basic french linguistics

8/6/2019 Basic French Linguistics

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French is notable for its uvular r ,nasal vowels, and two processes

affecting word-final sounds: liaison,

wherein word-final consonants arenot pronounced unless followed by a

word beginning with a vowel; and

elision, wherein a final vowel iselided before vowel initial words.


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Basic French Linguistics

1. Alphabets

2. Accents

3. Liaison4. Nasalization

5. Final Silent Consonants

6. Elision7. Gender


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AlphabetsA a

B bay

C say

D day

E uh

F eff

G zhay

H ash

I ee

J zhee

K ka

L el

M em

N en

O oh

P pay

Q ku

R ehr

S ess

T tay

U oo

V vay

W doo-bluh-vay

X eeks

Y ee-grek

Z zed


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ACCENTS

Accent Aigu /

Accent Grave \

Accent Circonflexe ^

Trma

Cdille


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A E I O U

Accent Aigu

Accent

Grave

Accent

Circonflexe

Trma


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Accent Aigu

cole - School


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Accent Grave

L - Here

Trs - Very

O - Where


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Accent Circonflexe

Pte - Paste

Fort- ForestDner - Dinner

Hpital - HospitalSr - Sure


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Trma

Naf Nave

Nol Christmas


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Cdille

Garon - Boy


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Final Silent Consonants A consonant is considered "final" when

no vowel follows it even if one or more

consonants follow it.

Final single consonants, in particularss,,xx,,

zz,, tt,, ddand nn are normally silent.

Les Feux

Venez Tout

Grand Un


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Liaison

A liaison is the phenomenon whereby anormally silent consonant at the end of aword is pronounced at the beginning of theword that follows it.

For example, the letterss in the word les, 'the',is generally silent but it is pronounced /z/ in

the combination les amis /l.za.mi/, 'thefriends'.


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Grand Homme "Great Mane

Tout Homme "Every Mane

Les Enfants "The Childrene

Venez Ici "Come Heree

Faux Amis "False Friends"

Un Ami "A Friend"


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Elision

Elision or Vowel Dropping With elision the opposite of liaison occurs -

sounds normally pronounced become silent. The

vowel sound of these short one syllable words

all go silent before a vowel or mute h. Some monosyllabic function words ending in a

ore, such as je and que, drop their final vowel

when placed before a word that begins with a

vowel sound The missing vowel is replaced by an

apostrophe.


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Je ai J'ai (I have)

Le homme L homme (t he man)

Le enfant Lenfant (the child)

La ide Lide (the idea)

Que on a Quon a (that we have)

La universit Luniversit (the university)


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Nasalization Normally when a vowel or vowel

combination is followed by the letters m or

n, that vowel is nasalized.

When this is the case the letters m orn

are not pronounced; they serve only to

mark the nasalization.

e.g un bon vin blanc a good white wine


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In phonetics, nasalization is the production of a sound

while the soft palate (velum) is lowered, so that some air

escapes through the nose during the production of the

sound by the mouth.


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Nasalized WordsFaim Hunger

Dent Tooth

Bon Good

Quand WhenPlein Plenty

Vin Wine

SimpleSimple

Moins Less

Chien Dog

Cousin


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Gender French gender is a constant headache for many

students of French.

When you very first start learning French, you'll

probably learn whether a noun is masculine orfeminine by learning it with the word le orla: le

garon, la fille etc. Initially, this is probably the

most effective way of learning when to use le

and when to use la.

Gender affects Nouns, Articles, Adjectives &

Verbs.


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GENERALLY MASCULINEGENERALLY MASCULINE GENERALLY FEMININEGENERALLY FEMININE

Names of towns. Other placenames (departments, rivers,countries) not ending in -e.

Place names ending in -e.

Nouns ending in:y-agey-menty-il, -ail, -eil, -ueily- (but not -t)y-eau and -ouy-me, -gey-i, -at, -et and -oty-er

y-oiry-ismey-ingy-ardyWords ending in otherconsonants (in the spelling).

Nouns ending in:y-tion, -sion and -sony-urey-ude, -adey-ey-ty-ireyConsonant followed by-iey-euse

y-ance, -enceyMost other endings consistingofVowel + Consonant + e: -ine, -ise, -alle, -elle, -esse, -ette etc


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