French Phonology
This article mainly discusses the phonological system of standard French based on the Parisian dialect. Notable phonological features of French include its uvular r, nasal vowels, and three processes affecting word-final sounds: liaison, a certain type of sandhi, wherein word-final consonants are not pronounced unless followed by a word beginning with a vowel; elision, wherein certain instances of /ǝ/ (schwa) are elided (e.g. when final before an initial vowel); and enchaînement (resyllabification), in which word-final and word-initial consonants may be moved across a syllable boundary, so that syllables may cross word boundaries.
An example of these various processes is as follows:
- Written: On a laissé la fenêtre ouverte.
- Meaning: "We left the window open."
- In isolation: /ɔ̃ a lese la fǝnɛːtʁ uvɛʁt/
- Together:
Read more about French Phonology: Consonants, Vowels, Glides and Diphthongs, Stress, Intonation
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“The terrible tabulation of the French statists brings every piece of whim and humor to be reducible also to exact numerical ratios. If one man in twenty thousand, or in thirty thousand, eats shoes, or marries his grandmother, then, in every twenty thousand, or thirty thousand, is found one man who eats shoes, or marries his grandmother.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)