pronounced as /notice/
French phonology is the sound system of French. This article discusses mainly the phonology of all the varieties of Standard French. Notable phonological features include its uvular r, nasal vowels, and three processes affecting word-final sounds:
An example of the above is this:
| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar | Palatal/ Postalv. | Velar/ Uvular | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | |
| Plosive | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Fricative | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
Phonetic notes:
| Voiced | |||||||
| IPA | Example | Gloss | IPA | Example | Gloss | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as //p// | pronounced as //pu// | 'louse' | pronounced as //b// | pronounced as //bu// | 'mud' | ||
| pronounced as //t// | pronounced as //tu// | 'all', 'anything' (possibility) | pronounced as //d// | pronounced as //du// | 'sweet' (food, feelings), 'gentle' (person), 'mild' (weather) | ||
| pronounced as //k// | pronounced as //ku// | 'neck' | pronounced as //ɡ// | pronounced as //ɡu// | 'taste' | ||
| pronounced as //f// | pronounced as //fu// | 'crazy' | pronounced as //v// | pronounced as //vu// | 'you' | ||
| pronounced as //s// | pronounced as //su// | 'under', 'on' (drugs), 'in' (packaging), 'within' (times) | pronounced as //z// | pronounced as //zu// | 'shoo' | ||
| pronounced as //ʃ// | pronounced as //ʃu// | 'cabbage', 'lovely' (person, pet) | pronounced as //ʒ// | pronounced as //ʒu// | 'cheek' | ||
| pronounced as //m// | pronounced as //mu// | 'soft', 'weak' (stronger: person, actions) | |||||
| pronounced as //n// | pronounced as //nu// | 'we, us' | |||||
| pronounced as //ɲ// | pronounced as //ɲu// | 'gnu' (dated, pronounced as //ɡnu// in modern French) | |||||
| pronounced as //ŋ// | pronounced as //kuŋ.fu// | 'kung-fu' | |||||
| pronounced as //l// | pronounced as //lu// | 'wolf' | |||||
| pronounced as //ʁ// | pronounced as //ʁu// | 'wheel' | |||||
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.
The geminate pronunciation pronounced as /[ʁʁ]/ is found in the future and conditional forms of the verbs ('to run') and ('to die'). The conditional form il mourrait pronounced as /[il.muʁ.ʁɛ]/ ('he would die'), for example, contrasts with the imperfect form il mourait pronounced as /[il.mu.ʁɛ]/ ('he was dying'). In some other words, most modern speakers have reduced pronounced as /[ʁʁ]/ to pronounced as /[ʁ]/, such as "il pourrait" ('he could'). Other verbs that have a double (rr) orthographically in the future and conditional are pronounced with a simple pronounced as /[ʁ]/: il pourra ('he will be able to'), il verra ('he will see').
When the prefix combines with a base that begins with n, the resulting word is sometimes pronounced with a geminate pronounced as /[nn]/ and similarly for the variants of the same prefix im-, il-, ir-:
Other cases of optional gemination can be found in words like ('syllable'), ('grammar'), and ('illusion'). The pronunciation of such words, in many cases, a spelling pronunciation varies by speaker and gives rise to widely varying stylistic effects.[2] In particular, the gemination of consonants other than the liquids and nasals pronounced as //m n l ʁ// is "generally considered affected or pedantic". Examples of stylistically marked pronunciations include pronounced as /[ad.di.sjɔ̃]/ ('addition') and pronounced as /[ɛ̃.tɛl.li.ʒɑ̃s]/ ('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. The deletion of word-internal schwas (see below), for example, can give rise to sequences of identical consonants: là-dedans pronounced as /[lad.dɑ̃]/ ('inside'), l'honnêteté pronounced as /[lɔ.nɛt.te]/ ('honesty'). The elided form of the object pronoun l' ('him/her/it') is also realised as a geminate pronounced as /[ll]/ when it appears after another l to avoid misunderstanding:
Gemination is obligatory in such contexts.
Finally, a word pronounced with emphatic stress can exhibit gemination of its first syllable-initial consonant:
See main article: Liaison (French).
Many words in French can be analyzed as having a "latent" final consonant that is pronounced only in certain syntactic contexts when the next word begins with a vowel. For example, the word pronounced as //dø// ('two') is pronounced pronounced as /[dø]/ in isolation or before a consonant-initial word (deux jours pronounced as //dø ʒuʁ// → pronounced as /[dø.ʒuʁ]/ 'two days'), but in deux ans pronounced as //døz‿ɑ̃// (→ pronounced as /[dø.zɑ̃]/ 'two years'), the linking or liaison consonant pronounced as //z// is pronounced.
Standard French contrasts up to 13 oral vowels and up to 4 nasal vowels. The schwa (in the center of the diagram next to this paragraph) is not necessarily a distinctive sound. Even though it often merges with one of the mid front rounded vowels, its patterning suggests that it is a separate phoneme (see the subsection Schwa below).
The table below primarily lists vowels in contemporary Parisian French, with vowels only present in other dialects in parentheses.
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While some dialects feature a long pronounced as //ɛː// distinct from pronounced as //ɛ// and a distinction between an open front pronounced as //a// and an open back pronounced as //ɑ//, Parisian French features only pronounced as //ɛ// and just one open vowel pronounced as //a// realised as central pronounced as /[ä]/. Some dialects also feature a rounded pronounced as //œ̃//, which has merged with pronounced as //ɛ̃// in Paris.
In Metropolitan French, while pronounced as //ə// is phonologically distinct, its phonetic quality tends to coincide with either pronounced as //ø// or pronounced as //œ//.
| Gloss | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oral vowels | ||||
| pronounced as //i// | pronounced as //si// | 'if' | ||
| pronounced as //e// | pronounced as //fe// | 'fairy' | ||
| pronounced as //ɛ// | pronounced as //fɛ// | 'does' | ||
| pronounced as //ɛː//† | pronounced as //fɛːt// | 'party' | ||
| pronounced as //y// | pronounced as //sy// | 'known' | ||
| pronounced as //ø// | pronounced as //sø// | 'those' | ||
| pronounced as //œ// | pronounced as //sœʁ// | 'sister' | ||
| pronounced as //ə// | pronounced as //sə// | 'this'/'that' | ||
| pronounced as //u// | pronounced as //su// | 'under' | ||
| pronounced as //o// | pronounced as //so// | 'silly' | ||
| pronounced as //ɔ// | pronounced as //sɔʁ// | 'fate' | ||
| pronounced as //a// | pronounced as //sa// | 'his'/'her' | ||
| pronounced as //ɑ//† | pronounced as //pɑt// | 'dough' | ||
| Nasal vowels | ||||
| pronounced as //ɑ̃// | pronounced as //sɑ̃// | 'without' | ||
| pronounced as //ɔ̃// | pronounced as //sɔ̃// | 'his' | ||
| pronounced as //ɛ̃//[3] | pronounced as //bʁɛ̃// | 'twig' | ||
| pronounced as //œ̃//† | pronounced as //bʁœ̃// | 'brown' | ||
| Semi-vowels | ||||
| pronounced as //j// | pronounced as //jɛʁ// | 'yesterday' | ||
| pronounced as //ɥ// | pronounced as //ɥit// | 'eight' | ||
| pronounced as //w// | pronounced as //wi// | 'yes' | ||
| † Not distinguished in all dialects. | ||||
In contrast with the mid vowels, there is no tense–lax contrast in close vowels. However, non-phonemic lax (near-close) pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|ɪ}}, {{IPAplink|ʏ}}, {{IPAplink|ʊ}}]/ appear in Quebec as allophones of pronounced as //i, y, u// when the vowel is both phonetically short (so not before pronounced as //v, z, ʒ, ʁ//) and in a closed syllable, so that e.g. petite pronounced as /[pə.t͡sɪt]/ 'small ' differs from petit 'small ' pronounced as /[pə.t͡si]/ not only in the presence of the final pronounced as //t// but also in the tenseness of the pronounced as //i//. Laxing always occurs in stressed closed syllables, but it is also found in other environments to various degrees.
In Metropolitan French, pronounced as //i, u// are consistently close pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|i}}, {{IPAplink|u}}]/, but the exact height of pronounced as //y// is somewhat debatable as it has been variously described as close pronounced as /link/ and near-close pronounced as /link/.
Although the mid vowels contrast in certain environments, there is a limited distributional overlap so they often appear in complementary distribution. Generally, close-mid vowels (pronounced as //e, ø, o//) are found in open syllables, and open-mid vowels (pronounced as //ɛ, œ, ɔ//) are found in closed syllables. However, there are minimal pairs:
pronounced as /[a.lɛ]/ ('was going'), vs. pronounced as /[a.le]/ ('gone');
pronounced as /[ʒœn]/ ('young'), vs. pronounced as /[ʒøn]/ ('fast', verb),
pronounced as /[ʁɔk]/ ('rock'), vs. pronounced as /[ʁok]/ ('hoarse'),
pronounced as /[ʁɔd]/ ('Rhodes'), vs. pronounced as /[ʁod]/ ('[I] lurk'),
pronounced as /[pɔm]/ ('apple'), vs. pronounced as /[pom]/ ('palm'),
pronounced as /[bɔn]/ ('good', feminine), vs. pronounced as /[bon]/ ('Beaune', the city).
Beyond the general rule, known as the loi de position among French phonologists, there are some exceptions. For instance, pronounced as //o// and pronounced as //ø// are found in closed syllables ending in pronounced as /[z]/, and only pronounced as /[ɔ]/ is found in closed monosyllables before pronounced as /[ʁ]/, pronounced as /[ɲ]/, and pronounced as /[ɡ]/.
The Parisian realization of pronounced as //ɔ// has been variously described as central pronounced as /link/ and centralized to pronounced as /link/ before pronounced as //ʁ//, in both cases becoming similar to pronounced as //œ//.
The phonemic opposition of pronounced as //ɛ// and pronounced as //e// has been lost in the southern half of France, where these two sounds are found only in complementary distribution. The phonemic oppositions of pronounced as //ɔ// and pronounced as //o// and of pronounced as //œ// and pronounced as //ø// in terminal open syllables have been lost in almost all of France, but not in Belgium or in areas with an Arpitan substrate, where and are still opposed as pronounced as //pɔ// and pronounced as //po//.[4]
The phonemic contrast between front pronounced as //a// and back pronounced as //ɑ// is sometimes no longer maintained in Parisian French, which leads some researchers to reject the idea of two distinct phonemes.[5] However, the back pronounced as /[ɑ]/ is always maintained in Northern French, but only in final open syllables,[6] (lawyer) pronounced as /avoˈkɑ/, but in final closed syllables, the pronounced as //ɑ// phoneme is fronted to pronounced as /[aː]/, but it is always long, (pasta) pronounced as /[paːt]/. The distinction is still clearly maintained in many dialects such as Quebec French.[7]
While there is much variation among speakers in France, a number of general tendencies can be observed. First of all, the distinction is most often preserved in word-final stressed syllables such as in these minimal pairs:
pronounced as //taʃ// → pronounced as /[taʃ]/ ('stain'), vs. pronounced as //tɑʃ// → pronounced as /[tɑʃ]/ ('task')
pronounced as //pat// → pronounced as /[pat]/ ('leg'), vs. pronounced as //pɑt// → pronounced as /[pɑt]/ ('paste, pastry')
pronounced as //ʁa// → pronounced as /[ʁa]/ ('rat'), vs. pronounced as //ʁɑ// → pronounced as /[ʁɑ]/ ('short')
There are certain environments that prefer one open vowel over the other. For example, pronounced as //ɑ// is preferred after pronounced as //ʁw// and before pronounced as //z//:
pronounced as /[tʁwɑ]/ ('three'),
pronounced as /[ɡɑz]/ ('gas').
The difference in quality is often reinforced by a difference in length (but the difference is contrastive in final closed syllables). The exact distribution of the two vowels varies greatly from speaker to speaker.[8]
Back pronounced as //ɑ// is much rarer in unstressed syllables, but it can be encountered in some common words:
pronounced as /[ʃɑ.to]/ ('castle'),
pronounced as /[pɑ.se]/ ('past').
Morphologically complex words derived from words containing stressed pronounced as //ɑ// do not retain it:
pronounced as //ɑʒe// → pronounced as /[aː.ʒe]/ ('aged', from pronounced as //ɑʒ// → pronounced as /[ɑʒ]/)
rarissime pronounced as //ʁaʁisim// → pronounced as /[ʁaʁisim]/ ('very rare', from pronounced as //ʁɑʁ// → pronounced as /[ʁɑʁ]/).
Even in the final syllable of a word, back pronounced as //ɑ// may become pronounced as /[a]/ if the word in question loses its stress within the extended phonological context:
J'ai été au bois pronounced as //ʒe ete o bwɑ// → pronounced as /[ʒe.e.te.o.bwɑ]/ ('I went to the woods'),
J'ai été au bois de Vincennes pronounced as //ʒe ete o bwɑ dəvɛ̃sɛn// → pronounced as /[ʒe.e.te.o.bwad.vɛ̃.sɛn]/ ('I went to the Vincennes woods').
The phonetic qualities of the back nasal vowels differ from those of the corresponding oral vowels. The contrasting factor that distinguishes pronounced as //ɑ̃// and pronounced as //ɔ̃// is the extra lip rounding of the latter according to some linguists, and tongue height according to others. Speakers who produce both pronounced as //œ̃// and pronounced as //ɛ̃// distinguish them mainly through increased lip rounding of the former, but many speakers use only the latter phoneme, especially most speakers in northern France such as Paris (but not farther north, in Belgium).
In some dialects, particularly that of Europe, there is an attested tendency for nasal vowels to shift in a counterclockwise direction: pronounced as //ɛ̃// tends to be more open and shifts toward the vowel space of pronounced as //ɑ̃// (realised also as pronounced as /[æ̃]/), pronounced as //ɑ̃// rises and rounds to pronounced as /[ɔ̃]/ (realised also as pronounced as /[ɒ̃]/) and pronounced as //ɔ̃// shifts to pronounced as /[õ]/ or pronounced as /[ũ]/. Also, in some regions, there also is an opposite movement for pronounced as //ɔ̃// for which it becomes more open like pronounced as /[ɒ̃]/, resulting in a merger of Standard French pronounced as //ɔ̃// and pronounced as //ɑ̃// in this case.[9] According to one source, the typical phonetic realization of the nasal vowels in Paris is pronounced as /[æ̃]/ for pronounced as //ɛ̃//, pronounced as /[ɑ̃]/ for pronounced as //ɑ̃// and pronounced as /[õ̞]/ for pronounced as //ɔ̃//, suggesting that the first two are unrounded open vowels that contrast by backness (like the oral pronounced as //a// and pronounced as //ɑ// in some accents), whereas pronounced as //ɔ̃// is much closer than pronounced as //ɛ̃//.
In Quebec French, two of the vowels shift in a different direction: pronounced as //ɔ̃// → pronounced as /[õ]/, more or less as in Europe, but pronounced as //ɛ̃// → pronounced as /[ẽ]/ and pronounced as //ɑ̃// → pronounced as /[ã]/.[10]
In the Provence and Occitanie regions, nasal vowels are often realized as oral vowels before a stop consonant, thus reviving the (n) otherwise lost in other accents: quarante pronounced as //kaʁɑ̃t// → pronounced as /[kaˈʁantə]/.
Contrary to the oral pronounced as //ɔ//, there is no attested tendency for the nasal pronounced as //ɔ̃// to become central in any accent.
When phonetically realised, schwa (pronounced as /link/), also called e ('dropped e') and e ('mute e'), is a mid-central vowel with some rounding. Many authors consider its value to be pronounced as /link/, while Geoff Lindsey suggests pronounced as /link/.[11] [12] state, more specifically, that it merges with pronounced as /link/ before high vowels and glides:
pronounced as //nɛtəte// → pronounced as /[nɛ.tø.te]/ ('clarity'),
pronounced as //atəlje// → pronounced as /[a.tø.lje]/ ('workshop'),in phrase-final stressed position:
dis-le ! pronounced as //di lə// → pronounced as /[di.ˈlø]/ ('say it'),and that it merges with pronounced as /link/ elsewhere. However, some speakers make a clear distinction, and it exhibits special phonological behavior that warrants considering it a distinct phoneme. Furthermore, the merger occurs mainly in the French of France; in Quebec, pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/ are still distinguished.[13]
The main characteristic of French schwa is its "instability": the fact that under certain conditions it has no phonetic realization.
pronounced as //apəle// → pronounced as /[ap.le]/ ('to call'),
pronounced as //pɔʁtə// → pronounced as /[pɔʁt]/ ('door').
une porte fermée pronounced as //yn(ə) pɔʁt(ə) fɛʁme// → pronounced as /[yn.pɔʁ.t(ə).fɛʁ.me]/ ('a closed door').
tu garderais pronounced as //ty ɡaʁdəʁɛ// → pronounced as /[ty.ɡaʁ.d(ə.)ʁɛ]/ ('you would guard'),
nous brusquerons [les choses] pronounced as //nu bʁyskəʁɔ̃// → pronounced as /[nu.bʁys.k(ə.)ʁɔ̃]/ ('we will precipitate [things]').
pronounced as //ɡʁədɛ̃// → pronounced as /[ɡʁə.dɛ̃]/ ('scoundrel'),
sept petits pronounced as //sɛt pəti// → pronounced as /[sɛt.pə.ti]/ ('seven little ones').
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. For example, une grande femme fut ici, pronounced as /[yn ɡʁɑ̃d fam fy.t‿i.si]/ in ordinary speech, would in verse be pronounced pronounced as /[y.nə ɡʁɑ̃.də fa.mə fy.t‿i.si]/, with the pronounced as //ə// enunciated at the end of each word.
Schwa cannot normally be realised as a front vowel (pronounced as /link/) in closed syllables. In such contexts in inflectional and derivational morphology, schwa usually alternates with the front vowel pronounced as /link/:
pronounced as //aʁsəle// → pronounced as /[aʁ.sœ.le]/ ('to harass'), with
il harcèle pronounced as //il aʁsɛl// → pronounced as /[i.laʁ.sɛl]/ ('[he] harasses').
A three-way alternation can be observed, in a few cases, for a number of speakers:
pronounced as //apəle// → pronounced as /[ap.le]/ ('to call'),
j'appelle pronounced as //ʒ‿apɛl// → pronounced as /[ʒa.pɛl]/ ('I call'),
pronounced as //apelasjɔ̃// → pronounced as /[a.pe.la.sjɔ̃]/ ('brand'), which can also be pronounced pronounced as /[a.pɛ.la.sjɔ̃]/.[14]
Instances of orthographic (e) that do not exhibit the behaviour described above may be better analysed as corresponding to the stable, full vowel pronounced as //œ//. The enclitic pronoun, for example, always keeps its vowel in contexts like donnez-le-moi pronounced as //dɔne lə mwa// → pronounced as /[dɔ.ne.lœ.mwa]/ ('give it to me') for which schwa deletion would normally apply (giving *pronounced as /[dɔ.nɛl.mwa]/), 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 pronounced as //œ̃ ʁəbɛl// ('a rebel') must be pronounced with a full vowel in contrast to un rebond pronounced as //œ̃ ʁəbɔ̃// → or pronounced as /[œ̃ʁ.bɔ̃]/ ('a bounce').
Except for the distinction still made by some speakers between pronounced as //ɛ// and pronounced as //ɛː// in rare minimal pairs like pronounced as /[mɛtʁ]/ ('to put') vs. pronounced as /[mɛːtʁ]/ ('teacher'), variation in vowel length is entirely allophonic. Vowels can be lengthened in closed, stressed syllables, under the following two conditions:
When such syllables lose their stress, the lengthening effect may be absent. The vowel pronounced as /[o]/ of is long in Regarde comme elle saute !, in which the word is phrase-final and therefore stressed, but not in Qu'est-ce qu'elle saute bien ! In accents wherein pronounced as //ɛː// is distinguished from pronounced as //ɛ//, however, it is still pronounced with a long vowel even in an unstressed position, as in fête in C'est une fête importante.
The following table presents the pronunciation of a representative sample of words in phrase-final (stressed) position:
| Phoneme | Vowel value in closed syllable | Vowel value in open syllable | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Non-lengthening consonant | Lengthening consonant | ||||||
| pronounced as //i// | pronounced as /[a.bit]/ | pronounced as /[liːvʁ]/ | pronounced as /[a.bi]/ | ||||
| pronounced as //e// | — | pronounced as /[e.te]/ | |||||
| pronounced as //ɛ// | pronounced as /[fɛt]/ | pronounced as /[fɛːʁ]/ | pronounced as /[fɛ]/ | ||||
| pronounced as //ɛː// | pronounced as /[fɛːt]/ | pronounced as /[ʁɛːv]/ | — | ||||
| pronounced as //ø// | pronounced as /[ʒøːn]/ | pronounced as /[ʒwa.jøːz]/ | pronounced as /[ʒwa.jø]/ | ||||
| pronounced as //œ// | pronounced as /[ʒœn]/ | pronounced as /[œːvʁ]/ | — | ||||
| pronounced as //o// | pronounced as /[soːt]/ | pronounced as /[ʁoːz]/ | pronounced as /[so]/ | ||||
| pronounced as //ɔ// | pronounced as /[sɔt]/ | pronounced as /[mɔːʁ]/ | — | ||||
| pronounced as //ə// | — | pronounced as /[lə]/ | |||||
| pronounced as //y// | pronounced as /[de.byt]/ | pronounced as /[ʒyːʒ]/ | pronounced as /[de.by]/ | ||||
| pronounced as //u// | pronounced as /[buʁs]/ | pronounced as /[buːz]/ | pronounced as /[bu]/ | ||||
| pronounced as //a// | pronounced as /[ʁat]/ | pronounced as /[ʁaːʒ]/ | rat | pronounced as /[ʁa]/ | |||
| pronounced as //ɑ// | pronounced as /[a.pɑːt]/ | pronounced as /[ʁɑːz]/ | pronounced as /[a.pɑ]/ | ||||
| pronounced as //ɑ̃// | pronounced as /[pɑ̃ːd]/ | pronounced as /[ʒɑ̃ːʁ]/ | pronounced as /[pɑ̃]/ | ||||
| pronounced as //ɔ̃// | pronounced as /[ʁe.pɔ̃ːs]/ | pronounced as /[e.pɔ̃ːʒ]/ | pronounced as /[ʁe.pɔ̃]/ | ||||
| pronounced as //œ̃// | pronounced as /[ɑ̃.pʁœ̃ːt]/ | pronounced as /[ɡʁœ̃ːʒ]/ | pronounced as /[ɑ̃.pʁœ̃]/ | ||||
| pronounced as //ɛ̃// | pronounced as /[tɛ̃ːt]/ | pronounced as /[kɛ̃ːz]/ | pronounced as /[tɛ̃]/ | ||||
In Parisian French, the close vowels pronounced as //i, y, u// and the mid front pronounced as //e, ɛ// at the end of utterances can be devoiced. A devoiced vowel may be followed by a sound similar to the voiceless palatal fricative pronounced as /[ç]/:
Merci. pronounced as //mɛʁsi// → pronounced as /[mɛʁ.si̥ç]/ ('Thank you.'),
Allez ! pronounced as //ale// → pronounced as /[a.le̥ç]/ ('Go!').
In Quebec French, close vowels are often devoiced when unstressed and surrounded by voiceless consonants:
université pronounced as //ynivɛʁsite// → pronounced as /[y.ni.vɛʁ.si̥.te]/ ('university').Though a more prominent feature of Quebec French, phrase-medial devoicing is also found in European French.
See main article: Elision (French).
The final vowel (usually pronounced as //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 pronounced as //ʒə dɔʁ// pronounced as /[ʒə.dɔʁ]/ ('I am sleeping'), and in j'arrive pronounced as //ʒ‿aʁiv// pronounced as /[ʒa.ʁiv]/ ('I am arriving').
The glides pronounced as /[j]/, pronounced as /[w]/, and pronounced as /[ɥ]/ appear in syllable onsets immediately followed by a full vowel. In many cases, they alternate systematically with their vowel counterparts pronounced as /[i]/, pronounced as /[u]/, and pronounced as /[y]/ such as in the following pairs of verb forms:
nie pronounced as /[ni]/; pronounced as /[nje]/ ('deny')
loue pronounced as /[lu]/; pronounced as /[lwe]/ ('rent')
tue pronounced as /[ty]/; pronounced as /[tɥe]/ ('kill')The glides in the 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: pronounced as //nie// → pronounced as /[nje]/.
This process is usually blocked after a complex onset of the form obstruent + liquid (a stop or a fricative followed by pronounced as //l// or pronounced as //ʁ//). For example, while the pair loue/louer shows an alternation between pronounced as /[u]/ and pronounced as /[w]/, the same suffix added to cloue pronounced as /[klu]/, a word with a complex onset, does not trigger the glide formation: clouer pronounced as /[klu.e]/ ('to nail'). Some sequences of glide + vowel can be found after obstruent-liquid onsets, however. The main examples are pronounced as /[ɥi]/, as in pluie pronounced as /[plɥi]/ ('rain'), pronounced as /[wa]/, as in proie pronounced as /[pʁwa]/ ('prey'), and pronounced as /[wɛ̃]/, as in groin pronounced as /[ɡʁwɛ̃]/ ('snout').[15] They can be dealt with in different ways, as 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 pronounced as //ɥi// and pronounced as //wa//.
Glide formation normally does not occur across morpheme boundaries in compounds like semi-aride ('semi-arid'). However, in colloquial registers, si elle pronounced as /[si.ɛl]/ ('if she') can be pronounced just like pronounced as /[sjɛl]/ ('sky'), or tu as pronounced as /[ty.ɑ]/ ('you have') like tua pronounced as /[tɥa]/ ('[(s)he] killed').
The glide pronounced as /[j]/ can also occur in syllable coda position, after a vowel, as in pronounced as /[sɔlɛj]/ ('sun'). There again, one can formulate a derivation from an underlying full vowel pronounced as //i//, but the analysis is not always adequate because of the existence of possible minimal pairs like pronounced as /[pɛ.i]/ ('country') / pronounced as /[pɛj]/ ('paycheck') and pronounced as /[a.bɛ.i]/ ('abbey') / pronounced as /[a.bɛj]/ ('bee').[16] Schane (1968) proposes an abstract analysis deriving postvocalic pronounced as /[j]/ from an underlying lateral by palatalization and glide conversion (pronounced as //lj// → pronounced as //ʎ// → pronounced as //j//).
| Vowel | Onset glide | Examples | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /j/ | /ɥ/ | /w/ | |||
| pronounced as //a// | pronounced as //ja// | pronounced as //ɥa// | pronounced as //wa// | paillasse, Éluard, poire | |
| pronounced as //ɑ// | pronounced as //jɑ// | pronounced as //ɥɑ// | pronounced as //wɑ// | acariâtre, tuas, jouas | |
| pronounced as //ɑ̃// | pronounced as //jɑ̃// | pronounced as //ɥɑ̃// | pronounced as //wɑ̃// | vaillant, exténuant, Assouan | |
| pronounced as //e// | pronounced as //je// | pronounced as //ɥe// | pronounced as //we// | janvier, muer, jouer | |
| pronounced as //ɛ// | pronounced as //jɛ// | pronounced as //ɥɛ// | pronounced as //wɛ// | lierre, duel, mouette | |
| pronounced as //ɛ̃// | pronounced as //jɛ̃// | pronounced as //ɥɛ̃// | pronounced as //wɛ̃// | bien, juin, soin | |
| pronounced as //i// | pronounced as //ji// | pronounced as //ɥi// | pronounced as //wi// | yin, huile, ouïr | |
| pronounced as //o// | pronounced as //jo// | pronounced as //ɥo// | pronounced as //wo// | Millau, duo, statuquo | |
| pronounced as //ɔ// | pronounced as //jɔ// | pronounced as //ɥɔ// | pronounced as //wɔ// | Niort, quatuor, wok | |
| pronounced as //ɔ̃// | pronounced as //jɔ̃// | pronounced as //ɥɔ̃// | pronounced as //wɔ̃// | lion, tuons, jouons | |
| pronounced as //ø// | pronounced as //jø// | pronounced as //ɥø// | pronounced as //wø// | mieux, fructueux, boueux | |
| pronounced as //œ// | pronounced as //jœ// | pronounced as //ɥœ// | pronounced as //wœ// | antérieur, sueur, loueur | |
| pronounced as //œ̃// | |||||
| pronounced as //u// | pronounced as //ju// | pronounced as //wu// | caillou, Wuhan | ||
| pronounced as //y// | pronounced as //jy// | feuillu |
Word stress is not distinctive in French, so two words cannot be distinguished based on stress placement alone. Grammatical stress is always on the final full syllable (syllable with a vowel other than schwa) of a word. Monosyllables with schwa as their only vowel (etc.) are generally clitics but otherwise may receive stress.
The difference between stressed and unstressed syllables in French is less marked than in English. Vowels in unstressed syllables keep their full quality, regardless of whether the rhythm of the speaker is syllable-timed or mora-timed (see isochrony).[17] Moreover, words lose their stress to varying degrees when pronounced in phrases and sentences. In general, only the last word in a phonological phrase (mot phonétique) retains its full grammatical stress (on its last full syllable).
Emphatic stress is used to call attention to a specific element in a given context such as 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. Emphatic stress does not replace, but occurs in tandem with, grammatical stress.
For words that begin with a vowel, emphatic stress falls on the first syllable that begins with a consonant or on the initial syllable with the insertion of a glottal stop or a liaison consonant.
French intonation differs substantially from that of English. There are four primary patterns: