This article is part of the series on: French language

Langues d'oïl Dialects Creoles Francophonie History Oaths of Strasbourg Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts Anglo-Norman Grammar Adverbs Articles and determiners Pronouns Personal pronouns Verbs Conjugation Verb morphology Orthography Alphabet Reforms Use of the circumflex Phonology Elision Liaison Aspirated h Wikipedia IPA for French

This box:

This article mainly discusses the phonological system of standard French based on the Parisian dialect. French is notable for 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 /ǝ/ (schwa) are elided (e.g. when final before an initial vowel); and enchaînement (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 laissé la fenêtre ouverte.
• Meaning: "We left the window open."
• In isolation: /nu avɔ̃ lese la fǝnɛːtʁ uvɛʁt/
• Together: [nu.za.vɔ̃.le.se.laf.nɛː.tʁu.vɛʁt]

  Consonants

Where symbols for consonants occur in pairs, the left represents a voiceless consonant and the right represents a voiced consonant.

  Distribution of guttural R (e.g. [ʁ ʀ χ]) in Northern Europe in the 1960s.^[1]

  not usual

  only in some educated speech

  usual in educated speech

  general

Phonetic notes:

^1 In current pronunciation, /ɲ/ is merging with /nj/.^{[citation needed]}

^2 The velar nasal /ŋ/ 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 [ɲ] (or even with the spelling pronunciation [ɛ̃ɡ]).^[3]

^3 The approximants [j], [ɥ] 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 /ʎ/ (French: l mouillé [ɛl 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. [ʀ], [ʁ] (both the fricative and the approximant), [χ], [r], and [ɾ] will all be recognized as "r",^[4] but most^[which?] of them will be considered dialectal. See map at right.

  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 [ʁː] is found in the future and conditional forms of the verbs courir ('to run') and mourir ('to die'). The conditional form il mourrait [ilmuʁːɛ] ('he would die'), for example, contrasts with the imperfect form il mourait [ilmuʁɛ] ('he was dying'). Other verbs that have a double ⟨rr⟩ orthographically in the future and conditional are pronounced with a simple [ʁ]: il pourra ('he will be able to'), il verra ('he will see').

When the prefix in- combines with a base that begins with n, the resulting word can optionally be pronounced with a geminate [nː], and similarly for the variants of the same prefix im-, il-, ir-:

• inné [in(ː)e] ('innate')
• immortel [im(ː)ɔʁtɛl] ('immortal')
• illisible [il(ː)izibl] ('illegible')
• irresponsable [iʁ(ː)ɛspɔ̃sabl] ('irresponsible')

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 n l ʁ/ is "generally considered affected or pedantic".^[9] Examples of stylistically marked pronunciations include addition [adːisjɔ̃] ('addition') and intelligence [ɛ̃telːiʒɑ̃s] ('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. là-dedans [laddɑ̃] ('inside'), l'honnêteté [lɔnɛtte] ('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 [lː] when it appears after a vowel:

• Je l'ai vu [ʒǝl(ː)ɛvy] ('I saw it')
• Il faut l'attraper [ilfol(ː)atʁape] ('it must be caught')

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

• formidable [fːɔʁmidabl] ('terrific')
• épouvantable [epːuvɑ̃tabl] ('horrible')

  Liaison

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 /dø/ ('two') is pronounced [dø] in isolation or before a consonant-initial word (deux jours /dø ʒuʁ/ → [døʒuːʁ] 'two days'), but in deux ans /døz‿ɑ̃/ ('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 /ɑ/.

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).

  Low vowels

The phonemic contrast between front /a/ and back /ɑ/ 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 /taʃ/ → [ˈtaʃ] ('stain'), vs. tâche /tɑʃ/ → [ˈtɑːʃ] ('task')

rat /ʁa/ → [ˈʁa] ('rat'), vs. ras /ʁɑ/ → [ˈʁɑ] ('short').

There are certain environments that favor one low vowel over the other. For example, /ɑ/ is favored after /ʁw/ and before /z/:

trois [ˈtʁwɑ] ('three'),

gaz [ɡɑːz] ('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 /ɑ/ is much rarer in unstressed syllables. It can still be encountered in some common words:

château [ʃɑˑto] ('castle'),

passé [pɑˑse] ('past').

Morphologically complex words derived from words containing stressed /ɑ/ may or may not retain this vowel:

âgé /ɑʒe/ → [ɑˑˈʒe] ('aged', from âge /ɑʒ/ → [ˈɑːʒ])

rarissime /ʁaʁisim(ə)/ → [ʁaʁiˈsim] ('very rare', from rare /ʁɑʁ/ → [ˈʁɑːʁ]).

Even in a final syllable, back /ɑ/ may become [a] if the word in question loses its stress within the extended phonological context:^[13]

J'ai été au bois /ʒe ete o bwɑ/ → [ʒeeteoˈbwɑ] ('I was in the woods'),

J'ai été au bois de Vincennes /ʒe ete o bwɑ dǝvɛ̃sɛn/ → [ʒeeteobwadvɛ̃ˈsɛn] ('I was in the Vincennes woods').

  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]

• open-mid /ɛ/ and close-mid /e/ contrast in final-position open syllables, e.g.:

  allait [alɛ] ('was going'), vs. allé [ale] ('gone');

• likewise, open-mid /ɔ/ and /œ/ contrast with close-mid /o/ and /ø/ mostly in closed monosyllables, such as:

  jeune [ˈʒœn] ('young'), vs. jeûne [ˈʒøːn] ('fast', verb),

  roc [ˈrɔk] ('rock'), vs. rauque [ˈroːk] ('hoarse'),

  Rhodes [ˈrɔd] ('Rhodes'), vs. rôde [ˈroːd] ('[I] lurk'),

  Paul [ˈpɔl] ('Paul', masculine), vs. Paule [ˈpoːl] ('Paule', feminine),

  bonne [ˈbɔn] ('good', f.), vs. Beaune [ˈboːn] ('Beaune', the city).

Beyond this general rule, there are some complications. For instance, /o/ and /ø/ are found in closed syllables ending in [z], while only [ɔ] is found in closed monosyllables before [ʁ], [ɲ], and [ɡ].^[17]

  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 /ɑ̃/ and /ɔ̃/ is the extra lip rounding of the latter.^[18] Many speakers have merged /œ̃/ with /ɛ̃/.^[18][19]

In some dialects, particularly that of Paris, there is an attested tendency for nasal vowels to shift in a counter-clockwise direction. That is /ɛ̃/ tends to be more open and shifts toward the vowel space of /ɑ̃/ (realized also as [æ̃]), /ɑ̃/ rises and labializes to [ɔ̃] (realized also as [ɒ̃]), and /ɔ̃/ shifts to [õ] or [ũ]. Apart from this, there also exists an opposite movement for /ɔ̃/ where it becomes more open and delabializes to [ɑ̃], resulting in a merger of Standard French /ɔ̃/ and /ɛ̃/ in this case.^[19][20] In Quebec French, this shift has the clockwise direction: /ɛ̃/ → [ẽ], [ɑ̃] → [æ̃], [ɔ̃] → [õ].^[19]

  Schwa

When phonetically realized, schwa (/ə/), 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 [œ].^[21][22] Fagyal, Kibbee & Jenkins (2006) state more specifically that it merges with /ø/ before high vowels and glides:

netteté /nɛtəte/ → [nɛtøte] ('clarity'),

atelier /atəlje/ → [atølje] ('workshop'),

in phrase-final stressed position:

dis-le ! /di lə/ → [diˈlø] ('say it'),

and that it merges with [œ] 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 /ʁapəle/ → [ʁaple] ('to recall'),

• It is most frequently mute in word-final position:

  table /tabl(ə)/ → [ˈtabl] ('table').

• Word-final schwas are optionally pronounced if preceded by two or more consonants and followed by a consonant-initial word:

  une porte fermée /yn(ə) pɔʁt(ə) fɛʁme/ → [ynpɔʁt(ə)fɛʁme] ('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 /ty ɡaʁdəʁɛ] → [tyɡaʁd(ə)ʁɛ] ('you would guard'),

  nous brusquerons [les choses] /nu bʁyskəʁɔ̃/ → [nubʁysk(ə)ʁɔ̃] ('we will precipitate [things]').

• 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 /ɡʁədɛ̃/ → [ɡʁədɛ̃] ('bum'),

  sept petits /sɛt pəti/ → [ˈsɛtpəti] ('seven little ones').^[24]

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

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 [yn(ə) ɡʁɑ̃d(ə) fam(ə) fyt‿isi], would be pronounced [ynəɡʁɑ̃dəfaməfytisi], with the /ə/ at the end of each word being pronounced.

Schwa cannot normally be realized as a central vowel ([œ]) in closed syllables. In such contexts in inflectional and derivational morphology, schwa usually alternates with the front vowel /ɛ/. Compare, for example:

harceler /aʁsəle/ → [aʁsœle] ('to harass'), with

[il] harcèle /aʁsɛl/ → [aʁsɛl] ('[he] harasses').^[26]

A three-way alternation can be observed in a few cases for a number of speakers:

appeler /apəle/ → [ap(œ)le] ('to call'),

j'appelle /ʒ‿apɛl/ → [ʒapɛl] ('I call'),

appellation /apelasjɔ̃/ → [apelasjɔ̃] ('brand'), but this form can also be pronounced [apɛ(l)lasjɔ̃].^[27]

Instances of orthographic ⟨e⟩ that do not exhibit the behavior described above may be better analyzed as corresponding to the stable, full vowel /œ/. The enclitic pronoun -le, for example, obligatorily keeps its vowel in contexts like donnez-le-moi /dɔne lə mwa/ → [dɔnelœmwa] ('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 /ɛ̃ ʁəbɛl/ → [ɛ̃ʁœbɛl] ('a rebel') must be pronounced with a full vowel, in contrast to un rebond /ɛ̃ ʁəbɔ̃/ → [ɛ̃ːʁœbɔ̃] or [ɛ̃ʁˈbɔ̃] ('a bounce').^[28]

  Length

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

• /o/, /ø/, /ɑ/, and the nasal vowels are lengthened before any consonant. E.g. pâte [pɑːt] ('pastry'), chante [ʃɑ̃ːt] ('sings').
• All vowels are lengthened if followed by one of the consonants /v/, /z/, /ʒ/, /ʁ/ (not in combination), or by the cluster /vʁ/. E.g. mer/mère [mɛːʁ] ('sea/mother'), crise [kʁiːz] ('crisis'), livre [liːvʁ] ('book').^[29] However, words such as (ils) servent [sɛʁv] ('(they) serve') or tarte [taʁt] ('pie') are pronounced with short vowels, since the /ʁ/ appears in clusters other than /vʁ/.

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 /ɛː/ because of its distinctive nature, provided it is word-final, as in C'est une fête importante, where fête is pronounced with long /ɛː/ despite being unstressed in that position.^[30]

The following table presents the pronunciation of a representative sample of words in phrase-final (stressed) position:

  Elision

The final vowel (most often /ə/) 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 /ʒə dɔʁ/ [ʒəˈdɔʁ] ('I am sleeping'), and in j'arrive /ʒ‿aʁiv/ [ʒaˈʁiv] ('I am arriving').

  Glides and diphthongs

The glides [j], [w], and [ɥ] 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 [tɥe] ('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 /ʁ/). 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 [ɥi], as in pluie [plɥi] ('rain'), [wa], and [wɛ̃].^[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 /ɥi/ 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 [siɛl] ('if she') can be pronounced just like ciel [sjɛl] ('sky'), or tu as [tya] ('you have') like tua [tɥa] ('[he] killed').^[35]

The glide [j] can also occur in syllable coda position, after a vowel, as in soleil [sɔlɛj] ('sun'). Here again, one can formulate a derivation from an underlying full vowel /i/, but this analysis is not always adequate, given the existence of possible minimal pairs like pays [pɛi] ('country') / paye [pɛj] ('paycheck') and abbaye [abɛi] ('abbey') / abeille [abɛj] ('bee').^[36] Schane (1968) proposes an abstract analysis deriving postvocalic [j] from an underlying lateral by palatalization and glide conversion (/li/ → /ʎ/ → /j/).^[37]

  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 consonant-initial 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. [sɛpaʁfɛtmɑ̃ˈvʁɛ] ('It's perfectly true.' No emphatic stress)
• C'est parfaitement vrai. [sɛ(p)ˈpaʁfɛtmɑ̃vʁɛ] (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 épouvantable. [sɛte(p)ˈpuvɑ̃tabl] ('It's terrible.' Emphatic stress on second syllable of épouvantable)
• C'est épouvantable [sɛ(t)ˈtepuvɑ̃tabl] (initial syllable with liaison consonant [t])
• C'est épouvantable [sɛtˈʔepuvɑ̃tabl] (initial syllable with glottal stop insertion)

  Intonation

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 non-yes/no question, often followed by a small rise in pitch on the last syllable of the question.

  See also

French language and French-speaking world portal

• History of French
• Reforms of French orthography
• Varieties of French
• French orthography
• Phonologie du Français Contemporain

  Notes

  References

• Anderson, Stephen R. (1982), "The Analysis of French Shwa: Or, How to Get Something for Nothing", Language 58 (3): 534–573, DOI:10.2307/413848, JSTOR 413848 
• Casagrande, Jean (1984), The Sound System of French, Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, ISBN 0-87840-085-0 
• Chitoran, Ioana; Hualde, José Ignacio (2007), "From hiatus to diphthong: the evolution of vowel sequences in Romance", Phonology 24: 37–75, DOI:10.1017/S095267570700111X 
• Chitoran, Ioana (2002), "A perception-production study of Romanian diphthongs and glide-vowel sequences", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 32 (2): 203–222, DOI:10.1017/S0025100302001044 
• Fagyal, Zsuzsanna; Kibbee, Douglas; Jenkins, Fred (2006). French: a linguistic introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-82144-4. http://www.books.google.com/books?id=4yTA6SvGuekC. 
• Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "Illustrations of the IPA:French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23 (2): 73–76, DOI:10.1017/S0025100300004874 
• Grevisse, Maurice; Goosse, André (2011) (in French). Le Bon usage. Louvain-la-Neuve: De Boeck Duculot. ISBN 978-2-8011-1642-5. 
• Léon, P. (1992), Phonétisme et prononciations du français, Paris: Nathan 
• Lian, A-P (1980), Intonation Patterns of French, Melbourne: River Seine Publications 
• Schane, Sanford A. (1968), French Phonology and Morphology, Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Press, ISBN 0-262-19040-0 
• Tranel, Bernard (1987), The Sounds of French: An Introduction, Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-31510-7 
• Walker, Douglas (1984), The Pronunciation of Canadian French, Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, ISBN 0-7766-4500-5, http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dcwalker/PronCF.pdf 
• Walker, Douglas (2001), French Sound Structure, University of Calgary Press, ISBN 1-55238-033-5 
• Wells, J.C. (1989), "Computer-Coded Phonemic Notation of Individual Languages of the European Community", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 19 (1): 31–54, DOI:10.1017/S0025100300005892 
• Yaguello, Marina (1991), "Les géminées de M. Rocard", En écoutant parler la langue, Paris: Seuil, pp. 64–70 

  External links

• Foreign Service Institute's freely downloadable course on French phonology from their extensive Language Materials:

• Introduction to French Phonology (audio)
• Introduction to French Phonology (student & teacher texts)

• Large collection of recordings of French words^{[dead link]}
• French Pronunciation at Indian Auteur^{[dead link]}
• mp3 Audio Pronunciation of French vowels, consonants and alphabet
• French Vowels Demonstrated by a Native Speaker (youtube)
• French Consonants Demonstrated by a Native Speaker (youtube)