French Sound Structure

Table of Contents

• Table of Contents 6
• Sound Charts and Transcription 9
• Abbreviations and Symbols 11
• Preface 12
• 1 The Object of Description 14
• 1.0 Preliminaries 14
• 1.1 The French Language 14
• 1.2 A Brief Historical Review 19
• 2 Key Descriptive and Theoretical Concepts 24
• 2.0 Introduction 24
• 2.1 Orthography and Pronunciation 24
• 2.2 Morphological and Lexical Notions 26
• 3 Basic Descriptive Units and Domains 34
• 3.0 Introduction: The Segment 34
• 3.1 The Syllable 36
• 3.2 The SF Phonological Word 43
• 3.3 The Phonological Phrase 44
• 3.4 Conclusion 50
• 4 Vowels and Semi-vowels 54
• 4.0 The Vowel System 54
• 4.1 Vowel Length 55
• 4.1.1 Lengthening Consonants 56
• 4.1.2 Intrinsically Long Vowels 57
• 4.1.3 The /ε - ε:/ Opposition 58
• 4.1.4 Supplementary Comments 60
• 4.2 The Mid Vowels 61
• 4.2.1 Mid Vowels in Final Open Syllables 62
• 4.2.2 Mid Vowels in Final Closed Syllables 63
• 4.2.3 Mid Vowels in Nonfinal Closed Syllables 64
• 4.2.4 Mid Vowels in Nonfinal Open Syllables 65
• 4.2.5 Grammatical Consequences of the Constraints on Mid Vowels 70
• 4.2.6 Orthography and Pronunciation 72
• 4.2.7 The Potential Merger of /h(Omitted)/ and /œ/ 72
• 4.3 The Low Vowels /a/ and /α 73
• 4.4 Nasal Vowels 75
• 4.4.1 The Merger of /ε/ and /œ/ 76
• 4.4.2 Distribution of Nasal Vowels 77
• 4.4.3 Alternations between [omitted] and VN 78
• 4.4.4 History and Orthography 86
• 4.4.5 Dialects 88
• 4.5 Schwa 89
• 4.5.1 Orthographic Representations of Schwa 90
• 4.5.2 Distributional Constraints on Schwa 90
• 4.5.3 The Phonetic Realization of Schwa 91
• 4.5.4 The Deletion of Schwa 93
• 4.5.5 Alternations Involving Schwa 105
• 4.5.6 Dialects and History 108
• 4.6 Semi-vowels 113
• 4.6.1 Orthographic Representations of the Semi-vowels 115
• 4.6.2 The Phonology of the Semi-vowels 116
• 4.7 Further Effects of the Phonological Phrase 119
• 4.8 Concluding Remarks 120
• 5 Consonants 132
• 5.0 The Consonant System 132
• 5.1 Geminate Consonants 143
• 5.2 Nasal Consonants 145
• 5.2.1 The /&#951/-/nj/ Interchange 145
• 5.2.2 The Importation of /&#951/ 147
• 5.2.3 Nasal Assimilation 148
• 5.3 Voicing Assimilation 149
• 5.4 Aspirate-h 153
• 5.4.1 Other Types of 'Aspiration' 159
• 5.4.2 Historical Comments Regarding <h> 160
• 5.5 Final Consonants 161
• 5.5.1 Stable Final Consonants 161
• 5.5.2 Latent Final Consonants 165
• 5.6 Linking Phenomena: Enchainement and Liaison 173
• 5.7 Liaison 173
• 6 Prosody 190
• 6.0 Introduction 190
• 6.1 Stress and Rhythm 190
• 6.1.1 Phrasal Stress 191
• 6.1.2 Emphatic Stress 194
• 6.2 Intonation 195
• 6.3 Colloquial Constructions 200
• 7 Around the Phonological Periphery: Playing with Language 204
• 7.0 Introduction 204
• 7.1 Abbreviations 204
• 7.2 Acronyms 208
• 7.3 Reduplication 212
• 7.4 Word Games: Verlan 213
• Appendix 220
• References 226
• Index 240
• A 240
• C 240
• D 240
• E 240
• F 240
• G 240
• H 240
• I 240
• L 241
• M 241
• N 241
• O 241
• P 241
• R 241
• S 241
• V 242
• W 242