French Pronunciation Guide: Vowels, Nasal Sounds & Consonants
Explore the intricacies of French pronunciation through the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), understanding vowel sounds, nasal vowels, and consonant variations. Master the differences in sound production and learn how to correctly pronounce French words with detailed explanations and visual aids.
Uploaded on Sep 09, 2024 | 0 Views
Download Presentation
Please find below an Image/Link to download the presentation.
The content on the website is provided AS IS for your information and personal use only. It may not be sold, licensed, or shared on other websites without obtaining consent from the author. Download presentation by click this link. If you encounter any issues during the download, it is possible that the publisher has removed the file from their server.
E N D
Presentation Transcript
CURRENT VERSION HAS TO MUCH WORDS FOR A PRESENTATION BUT VERY GOOD FOR end slide / printing / r sum ) Longer sentences in pressentation, more to oral, whereas printing requires, more description
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) Written form of pronunciation in // or [] Mangeons /m / [m ] Russie / ysi/ Beurre /b / l ve /el v/ Premier /p mje/ Symbols used in the dictionary All languages (English too!) Can compare pronunciation between words or languages (eg. R is the same in DE/FR)
Vowels i e a o genou sound in french words closest equivalent in english /i:/ heel, bead Hit a bird, above, over, open ~ / / bay Set ~ / :/ urgent, ferm, work ~ / :/ bird ~ / / cat / :/ after fun, cousin ~ / / wash, pot / :/ born ~ /o / goat, code ~ / / full, hook ~ /u:/ boom ici, vie, lyrique /:/ means longer time Two letters for One sound! le, premier t , jouer, j ai f ve, tre, merci, jouet, lait peu, deux c ur, peur, cueillir amour, plat p te, bas or, homme mot, gauche, eau, h pital u In red the French writing of the sound when IPA is not used urne y
How to pronounce vowels (all languages!) Vowel trapezium (where in the mouth the sound comes from) Both Unrounded Rounded (lips) English only French only Front i y Centered Back u Close e o Close-Mid Open-Mid a Open
lots of online videos give tricks for those! Nasal Vowels Semi-consonants yaourt, maille joie, oui, nouer huile, lui sapin, plein, pain yes wa r j un, brun an, pendant on, bonbon w /wj/ like Consonants chat, sch ma jus, genou agneau renard shower measure canyon / / for convenience
Work on the differences All French agree that those sound are clearly different: /e/ (accent) / / (open) ma /a/ (open) peur / / (open) blond / / (close, rounded) murir /y/ (front) riz // (unrounded) / / (no accent) /e/ (close) mais / / (close) peu / / (close) blanc / / (open, unrounded) mourir /u/ (back) rue /y/ (rounded)
But, dont worry! Here, a lot of some French people (regions or accents) can not (under some circumstences) even tell the difference. brin / / (unrounded) patte /a/(front) pomme / / (open) de / / (central) parlerai /e/ (subjonctif) brun / /(rounded) p te / / (back) paume /o/ (closed) deux / / (front) parlerais / / (imparfait) And finally don t worry if you can t tell the difference when French do, you will probably be understood Trying to explain to some French people that in English / / / / / / / / will make her him go crazy!
Regional accents Finally, like in English, regions/accents change the Sound the people use for one word. For example, some accents pronounce les /l / whereas generally people (and dictionaries) use /le/ Other examples include: haie /he/ vs /h / autre /otr/ vs / tr/ tu es / / vs /e/ jouet / / vs /e/ ...
Handy References en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_French en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English wordreference.com/fren/ l ve www.internationalphoneticalphabet.org/ ipa-charts/ipa-chart-download-print/ (chose Kiel :D)
Stress and Syllables In English, the stress is generally at the beginning of words. In French it s generally at the end, which gives a different rythm to the language. In IPA, / / is used eg. When writing a sentence in IPA, the syllables are written with /./ eg.
Consonants at the end Mute, don't say it! blanc grand sang beaucoup tables chat hiboux
Mute E e // is so discrete we generally don t say it at the end of words (one exception is to exaggerate but you look funny) l cole est /le.ko.l / la journ e /la. u .ne/
Liaison A mute consonant before a vowelis pronounced -d /t/ grand homme /g t m/ -p /p/ trop aimable /t op mabl/ -r / / premier enfant /p mj f / -s /z/ les euros /lez o/ -t /t/ pot-au-feu /pot o f / -x /z/ mieux tre /mj z t / -n (nasals) [n] un ami / n ami/ For C and G , they were said K in the old times, now we don t hear it anymore, except in expressions (croc-en-jambes). For other examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liaison_(French)
Pronunciation C ceci cigale / s / Before e, i Change with d u a gar on cur cadeau corde / k / Before a, o, u / s /
Pronunciation G Change with u genou giraff mangue guider / g / / / Before e, i Change with e - mangea mangeons gustatif garage gorille Before a, o, u / g / / / mangeur /m / !
Pronunciation S maison / z / Between two vowels / z / se moisson esp rer Otherwise / s /
Pronunciation H Mute, don't say it ! Habiter /abite/ j'habite en habitant / n habit / Hiver /iv / l'hiver un hiver / n iv / Normal H Elision Liaison Haricot /'a iko/ Haut /'o/ Aspirated H IPA : ' No Elision No liaison le haut en haut / o/ le haricot des haricots /de a iko/
au eau oi an en in ein ai ou eu final c d g p s t x h e
