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Lesson - French Sounds (Pronunciation) - #4
Please see the following for introduction and citation information:
http://moi-alizee.us/forums/showthread.php?t=1101 Note: Letters that appear in red are those that appear with strikethrough in the original text. More French Consonants Consonants in French are not exactly like English consonants. Take the letter t for example. In English you say “tall” and your tongue may not seem to touch any part of your mouth. In French the sound of t is more crisp and the tip of your tongue must touch the gum behind your upper teeth. Because the vowel sounds, too, are more crisp and quickly released, the lips are thinned, slightly spread out at the corners and flattened against the upper teeth in saying tel...................... tir..................... tapis.................. tic-tac In French the letter d also requires the tip of the tongue against the upper teeth for a good sound. And in saying a French t or d, you do not move your jaw and you do not expel a great amount of air. dit...................... dada.................. dame................. date In saying the letters l and n in French the tongue end the sound by touching the gums behind the upper teeth. Chanel................ Laval.................. Michel Final e Many word in both English and French end in e, but that e has no sound. It merely gives sound to the letter in front of it. Louise................ place.................. amie Nice................... toute.................. boue Anne.................. bastide............... foie The silent e is often found in French endings -tte, -rre, -sse, -lle, -nne, -ppe, as in datte................. civette............... Annette terre.................. serre.................. barre passe................. tasse................. classe belle................... ville................... Michelle canne................. panne................ Anne nappe................. lippe.................. Philippe the letter j The letter j as a distinctive French sound. It must never sound like English j in jet. It is pronounced like the z in azure or like the s in measure. jatte.................. jaloux................. toujours jour................... ajoute................. joue joie.................... bijou................... jardiniste the letter g When the letter g comes before e or i, it has the same pronunciation as the letter j. Otherwise, it is like the g in English gap, got, gun. page.................. bouge................. goutte................ gigot agit................... plage.................. grave................. guide nage.................. pige.................... fagot................. Guy the letter h In French the letter h is silent. habiter (ah-bee-tay) th is pronounced like t. Thibaut (tee-boh) thibaude (tee-bohd) the letters b and p Letter b and p are easy, but do not push out any air*. French b and p are not explosive. If you hold a lighted match in front of your lips and say English pipe, papa, pour, you will blow out the match. Say those same words in good French and you will not. Try it. balle.................. page................... nappe boule................. pas..................... belle berger................ pipe.................... Robert battez................ Paris................... pourboire *I believe the author is slightly in error here. On any phonetic chart (such as IPA) b and p are “plosive bilabial stops” (voiced and unvoiced), where plosive means the pushing out of air… In other words you cannot produce these sounds without pushing out air. I think the author’s intention was to emphasis that is French this is done far less forcefully than in English (she uses the word “explosive”).
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C'est ta faute... mais on t'aime quand même, Alizée!
Tu m'as pris dès le premier "moi." Last edited by CFHollister; 12-29-2006 at 11:50 PM.. |
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