Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
French phonology is the sound system of French.This article discusses mainly the phonology of all the varieties of Standard French.Notable phonological features include the uvular r present in some accents, nasal vowels, and three processes affecting word-final sounds:
At some point during the Old French period, vowels with a following nasal consonant began to be nasalized. While the process of losing the final nasal consonant took place after the Old French period, the nasal vowels that characterize Modern French appeared during the period in question. [citation needed]
In the Old French period, vowels became nasalized under the regressive assimilation, as VN > ṼN. In the Middle French period, the realization of the nasal consonant became variable, as VN > Ṽ(N). As the language evolves into its modern form, the consonant is no longer realized, as ṼN > Ṽ.
Consonant clusters at the end of words are reduced and often lose altogether the last or two last consonants in both formal and informal Quebec French. The liquids /ʁ/ and /l/ seem to be especially likely to get dropped, as in table, /tabl/ → [tab] , or astre, /astʁ/ → [ast] → [as] 'star'.
However, there are also nasalized fricatives, nasalized flaps, nasal glides, and nasal vowels, as in French, Portuguese, and Polish. In the IPA, nasal vowels and nasalized consonants are indicated by placing a tilde (~) over the vowel or consonant in question: French sang [sɑ̃], Portuguese bom [bõ], Polish wąż [vɔ̃w̃ʂ].
The voiced alveolar nasal is a type of consonantal sound used in numerous spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar nasals is n , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is n. The vast majority of languages have either an alveolar or dental nasal.
French orthography encompasses the spelling and punctuation of the French language.It is based on a combination of phonemic and historical principles. The spelling of words is largely based on the pronunciation of Old French c. 1100 –1200 AD, and has stayed more or less the same since then, despite enormous changes to the pronunciation of the language in the intervening years.
palatal nasal click [ᵑǂ] or uvular: [𐞥ǂ], [𐞒ǂ], [ᶰǂ] Glottalized clicks. velar (uvular clicks not shown): glottalized bilabial nasal click [ᵑ̊ʘˀ] glottalized dental nasal click [ᵑ̊ǀˀ] glottalized alveolar nasal click [ᵑ̊ǃˀ] glottalized alveolar lateral nasal click [ᵑ̊ǁˀ] glottalized retroflex nasal click [ᵑ̊ ...