French language

Sounds

:Main article: French phonology and orthography

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

French pronunciation follows strict rules based on spelling, but French spelling is often based more on history than phonology. The rules for pronunciation vary between dialects, but the standard rules are:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• liaison or linking: Final single consonants, in particular s, x, z, t, d, n and m, are normally mute. (The final letters 'c', 'r', 'f', and 'l' however are normally pronounced.) When the following word begins with a vowel, though, a silent consonant is once again pronounced, to provide a "link" between the two words and avoid a glottal stop between them. Certain words are exempt from this linking rule (e.g. et which never pronounces the "t"), but the exceptions vary between dialects and regions. Doubling a final consonant and adding a silent e at the end of a word (e.g. Parisien → Parisienne) makes it clearly pronounced, always.
• elision or vowel dropping: Monosyllabic words such as je or que drop their final vowel before another word beginning with a vowel. The missing vowel is replaced by an apostrophe. (e.g. je ai is instead pronounced and spelt → j'ai)
• nasal "n" and "m". When "n" or "m" follows a vowel combination, the "n" and "m" become silent and cause the preceding vowel to become nasalized (i.e. pronounced with the soft palate extended downward so as to cause the air to leave through the nostrils instead of through the mouth). Exceptions are when the "n" or "m" is doubled, or immediately followed by a vowel. The prefixes en- and em- are always nasalized. The rules get more complex than this but may vary between dialects.
• digraphs French does not introduce extra letters or diacritics to specify its large range of vowel sounds and diphthongs, rather it uses specific combinations of vowels, sometimes with following consonants, to show which sound is intended. (See French phonology and orthography or French Pronunciation Guide for more details.)
• accents are used sometimes for pronunciation, sometimes to distinguish similar words, and sometimes for etymology alone.
• Accents that affect pronunciation:
• "é", is pronounced {{IPA|/e/}} instead of the defaults {{IPA|/ɛ/}} or{{IPA|/ə/}},
• "è" (e.g., secrète) means that the vowel is pronounced {{IPA|/ɛ/}} (as usual),
• dieresis (e.g. naïve, Noël) as in English, specifies that this vowel is pronounced separately from the preceding one (or following one in some cases), not combined,
• the "ç" means that the letter c is pronounced {{IPA|/s/}} in front of A, O, or U. ("c" is otherwise hard {{IPA|/k/}} before a hard vowel.)
• The circumflex (e.g. pâté, forêt) shows that an e is pronounced {{IPA|/?/}} and that an o is pronounced {{IPA|/o/}}. In some dialects it also signifies a pronunciation of {{IPA|/?/}} for the letter a, but this differentiation is disappearing. It usually indicates a former long vowel created by the dropping of an "s" from the Latin root (as in English "paste", "forest"),
• Accents with no pronunciation effect:
• The circumflex does not affect the pronunciation of the letters i or u, and in most dialects, a as well.
• All other accents are used only to distinguish similar words or for etymological reasons, as in the case of distinguishing the adverbs là and où ("there", "where") from the article la and the conjunction ou ("the fem. sing.", "or") respectively.