TipstoimproveFrenchpronuncia2on

•  Dr.TerryNadasdi•  UniversityofAlberta•  Bilingualism,2ndlanguageacquisi>on•  www.BonPatron.com

Ques2onsforyou

•  Isaccuratepronuncia>onimportant?•  Mystudentscertainlythinkitis•  Theyfeelhoodwinkedwhentheyrealizehowlongthey’vebeenmakingthesameerror

•  Howdoyouintegratetheteachingofpronuncia>onintoyourlessons?

Objec2ves

•  two-fold•  primarygoal:quick>pstoimprovestudents’pronuncia>on

•  presenttheBonPatronPhone+csGuide(thoughsomewhatadvanced)

•  Helpfulresource

Objec2ves

•  Focusonhighfrequencypronuncia>onproblems(andprovideeasysolu>ons)

•  Myfocusisnoton“goodFrench”versus“badFrench”

•  It’sabouthowALLfrancophonespronouncewords

•  I’llkeepthingssimpleandignoresomedetails(buthappytoansweranyandallques>ons!)

Overview

•  Myexplana>onsarebasedonafreeresourcewe’vedeveloped

•  TheBonPatronPhone>csGuide•  Overviewofphone>csguide•  www.bonpatron.com/menu/•  English/Frenchinterface

Topics

•  FrenchR•  SversusZ•  Nasalvowels•  Thevowel“u”•  Whendoes“i”indicate“y”•  UnstableE(“samEdi”or“sam’di”?)

French“R”

•  Sourceofastrong“English”accent•  Isitphysicallydifficulttoar>culate?•  Pasdutout!•  However,it’sverydifferentfromEnglishR•  It’sunfortunateweusethesamesymbolforbothwhenwri>ng

French“R”

•  French“R”ismuchclosertoEnglish“G”,thanitistoEnglish“R”

•  Therela>onshipbetween“R”and“G”isverysimilartotheonethatholdsbetween“Z”and“D”.

French“R”=frica2veG

•  Inbothcases,theplaceofar>cula>onisthesame,butthemannerisdifferent

•  “G”and“D”arepronouncedbystoppingtheaircompletely

•  “R”and“Z”implycreatefric>on

“R”,technique#1

•  a)pronounce“D”,thenslowlyso^enthecontactbetweenyourtongueandteethun>lyouproducea“Z”.

•  b)trythesamethingwith“G”andFrench“R”•  Pronounce“G”twice,thenso^enthecontactbetweenthetongueandthevelum.

•  Doingsowillleadyoutothecorrectar>cula>onofFrench“R”.

“R”,technique#1

•  OnceyoucanproduceFrench“R”,trythesameprocedureinanactualword.

•  c)startwiththeFrenchwordfor"hinge",gond[gõ].

•  Pronouncethistwo>mes,thenonthethirdandfourth>me,so^enthecontacttomakeafrica>ve.

•  Thiswillleadtothecorrectpronuncia>onofrond[ʁõ]

“R”,technique#2

•  First,pronounce“T”andtheword“gaie”separately.

•  Next,pronounce“gaie”immediatelya^er“T”(allinonesyllable).

•  Sincethecombina>on“TG”isadifficultonetoar>culate,the“G”naturallybecomesFrench“R”(asyoumovetowardthevowel).

•  Theresultofthisexercisewillbethecorrectpronuncia>onofthewordtrès!

To“Z”ornotto“Z”?

•  Whendoes“s”represent/s/andwhendoesitrepresent/z/?

•  Whichsoundisfoundinthewordimmersion?•  /s/,ofcourse•  Whichsoundisfoundinthewordprison?•  /z/,ofcourse•  So,howdoweknowwhichonetouse?

To“Z”ornotto“Z”?

•  There'sasimpleruletohelpyouknowwhichoneitshouldbe:

•  iftheleeer"S"isprecededANDfollowedbyaleeerrepresen>ngavowel(i,e,o,u,a),thenitispronounced/z/.

•  Inallotherwords,itispronounced/s/.Forexample:poser(“z”)vs.Insister(“s”)

Applica2on(z/s)

•  Whatdoestheleeer“s”representinthefollowingwords?

•  prison,chanson,immersion,oser,désert,aiguiser,observer,version,poison,poisson

NasalVowelsinFrench

•  Frenchhasfournasalvowels:•  /œ̃/,/õ/,/ɛ/̃and/ã/•  allofwhichcanberememberedwiththephrase:Unbonvinblanc[œ-b̃õ-vɛ̃-blã]

NasalVowelsinFrench

•  Thear>cula>onofnasalvowelsisn’tpar>cularlydifficult

•  Here’sthechallengethough:•  WhendoIpronounceanasalvowel(inwhichcasethefollowing“N”or“M”issilent),e.g.:important,[ɛ-p̃ɔʀ-tɑ̃]

•  WhendoIpronounceanoralvowel(inwhichcasethefollowing“N”or“M”ispronounced),e.g.:image[i-maʒ]

Tobeclear

•  InFrench,it’seither•  a)Nasalvowel+silent“n”or“m”•  b)Oralvowel+pronounced“n”or“m”•  Sohowdoweknowwhattopronouncewhenavowelleeerisfollowedby“n”or“m”?

•  E.g.:does“in”=/ɛ̃/or/in/?

NasalVowelsinFrench•  ItiseasytoknowwhichwordshavenasalvowelsinFrench.

•  Herearethetwomaincontexts:•  a)avowelleeer+"n"attheveryendofaword,e.g.:bon[bõ],fin[fɛ̃],un[œ̃].

•  b)avowelleeer+"n"or"m"followedbyaconsonantleNer,e.g.:intérêt[ɛ̃teʁɛ],ombre[õbʁ].

•  E.g.:Inthefirstword,thein-isfollowedby“t”(aconsonant

NasalVowelsinFrench

•  It’sthethirdleeerthattellsyouwhetherthevowelisnasalornot

•  Onceyouknowthereisanasalvowel,besureNOTtoinsertanasalconsonant.

•  Thisisabitmoreofachallengewhenthenextconsonantissimilartoanasalone,e.g.:impossible[ɛ̃pɔsibl]wherelike/m/,/p/isbilabial.

NasalVowelsinFrench

•  However,asthetranscrip>onindicates,thereisno“m”actuallypronouncedinthewordimpossible=[ɛ̃pɔsibl]

•  Checkbypronouncingonesyllableata>me:[ɛ̃-pɔ-sibl]

•  Theleeer“m”issimplyindica>ngthatthevowelisnasal(likeanaccentmark)

Applica2on

•  Dothesehaveanasalvowel?•  ini+al•  indépendant•  tomber•  limiter•  na+onal•  immédiat

TheFrench“u”sound

•  LikeallFrenchvowels,thevowelrepresentedbytheleeer“u”isshortandtense.

•  Thisvowelsharesfeatureswithboth“i”and“ou”.

•  Like“i”,thetonguehighinthefrontofthemouth•  like“ou”,thetongueishighwithroundedlips.•  Inaway,“u”islikepronouncing“I”and“ou”simultaneously!

TheFrench“u”sound

•  Thebestwaytocorrectlyar>culate“u”istostartwith“i”andthenaddtheappropriateliprounding.

•  InFrench,thelipsofroundvowelsshouldbesimilartowhenyouwhistle

•  Trypronouncing“i”three>mesandthenonthe4th,con>nuethinkingabout“i”,whileroundingandadvancingyourlips:

TheFrench“u”sound

•  “i”,“i”,“i”+rounding=“u”•  ThereisatendencyamongEnglishspeakerstosubs>tute“ou”for“u”.

•  Thisisnotacceptable•  agreatmanyFrenchwordsaredis>nguishedbythedifferencebetweenthesetwovowels,e.g.:

•  Du/doux;vu/vous;lu/loup;tu/tout

Howtopronouncepianoandwhy?

•  Theleeer“i”representstopossiblesounds“ee”(/i/)or“y”(phone>csymbolis/j/)

•  Choosingthecorrectoneisimportant•  /i/isavowelandaddsasyllable•  /j/isreferredtoasaglideanddoesn’taddasyllable

Howtopronouncepianoandwhy?

•  There’sasimplerule:•  If“i”isfollowedbyapronouncedvowel,thenitrepresents/j/

•  Inallothercases,itrepresents/i/“ee”•  Considerthewordpiano•  Doesithave/i/“ee”?•  No:[pja-no](“i”isfollowedby“a”)•  Therefore:onlytwosyllables

Applica2on(/i/or/j/)

•  Dothesewordshave/i/or/j/?•  Pierre•  Dialecte•  Limite•  finir•  fière

Unstable“E”

•  Weknowthat–erandéindicatethe/e/vowelandthatèandêarethe/ɛ/.

•  Wealsohave/ɛ/when“e”isfollowedbyaword-finalconsonant(e.g.:belle).

•  Whataboutthe“E”thoughinwordslikesamedi,seulement,maintenantandsecret?

•  Herethereisnoaccentand“E”isinthemiddleoftheword

Unstable“E”

•  Thiskindof“E”iscalledunstable“E”sincesome>mesyoupronounceavowel;some>mesit’ssilent

•  Whenitispronounced,itresemblesthevowelofthewordfeu.

•  There’safairlysimplyruletoknowwhentokeepitandwhentodropit.

Unstable“E”

•  Rule:ifdroppingthe"unstableE"createsasequenceofthreeconsonantswithinaword,thenitmustbepronounced.

•  Otherwise,itmustbedeleted.•  Considerthefollowingwords:samedi[samdi],médecin[medsɛ̃],gouvernement[guvɛʁnəmã],simplement[sɛ̃pləmã]

Unstable“E”

•  Insamediandmédecin,thedroppingofthe“E”doesnotresultinthreeconsecu>veconsonants,onlytwo

•  soitmustbedropped.•  Inotherwords,samediisactuallypronouncedasifitwerewrieensamdiandmédecinispronouncedasifitwerewrieenmédcin

Unstable“E”

•  Whathappensifwetrytodropthe“E”gouvernementandsimplement?

•  Here,theresultwouldbeasequenceofthreeconsonants:"drd"and"plm".

•  Assuch,the“E”mustbepronouncedtobreakupthestring:gouvernement,simplement.

•  Insum,onlypronouncethis“E”ifitallowstoavoidthreeconsonantsinarow

Unstable“E”

•  RememberwhatIsaidabout“i”+vowel=/j/?•  Onedetailtoknowisthat/j/workslikeaconsonantforunstable“E”

•  Forexample,•  Chandelier•  Herethe“i”isreallythe/j/sound•  Assuch,wecan’tdropthe“E”sinceitwouldcreatedlj

ConcludingRemarks

•  Youshouldnowbeabletohelpwith:•  “R”•  “z”vs“s”(cf.l’immersion!)•  Nasalvowels•  The“u”sound•  When“i”isthe“y”sound•  Unstable“E”

ConcludingRemarks

•  Feelfreetousethephone>csguide•  Lotsofexercises•  Lotsofsounds•  Lotsofclearexplana>onsinEnglishorFrench•  Lotsoffun!•  I’mhappytoansweranyandallpronuncia>onques>onsyoumighthave

Test

•  1/Howwouldyouhelpastudentar>culateFrench“R”?

•  2/Howwouldyouhelpastudentar>culatethe“u”sound?

•  3/Dothesewordshave“z”?•  prison,version?

Test

•  4/Dothesewordshaveanasalvowel•  indirect,ananas?•  Remember,ifthevowelisnasal,theconsonantissilent

•  5/Dothesewordshavethe“ee”sound?•  Pierre,pion,viande,imiter,hier•  6/Isthemiddle“E”pronounced?•  matelot,secret,pe+t

Bonuswords

•  femme•  /a/asin“dame”•  Monsieur•  “me”+“s”+“yeux”

Text•  Quandlapériodedechassecommence,çadevientl'enfer.Leschatsetleschiensdisparaissent,tuéspardesidiotsénervésderentrerbredouille.Enplus,ilss'envantentlesoirvenu,aucaféduvillage.Plusieursfois,alorsquejem'amusaisdanslejardin,j'aientendulesplombstombantenpluiesurlestuilesdelamaison.

•  Souvent,j'aivudeschasseursqui>raientalorsqu'ilsétaientjustederrièrelamaison,àmoinsde30mètres.Essayezdeleurfaireuneremarque:ilsvousenvoientchier.Lefaitd'avoirunfusildanslamaintransformecomplètementcesgens‑là,lesmêmesquivousdisentbonjourledimanchema>nàlaboulangerie.