Phonetic inventory of French

Standard French has 20 to 21 consonants and 11 to 16 vowels, according to the way of counting.

Consonants

¹   In the current pronunciation, the phoneme is distinguished less and less from.
²   The phoneme appeared relatively recently, with the loan of words of English origin. It is sometimes marked.
³   According to the speaker, [ʁ] can be replaced by [χ], [ʀ], [X], [ɣ], [R] or [ɾ]. This phenomenon is called allophonic variation.
4  , and are not to tell the truth consonants; these phonemes belong to the Approximating S (also called semivowels or semi-consonants).

Vowels

¹ In the current pronunciation of certain regional varieties of French, tends to approach, and tends to approach.

² distinction between/ɛ/and/ɛ: /, as in the words putting and main is in the process of disappearance in France, but is maintained in Canada. In France the distinction relates only to the length, while in Canada a light difference in quality also exists.

Pronunciation of the graphèmes

Consonants

  • C is worth in front of E, I, there; elsewhere;
  • G is worth in front of E, I, there; elsewhere;
  • H does not decide in standard French, except in the Interjection S such as ha! (where he decides);
  • S is generally worth between two vowels and elsewhere;
  • Ti followed by another vowel and not at the beginning of word decides sometimes;
  • in general, the D , S , T , X and Z final do not decide, except in the event of connection (in which case D and T decides and S , X and Z decides).

Vowels

° if these letters are followed sound /z/ , they marked are closed (as with a circumflex accent):
  • has : “Box” /k ɑz/
  • have : “Digs” /kr øz/
  • O : “Rose” /roz/

¹ if these letters are followed m, N, H or of a vowel, then N or the m decides instead of changing the sound of the preceding vowel

² if these vowels are followed of a pronounced vowel, it become approximating:

  • ay : “to pay” /p ɛje/but “Country” /p ɛi/. One also finds /aj/ in “Fayot” /fajo/, “the Himalayas” /imalaja/ and “Mayonnaise” /maj ɔnɛz/
  • I : “Sky” /sj ɛl/but “Life” /vi/, “Lash” /sil/, “GUI” /gi/
  • or : “Yes” /wi/ but “Noodle” /nuj/, “End” /bu/, “Insane” /fu/
  • OY : “royal” /rwajal/
  • U : “Night” /n ɥi/but “Nuillé” /nyje/, “Was” /fy/, “drunk” /by/

Notes:

  • have is worth:
    • /ɛ/ in general
    • /ɛ/ in initial position, but also /e/ in “acute”, “to sharpen” and “switches”.
    • /e/ at the end of the word (traditionally “to kiss” or but “kisses”.
    • /ɛ/ when followed by a consonant at the end of the word: “easy”/ɛze/, “Made” /f ɛ/, “gave” /d ɔnɛ/
    • /e/ , traditionally, in “know”, “go” and “knows”, but is current.
    • /ə/ in certain cases: “Pheasant” /f əzɑ̃/, “making” /f əzɑ̃/, “let us make” /f əzɔ̃/, “maker” /f əzœʁ/, “feasible” /f əzabl/.
    • /i ɲ/ elsewhere: “igneous” /i ɲe/, “Signe” /si ɲ/
  • it is worth:
    • /j/ after a vowel: “Garlic” /aj/, “Threshold” /s œj/
    • /il/ elsewhere: “it” /il/, “Fil” /fil/
  • ill is worth:
    • /j/ after a vowel: “Ruail” /kaj/, “Noodle” /nuj/
    • /ij/ elsewhere: “Ball” /bij/ ( /il/ exceptionally: “Thousand” /mil/ and “Ville” /vil/)
  • œ without U is sometimes marked/œ/(but always in “eye”/œj/)

Dialectal alternatives

With the Quebec

  • It and followed or or or becomes consonants affricate consonants. /te/ also, to a lesser extent.

  • the vowels /i/ /u/ /y/ are slackened or not, dépendemment following consonant and accent. These vowels followed by a consonant in the same syllable are generally slackened (some other accents make it possible to still more often slacken them):

    • poutine decides, or sometimes, instead of.
    • tuque decides instead of.
    • pile decides instead of
    • for , pure , worse remain such as they are (syllable finished by a R)
    • chicken , puma , to crush remain such as they are (the following consonant is in another syllable)

  • there are long vowels which are allophones of the short vowels (except when a long vowel made a phoneme/ʀ/dumb). The long vowels can be marked like diphthongs in certain accents:

    • to make decides or ** to be decides or ** fear decides or ** happy decides or ** passes decides or ** coast decides or

  • /ɔ̃/decides or according to the case.

  • much of/ɥ/decides, causing the separation of a syllable into two: current decides and not

  • certain accents replace par.

  • there are much more elisions of (which are optional):

    • I you can decide or ** I think can decide or ** I eat can decide or ** etc

In France

  • According to the dialects, certain pairs of vowels are undifferentiated or interchangeable:
    • /œ̃/and/ɛ̃/(brown/bit) (true in the Nantes area , but not in the Toulouse South which preserves the difference)
    • /ɑ/and /a/ (paste/leg)
    • /o/ and/ɔ/(coast/coat)
    • /ø/and/œ/(young fast/)
    • /ə/and/ø/(de/deux)
    • /ɛ/and /e/ (slip/the)

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