Phonological history of French explained

French exhibits perhaps the most extensive phonetic changes (from Latin) of any of the Romance languages. Similar changes are seen in some of the northern Italian regional languages, such as Lombard or Ligurian. Most other Romance languages are significantly more conservative phonetically, with Spanish, Italian, and especially Sardinian showing the most conservatism, and Portuguese, Occitan, Catalan, and Romanian showing moderate conservatism.^[1]

French also shows enormous phonetic changes between the Old French period and the modern language. Spelling, however, has barely changed, which accounts for the wide differences between current spelling and pronunciation. Some of the most profound changes have been:

• The loss of almost all final consonants.
• The occasional elision of final pronounced as /link/, which caused many newly-final consonants.
• The loss of the formerly strong stress that had characterized the language throughout much of its history and triggered many of the phonetic changes.
• Significant transformations in the pronunciation of vowels, especially nasal vowels.

Only some of the changes are reflected in the orthography, which generally corresponds to the pronunciation of c. 1100–1200 CE (the Old French period) rather than modern pronunciation.

This page documents the phonological history of French from a relatively technical standpoint. See also History of French#Internal phonological history for a less technical introduction.

Overview

pronounced as /notice/A profound change in very late spoken Latin (Vulgar Latin, the forerunner of all the Romance languages) was the restructuring of the vowel system of Classical Latin. Latin had thirteen distinct vowels: ten pure vowels (long and short versions of), and three diphthongs .^[2] What happened to Vulgar Latin is set forth in the table.^[3]

Essentially, the ten pure vowels were reduced to the seven vowels pronounced as //a ɛ e i ɔ o u//, and vowel length was no longer a distinguishing feature. The diphthongs and fell in with pronounced as //ɛ// and pronounced as //e//, respectively. was retained, but various languages (including Old French) eventually turned it into pronounced as //ɔ// after the original pronounced as //ɔ// fell victim to further changes.

Development of French pronunciation over time

Form ("to sing")	Latin	Vulgar Latin^1	Old French		Modern French
			spelling	pronunciation	spelling	pronunciation
Infinitive	Latin: cantāre	pronounced as / /kanˈtaːre/ /	French, Old (842-ca.1400);: chanter	pronounced as //tʃanˈtæɾ//	French: chanter	pronounced as //ʃɑ̃ˈte//
Past Part.	Latin: cantātum	pronounced as / /kanˈtaːtu/ /	French, Old (842-ca.1400);: chanté(ṭ)	pronounced as //tʃanˈtæ(θ)//	French: chanté	pronounced as //ʃɑ̃ˈte//
Gerund	Latin: cantandum	pronounced as / /kanˈtandu/ /	French, Old (842-ca.1400);: chantant	pronounced as //tʃanˈtant//	French: chantant	pronounced as //ʃɑ̃ˈtɑ̃//
1sg. indic.	Latin: cantō	pronounced as / /ˈkanto/ /	French, Old (842-ca.1400);: chant	pronounced as //tʃant//	French: chante	pronounced as //ʃɑ̃t(ə)//
2sg. indic.	Latin: cantās	pronounced as / /ˈkantas/ /	French, Old (842-ca.1400);: chantes	pronounced as //ˈtʃantəs//	French: chantes	pronounced as //ʃɑ̃t(ə)//
3sg. indic.	Latin: cantat	pronounced as / /ˈkantat/ /	French, Old (842-ca.1400);: chante(ṭ)	pronounced as //ˈtʃantə(θ)//	French: chante	pronounced as //ʃɑ̃t(ə)//
1pl. indic.^2	Latin: cantāmus	pronounced as / /kanˈtaːmos/ /	French, Old (842-ca.1400);: chantons	pronounced as //tʃanˈtuns//	French: chantons	pronounced as //ʃɑ̃ˈtɔ̃//
2pl. indic.	Latin: cantātis	pronounced as / /kanˈtaːtes/ /	French, Old (842-ca.1400);: chantez	pronounced as //tʃanˈtæts//	French: chantez	pronounced as //ʃɑ̃ˈte//
3pl. indic.	Latin: cantant	pronounced as / /ˈkantant/ /	French, Old (842-ca.1400);: chantent	pronounced as //ˈtʃantə(n)t//	French: chantent	pronounced as //ʃɑ̃t(ə)//
1sg. subj.	Latin: cantem	pronounced as / /ˈkante/ /	French, Old (842-ca.1400);: chant	pronounced as //tʃant//	French: chante	pronounced as //ʃɑ̃t(ə)//
2sg. subj.	Latin: cantēs	pronounced as / /ˈkantes/ /	French, Old (842-ca.1400);: chanz	pronounced as //tʃants//	French: chantes	pronounced as //ʃɑ̃t(ə)//
3sg. subj.	Latin: cantet	pronounced as / /ˈkantet/ /	French, Old (842-ca.1400);: chant	pronounced as //tʃant//	French: chante	pronounced as //ʃɑ̃t(ə)//
1pl. subj.^2	Latin: cantēmus	pronounced as / /kanˈteːmos/ /	French, Old (842-ca.1400);: chantons	pronounced as //tʃanˈtuns//	French: chantions	pronounced as //ʃɑ̃ˈtjɔ̃//
2pl. subj.	Latin: cantētis	pronounced as / /kanˈteːtes/ /	French, Old (842-ca.1400);: chantez	pronounced as //tʃanˈtæts//	French: chantiez	pronounced as //ʃɑ̃ˈtje//
3pl. subj.	Latin: cantent	pronounced as / /ˈkantent/ /	French, Old (842-ca.1400);: chantent	pronounced as //ˈtʃantə(n)t//	French: chantent	pronounced as //ʃɑ̃t(ə)//
2sg. impv.	Latin: cantā	pronounced as / /ˈkanta/ /	French, Old (842-ca.1400);: chante	pronounced as //ˈtʃantə//	French: chante	pronounced as //ʃɑ̃t(ə)//
2pl. impv.^3	Latin: cantāte	pronounced as / /kanˈtaːte/ /	French, Old (842-ca.1400);: chantez	pronounced as //tʃanˈtæts//	French: chantez	pronounced as //ʃɑ̃ˈte//

The complex but regular French sound changes have caused irregularities in the conjugation of Old French verbs, like stressed stems caused by historic diphthongization (amer, aim, aimes, aime, aiment, but amons, amez), or regular loss of certain phonemes (vivre, vif, vis, vit). Later in Modern French, these changes were limited to fewer irregular verbs. Modern French also had lost the class of rather unpredictable French: -ier verbs (resulting from ejection of pronounced as //j// into the infinitive suffix Latin: -āre, which still exists in some langues d'oïl), having been replaced by simple French: -er verbs plus instead, as in French: manier, but Old French French, Old (842-ca.1400);: laissier → French: laisser.

Vowel length became automatically determined by syllable structure, with stressed open syllables having long vowels and other syllables having short vowels. Furthermore, the stress on accented syllables became more pronounced in Vulgar Latin than in Classical Latin. That tended to cause unaccented syllables to become less distinct, while working further changes on the sounds of the accented syllables. That especially applied to the new long vowels, many of which broke into diphthongs but with different results in each daughter language.

Old French underwent more thorough alterations of its sound system than did the other Romance languages. Vowel breaking is observed to some extent in Spanish and Italian: Vulgar Latin Latin: focu(s) "fire" (in Classical Latin, "hearth") becomes Italian Italian: fuoco and Spanish Spanish; Castilian: fuego. In Old French, it went even further than in any other Romance language; of the seven vowels inherited from Vulgar Latin, only pronounced as //i// remained unchanged in stressed open syllables:

• The sound of Latin short e, turning to pronounced as //ɛ// in Proto-Romance, became in Old French: Latin Latin: mel, "honey" > OF French, Old (842-ca.1400);: miel
• The sound of Latin short o > Proto-Romance pronounced as //ɔ// > OF, later : cor > cuor > cuer, "heart"
• Latin long ē and short i > Proto-Romance pronounced as //e// > OF ei: Latin: habēre > French, Old (842-ca.1400);: aveir, "to have"; this later becomes pronounced as //oi// in many words, as in French: avoir
• Latin long ō and short u > Proto-Romance pronounced as //o// > OF ou, later eu: Latin: flōrem > French, Old (842-ca.1400);: flour, "flower"
• Latin a, ā > Proto-Romance pronounced as //a// > OF pronounced as //e//, probably through an intervening stage of pronounced as //æ//; Latin: mare > French, Old (842-ca.1400);: mer, "sea". That change also characterizes the Gallo-Italic languages of Northern Italy (cf. Bolognese pronounced as /[mɛːr]/).

Furthermore, all instances of Latin long ū > Proto-Romance pronounced as //u// became pronounced as //y//, the lip-rounded sound that is written in Modern French. That occurred in both stressed and unstressed syllables, regardless of whether open or closed.

Latin au did not share the fate of pronounced as //ɔ// or pronounced as //o//; Latin Latin: aurum > OF French, Old (842-ca.1400);: or, "gold": not *œur nor *our. Latin au must have been retained at the time such changes were affecting Proto-Romance.

Changes affecting consonants were also quite pervasive in Old French. Old French shared with the rest of the Vulgar Latin world the loss of final . Old French also dropped many internal consonants when they followed the strongly stressed syllable; Latin Latin: petram > Proto-Romance pronounced as /

• /ˈpɛðra/

/ > OF French, Old (842-ca.1400);: pierre; cf. Spanish Spanish; Castilian: piedra ("stone").

Letter! rowspan="2"

Classical Latin	Vulgar Latin	Proto- Western Romance	Early Old French (through early 12th c.)		Later Old French (from late 12th c.)
closed			open	closed	open
a	pronounced as //a//	pronounced as //a//		(a) pronounced as //a//	(e, ie) pronounced as //æ, iə//	(a) pronounced as //a//	(e, ie) pronounced as //ɛ, jɛ//
ā	pronounced as //aː//
ae	pronounced as //ai//	pronounced as //ɛ//		(e) pronounced as //ɛ//	(ie) pronounced as //iə//	(e) pronounced as //ɛ//	(ie) pronounced as //jɛ//
e	pronounced as //e//
oe	pronounced as //oi//	pronounced as //e//	pronounced as //e//	(e) pronounced as //e//	(ei) pronounced as //ei//		(oi) pronounced as //oi/ > /wɛ//
ē	pronounced as //eː//
i	pronounced as //i//	pronounced as //ɪ//
y	pronounced as //y//
ī	pronounced as //iː//	pronounced as //i//		(i) pronounced as //i//
ȳ	pronounced as //yː//
au	pronounced as //aw//	pronounced as //aw//		(o) pronounced as //ɔ//
o	pronounced as //o//	pronounced as //ɔ//		(o) pronounced as //ɔ//	(uo) pronounced as //uə//	(o) pronounced as //ɔ//	(ue) pronounced as //wɛ/ > /ø//
ō	pronounced as //oː//	pronounced as //o//	pronounced as //o//	(o) pronounced as //o//	(ou) pronounced as //ou//	(o(u)) pronounced as //u//	(eu) pronounced as //eu/ > /ø//
u	pronounced as //u//	pronounced as //ʊ//
ū	pronounced as //uː//	pronounced as //u//		(u) pronounced as //y//

In some contexts, pronounced as //oi// became pronounced as //e//, still written in Modern French. During the early Old French period, it was pronounced as the writing suggests, as pronounced as //oi// as a falling diphthong: pronounced as //oi̯//. It later shifted to become rising, pronounced as //o̯i//, before becoming pronounced as //o̯e//. The sound developed variously in different varieties of Oïl: most of the surviving languages maintain a pronunciation as pronounced as //we//, but Literary French adopted a dialectal pronunciation, pronounced as //wa//. The doublet of French: français and French: François in modern French orthography demonstrates the mix of dialectal features.

At some point during the Old French period, vowels with a following nasal consonant began to be nasalized. While the process of losing the final nasal consonant took place after the Old French period, the nasal vowels that characterize Modern French appeared during the period in question.

Table of vowel outcomes

The following table shows the most important modern outcomes of Vulgar Latin vowels, starting from the seven-vowel system of Proto-Western Romance stressed syllables: pronounced as //a/, /ɛ/, /e/, /i/, /ɔ/, /o/, /u//. The vowels developed differently in different contexts, with the most important contexts being:

• "Open" syllables (followed by at most one consonant), where most of the vowels were diphthongized or otherwise modified.
• Syllables followed by a palatal consonant. An pronounced as //i// usually appeared before the palatal consonant, producing a diphthong, which subsequently evolved in complex ways. There were various palatal sources: Classical Latin pronounced as //jj// (e.g. Latin: peior^[4] "worse"); any consonant followed by a pronounced as //j// coming from Latin short pronounced as //e// or pronounced as //i// in hiatus (e.g. Latin: balneum "bath", Latin: palātium "palace"); pronounced as //k// or pronounced as //ɡ// followed by pronounced as //e// or pronounced as //i// (e.g. Latin: pācem "peace", Latin: cōgitō "I think"); pronounced as //k// or pronounced as //ɡ// followed by pronounced as //a// and preceded by pronounced as //a//, pronounced as //e// or pronounced as //i// (e.g. Latin: plāga "wound"); pronounced as //k// or pronounced as //ɡ// after a vowel in various sequences, such as pronounced as //kl/, /kr/, /ks/, /kt/, /ɡl/, /ɡn/, /ɡr// (e.g. Latin: noctem "night", Latin: veclum < Latin: vetulum "old", Latin: nigrum "black").
• Syllables preceded by a palatal consonant. An pronounced as //i// appeared after the palatal consonant, producing a rising diphthong. The palatal consonant could arise in any of the ways just described. In addition, it could stem from an earlier pronounced as //j// brought into contact with a following consonant by loss of the intervening vowel: e.g. Latin: medietātem > Proto-Romance pronounced as //mejjeˈtate// > Gallo-Romance pronounced as //mejˈtat// (loss of unstressed vowels) > Proto-French pronounced as //meiˈtʲat// (palatalization) > Old French pronounced as //moiˈtjɛ// > French: moitié pronounced as //mwaˈtje// "half".
• Nasal syllables (followed by an pronounced as //n// or pronounced as //m//), where nasal vowels arose. Nasal syllables inhibited many of the changes that otherwise happened in open syllables; instead, vowels tended to be raised. Subsequently, the following pronounced as //n// or pronounced as //m// was deleted unless a vowel followed, and the nasal vowels were lowered; but when the pronounced as //n// or pronounced as //m// remained, the nasal quality was lost, with no lowering of the vowel. This produced significant alternations, such as masculine French: fin pronounced as //fɛ̃// vs. feminine French: fine pronounced as //fin//.
• Syllables closed by pronounced as //s// followed by another consonant. By Old French times, this pronounced as //s// was "debuccalized" into pronounced as //h//, which was subsequently lost, with a phonemic long vowel taking its place. These long vowels remained for centuries, and continued to be indicated by an, and later a circumflex, with alternations such as French: bette pronounced as //bɛt// "chard" vs. French: bête (formerly pronounced as //bɛːt//) "beast" (borrowed from Latin: bēstiam). Sometimes the length difference was accompanied by a difference in vowel quality, e.g. French: mal pronounced as //mal// "bad" vs. French: mâle pronounced as //mɑːl// "male" (Latin Latin: māsculum < pronounced as /
  • /ˈmaslə/
  /). Phonemic (although not phonetic) length disappeared from Parisian French by the 18th century, but survived regionally (now especially in Belgian French).
• Syllables closed by pronounced as //l// followed by another consonant (although the sequence -lla- was not affected). The pronounced as //l// vocalized to pronounced as //w//, producing a diphthong, which then developed in various ways.
• Syllables where two or more of the above conditions occurred simultaneously, which generally evolved in complex ways. Common examples are syllables followed by both a nasal and a palatal element (e.g. from Latin -neu-, -nea-, -nct-); open syllables preceded by a palatal (e.g. Latin: cēram "wax"); syllables both preceded and followed by a palatal (e.g. Latin: iacet "it lies"); syllables preceded by a palatal and followed by a nasal (e.g. Latin: canem "dog").

The developments in unstressed syllables were both simpler and less predictable. In Proto-Western Romance, there were only five vowels in unstressed syllables: pronounced as //a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u//, as low-mid vowels pronounced as //ɛ/, /ɔ// were raised to pronounced as //e/, /o//. These syllables were not subject to diphthongization and many of the other complex changes that affected stressed syllables. This produced many lexical and grammatical alternations between stressed and unstressed syllables. However, there was a strong tendency (especially beginning in the Middle French period, when the formerly strong stress accent was drastically weakened) to even out these alternations. In certain cases in verbal paradigms an unstressed variant was imported into stressed syllables, but mostly it was the other way around, with the result that in Modern French all of the numerous vowels can appear in unstressed syllables.

Table of modern outcomes of Vulgar Latin vowel combinations! Gallo-Romance! Context ! Proto-French! Later Old French! Modern French! Example

Vowels not followed by pronounced as //s/, /n/, /l/, /ɲ//
pronounced as //a//	closed	pronounced as //a//			Latin: partem > French: part pronounced as //paʁ// "part"
	open	pronounced as //æ//	pronounced as //ɛ//	pronounced as //ɛ// pronounced as //e/+#/	> French: mer pronounced as //mɛʁ// "sea", > pronounced as //aiˈmɛθ// > French: aimé pronounced as //eˈme// "loved"
	before Gallo-Romance pronounced as //u, o// or pronounced as //w//	pronounced as //ɔ//	pronounced as //ɔ//, combines with next element (pronounced as //w, u, o, ɣu, ɣo//) to make a new diphthong, pronounced as //ɔw//	pronounced as //u//	> Gallo-Romance pronounced as //faɣo// > Old French French, Old (842-ca.1400);: fou pronounced as //fɔw// + diminutive French, Old (842-ca.1400);: -et > French: fouet pronounced as //fwɛ// "beech tree";^[5] bavan (< Gaulish) > pronounced as //bɔwə// > French: boue pronounced as //bu// "mud"
	palatal + open	pronounced as //iæ//	pronounced as //jɛ//	pronounced as //jɛ// pronounced as //je/+#/	> Vulgar Latin pronounced as //mejeˈtate// > pronounced as //mejˈtʲate// > Early Old French pronounced as //meiˈtiɛθ// > Late Old French pronounced as //moiˈtjɛ// > French: moitié pronounced as //mwaˈtje// "half"; Latin: cārum > Old French French, Old (842-ca.1400);: chier pronounced as //tʃjɛr// > French: cher pronounced as //ʃɛʁ// "dear"
pronounced as //ɛ//	closed	pronounced as //ɛ//			> French: sept pronounced as //sɛt// "seven"
	open	pronounced as //iɛ//	pronounced as //jɛ//	pronounced as //jɛ// pronounced as //je/+#/	> French: hier pronounced as //jɛʁ// "yesterday"; Latin: pedem > French: pied pronounced as //pje// "foot"
pronounced as //e//	closed	pronounced as //e//	pronounced as //ɛ//		> French: sec pronounced as //sɛk// "dry"
	open	pronounced as //ei//	pronounced as //oi// > pronounced as //wɛ//	pronounced as //wa//	> French: poire pronounced as //pwaʁ//; > early Old French French, Old (842-ca.1400);: vedeir pronounced as //vəˈðeir// > Old French French, Old (842-ca.1400);: vëoir pronounced as //vəˈoir// > French: voir pronounced as //vwaʁ// "to see"
	palatal + open	pronounced as //iei//	pronounced as //i//		> French: cire pronounced as //siʁ// "wax"; > French: merci pronounced as //mɛʁˈsi// "mercy"
pronounced as //i//	all	pronounced as //i//			> French: vie pronounced as //vi// "life"; > French: ville > pronounced as //vil// "town"
pronounced as //ɔ//	closed	pronounced as //ɔ//		pronounced as //ɔ// pronounced as //o/+#/	> French: porte pronounced as //pɔʁt// "door"; Latin: *sottum, *sottam > French: sot, sotte pronounced as //so//, pronounced as //sɔt// "silly"
	open	pronounced as //uɔ//	pronounced as //wɛ//	pronounced as //œ/, /ø//	> French: neuf pronounced as //nœf// "new"; > > French: cœur pronounced as //kœʁ// "heart"
pronounced as //o//	closed	pronounced as //o//	pronounced as //u//		> pronounced as //ˈsottos// > French: sous pronounced as //su// "under"; > French: sourd pronounced as //suʁ// "deaf"
	open	pronounced as //ou//	pronounced as //eu//	pronounced as //œ/, /ø//	> French: nœud pronounced as //nø// "knot"
pronounced as //u//	all	pronounced as //y//			> French: dur pronounced as //dyʁ// "hard"; > French: nulle pronounced as //nyl// "none (fem.)"
pronounced as //au//	all	pronounced as //au//	pronounced as //ɔ//	pronounced as //ɔ// pronounced as //o/+#/	> French: or pronounced as //ɔʁ// "gold"
	followed by pronounced as //z//		pronounced as //oː//	pronounced as //o//	> French: chose pronounced as //ʃoz// "thing"
	followed by Gallo-Romance pronounced as //w/, /ɣu/, /ɣo//	pronounced as //ɔ//	combining with second element to make pronounced as //ɔw//	pronounced as //u//	*traucon (< Gaulish) > Gallo-Romance pronounced as //trauɣo// > Old French pronounced as //trɔw// > French: trou pronounced as //tʁu// "hole" ^[6]
Vowels + pronounced as //n// or pronounced as //m//
pronounced as //an//	closed	pronounced as //an//	pronounced as //ã//	pronounced as //ɑ̃// pronounced as /[ɒ̃]/	> French: an pronounced as //ɑ̃// "year"; > French: chant pronounced as //ʃɑ̃// "song"
	open	pronounced as //ain//	pronounced as //ɛ̃n//	pronounced as //ɛn//	> French: saine pronounced as //sɛn// "healthy (fem.)"; > French: aime pronounced as //ɛm// "(he) loves"
	late closed		pronounced as //ɛ̃//	pronounced as //ɛ̃// pronounced as /[æ̃]/	> French: sain pronounced as //sɛ̃// "healthy (masc.)"; > French: faim pronounced as //fɛ̃// "hunger"
	palatal + late closed	pronounced as //iain// > pronounced as //iɛn//	pronounced as //jɛ̃//	pronounced as //jɛ̃// pronounced as /[jæ̃]/	> French: chien pronounced as //ʃjɛ̃// "dog"
pronounced as //ɛn//	closed	pronounced as //en//	pronounced as //ã//	pronounced as //ɑ̃// pronounced as /[ɒ̃]/	> French: dent pronounced as //dɑ̃// "teeth"
	open	pronounced as //ien//	pronounced as //jɛ̃n//	pronounced as //jɛn//	> French: tiennent pronounced as //tjɛn// "(they) hold"
	late closed		pronounced as //jɛ̃//	pronounced as //jɛ̃// pronounced as /[jæ̃]/	> French: bien pronounced as //bjɛ̃// "well"; Latin: tenet > French: tient pronounced as //tjɛ̃// "(he) holds"
pronounced as //en//	closed	pronounced as //en//	pronounced as //ã//	pronounced as //ɑ̃// pronounced as /[ɒ̃]/	> French: langue pronounced as //lɑ̃g// "tongue"
	open	pronounced as //ein//	pronounced as //ẽn//	pronounced as //ɛn//	> French: peine pronounced as //pɛn// "sorrow, trouble"
	late closed		pronounced as //ẽ//	pronounced as //ɛ̃// pronounced as /[æ̃]/	> French: plein pronounced as //plɛ̃// "full"; > French: sein pronounced as //sɛ̃// "breast"
	palatal + late closed	pronounced as //iein// > pronounced as //in//	pronounced as //ĩ//		> French: raisin pronounced as //rɛzɛ̃// "grape"
pronounced as //in//	closed, late closed	pronounced as //in//			> *cīnque > French: cinq pronounced as //sɛ̃k// "five"; > French: fin pronounced as //fɛ̃// "fine, thin (masc.)"
	open		pronounced as //ĩn//	pronounced as //in//	> French: fine pronounced as //fin// "fine, thin (fem.)"
pronounced as //ɔn//	closed	pronounced as //on//	pronounced as //ũ//	pronounced as //ɔ̃// pronounced as /[õ]/	> French: pont pronounced as //pɔ̃// "bridge"
	open	pronounced as //on//, pronounced as //uon//	pronounced as //ũn//, pronounced as //wɛ̃n//	pronounced as //ɔn//	> French: bonne pronounced as //bɔn// "good (fem.)"
	late closed		pronounced as //ũ//, pronounced as //wɛ̃//	pronounced as //ɔ̃// pronounced as /[õ]/	> OF French, Old (842-ca.1400);: buen > French: bon pronounced as //bɔ̃// "good (masc.)"; > OF French, Old (842-ca.1400);: cuens "count (noble rank) (nom.)"
pronounced as //on//	closed, late closed	pronounced as //on//	pronounced as //ũ//	pronounced as //ɔ̃// pronounced as /[õ]/	> French: don pronounced as //dɔ̃// "gift"
	open		pronounced as //ũn//	pronounced as //ɔn//	> French: donne pronounced as //dɔn// "(he) gives"
pronounced as //un//	closed, late closed	pronounced as //yn//	pronounced as //ỹ//	pronounced as //œ̃// > pronounced as //ɛ̃// pronounced as /[æ̃]/	> French: un pronounced as //œ̃// > pronounced as //ɛ̃// "one"; > French: parfum pronounced as //paʁˈfœ̃// > pronounced as //paʁˈfɛ̃// "perfume"
	open		pronounced as //ỹn//	pronounced as //yn//	> French: une pronounced as //yn// "one (fem.)"; > French: plume pronounced as //plym// "feather"
Vowels + pronounced as //s// (followed by a consonant)
pronounced as //as//	closed	pronounced as //ah//	pronounced as //ɑː//	pronounced as //ɑ// pronounced as /[a]/	Latin: bassum > French: bas pronounced as //bɑ// "low"
pronounced as //ɛs//	closed	pronounced as //ɛh//	pronounced as //ɛː//	pronounced as //ɛ//	> French: fête pronounced as //fɛt// "feast"
pronounced as //es//	closed	pronounced as //eh//			> French: bête pronounced as //bɛt// "beast"
pronounced as //is//	closed	pronounced as //ih//	pronounced as //iː//	pronounced as //i//	> *abīsmum > French: abîme pronounced as //abim// "chasm"
pronounced as //ɔs//	closed	pronounced as //ɔh//	pronounced as //oː//	pronounced as //o//	> French: côte pronounced as //kot// "coast", > French: gros, grosse pronounced as //ɡʁo//, pronounced as //ɡʁos// "fat"
pronounced as //os//	closed	pronounced as //oh//	pronounced as //uː//	pronounced as //u//	> *cōstat > French: coûte pronounced as //kut// "(it) costs"
pronounced as //us//	closed	pronounced as //yh//	pronounced as //yː//	pronounced as //y//	> French: fût pronounced as //fy// "bole"
Vowels + pronounced as //l// (followed by a consonant, but not pronounced as //la//)
pronounced as //al//	closed	pronounced as //al//	pronounced as //au//	pronounced as //o//	> French: faux pronounced as //fo// "false"; Latin: palmam > French: paume pronounced as //pom// "palm"
pronounced as //ɛl//	closed	pronounced as //ɛl//	pronounced as //ɛau//		> French: beau pronounced as //bo// (but Latin: bellam > French: belle pronounced as //bɛl//) "beautiful"
	late closed	pronounced as //jɛl//	pronounced as //jɛu//	pronounced as //jœ/, /jø//	> pronounced as //miɛʎts// > pronounced as //mjɛus// > French: mieux pronounced as //mjø// "better"
pronounced as //el//	closed	pronounced as //el//	pronounced as //ɛu//	pronounced as //œ/, /ø//	> French: cheveu pronounced as //ʃəˈvø// "hair"; > French: feutre pronounced as //føtʁ// "felt"
pronounced as //il//	closed, late closed	pronounced as //il//	pronounced as //i//		> French: gentil pronounced as //ʒɑ̃ˈti// "nice"
pronounced as //ɔl//	closed	pronounced as //ɔl//	pronounced as //ou//	pronounced as //u//	> French: fou (but Latin: *follam > French: folle pronounced as //fɔl//) "crazy"; > > French: coup pronounced as //ku// "blow"
	late closed	pronounced as //wɔl//	pronounced as //wɛu//	pronounced as //œ/, /ø/, /jœ/, /jø//	Latin: *volet > OF French, Old (842-ca.1400);: vueut > French: veut "(he) wants" pronounced as //vø//; > OF French, Old (842-ca.1400);: uelz > French: yeux "eyes" pronounced as //jø//
pronounced as //ol//	closed	pronounced as //ol//	pronounced as //ou//	pronounced as //u//	> French: pousse pronounced as //pus// "(he) pushes"
pronounced as //ul//	closed, late closed	pronounced as //yl//	pronounced as //y//		> French: cul pronounced as //ky// "buttocks"
pronounced as //aul//	closed, late closed	pronounced as //awl//	pronounced as //ou//	pronounced as //u//	> French: chou pronounced as //ʃu// "cabbage"
Vowels + pronounced as //i// (from a Gallo-Romance palatal element)
pronounced as //ai//	all	pronounced as //ai//	pronounced as //ɛ//		> pronounced as //fait// > French: fait pronounced as //fɛ// "deed"; > French: palais pronounced as //paˈlɛ// "palace"; > French: plaie pronounced as //plɛ// "wound"; > pronounced as //plaist// > French: plaît pronounced as //plɛ// "(he) pleases"; Latin: paria > French: paire pronounced as //pɛʁ// "pair"
	palatal +	pronounced as //iai// > pronounced as //i//	pronounced as //i//		> OF French, Old (842-ca.1400);: gist > French: gît pronounced as //ʒi// "(he) lies (on the ground)"; Latin: cacat > French: chie pronounced as //ʃi// "(he) shits"
pronounced as //ɛi//	all	pronounced as //iɛi//			> pronounced as //lɛit// > French: lit pronounced as //li// "bed"; > French: six pronounced as //sis// "six"; > French: pire pronounced as //piʁ// "worse"
pronounced as //ei//	all	pronounced as //ei//	pronounced as //oi// > pronounced as //wɛ//	pronounced as //wa//	> pronounced as //teit// > French: toit pronounced as //twa// "roof"; Latin: rēgem > pronounced as //rei// > French: roi pronounced as //ʁwa// "king"; > pronounced as //neir// > French: noir pronounced as //nwaʁ// "black"; > French: foire pronounced as //fwaʁ// "fair"
pronounced as //ɔi//	all	pronounced as //uɔi//	pronounced as //yi//	pronounced as //ɥi//	> pronounced as //nɔit// > French: nuit pronounced as //nɥi// "night"; Latin: hodiē > pronounced as //ˈɔje// > French: hui pronounced as //ɥi// "today"; > pronounced as //ˈkɔisə// > French: cuisse pronounced as //kɥis// "thigh"
pronounced as //oi//	all	pronounced as //oi//	pronounced as //oi// > pronounced as //wɛ//	pronounced as //wa//	> pronounced as //ˈboista// > French: boîte pronounced as //bwat// "box"; French: crucem > French: croix pronounced as //kʁwa// "cross"
pronounced as //ui//	all	pronounced as //yi//	pronounced as //yi//	pronounced as //ɥi//	> pronounced as //fruit// > French: fruit pronounced as //fʁɥi// "fruit"
pronounced as //aui//	all	pronounced as //ɔi//	pronounced as //oi// > pronounced as //wɛ//	pronounced as //wa//		> pronounced as //ˈdʒɔiə// > French: joie pronounced as //ʒwa// "joy"
Vowels plus pronounced as //ɲ// (from pronounced as //n// + a Gallo-Romance palatal element)
pronounced as //aɲ//	closed, late closed	pronounced as //aɲ// > pronounced as //ain//	pronounced as //ɛ̃//	pronounced as //ɛ̃// pronounced as /[æ̃]/	Latin: ba(l)neum > pronounced as //baɲ// > pronounced as //bain// > French: bain pronounced as //bɛ̃// "bath"; > > pronounced as //saɲt// > pronounced as //saint// > French: saint pronounced as //sɛ̃// "holy"
	open	pronounced as //aɲ//	pronounced as //ãɲ//	pronounced as //aɲ//	> pronounced as //monˈtaɲ// > French: montagne pronounced as //mɔ̃ˈtaɲ// "mountain"
pronounced as //ɛɲ//	unattested?
pronounced as //eɲ//	closed, late closed	pronounced as //eɲ// > pronounced as //ein//	pronounced as //ẽ//	pronounced as //ɛ̃// pronounced as /[æ̃]/	> pronounced as //peɲt// > pronounced as //peint// > French: peint pronounced as //pɛ̃// "painted"
	open	pronounced as //eɲ//	pronounced as //ẽɲ//	pronounced as //ɛɲ//	> French: enseigne pronounced as //ɑ̃ˈsɛɲ// "sign"
pronounced as //iɲ//	closed, late closed	unattested?
	open	pronounced as //iɲ//	pronounced as //ĩɲ//	pronounced as //iɲ//	> French: ligne pronounced as //liɲ// "line"
pronounced as //ɔɲ//	closed, late closed	pronounced as //oɲ// > pronounced as //oin//	pronounced as //wɛ̃//	pronounced as //wɛ̃// pronounced as /[wæ̃]/	> pronounced as //loɲ/?/ > pronounced as //loin// > French: loin pronounced as //lwɛ̃// "far"
	open	pronounced as //oɲ//	pronounced as //ũɲ//	pronounced as //ɔɲ//	*frogna (Gaulish) > French: frogne pronounced as //fʁɔɲ// "frown"
pronounced as //oɲ//	closed, late closed	pronounced as //oɲ// > pronounced as //oin//	pronounced as //wɛ̃//	pronounced as //wɛ̃// pronounced as /[wæ̃]/	> pronounced as //poɲt// > pronounced as //point// > French: point pronounced as //pwɛ̃// "point"; > pronounced as //koɲ// > pronounced as //koin// > French: coin pronounced as //kwɛ̃// "wedge"
	open	pronounced as //oɲ//	pronounced as //ũɲ//	pronounced as //ɔɲ//	> French: vergogne pronounced as //vɛʁˈɡɔɲ// "shame"
pronounced as //uɲ//	closed, late closed	pronounced as //yɲ// > pronounced as //yin//	pronounced as //ɥĩ//	pronounced as //ɥɛ̃// pronounced as /[ɥæ̃]/	> pronounced as //dʒyɲ// > pronounced as //dʒyin// > French: juin pronounced as //ʒɥɛ̃// "June"
	open	unattested?

"Context" refers to the syllable context at the Vulgar Latin or Gallo-Romance stage. The contexts are as follows:

• An "open" context is a stressed syllable followed by at most a single consonant at the Vulgar Latin stage.
• A "closed" context is any other syllable type (unstressed, or followed by two or more consonants).
• A "late closed" context is a context that is open at the Vulgar Latin (Proto-Romance) stage but becomes closed in the Gallo-Romance stage due to loss an unstressed vowel (usually pronounced as //e// or pronounced as //o// in a final syllable).
• A "palatal" context is a stressed syllable where the preceding consonant has a palatal quality, causing a yod pronounced as //j// to be generated after the preceding consonant, before the stressed vowel.

Changes that occurred due to contexts that developed during the Old French stage or later are indicated in the "Modern French" column. In particular, "+#" indicates a word-final context in modern French, which generally evolved due to loss of a final consonant in Old French or Middle French. For example, loss of pronounced as //θ// in French: aimé "loved" (originally pronounced as //aiˈmɛθ//) occurred in Old French, while loss of pronounced as //t// in French: sot "silly" occurred in Middle French (hence its continuing presence in spelling, which tends to reflect later Old French).

Both pronounced as //œ// and pronounced as //ø// occur in modern French, and there are a small number of minimal pairs, e.g. French: jeune pronounced as //ʒœn(ə)// "young" vs. French: jeûne pronounced as //ʒøn(ə)/ [ʒøːn(ə)]/ "fast (abstain from food)". In general, however, pronounced as //ø// only occurs word-finally, before pronounced as //z//, and usually before pronounced as //t//, while pronounced as //œ// occurs elsewhere.

However, the sequences pronounced as /

• /wɛw/

/ from multiple origins regularly dissimilate to pronounced as //jɛw// (and later pronounced as //jœ/, /jø//) except after labials and velars (Latin Latin: locus → pronounced as //lwɛw// → French: lieu pronounced as //ljø//, but Latin: *volet → pronounced as //vwɛwθ// → French: veut pronounced as //vø//).^[7]

The changes producing French French: moitié pronounced as //mwaˈtje// were approximately as follows:

1. Latin: medietātem (Classical Latin form)
2. pronounced as //medjeˈtaːtẽː// (pronunciation c. 1st century BC)
3. pronounced as //mejjeˈtaːtẽː// (1st century AD: pronounced as //dj// > pronounced as //jj//)
4. pronounced as //mɛjjɛˈtaːteː// (2nd century AD, Proto-Romance)
5. pronounced as //mɛjˈtaːte// (3rd century AD: loss of intertonic pronounced as //e//, loss of vowel quantity, new lengthening under stress)
6. pronounced as //mɛjˈtʲaːte// (3rd century AD: late palatalization of pronounced as //t// by preceding pronounced as //j//)
7. pronounced as //mejˈtʲaːde// (4th century AD: first lenition of second pronounced as //t//, but first one protected by preceding consonant pronounced as //j//; raising of pronounced as //ɛ// to pronounced as /[e]/ in unstressed syllables)
8. pronounced as //mejˈtʲede// (5th century AD, Gallo-Romance)
9. pronounced as //mejˈtʲieðe// (5th century AD)
10. pronounced as //mejˈtʲieð// (7th century AD: loss of final unstressed pronounced as //e//)
11. pronounced as //mejˈtieθ// (7th century AD: final devoicing)
12. pronounced as //mejˈtieθ// (9th century AD, Early Old French)
13. pronounced as //mejˈtie// (11th century AD: loss of dentals)
14. pronounced as //mɔiˈtje// (12th century AD, Later Old French)
15. pronounced as //mueˈtje// (12th century AD)
16. pronounced as //mweˈtje// (12th century AD)
17. pronounced as //mwɛˈtje// (13th century AD)
18. pronounced as //mwaˈtje// (18th century AD, Classical French and Modern French)

Chronological history

From Classical Latin through Proto-Italo-Western Romance

See main article: Phonological changes from Classical Latin to Proto-Romance.

• Loss of pronounced as //h//.
• Loss of final pronounced as //m// (except in monosyllables: Modern French French: rien < rem).
• pronounced as //ns// > pronounced as //s//. The preceding vowel was long as a result of compensatory lengthening (already in Classical Latin).
• pronounced as //rs// > pronounced as //ss// in some words (Latin: dorsum > Vulgar Latin *dossu > Modern French French: dos) but not others (Latin: ursum > Modern French French: ours).
• Introduction of prosthetic short pronounced as //i// before words beginning with pronounced as //s// + consonant, becoming closed pronounced as //e// with the Romance vowel change (Spanish Spanish; Castilian: espina, Modern French French: épine "thorn, spine" < French, Old (842-ca.1400);: espine <).
• Vulgar Latin unstressed vowel loss: Loss of intertonic (unstressed and in an interior syllable) vowels between pronounced as //k//, pronounced as //ɡ// and pronounced as //r//, pronounced as //l//.
• Final pronounced as //-er// > pronounced as //-re//, pronounced as //-or// > pronounced as //-ro// (Spanish Spanish; Castilian: cuatro, sobre < quattuor, super).
• Reduction of ten-vowel system to seven vowels (see table); diphthongs and to pronounced as //ɛ// and pronounced as //e//; maintenance of pronounced as //au// diphthong.
• Reduction of pronounced as //e// and pronounced as //i// in hiatus to pronounced as //j//, followed by palatalization of the resulting consonant + pronounced as //j// sequences.
• Palatalization of pronounced as //k// and pronounced as //ɡ// before front vowels.
  • pronounced as //kj// is apparently doubled to pronounced as //kkj// prior to palatalization.
  • pronounced as //dʲ// and pronounced as //ɡʲ// (from pronounced as //dj//, pronounced as //ɡj//, and pronounced as //ɡ// before a front vowel) become pronounced as //j//.

To Proto-Gallo-Ibero-Romance

• pronounced as //kʲ// and pronounced as //tʲ// merge, becoming pronounced as //tsʲ// (still treated as a single sound).
• pronounced as //kt// > pronounced as //jt// and pronounced as //ks// > pronounced as //js//; first going through pronounced as //xt// and pronounced as //xs//, respectively.
• First diphthongization (only in some dialects): diphthongization of pronounced as //ɛ//, pronounced as //ɔ// to pronounced as //ie//, pronounced as //uo// (later, pronounced as //uo// > pronounced as //ue//) in stressed, open syllables. That also happens in closed syllables before a palatal, often later absorbed: Latin: peior >> pronounced as //ˈpejro// > pronounced as //ˈpiejro// >> French: pire "worst"; Latin: noctem > pronounced as //ˈnojte// > pronounced as //ˈnuojte// >> pronounced as //nujt// French: nuit; but Latin: tertium > pronounced as //ˈtertsʲo// >> French: tierz.
• First lenition (did not happen in a small area around the Pyrenees): chain shift involving intervocalic or word-final consonants: voiced stops and unvoiced fricatives become voiced fricatives (pronounced as //ð//, pronounced as //v//, pronounced as //j//); unvoiced stops become voiced stops. pronounced as //tsʲ// (from pronounced as //k(e,i)//, pronounced as //tj//) is pronounced as a single sound and voiced to pronounced as //dzʲ//, but pronounced as //ttsʲ// (from pronounced as //kk(e,i)//, pronounced as //kj//) is geminate and so is not voiced. Consonants before pronounced as //r// are lenited, also, and pronounced as //pl// > pronounced as //bl//. Final pronounced as //t// and pronounced as //d// when following a vowel are lenited.
• pronounced as //jn// and pronounced as //nj// (from Vulgar Latin pronounced as //ɡn// and pronounced as //ŋɡʲ//, respectively) become pronounced as //ɲ//; pronounced as //jl// and pronounced as //ɡl// (from Vulgar Latin pronounced as //ɡl// and pronounced as //kl//, respectively) become pronounced as //ʎ//.
• First unstressed vowel loss: Loss of intertonic (unstressed and in an interior syllable) vowels except pronounced as //a// when pretonic. That occurred at the same time as the first lenition, and individual words inconsistently show one change before the other. Hence Latin: manica > French: manche but Latin: grānica > French: grange. Latin: carricāre becomes either French, Old (842-ca.1400);: charchier or French, Old (842-ca.1400);: chargier in Old French. However, in some analyses, the standard for central French was initially for lenition to occur before the unstressed vowel loss, and patterns of the order being reversed, resulting in voiceless consonants, were loaned from the more Frankish-influenced Northern dialects of Normandy, Champagne and Lorrain, eventually spreading to some other words by analogy, leading to known cases of divergent development, such as French, Old (842-ca.1400);: grange and French, Old (842-ca.1400);: granche, and French, Old (842-ca.1400);: venger and French, Old (842-ca.1400);: (re)vencher (the latter both from Latin Latin: vindicāre).^[8]

To Early Old French (c. 840)

• /h/ (one of the first consonants lost from Classical Latin) is reintroduced in borrowings from Germanic languages.
• Spread and dissolution of palatalization:
  • When "protected" (that is, when preceded by a consonant or standing at the start of a word, rather than being preceded by a vowel), the palatal consonant pronounced as //j// (which could be derived from pronounced as //dj//, pronounced as //ɡj//, pronounced as //ɡ(eˌi)//, or word-initial pronounced as //j//) became chiefly pronounced as //dʒ// via fortition then affrication: Vulgar Latin pronounced as //j// → Late Gallo-Roman pronounced as //ʝ// → Early Old French pronounced as //dʒ//.
  • A pronounced as //j// followed by another consonant tends to palatalize that consonant; the consonants may have been brought together by intertonic loss (Latin: medietātem > pronounced as //mejeˈtate// > pronounced as //mejˈtʲate// > French, Old (842-ca.1400);: moitié, Latin: peior > pronounced as //ˈpejro// > pronounced as //ˈpiejrʲe// > French, Old (842-ca.1400);: pire, but French, Old (842-ca.1400);: impeiorāre > pronounced as //empejˈrare// > pronounced as //empejˈrʲare// > pronounced as //empejˈriɛr// > OF French, Old (842-ca.1400);: empoirier "to worsen").
  • Palatalized sounds lose their palatal quality and eject a pronounced as //j// into the end of the preceding syllable, when open; also into the beginning of the following syllable when it is stressed, open, and front (pronounced as //a// or pronounced as //e//): Latin: *cugitāre > pronounced as //kujeˈtare// > pronounced as //kujˈdare// > pronounced as //kujˈdʲare// >> pronounced as //kujˈdiɛr// OF French, Old (842-ca.1400);: cuidier "to think". Latin: mansiōnātam > pronounced as //mazʲoˈnada// > pronounced as //mazʲˈnada// > pronounced as //majzʲˈnjɛðə// > OF French, Old (842-ca.1400);: maisniée "household".
    • pronounced as //tʃ// and pronounced as //dʒ// (including those from later sources, see below) eject a following pronounced as //j// normally but do not eject any preceding pronounced as //j//.
    • Double pronounced as //ssʲ// < pronounced as //ssj// and from various other combinations also ejects a preceding pronounced as //j//.
    • Single pronounced as //dz// ejects such a pronounced as //j//, but not double pronounced as //tts//.
    • Palatal pronounced as //ʎ// does not eject a preceding pronounced as //j// (otherwise, it is always absorbed even if depalatalized); palatal pronounced as //ɲ// emits a preceding pronounced as //j// when depalatalized even if the preceding syllable is closed (> *pronounced as //ˈjonjet// > pronounced as //dʒoɲt// > pronounced as //dʒojnt// French: joint).
    • Morphemic pronounced as //-arʲ-// in inherited words change to pronounced as //-jer-// instead of pronounced as //-ajr-//, hence Latin: operārium > pronounced as //obˈrarʲo// > pronounced as //obˈrjero// (not pronounced as /
      • /obˈrajro/
      /) >> French, Old (842-ca.1400);: ouvrier "worker", but Latin: ārea >> French, Old (842-ca.1400);: aire "area" did not participate.
    • Palatalized labials internal (in the middle of words) become palatal affricates (pronounced as //pʲ// and pronounced as //fʲ// > pronounced as //tʃ//; pronounced as //bʲ// and pronounced as //vʲ// > pronounced as //dʒ//; pronounced as //mʲ// > pronounced as //ndʒ//) without emitting a preceding pronounced as //j//. This development was also seen in Occitan and Ligurian.^[9]
• Second diphthongization: diphthongization of pronounced as //e//, pronounced as //o//, pronounced as //a// to pronounced as //ei//, pronounced as //ou//, pronounced as //ae// in stressed, open syllables, not followed by a palatal sound (not in all Gallo-Romance). (Later on, pronounced as //ei// > pronounced as //oi//, pronounced as //ou// > pronounced as //eu//, pronounced as //ae// > pronounced as //e//; see below.)
• Second unstressed vowel loss: Loss of all vowels in unstressed, final syllables, except pronounced as //a//; addition of a final, supporting pronounced as //e// when necessary, to avoid words with impermissible final clusters.
• Second lenition: Same changes as in first lenition, applied again (not in all Gallo-Romance). Losses of unstressed vowels may have blocked that change from happening.
• Palatalization of pronounced as //ka// > pronounced as //tʃa//, pronounced as //ɡa// > pronounced as //dʒa//. Very few words failed to palatalize: Latin: cavea >> French, Old (842-ca.1400);: cage, not **chage.
• Further vocalic changes (part 1):
  • pronounced as //ae// > pronounced as //ɛ// (but > pronounced as //jɛ// after a palatal, and > pronounced as //aj// before nasals when not after a palatal).
  • pronounced as //au// > pronounced as //ɔ//.
• Further consonant changes:
  • Geminate stops become single stops.
  • Final stops and fricatives become devoiced.
  • pronounced as //dz// > pronounced as //z// unless final.
  • A pronounced as //t// is inserted between palatal pronounced as //ɲ//, pronounced as //ʎ// and following pronounced as //s// (Latin: dolēs > French, Old (842-ca.1400);: duels "you hurt" but Latin: colligis > *pronounced as //ˈkɔljes// > French, Old (842-ca.1400);: cuelz, cueuz "you gather"; Latin: iungis > *pronounced as //ˈjonjes// > French, Old (842-ca.1400);: joinz "you join"; Latin: fīlius > French, Old (842-ca.1400);: filz "son": the on such words represents pronounced as //ts//).
  • Palatal pronounced as //ɲ//, pronounced as //ʎ// are depalatalized to pronounced as //n//, pronounced as //l// when final or following a consonant.
    • In first-person verb forms, they may remain palatal when final because of the influence of the palatalized subjunctives.
    • pronounced as //ɲ// > pronounced as //jn// when depalatalising but pronounced as //ʎ// > pronounced as //l//, without a yod. (Latin: *veclum > pronounced as //ˈvɛlʲo// > pronounced as //ˈviɛlʲo// > French, Old (842-ca.1400);: viel "old" but Latin: cuneum > pronounced as //ˈkonʲo// > French, Old (842-ca.1400);: coin, balneum}} > pronounced as //ˈbanjo// > French, Old (842-ca.1400);: bain but Latin: montāneam > pronounced as //monˈtanja// > French, Old (842-ca.1400);: montagne.)
• Further vocalic changes (part 2):
  • pronounced as //jej// > pronounced as //i//, pronounced as //woj// > pronounced as //uj//. (Latin: placēre > pronounced as //plajˈdzjejr// > French: plaisir; Latin: noctem > pronounced as //nuojt// > French: nuit.)
  • Diphthongs are consistently rendered as falling diphthongs, the major stress is on the first element, including for pronounced as //ie//, pronounced as //ue//, pronounced as //ui//, etc. in contrast with the normal Spanish pronunciation.
  • pronounced as //a// > pronounced as //ə//, when word-final.

To Old French, c. 1100

• pronounced as //f//, pronounced as //p//, pronounced as //k// lost before final pronounced as //s//, pronounced as //t//. (Latin: dēbet > Strasbourg Oaths French, Old (842-ca.1400);: dift pronounced as //deift// > OF French, Old (842-ca.1400);: doit.)
• pronounced as //ei// > pronounced as //oi// (blocked by nasalization; see below).
• pronounced as //ou// > pronounced as //eu//, however this is blocked if a labial consonant follows, in which case the segment remains pronounced as //ou//, ultimately becoming pronounced as //u// later.^[10] (Latin: lupa > OF French, Old (842-ca.1400);: louve.)
• pronounced as //wo// > pronounced as //we// (blocked by nasalization; see below).
• pronounced as //a// develops allophone pronounced as /[ɑ]/ before pronounced as //s//, which later develops into a separate phoneme.
• Loss of pronounced as //θ// and pronounced as //ð//. When it results in a hiatus of pronounced as //a// with a following vowel, the pronounced as //a// becomes a schwa pronounced as //ə//.
• Loss of pronounced as //s// before voiced consonant (passing first through pronounced as //h//), with lengthening of preceding vowel. That produces a new set of long vowel phonemes, as is described more completely in the following section.
• pronounced as //u// > pronounced as //y//. (This shift, along with the later pronounced as //o// > pronounced as //u//, is an areal feature common to most Gallo-Romance languages.)
• Word-final pronounced as //rn//, pronounced as //rm// > pronounced as //r// (Latin: diurnum > EOF French, Old (842-ca.1400);: jorn > OF French, Old (842-ca.1400);: jor; Latin: vermem > EOF French, Old (842-ca.1400);: verm > OF French, Old (842-ca.1400);: ver; Latin: dormit > OF French, Old (842-ca.1400);: dort).

To Late Old French, c. 1250–1300

Changes here affect oral and nasal vowels alike, unless otherwise indicated.

change	condition	notes
pronounced as //o// > pronounced as //u//	everywhere
pronounced as //ue//, pronounced as //eu// > pronounced as //œ//	everywhere	Nasal pronounced as //wɛ̃// segments, for which there had dialectal variation with nasal pronounced as //ũ// previously, are all shifted (or returned) to pronounced as //ũ// (ultimately becoming pronounced as //ɔ̃//) before this can occur.
Rising diphthongs develop when the first element of diphthong is pronounced as //u//, pronounced as //y//, pronounced as //i//. Stress shifts to second element.	everywhere	Hence pronounced as //yi// > pronounced as /[yj]/ > pronounced as /[ɥi]/
pronounced as //oi// > pronounced as //we//	everywhere	Later, pronounced as //we// > pronounced as //ɛ// in some words like French: français; note doublet French: François.
pronounced as //ai// > pronounced as //ɛ//	everywhere	afterward, (ai) is a common spelling of pronounced as //ɛ//, regardless of origin.
pronounced as //e// > pronounced as //ɛ//	In closed syllables.
Deaffrication: pronounced as //ts// > pronounced as //s// pronounced as //tʃ// > pronounced as //ʃ// pronounced as //dʒ// > pronounced as //ʒ//	everywhere
Phonemicization of pronounced as //a// vs. pronounced as //ɑ//	pronounced as /[ɑ]/ was initially an allophone of pronounced as //a// before pronounced as //s//, pronounced as //z// that was phonemicized when pronounced as //ts// > pronounced as //s//.	pronounced as / [ˈtʃatsə] / > pronounced as //ʃas(ə)//, French: chasse ("he hunts"). pronounced as / [ˈtʃɑsə] / > pronounced as //ʃɑs(ə)//, French: châsse ("reliquary, frame") Later losses of pronounced as //s// produced further minimal pairs.
syllable-final consonant loss fusion with or compensatory lengthening of preceding vowels	word-internal syllable-final position	Consonants in coda position word-internally underwent weakening and loss (Gess 1996). This affected /S/ ([z] before voiced consonants and [s] before voiceless ones), /N/ (=nasal consonants), /l/, and to some extent the most sonorous coda consonant, /r/. Syllable-final /s/ reduced to [h] before deleting. Borrowings into English suggest that the process occurred first when the following consonant was voiced but not when it was unvoiced (this explains the English pronunciations isle vs. feast). This process was accompanied by compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel. Preconsonantal (s) was retained as a marker of vowel length (sometimes non-etymologically) until being substituted by (ˆ). Syllable-final nasal consonants nasalized and then were absorbed into the preceding vowels, leading to phonemic nasal vowels. Syllable-final /l/ (probably already velarized in this position) vocalized to [w] and fused with the preceding vowel to produce falling diphthongs. Where syllable-final /r/ was weakened and lost word-internally, it was mostly later restored with the notable exception of morphemic French: -er.

To Middle French, c. 1500

Changes here affect oral and nasal vowels alike, unless otherwise indicated.

• pronounced as //au// > pronounced as //o//.
• pronounced as //ei// > pronounced as //ɛ// (the pronounced as /[ei̯]/ diphthong is maintained in Quebec French: French: neige "snow" pronounced as /[nei̯ʒ(ə)]/ or pronounced as /[naɪ̯ʒ(ə)]/).
• Loss of final consonants before a word beginning with a consonant. That produces a three-way pronunciation for many words (alone, followed by a vowel, followed by a consonant), which is still maintained in the words French: six "six" and French: dix "ten" (and until recently French: neuf "nine"), e.g. French: dix pronounced as //dis// "ten" but French: dix amis pronounced as //diz aˈmi// "ten friends" and French: dix femmes pronounced as //di ˈfam(ə)// "ten women".
• Subject pronouns start to become mandatory because of loss of phonetic differences between inflections.
• Medieval apical s, as in French: saint, merges into deaffricated as in French: ceint, thus merging soft and .

To Early Modern French, c. 1700

• Loss of most phonemically lengthened vowels (preserved in Belgian, Acadian French and Quebec French).
• Loss of final consonants in a word standing alone. That produces a two-way pronunciation for many words (in close connection with a following word that begins with a vowel), often still maintained: French: nous voyons pronounced as //nu vwaˈjɔ̃// "we see" vs. French: nous avons pronounced as //nuz aˈvɔ̃// "we have". That phenomenon is known as liaison.
• pronounced as //we// > pronounced as //wa//^[11] (see above – To Late Old French) or pronounced as //ɛ// (French, Middle (ca.1400-1600);: étoit > French: était; the spelling was not changed until the 19th century). This also affects certain other instances of pronounced as //we ~ o̯e//; e.g. French: moelle pronounced as //mwal//, French: poêle pronounced as //pwɑl//. Change into pronounced as //ɛ// is relatively rare in standard French, it occurs notably in the imperfect tense suffixes, and the adjectival suffix French: -ois > French: -ais.
  • The pronunciation pronounced as //we// is preserved in some forms of Quebec and Acadian French, especially by old speakers.
• Instances of /h/ were again deleted in the late seventeenth century. The phoneme /h/ had been reintroduced to the language through the absorption of loanwords, primarily of Germanic origin, in which the /h/ was preserved, and these are the /h/ instances that were lost this time around.^{[12] [13]} However a Germanic usually disallows liaison: French: les halles pronounced as //le.al(ə)//, French: les haies pronounced as //le.ɛ//, French: les haltes pronounced as //le.alt(ə)//, whereas a Latin allows liaison: French: les herbes pronounced as //lezɛrb(ə)//, French: les hôtels pronounced as //lezotɛl//.

To Modern French, c. 2000

• pronounced as //r// becomes a uvular sound ("Guttural R"), realized as either a trill pronounced as //ʀ// or fricative pronounced as //ʁ//, in most accents. The alveolar trill is maintained in Acadia, Louisiana, some parts of Québec and in Francophone Africa.
• Merger of pronounced as //ʎ// (spelled in French: œil and French: travail) into pronounced as //j//, which had begun in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, reaches completion around the beginning of the nineteenth century^[14] (see Mouillé)
• Elision of final pronounced as //ə//, and occasionally of pronounced as //ə// elsewhere, unless a sequence of three consonants would be produced (such constraints operate over multiword sequences of words that are syntactically connected). Occitan French tends to be more conservative, while the elision of final pronounced as //ə// does not occur in Francophone Africa.
• Changing use of liaison, which overall becomes rarer.
• In Metropolitan French, gradual merging of pronounced as //œ̃// and pronounced as //ɛ̃//, both are realized as pronounced as /[æ̃]/, but the distinction is maintained in Southern France, Switzerland, Belgium, Quebec and Francophone Africa.
• In Metropolitan French, loss of the phoneme pronounced as //ɑ//, merged with pronounced as //a//, both are realized as pronounced as /[ä]/, but the distinction is maintained in French Switzerland, Belgium, Quebec and Francophone Africa.
• In Metropolitan French, loss of the phoneme pronounced as //ə//, merged with pronounced as //ø//, both are realized as pronounced as /[ø]/, but the distinction is maintained in Quebec French.
• In Metropolitan French, loss of the phoneme pronounced as //ɛː//, merged with pronounced as //ɛ//, both are realized as pronounced as /[ɛ]/, but the distinction is maintained in Northern French, Switzerland, Belgium, Quebec and Francophone Africa.
• In Metropolitan French, merger of pronounced as //ɔ// into pronounced as //o// when word-final, but the distinction is maintained in Belgian French.

Nasalization

Nasalization of vowels before pronounced as //n// or pronounced as //m// occurred gradually over several hundred years, beginning with the low vowels, possibly as early as 900, and finishing with the high vowels, possibly as late as c. 1300. Numerous changes occurred afterwards that are still continuing.

The following steps occurred during the Old French period:

• Nasalization of pronounced as //a//, pronounced as //e//, pronounced as //ɔ// before pronounced as //n// or pronounced as //m// (originally, in all circumstances, including when a vowel followed).
• Nasalization occurs before and blocks the changes pronounced as //ei// > pronounced as //oi// and pronounced as //ou// > pronounced as //eu//. However, the sequence pronounced as //õĩ// occurs because pronounced as //oi// has more than one origin: French, Old (842-ca.1400);: coin "corner" < . The sequences pronounced as //ĩẽn// or pronounced as //ĩẽm//, and pronounced as //ũẽn// or pronounced as //ũẽm//, also occur, but the last two occur in only a few words, in each case alternating with a non-diphthongized variant: French, Old (842-ca.1400);: om or French, Old (842-ca.1400);: uem (ModF French: on), and French, Old (842-ca.1400);: bon or French, Old (842-ca.1400);: buen (ModF French: bon). The version without the diphthong apparently arose in unstressed environments and is the only one that survived.
• Lowering of pronounced as //ẽ// and pronounced as //ɛ̃// to pronounced as /[æ̃]/ but not in the sequences pronounced as //jẽ// and pronounced as //ẽj//: French: bien, French: plein. The realization of pronounced as //ẽ// to pronounced as /[æ̃]/ probably occurred during the 11th or early 12th century and did not affect Old Norman or Anglo-Norman. Ultimately pronounced as /[æ̃]/ merged into pronounced as //ã//.
• Nasalization of pronounced as //i//, pronounced as //u//, pronounced as //y// before pronounced as //n// or pronounced as //m//.
• It is not clear if the third-person plural ending French: -ent contained a nasalized schwa pronounced as //ə̃//; although the n is consistently kept in writing, by Early Modern French at the latest it had become non-nasal pronounced as //ə//.

The following steps occurred during the Middle French period:

• Lowering of pronounced as //ũ// > pronounced as //õ// > pronounced as //ɔ̃//. (pronounced as //ũ// usually comes from original pronounced as //oN//, as original pronounced as //u// became pronounced as //y//.)
• Denasalization of vowels before pronounced as //n// or pronounced as //m// followed by a vowel or semi-vowel. (Examples like French, Middle (ca.1400-1600);: femme pronounced as //fam// "woman" < OF pronounced as //ˈfãmə// < and French, Middle (ca.1400-1600);: donne pronounced as //dɔn// "(he) gives" < OF pronounced as //ˈdũnə// <, with lowering and lack of diphthongization before a nasal even when a vowel followed, show that nasalization originally operated in all environments.)
• Deletion of pronounced as //n// or pronounced as //m// after remaining nasal vowels (when preceding a consonant or word-final): French: dent pronounced as //dɑ̃// "tooth" < pronounced as /
  • /dãt/
  / < OFr French, Old (842-ca.1400);: dent pronounced as //dãnt// < EOFr pronounced as /
  • /dɛ̃nt/
  / < .

The following steps occurred during the Modern French period:

• pronounced as //ĩ// > pronounced as //ẽ// > pronounced as //ɛ̃// > pronounced as /[æ̃]/ (pronounced as /[ẽɪ̯̃]/ in Quebec French). That also affects diphthongs such as pronounced as //ĩẽ// > pronounced as //jẽ// > pronounced as //jɛ̃// (French: bien pronounced as //bjɛ̃// "well" < Latin: bene); pronounced as //ỹĩ// > pronounced as //ɥĩ// > pronounced as //ɥɛ̃//, (French: juin pronounced as //ʒɥɛ̃// "June" < Latin: iūnium); pronounced as //õĩ// > pronounced as //wẽ// > pronounced as //wɛ̃//, (French: coin pronounced as //kwɛ̃// "corner" < Latin: cuneum). Also, pronounced as //ãĩ// > pronounced as //ɛ̃//, (French: pain pronounced as //pɛ̃// "bread" < Latin: pānem); pronounced as //ẽĩ// > pronounced as //ɛ̃//, (French: plein pronounced as //plɛ̃// "full" < Latin: plēnum).
• pronounced as //ã// > pronounced as //ɑ̃// > pronounced as /[ɒ̃]/, but the pronounced as /[ã]/ sound is maintained in Quebec French.
• pronounced as //ɔ̃// > pronounced as /[õ]/ (pronounced as /[õʊ̯̃]/ in Quebec French)
• pronounced as //ỹ// > pronounced as //œ̃// (pronounced as /[ɚ̃]/ in Quebec French). In the 20th century, this sound has low functional load and has tended to merge with pronounced as //ɛ̃//.

That leaves only four nasal vowels: pronounced as //ɛ̃//, pronounced as //ɑ̃//, pronounced as //ɔ̃//, and pronounced as //œ̃//, the last often no longer being distinguished from the first.

See also

• Bartsch's law

Bibliography

• • Book: Brittain, Margaret S. . 1900 . Historical Primer of French Phonetics and Inflection . Clarendon Press . Oxford .
• Gess, Randall (1996) Optimality Theory in the Historical Phonology of French. PhD dissertation, University of Washington

Notes and References

1. Web site: Sardegna, isola del silenzio, Manlio Brigaglia . 2018-08-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170510160305/http://www.mclink.it/com/lol/sardegna/g_tour/bri_i.htm . 2017-05-10 . dead .
2. In this article:
   • Italics indicate Old French and other Romance language words;
   • An *asterisk marks a conjectured or hypothetical form;
   • Phonetic transcriptions appear pronounced as //between slashes//, in the International Phonetic Alphabet.
3. The changes occurred in the majority of Vulgar Latin, specifically the Italo-Western Romance area, which underlies the vast majority of Romance languages spoken in Italy, France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, and Andorra. However, different vowel changes occurred elsewhere, in the Vulgar Latin underlying modern Romanian, Sardinian, Corsican, and a few modern southern Italian varieties.
4. Found as "worse" in many 19th and 20th century editions, but was actually pronounced pronounced as //ˈpej.jor//, with a short pronounced as //e// followed by a geminate pronounced as //jj//; writing the macron is a convention to mark the resulting syllable weight.
5. Pope, Mildred K. From Latin to French, with Especial Consideration of Anglo-Norman. Page 183 section 481
6. Pope, Mildred K. From Latin to French, with Especial Consideration of Anglo-Norman. Page 183 section 481.
7. Pope, Mildred K. From Latin to French, with Especial Consideration of Anglo-Norman. Section 556.
8. Book: Deborah L. Arteaga. Research on Old French: The State and the Art. 162–164.
9. Operstein, Natalie. Consonant Structure and Prevocalization. Pages 109-110, 112-118
10. Pope, Mildred K. From Latin to French, with Especial Consideration of Anglo-Norman. Page 185, Section 489.
11. Huchon, Mireille, Histoire de la langue française, pages 214 and 223.
12. Book: Mildred Katharine Pope. From Latin to Modern French with Especial Consideration of Anglo-Norman. 94. Manchester University Press. 1934. 9780719001765.
13. Book: Trask's Historical Linguistics. Robert McColl Miller. Larry Trask. 20 February 2015. Routledge . 9781317541769. Between the fifth and eighth centuries, French borrowed a number of Germanic words with [h]... and [h] thus rejoined the French phonological system... the [h]s had disappeared by the eighteenth century..
14. The variable palatal lateral in Occitan and Catalan: linguistic transfer or regular sound change?. Mooney. Damien. Hawkey. James. Journal of French Language Studies. 2019. 29. 2 . 286. 10.1017/S0959269519000127 . 1983/0c02d596-48f3-4b60-8901-a1f73f44c86a . free.