French phonology

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For assistance with IPA transcriptions of French for Wikipedia articles, see WP:IPA for French. This article mainly discusses the phonological system of standard French based on the Parisian dialect. Notable phonological features of French include its uvular r, nasal vowels, and three processes affecting word-final sounds: liaison, a certain type of sandhi, wherein word-final consonants are not pronounced unless followed by a word beginning with a vowel; elision, wherein certain instances of // (schwa) are elided (e.g. when final before an initial vowel); and enchanement (resyllabification), in which word-final and word-initial consonants may be moved across a syllable boundary, so that syllables may cross word boundaries. An example of these various processes is as follows:

Written: Nous avons laiss la fentre ouverte. Meaning: "We left the window open." In isolation: / Together: /

Contents

1 Consonants 1.1 Geminates 1.2 Liaison 2 Vowels 2.1 Low vowels 2.2 Mid vowels 2.3 Nasal vowels 2.4 Schwa 2.5 Length 2.6 Elision 3 Glides and diphthongs 4 Stress 4.1 Emphatic stress 5 Intonation 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links

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Consonants
Where symbols for consonants occur in pairs, the left represents a voiceless consonant and the right represents a voiced consonant. IPA chart French consonants Palatal Labial Dental/ PalatoAlveolar alveolar plain lab. plain lab. m p b f v t s n d z
5

Velar Uvular

Nasal

()2 k

Plosive

Fricative

Approximant3

j4 l

Lateral

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Distribution of guttural R (e.g. not usual only in some educated speech usual in educated speech general

) in Northern Europe in the 1960s.[1]

Phonetic notes: ^1 In current pronunciation, // is merging with /nj/.[citation needed] ^2 The velar nasal // is not a native phoneme of French, but occurs in loan words in final position such as parking or camping.[2] Such words can also be heard pronounced with the sounds [n] or (or even with the spelling pronunciation ).[3] ^3 The approximants [j], and [w] correspond to /i/, /y/ and /u/ respectively. While there are a few minimal pairs (such as loua [lu.a] 's/he rented' and loi [lwa] 'law'), there are many cases where there is free variation.[4] ^4 Some dialects of French have a palatal lateral // (French: l mouill [l muje]), but in the standard variety this phoneme has merged with /j/.[5] See also Glides and diphthongs, below. ^5 The French rhotic has a wide range of realizations. , approximant), , [r], and will all be recognized as "r", dialectal. See map at right.
[4]

(both the fricative and the but most of them will be considered

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Example words[6]

IPA

Example

Gloss

IPA

Example

Gloss

/m/ [mu] mou

'soft'

/n/ [nu]

nous

'we, us'

//

o agneau 'lamb'

// p

ki parking 'parking lot'

/p/ [pu]

pou

'louse'

/b/ [bu]

boue

'mud'

/t/

[tu]

tout

'all'

/d/ [du]

doux

'sweet'

/k/ [ku]

cou

'neck'

//

got

'taste'

/f/

[fu]

fou

'crazy'

/v/ [vu]

vous

'you'

/s/ [su]

sous

'under'

/z/ [zo]

zoo

'zoo'

//

chou

'cabbage' //

joue

'cheek'

/l/

[lu]

loup

'wolf'

/ /

roue

'wheel'

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.[7] The pronunciation is found in the future and conditional forms of the verbs courir ('to run') and ('he would die'), for example, contrasts with ('he was dying'). Other verbs that have a double rr

mourir ('to die'). The conditional form il mourrait i m the imperfect form il mourait i m

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orthographically in the future and conditional are pronounced with a simple to'), il verra ('he will see').

: il pourra ('he will be able

When the prefix in- combines with a base that begins with n, the resulting word can optionally be pronounced with a geminate

, and similarly for the variants of the same prefix im-, il-, ir-:

inn i ( )

('innate') ('immortal') b ('irresponsible')

immortel im( )

illisible i ( )i ib ('illegible') irresponsable i ( ) p

Other cases of optional gemination can be found in words like syllabe ('syllable'), grammaire ('grammar'), and illusion ('illusion'). The pronunciation of such words, in many cases due to orthographic influence (see Spelling pronunciation), is subject to speaker variation, and gives rise to widely varying stylistic effects.[8] In particular, the gemination of consonants other than the liquids and nasals /m / is "generally [9] considered affected or pedantic". Examples of stylistically marked pronunciations include addition i ('addition') and intelligence i ('intelligence').

Gemination of doubled 'm' and 'n' 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.[10] The deletion of word-internal schwas (see below), for example, can give rise to sequences of identical consonants, e.g. l-dedans ('inside'), l'honntet ('honesty'). Gemination is obligatory in such contexts. The elided form of the object pronoun l' ('him/her/it') can optionally (in non-standard, popular speech) be realized as a geminate

when it appears after a vowel:

Je l'ai vu ( ) y ('I saw it') Il faut l'attraper i o ( ) p ('it must be caught')

Finally, a word pronounced with emphatic stress can exhibit gemination of its first syllable-initial consonant:

formidable pouvantable

mi p

b ('terrific') b ('horrible')

Liaison
Main article: Liaison (French) Many words in French can be analyzed as having a "latent" final consonant that is only pronounced in certain syntactic contexts when the next word begins with a vowel. For example, the word deux /d/ ('two') is pronounced [d] in isolation or before a consonant-initial word (deux jours / /

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 'two days'), but in deux ans /dz / ('two years'), the linking or liaison consonant /z/ is pronounced.

Vowels

Oral vowels of French. from Fougeron & Smith (1993:73). Unrounded vowels are shown to the left of the dots and rounded vowels the right. The speaker in question does not exhibit a contrast between /a/ and / /.

Standard French contrasts up to thirteen oral vowels and up to four nasal vowels. Note that the schwa (in the center of the diagram beside this paragraph) is not necessarily a distinctive sound; even though it is often realized as other vowels, its patterning suggests that it is a separate phoneme (see the sub-section Schwa below). Front Central Back
unrounded rounded

Close

i e

y ()

u o

Close-mid oral

( ) Open-mid

nasal

Open
oral

( )

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Low vowels
The phonemic contrast between front /a/ and back / / is only partially maintained in Standard French, leading some researchers to reject the idea of two distinct phonemes.[11] However, the distinction is still clearly maintained in other dialects, such as that of Quebec.[12] While speakers in France show significant variation in this area, a number of general tendencies can be observed. First, the distinction is best preserved in word-final stressed syllables such as in the minimal pairs: tache / / ('stain'), vs. tche / / rat / / ('rat'), vs. ras / / ('task')

] ('short').

There are certain environments that favor one low vowel over the other. For example, / / is favored after / w/ and before /z/: trois w gaz ('three'), ('gas').[13]

The difference in quality is often reinforced by a difference in length (however this difference is contrastive in final closed syllables). The exact distribution of the two vowels varies greatly from speaker to speaker.[14] Back / / is much rarer in unstressed syllables. It can still be encountered in some common words: chteau o ('castle'), pass p ('past').

Morphologically complex words derived from words containing stressed / / may or may not retain this vowel: g / / [ rarissime / ('aged', from ge / / ) / ).

i im()/

a i im ('very rare', from rare /

Even in a final syllable, back / / may become [a] if the word in question loses its stress within the extended phonological context:[13] J'ai t au bois / o bw / o bw obw ('I was in the woods'), / o bw ('I was in

J'ai t au bois de Vincennes / the Vincennes woods').

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Mid vowels
While the mid vowels contrast in certain environments, there is limited distributional overlap so that they often appear in complementary distribution. Generally speaking, close-mid vowels are found in open syllables, while open-mid vowels are found in closed syllables. Minimal pairs can, however, still be found:[16]

Example words Vowel Example IPA Orthography Gloss Oral vowels si 'if' /i/ [si] fe 'fairy' /e/ [fe] fait fte [s] [sy] [su] [so] [sa] p ce sur ceux su sous sot sort sa pte Nasal vowels sans son b brun brin b 'does' 'party' 'this'/'that' 'sister' 'those' 'known' 'under' 'silly' 'fate' 'his'/'her', 'dough' 'without' 'his' 'brown' 'sprig'

/ / open-mid / / and close-mid /e/ contrast in final-position / / open syllables, e.g.: allait ('was going'), vs. all [ale] ('gone'); // // // /y/ /u/ ('fast', verb), ('[I] lurk'), ('Paule', /o/ / / /a/ / / / / / / / /[15]

likewise, open-mid / / and // contrast with close-mid /o/ and // mostly in closed monosyllables, such as: jeune Rhodes r ('young'), vs. jene ('Rhodes'), vs. rde ro

roc r k ('rock'), vs. rauque ro k ('hoarse'), Paul p ] ('Paul', masculine), vs. Paule po feminine), bonne b city). ('good', f.), vs. Beaune bo

('Beaune', the

Beyond this general rule, there are some complications. For while only and .[17] is found in closed monosyllables before , ,

instance, /o/ and // are found in closed syllables ending in [z], //

Nasal vowels
The phonetic qualities of the back nasal vowels are not very similar to those of the corresponding oral vowels, and the contrasting factor that distinguishes / / and / / is the extra lip rounding of the latter.[18] Many speakers have merged // with / /.[18][19] In some dialects, particularly that of Europe, there is an attested tendency for nasal vowels to shift in a counter-clockwise direction. That is / / tends to be more open and shifts toward the vowel space of / / (realized also as delabializes to ), / / rises and labializes to (realized also as ), and / / shifts to [] or . Apart from this, there also exists an opposite movement for / / where it becomes more open and , resulting in a merger of Standard French / / and / / in this case.[19][20] In Quebec [], [].[19] French, this shift has the clockwise direction: / / [],

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Schwa
When phonetically realized, schwa (//), also called "e caduc" ('dropped e') and "e muet" ('mute e'), is a mid-central vowel with some rounding.[16] Many authors consider it to be phonetically identical to .[21][22] Fagyal, Kibbee & Jenkins (2006) state more specifically that it merges with // before high vowels and glides: nettet / atelier / / ('clarity'),

/ [atlje] ('workshop'),

in phrase-final stressed position: dis-le ! / i / i ('say it'),

and that it merges with elsewhere.[23] But some speakers make a clear distinction, and it exhibits special phonological behavior that warrants considering it a distinct phoneme. The main characteristic of French schwa is its "instability" i.e., the fact that under certain conditions it has no phonetic realization.

This is usually the case when it follows a single consonant in a medial syllable: rappeler / p / p ('to recall'),

It is most frequently mute in word-final position: table / b ()/ b ('table').

Word-final schwas are optionally pronounced if preceded by two or more consonants and followed by a consonant-initial word: une porte ferme /y () p () m / y p () m ('a closed door').

In the future and conditional forms of -er verbs, however, the schwa can be optionally deleted even after two consonants: tu garderais / y y () ('you would guard'), / b y k() ('we will precipitate

nous brusquerons [les choses] / [things]').

b y k

On the other hand, it is pronounced word-internally when it follows more pronounced consonants that cannot be combined into a complex onset with the initial consonants of the next syllable: gredin / / ('bum'),

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sept petits /

p i/

p i ('seven little ones').[24]

Pronouncing with is a way to emphasize the syllable. For instance, pronuncing biberon ('baby bottle') [bibr example). instead of [bibr is a way to draw attention to the e (to clarify spelling, for

In French versification, word-final schwa is always elided before another vowel and at the ends of verses. It is pronounced before a following consonant-initial word.[25] For example une grande femme fut ici y () () m() y isi], would be pronounced y m y i i , with the // at the end of each word being pronounced. Schwa cannot normally be realized as a central vowel ( ) in closed syllables. In such contexts in inflectional and derivational morphology, schwa usually alternates with the front vowel / /. Compare, for example: harceler / [il] harcle / / / ('to harass'), with ('[he] harasses').[26]

A three-way alternation can be observed in a few cases for a number of speakers: appeler / p / p() j'appelle / p / p appellation / p p () .
[27]

('to call'), ('I call'), p ('brand'), but this form can also be pronounced

Instances of orthographic e that do not exhibit the behavior described above may be better analyzed as corresponding to the stable, full vowel //. The enclitic pronoun -le, for example, obligatorily keeps its vowel in contexts like donnez-le-moi / mw / mw ('give it to me') where schwa deletion would normally apply, and it counts as a full syllable for the determination of stress. Cases of word-internal stable e are more subject to variation among speakers, but for example un rebelle / b / b b or ('a rebel') must be pronounced with a full vowel, in contrast to un rebond / b ('a bounce').
[28]

b /

Length
With the exception of the distinction made by some speakers between / / and / / in rare minimal pairs like mettre m ('to put') vs. matre m ('teacher'), variation in vowel length is entirely allophonic. Vowels can be lengthened in closed, stressed syllables, under the following two conditions:

/o/, //, / /, and the nasal vowels are lengthened before any consonant. E.g. pte p ('pastry'), chante ('sings').

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All vowels are lengthened if followed by one of the consonants /v/, /z/, //, / / (not in combination), or by the cluster / livre i ('book').
[29]

/. E.g. mer/mre m

('sea/mother'), crise k i

('crisis'), /.

However, words such as (ils) servent

('(they) serve') or tarte

('pie') are pronounced with short vowels, since the / / appears in clusters other than /

When such syllables lose their stress, the lengthening effect may be absent. The vowel [o] of saute is long in Regarde comme elle saute! where it is final, but not in Qu'est-ce qu'elle saute bien!.[30] In this case, the vowel is unstressed because it is not phrase-final. An exception occurs however with the phoneme / / because of its distinctive nature, provided it is word-final, as in C'est une fte importante, where fte is pronounced with long / / despite being unstressed in that position.[30] The following table presents the pronunciation of a representative sample of words in phrase-final (stressed) position: phoneme /i/ /e/ / / / / // // // /y/ /u/ /o/ / / /a/ / / / / / / // / / vowel value in closed syllable non-lengthening consonant lengthening consonant vowel value in open syllable i

habite faites fte jeune jene dbute bourse saute sotte rate appte pende rponse emprunte teinte

[a.bit] [ [de.byt] b o

livre faire rve r

habit t fait

[a.bi] [e.te]

w b o m p k

Fais-le ! joyeuse juge bouse rose mort rage joyeux w dbut boue saut
y

[de.by] [bu] [so]

rat appt pends rponds [ emprunt teint

p p p p

p p p p

rase genre ponge grunge quinze

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Elision
Main article: Elision (French) The final vowel (most often //) of a number of monosyllabic function words is elided in syntactic combinations with a following word that begins with a vowel. For example, compare the pronunciation of the unstressed subject pronoun, in je dors / / ('I am sleeping'), and in j'arrive / i / i ('I am arriving').

Glides and diphthongs

The glides [j], [w], and appear in syllable onsets, immediately followed by a full vowel. In many cases they alternate systematically with their vowel counterparts [i], [u], and [y], for example in the following pairs of verb forms: nie [ni]; nier [nje] ('deny') loue [lu]; louer [lwe] ('rent') tue [ty]; tuer ('kill')

The glides in these examples can be analyzed as the result of a glide formation process that turns an underlying high vowel into a glide when followed by another vowel: e.g. /nie/ [nje]. This process is usually blocked after a complex onset of the form obstruent + liquid (that is, a stop or a fricative followed by /l/ or / /). For example, while the pair loue/louer shows an alternation between [u] and [w], the same suffix added to cloue [klu], a word with a complex onset, does not trigger the glide formation: clouer [klue] ('to nail') Some sequences of glide + vowel can be found after obstruent-liquid onsets, however. The main examples are i , as in pluie p i ('rain'), [wa], and w .[31] Such data can be dealt with in different ways, for example by adding appropriate contextual conditions to the glide formation rule, or by assuming that the phonemic inventory of French includes underlying glides, or rising diphthongs like /i/ and /wa/.[32][33] Glide formation normally does not occur across morpheme boundaries in compounds like semi-aride ('semi-arid').[34] However, in colloquial registers, glide formation can be observed across morpheme or word boundaries: si elle have') like tua i ('if she') can be pronounced just like ciel
[35]

('sky'), or tu as [tya] ('you

('[he] killed').

The glide [j] can also occur in syllable coda position, after a vowel, as in soleil given the existence of possible minimal pairs like pays p i ('country') / paye p abbaye b i ('abbey') / abeille b ('bee').
[36]

('sun'). Here again, ('paycheck') and

one can formulate a derivation from an underlying full vowel /i/, but this analysis is not always adequate, Schane (1968) proposes an abstract analysis deriving

postvocalic [j] from an underlying lateral by palatalization and glide conversion (/li/ // /j/).[37]

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Stress
Word stress is not distinctive in French. This means that two words cannot be distinguished on the basis of stress placement alone. In fact, grammatical stress can only fall on the final full syllable of a French word (that is, the final syllable with a vowel other than schwa). Monosyllables with schwa as their only vowel (ce, de, que, etc.) are generally unstressed clitics, although they may receive stress in exceptional cases requiring separate treatment.[21] The difference between stressed and unstressed syllables in French is less marked than in English. Vowels in unstressed syllables keep their full quality, giving rise to a syllable-timed rhythm (see Isochrony). Moreover, words lose their stress to varying degrees when pronounced in phrases and sentences. In general, only the last word in a phonological phrase retains its full grammatical stress (on its last syllable, unless this is a schwa).[38]

Emphatic stress
Emphatic stress is used to call attention to a specific element in a given context, for example to express a contrast or to reinforce the emotive content of a word. In French, this stress falls on the first consonantinitial syllable of the word in question. The characteristics associated with emphatic stress include: increased amplitude and pitch of the vowel, and gemination of the onset consonant, as mentioned above.[39]

C'est parfaitement vrai. C'est parfaitement vrai.

p (p)p

m m

('It's perfectly true.' No emphatic stress) (emphatic stress on parfaitement)

For words that begin with a vowel, emphatic stress falls either on the first non-initial syllable that begins with a consonant, or on the initial syllable with the insertion of a glottal stop or a liaison consonant.

C'est pouvantable. pouvantable) C'est pouvantable C'est pouvantable

(p)p ( ) p p

b ('It's terrible.' Emphatic stress on second syllable of b (initial syllable with liaison consonant [t]) b (initial syllable with glottal stop insertion)

Intonation
Main article: Intonation (linguistics)#Intonation in French French intonation differs substantially from that of English.[40] There are four primary patterns.

The continuation pattern is a rise in pitch occurring in the last syllable of a rhythm group (typically a phrase). The finality pattern is a sharp fall in pitch occurring in the last syllable of a declarative statement. The yes/no intonation is a sharp rise in pitch occurring in the last syllable of a yes/no question. The information question intonation is a rapid fall-off from high pitch on the first word of a nonyes/no question, often followed by a small rise in pitch on the last syllable of the question.

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Notes
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. ^ Map based on Trudgill (1974:221) ^ Wells (1989:44) ^ Grevisse & Goosse (2011, 32, b) ^ a b Fougeron & Smith (1993:75) ^ Grevisse & Goosse (2011, 33, b), Fagyal, Kibbee & Jenkins (2006:47) ^ Fougeron & Smith (1993:7475) ^ Tranel (1987:149150) ^ Yaguello (1991), cited in Fagyal, Kibbee & Jenkins (2006:51) ^ Tranel (1987:150) ^ Tranel (1987:151153) ^ "Some phoneticians claim that there are two distinct as in French, but evidence from speaker to speaker and sometimes within the speech of a single speaker is too contradictory to give empirical support to this claim." Casagrande (1984:20) 12. ^ Postriorisation du / a / 13. ^ a b Tranel (1987:64) 14. ^ "For example, some have the front [a] in casse 'breaks', and the back in tasse 'cup', but for others the reverse is true. There are also, of course, those who use the same vowel, either [a] or , in both words." Tranel (1987:48) ^ John C. Wells http://phonetic-blog.blogspot.com/2010/07/french-nasalized-vowels.html ^ a b Fougeron & Smith (1993:73) ^ Lon (1992:?) ^ a b Fougeron & Smith (1993:74) ^ a b c Fagyal, Kibbee & Jenkins 2006, p. 33-34. ^ Hansen, Anita Berit (1998) (in French). Les voyelles nasales du franais parisien moderne. Aspects linguistiques, sociolinguistiques et perceptuels des changements en cours. Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 87-7289-495-4. ^ a b Anderson (1982:537) ^ Tranel (1987:88) ^ Fagyal, Kibbee & Jenkins (2006:59) ^ Tranel (1987:88105) ^ Casagrande (1984:22829) ^ Anderson (1982:54446) ^ Fagyal, Kibbee & Jenkins (2006:63) for [e], TLFi, s.v. appellation for ^ Tranel (1987:9899) ^ Walker (1984:2527), Tranel (1987:4951) ^ a b Walker (2001:46) w troua ('[he] punctured'). ^ Fagyal, Kibbee & Jenkins (2006:3739) ^ Chitoran (2002:206) ^ Chitoran & Hualde (2007:45) ^ Fagyal, Kibbee & Jenkins (2006:39) and [abei]. ^ Schane (1968:5760) ^ Tranel (1987:194200) ^ Tranel (1987:200201) ^ Lian (1980) .

15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30.

31. ^ The latter two correspond to orthographic oi, as in trois 32. 33. 34. 35.

('three'), which contrasts with disyllabic

36. ^ Fagyal, Kibbee & Jenkins (2006:39). The words pays and abbaye are more frequently pronounced [pei] 37. 38. 39. 40.

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