Introduction

Important things to know about pronunciation

Welcome to the French Lower-Division pronunciation module.  In this section, you will find definitions and concepts that will help you understand what's going on in the other documents.

When we talk about pronunciation, we mean the sounds that actually come out of your mouth, not their spelling.  So, when we talk about vowels, we don't mean the letters (a,e,i,o,u and sometimes y).  In order to indicate these sounds accurately, linguists use the International Phonetic Alphabet.  This alphabet allows us to use one symbol to represent one sound.  In contrast, French spelling can use up to 5 letters (at one time!) to represent one sound.

Vowels

Vowels are sounds that are made with no constriction of the air flow.  For example, when you sing, you extend the vowel because it allows the most airflow and the most sound to be produced.  Say the word sing and hold it for as long as you can.  You say "siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing,"  rather than "sssssssssssssssssssing."

French has, depending on the variety, about 15 vowels.  In the following table, the sound is the single letter and a word with the closest English equivalent is given.

Notice that there are no words associated with the sounds in the middle column and with the [a].  That's because there are no English equivalents.  You'll learn about those in a later chapter, so don't worry about it.  There are also some nasal vowels in French; that also will be covered later.

Consonants

These are sounds that are produced with varying degrees of constriction of the airflow.  In French, the consonants are:

stops

the airflow is completely blocked and then released explosively (which is why these sounds are also called plosives).

fricatives

the airflow is not completely blocked but there is a lot of noise associated with these sounds.  Think of friction.

laterals

actually, there's only one in French.  The air flows around the sides of the tongue.

nasals

to make these sounds, the velum drops a bit, allowing air to flow into the nasal cavity.  Place your finger lightly along the side of your nose and say: "mmmmmmmmmmm."  You should feel some vibration.

We also describe consonants according to where the constriction is made:

bilabial

sounds made with the lips meeting (p, b, m).

labiodental

sounds made with the teeth and lips (f, v).

dental

sounds made with the tongue just behind the teeth (t, d, s, z, l, n).

palatal

sounds made with the tongue close to the hard palate (ʃ ʒ ɲ).

velar

sounds made with the tongue against the soft palate (k, g).

uvular

sounds made with the tongue close to the uvula, that thing that hangs in the back of your throat (r).

Here is a chart of French consonants:

Semivowels

Finally, there are three sounds that are between vowels and consonants (hence, the name):

Syllables

This is the basic word division and tells you, in effect, how many beats to a word.  The hint here is that a syllable must have a full vowel (SOUND, not letter).  Syllables that end in a consonant sound are called closed syllables; those that end in a vowel sound are called open syllables.