French Phonetics 思维导图模板_ProcessOn思维导图、流程图

Stress

When a sentence is spoken in French, no single word receives a huge amount of stress. The words flow. In English, we have a tendency to stress many consonants and different vowels

When speaking French, the focus is on the vowels. They are more "pure" in a sense, unlike English which has diphthongs

French vowels are "pure", they aren't as long as they are in English and they do not change tonality midway during pronunciation (with the exception of semi-vowels). English vowels change how they sound depending on what other vowels are present within the sentence being stressed

In general, only the last word in a phonological phrase retains its full grammatical stress (on its last syllable, unless this is a schwa)

Liaisons

If a word ends with a consonant and is followed by another word that starts with a vowel, then the consonant should be linked to the vowel and pronounced together

Elision

In French, elision usually happens when a final vowel becomes silent in front of a word starting with a vowel.

Diacritics

An accent aigu (´) is seen only on an e (´). é produces the sound /e/.

An accent grave (`) is used with a (à), e (è), and u (ù). On an e, an accent grave produces the sound of /ɛ/. It doesn't change the sound of the a (à) or u (ù).

An accent circonflexe may be used on all vowels: â, ê, î, ô, û. The vowel sounds are longer for â and ô, are slightly longer for ê, and are imperceptible on î and û.

A cédille (ç) is used only on a c (ç). When the c comes before a, o, or u, it means that you pronounce the letter as a soft c (the sound of s).

A tréma (..) occurs on a second vowel in a series. This accent indicates that the two vowels are pronounced separately, each having its own distinct sound

Miscellaneous

French is characterized by greater muscular tension in comparison to English. For example, the lips in pronouncing English are relatively relaxed, but in French they are more tense. Overemphasize the movements of muscles around the mouth and lips can become some pretty spot on pronunciation

In French, syllables have the tendency to end with a vowel(open syllabication).While in English, most of our words like to end with a consonant (closed syllabication)

The basic structure of a syllable in French is consonant + vowel

A syllable can be a single vowel (or group of vowels), but only at the beginning of a word

Most consonants at the end of words are not pronounced , except for c,f, l,r,q

If a consonant is followed by a letter e at the end of a word, then it's pronounced

Phonemes

Vowels

General Vowels

Front Vowels

/i/

vie, dix, stylo

i, î, y are pronounced as /i/

Mouth is closed, jaws up, lips spread

/e/

fée, été, danser,allez,nez, les, des, ai, gai, et

é, final er & ez & es in some one-syllable words, a few ai & et are pronounced as /e/

Mouth Position is a bit open than that of /i/

/ɛ/

sel, tête, treize, rester, concert, cher, jouet, jamais, aider

è, ê, and e (plus two consonants or a final pronounced consonant), most et, ei, ai are pronounced as /ɛ/

Mouth Position is a bit open than that of /ɛ/

/a/

gars, ami, là

a, à, â are all pronounced as /a/ , and seen as the same exact sound as /ɑ/

if letter e is followed by mm and nn, e is pronounced as /a/

Mouth Position is wide open, jaws are all the way down and still keep your lips spread

Mid-Vowels

/y/

vu, jus, une, nu, tu,

u, û are pronounced as /y/

Mouth closed, Lips tightly rounded, Tongue moving forward

/ø/

veux, feu

eu is normally pronounced as /ø/ when it's the last sound of a word

Mouth stays almost closed, jaw is a bit open

/œ/

veulent, seul, professeur

When eu is followed by pronounced consonants, it's pronounced as /œ/

Mouth opened a little more

/ə/

le, samedi,regarder, demander, repasser

When e is in one-syllable words or followed by a single consonant(middle of a word), it's mostly pronounced as /ə/

if e is followed by a consonant + r, then it's pronounced as /ə/

When French people are speaking in everyday situations, more often than not people drop the schwa

In French, the schwa represents the phonemes /ø/, /œ/, or /ə/ when they are unstressed

Back Vowels

/u/

doux, vous, où, nous,toujours, beaucoup

ou, où, oû are pronounced as /u/

Mouth is closed, Jaws up high, lips are tightly rounded

/o/

faux, métro, bientôt, beau, jaune, manteau

o(before se), o(last pronounced sound of a word), ô, au, eau are pronounced as /o/

Mouth slightly open, lips still tightly rounded

/ɔ/

homme, porc, sol, pomme,octobre

When o is followed by a pronunced consonant(other than se), it's pronounced as /ɔ/

Mouth position is a bit more open than that of /o/

Nasal Vowels

/ɛ̃/

gain, vin, pain, impatient, emprunter

im,in, aim, ain, eim, ein, un are all pronounced as /ɛ̃/

oin is pronounced as /wɛ̃/, as in loin, point, soin

ien is pronounced as /jɛ̃/, as in bien, rien, Lucien

if in, un are followed by a vowel or H + a vowel, then it's pronounced as /in/ or /yn/

Lips spread apart, Mouth a bit open, sound nasalized

/œ̃/

l'un, parfum, chacun

/õ/

long, monde, pont,pardon,comprendre

on, om are normally pronounced as /õ/

onne are pronouced as /ɔn/

Lips tightly closed, sound nasalized

/ɑ̃/

enfant, dans, l'an, chambre, sembler,attendre, ambitieux

an, am, en, em are all pronounced as /ɑ̃/ ; when followed by a vowel sound, it's pronounced as /an/

Mouth wide open, sound nasalized

There's no nasal vowels in the following combinations: vowel + m/n(mm/nn) + vowel

Semi-Vowels

/ɥ/

huile, nuit, lui

ui combination is pronounced as /ɥ/

/w/

moi , boire, quoi,froid,voiture, pourquoi,voyage, voyez

oi, oy are pronounced as /wa/

/j/

yeux, fillette, dieu

if y is followed by a vowel, it sounds as if there are two y. eg. payer, voyager

if -ille or -ill are preceded by a vowel, they are pronounced as /j/ , as in soleil, travail

-ille(preceded by a consonant) is pronounced /ij/, except for ville, village, tranquille,

Consonants

Voiceless

/p/

plage, public

/t/

terre, sottise, thé

/k/

cou, carreau, que

c (hard sound before a, o, u, or consonant),qu, final q are pronounced as as /k/

/f/

flic, pharmacie, fossé

/s/

sac, soixante, cerise

c(soft sound before e, i, y), ç, s at beginning of word, s next to a consonant, tion (t), x(certain words) are pronounced as as /s/

/ʃ/

chat, chinois

ch, sh are pronounced as /ʃ/

Voiced

/b/

bon, bêtise, bateau

/d/

dîner, dimanche

/ɡ/

gare, gants, gallois,guider

g (hard sound before a, o, u, or consonant), gu (before i, e, y) are pronounced as /g/

/v/

vous, avion

/z/

zoo, visage, guise

When an s is between two vowels, it's pronounced as /z/

/ʒ/

japonais, je, génial, geai

g (soft sound before e, i, y), ge (soft before a, o), j are pronounced as /ʒ/

/m/

mêler, magasin

/n/

nous, nez

/ɲ/

agneau, poignet

gn is pronounced as /ɲ/

/ŋ/

camping, smoking

/l/

le, lait, mille

/l/ sound is shorter in French than in English

/ʁ/

rue, rouge, curieux