllablewithavowelotherthanschwa).Monosyllableswithschwaastheironlyvowel(ce,de,que,etc.)aregenerallyunstressedcliticsbutexceptionallymayreceivestress.[28]

ThedifferencebetweenstressedandunstressedsyllablesinFrenchislessmarkedthaninEnglish.Vowelsinunstressedsyllableskeeptheirfullquality,givingrisetoasyllabletimedrhythm(seeIsochrony).Moreover,wordslosetheirstresstovaryingdegreeswhenpronouncedinphrasesandsentences.Ingeneral,onlythelastwordinaphonologicalphraseretainsitsfullgrammaticalstress(onitslastsyllableunlessthisisaschwa).[46]

Emphaticstress

Emphaticstressisusedtocallattentiontoaspecificelementinagivencontext,forexampletoexpressacontrastortoreinforcetheemotivecontentofaword.InFrench,thisstressfallsonthefirstconsonantinitialsyllableofthewordinquestion.Thecharacteristicsassociatedwithemphaticstressinclude:increasedamplitudeandpitchofthevowelandgeminationoftheonsetconsonant,asmentionedabove.[47]

C'estparfaitementvrai.[spaftmv]('It'sperfectlytrue.'Noemphaticstress)C'estparfaitementvrai.[s(p)paftmv](emphaticstressonparfaitement)

Forwordsthatbeginwithavowel,emphaticstressfallseitheronthefirstnoninitialsyllablethatbeginswithaconsonant,orontheinitialsyllablewiththeinsertionofaglottalstoporaliaisonconsonant.

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C'estpouvantable.[ste(p)puvtabl]('It'sterrible.'Emphaticstressonsecondsyllableofpouvantable)C'estpouvantable[s(t)tepuvtabl](initialsyllablewithliaisonconsonant[t])C'estpouvantable[sepuvtabl](initialsyllablewithglottalstopinsertion)

Intonation

FrenchintonationdifferssubstantiallyfromthatofEnglish.[48]Therearefourprimarypatterns.

Thecontinuationpatternisariseinpitchoccurringinthelastsyllableofarhythmgroup(typicallyaphrase).Thefinalitypatternisasharpfallinpitchoccurringinthelastsyllableofadeclarativestatement.Theyes/nointonationisasharpriseinpitchoccurringinthelastsyllableofayes/noquestion.Theinformationquestionintonationisarapidfallofffromhighpitchonthefirstwordofanonyes/noquestion,oftenfollowedbyasmallriseinpitchonthelastsyllableofthequestion.

Seealso

HistoryofFrenchPhonologicalhistoryofFrenchVarietiesofFrenchFrenchorthographyReformsofFrenchorthographyPhonologieduFranaisContemporainQuebecFrenchphonology

Notes

1. MapbasedonTrudgill(1974:221)2. Fougeron&Smith(1993:79)3. Ladefoged&Maddieson(1996:192)4. Adams(1975:288)5. PhonologicalVariationinFrench:IllustrationsfromThreeContinents(http://books.google.ca/books?

id=doYT4VXnhnAC&pg=PA326&lpg=PA326&dq=/%C9%B2/+is+merging+with+/nj/+in+france&source=bl&ots=lnaybD5zcI&sig=KgM38kqEAf2D0dp_eZtS0Q9zkUI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YOmXUemkJ6230gG8lYGwAg&ved=0CFEQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=%2F%C9%B2%2F%20is%20merging%20with%20%2Fnj%2F%20in%20france&f=false),editedbyRandallScottGess,ChantalLyche,TrudelMeisenburg.

6. Wells(1989:44)7. Grevisse&Goosse(2011,32,b)8. Fougeron&Smith(1993:75)9. Grevisse&Goosse(2011,33,b),Fagyal,Kibbee&Jenkins(2006:47)

10. Recasens(2013:1113)11. Fougeron&Smith(1993:7475)12. Tranel(1987:149150)13. Yaguello(1991),citedinFagyal,Kibbee&Jenkins(2006:51)14. Tranel(1987:150)15. Tranel(1987:151153)16. "SomephoneticiansclaimthattherearetwodistinctasinFrench,butevidencefromspeakertospeakerand

sometimeswithinthespeechofasinglespeakeristoocontradictorytogiveempiricalsupporttothisclaim."

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References

Adams,DouglasQ.(1975),"TheDistributionofRetractedSibilantsinMedievalEurope",Language(LinguisticSocietyofAmerica)51(2):282292,doi:10.2307/412855(https://dx.doi.org/10.2307%2F412855),JSTOR412855(https://www.jstor.org/stable/412855)Anderson,StephenR.(1982),"TheAnalysisofFrenchShwa:Or,HowtoGetSomethingfor

sometimeswithinthespeechofasinglespeakeristoocontradictorytogiveempiricalsupporttothisclaim."Casagrande(1984:20)

17. Postriorisationdu/a/(http://www.ciral.ulaval.ca/phonetique/phono/r30.htm)18. Tranel(1987:64)19. "Forexample,somehavethefront[a]incasse'breaks',andtheback[]intasse'cup',butforothersthereverse

istrue.Therearealso,ofcourse,thosewhousethesamevowel,either[a]or[],inbothwords."Tranel(1987:48)

20. JohnC.Wellsprefersthesymbol[],asthevowelhasbecomemoreopeninrecenttimes:http://phoneticblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/frenchnasalizedvowels.html

21. Fougeron&Smith(1993:73)22. Morin(1986)23. Lon(1992:?)24. Fougeron&Smith(1993:74)25. Fagyal,Kibbee&Jenkins2006,p.3334.26. Hansen,AnitaBerit(1998).Lesvoyellesnasalesdufranaisparisienmoderne.Aspectslinguistiques,

sociolinguistiquesetperceptuelsdeschangementsencours(inFrench).MuseumTusculanumPress.ISBN8772894954.

27. OralarticulationofnasalvowelinFrench(http://www.icphs2011.hk/resources/OnlineProceedings/RegularSession/Carignan/Carignan.pdf)

28. Anderson(1982:537)29. Tranel(1987:88)30. Fagyal,Kibbee&Jenkins(2006:59)31. Timbreduschwaenfranaisetvariationrgionale:untudecomparative(http://www.afcp

parole.org/doc/Archives_JEP/2008_XXVIIe_JEP_Avignon/PDF/avignon2008_pdf/JEP/072_jep_1653.pdf)retrieved14July2013

32. Tranel(1987:88105)33. Casagrande(1984:22829)34. Anderson(1982:54446)35. Fagyal,Kibbee&Jenkins(2006:63)for[e],TLFi,s.v.appellation(http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/appellation)

for[].36. Tranel(1987:9899)37. Walker(1984:2527),Tranel(1987:4951)38. Walker(2001:46)39. Thelattertwocorrespondtoorthographicoi,asintrois[twa]('three'),whichcontrastswithdisyllabictroua

[tua]('[he]punctured').40. Fagyal,Kibbee&Jenkins(2006:3739)41. Chitoran(2002:206)42. Chitoran&Hualde(2007:45)43. Fagyal,Kibbee&Jenkins(2006:39)44. Fagyal,Kibbee&Jenkins(2006:39).Thewordspaysandabbayearemorefrequentlypronounced[pei]and

[abei].45. Schane(1968:5760)46. Tranel(1987:194200)47. Tranel(1987:200201)48. Lian(1980)

6/22/2015 FrenchphonologyWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=French_phonology&printable=yes 13/14

WikimediaCommonshasmediarelatedtoFrenchpronunciation.

Nothing",Language58(3):534573,doi:10.2307/413848(https://dx.doi.org/10.2307%2F413848),JSTOR413848(https://www.jstor.org/stable/413848)Casagrande,Jean(1984),TheSoundSystemofFrench,Washington,DC:GeorgetownUniversityPress,ISBN0878400850Chitoran,IoanaHualde,JosIgnacio(2007),"Fromhiatustodiphthong:theevolutionofvowelsequencesinRomance",Phonology24:3775,doi:10.1017/S095267570700111X(https://dx.doi.org/10.1017%2FS095267570700111X)Chitoran,Ioana(2002),"AperceptionproductionstudyofRomaniandiphthongsandglidevowelsequences",JournaloftheInternationalPhoneticAssociation32(2):203222,doi:10.1017/S0025100302001044(https://dx.doi.org/10.1017%2FS0025100302001044)Fagyal,ZsuzsannaKibbee,DouglasJenkins,Fred(2006).French:alinguisticintroduction(http://www.books.google.com/books?id=4yTA6SvGuekC).Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.ISBN0521821444.Fougeron,CecileSmith,CarolineL(1993),"IllustrationsoftheIPA:French",JournaloftheInternationalPhoneticAssociation23(2):7376,doi:10.1017/S0025100300004874(https://dx.doi.org/10.1017%2FS0025100300004874)Grevisse,MauriceGoosse,Andr(2011).LeBonusage(inFrench).LouvainlaNeuve:DeBoeckDuculot.ISBN9782801116425.Lon,P.(1992),Phontismeetprononciationsdufranais,Paris:NathanLadefoged,PeterMaddieson,Ian(1996).TheSoundsoftheWorld'sLanguages.Oxford:Blackwell.ISBN0631198148.Lian,AP(1980),IntonationPatternsofFrench(http://www.andrewlian.com/andrewlian/prowww/ipf_teacher/ipf_teacher.pdf)(PDF),Melbourne:RiverSeinePublications,ISBN0909367213Morin,YvesCharles(1986),"Laloidepositionoudel'explicationenphonologiehistorique",Revuequbcoisedelinguistique15:199231Recasens,Daniel(2013),"Onthearticulatoryclassificationof(alveolo)palatalconsonants",JournaloftheInternationalPhoneticAssociation43(1):122,doi:10.1017/S0025100312000199(https://dx.doi.org/10.1017%2FS0025100312000199)Schane,SanfordA.(1968),FrenchPhonologyandMorphology,Cambridge,MA:M.I.T.Press,ISBN0262190400Tranel,Bernard(1987),TheSoundsofFrench:AnIntroduction,Cambridge,NewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress,ISBN0521315107Walker,Douglas(2001),FrenchSoundStructure,UniversityofCalgaryPress,ISBN1552380335Wells,J.C.(1989),"ComputerCodedPhonemicNotationofIndividualLanguagesoftheEuropeanCommunity",JournaloftheInternationalPhoneticAssociation19(1):3154,doi:10.1017/S0025100300005892(https://dx.doi.org/10.1017%2FS0025100300005892)Yaguello,Marina(1991),"LesgminesdeM.Rocard",Encoutantparlerlalangue,Paris:Seuil,pp.6470

Externallinks

ForeignServiceInstitute'sfreelydownloadablecourseonFrenchphonologyfromtheirextensiveLanguageMaterials(http://fsilanguagecourses.org/Content.php):

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FrenchpronunciationguideforEnglishspeakers(http://pronouncefrench.net/)

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LargecollectionofrecordingsofFrenchwords(http://shtooka.net/collections/fra/en/)mp3AudioPronunciationofFrenchvowels,consonantsandalphabet(http://www.parisbypod.com/category/weeklyfrenchprogram/pronunciation/)FrenchVowelsDemonstratedbyaNativeSpeaker(youtube)(http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=RJVxe4inqyg)FrenchConsonantsDemonstratedbyaNativeSpeaker(youtube)(http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=UftN73gl8sg)

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