|
 |
French Pronunciation | ||
Tags: Pronunciation | French | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| berabero89 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4633 days ago 101 posts - 137 votes  Speaks: English, Amharic* Studies: Spanish, Japanese, French | Message 1 of 11 27 May 2012 at 7:15am | IP Logged | ||
|
I am currently learning Spanish and dabble a bit in French once in a while. What I found
very interesting was the way that certain speakers pronounced the "é" sound at the end of words. To me, it sounded like an "i" sound (i.e., "parler" sounds like "parli"), while the "é" at the beginning or middle of words sounded like it's "supposed to". On the same note, the "è" sound sometimes sounds like an "é" sound to me ("francais" sounds like "francé"). As for the second differing of pronunciation, it may be that I am simply mishearing the sound and that it is my fault, but the first "é" = "i" type of situation seems too distinct to be me mishearing it. I was wondering if someone could offer some insight on this situation? Perhaps the vowels shift in some speakers? Thank you in advance. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Camundonguinho Triglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 4740 days ago 273 posts - 500 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English, Spanish Studies: Swedish | Message 2 of 11 27 May 2012 at 3:24pm | IP Logged | ||
|
1. The French pronunciation indicated in dictionaries is the one that was used in Paris in the 19th century (and it's still the same thing phonologically)
2. But, phonetically (=acoustically), there have been many changes since. So, in modern Parisian French, more often than not è and é are just orthographic objects, which do not have anything to due with the exact pronunciation. Modern Parisian French is similar to Milanese Italian, it is the syllable openness/closeness what affects the pronunciation. (Classical Parisian French, the one you see in dictionaries, is more like Tuscan Italian: é is always a close(d) e, è is always an open e). There are rules how è and é are pronounced, depending whether the syllable is 1. open 2. closed Both è and é can be pronounced as in English DAY (without a final glide) or as an English BET. And to complicate things even more, there's an intermediate E (E moyenne). So, there are 3 differents E sounds in French (plus schwa). See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_phonology#Mid_vowels ''While the mid vowels contrast in certain environments, there is limited distributional overlap so that they often appear in complementary distribution. Generally speaking, close-mid vowels are found in open syllables, while open-mid vowels are found in closed syllables'' Edited by Camundonguinho on 27 May 2012 at 3:31pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| LaughingChimp Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4690 days ago 346 posts - 594 votes Speaks: Czech* | Message 3 of 11 27 May 2012 at 8:47pm | IP Logged | ||
|
French é and i are acoustically as close as é and è, so the chance of mishearing them is roughly equivalent. é in especially close to the English "sit" vowel, so you can easily hear it as such if you have a similar sound in your native language.
Also, some accents merge é and è. In those accents é is in open syllables while è is in closed syllables. Edited by LaughingChimp on 27 May 2012 at 8:56pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| FELlX Diglot Groupie France Joined 4761 days ago 94 posts - 149 votes Speaks: French*, English | Message 4 of 11 27 May 2012 at 9:54pm | IP Logged | ||
I think you are referring to a foreign accent (ie. from people whose native language isn't French). What you are describing corresponds to the Arab (and other related languages) accent, or at least to the stereotype of it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5372 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 5 of 11 28 May 2012 at 5:43pm | IP Logged | ||
|
é and è indeed merge to é at the end of words in Paris -- most likely in many parts of Europe. It's not the case in Québec anyway, so probably isn't the case in some other places.
As for é sounding like i, it's not something I've ever heard and I'd guess it's your perception as a non-native speaker. The distinction between é and i is still complete. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4656 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 6 of 11 28 May 2012 at 6:14pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I have definitely noticed the é / è merger sometimes, but never an é / i one.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| berabero89 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4633 days ago 101 posts - 137 votes Speaks: English, Amharic* Studies: Spanish, Japanese, French | Message 7 of 11 29 May 2012 at 1:31am | IP Logged | ||
|
http://www.languageguide.org/french/grammar/pronunciation/
I specifically heard it on this site under the section beginning with: On the left are words with endings that are pronounced [ɛ]. On the right the endings are pronounced [e]. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4656 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 8 of 11 29 May 2012 at 2:44am | IP Logged | ||
|
Interesting. On that page "clé" does sound like "cli" to me.
Probably my Anglophone ears are just mishearing things. :-/ Also, the page puts "et" on the [ɛ] side and "il est" on the [e] side -- shouldn't it be the other way around? Edited by tastyonions on 29 May 2012 at 2:48am 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
