Sharp PW-E560 Operation Manual page 57

The pronunciation of French
The symbols used in this dictionary for the pronunciation of French are those of the
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). Certain differences in pronunciation are
shown in the phonetic transcription, although many speakers do not observe
them—e.g. the long 'a' /A/ in pâte and the short 'a' /a/ in patte , or the difference
between the nasal vowels 'un' /9 ~ / as in brun and 'in' /E ~ / as in brin .
Transcription
Each entry is followed by its phonetic transcription between slashes, with the
following exceptions:
- written abbreviations ( bd , kcal , etc.)
- cross-references from an inflected to a base form ( yeux , fol )
- cross-references from a variant spelling to the preferred form ( paraphe / parafe ,
peinard / pénard , plasticage / plastiquage ).
Alternative pronunciations
Where the speaker has a choice of pronunciations, these are shown in one of the
following two ways:
- by the use of brackets e.g. syllabe /sil(l)ab/, déficit /defisi(t)/
- in full, separated by a comma e.g. revenir /
patjo/.
Morphological variations
The phonetic transcription of the plural and feminine forms of certain nouns and
adjectives does not repeat the root, but shows only the change in ending.
Therefore, in certain cases, the presentation of the entry does not correspond to
that of the phonetic transcription e.g. platonicien , - ienne /platOnisjE ~ , En/.
Phrases
Full phonetic transcription is given for adverbial or prepositional phrases which are
shown in alphabetical order within the main headword e.g. emblée , d'emblée
/dA ~ble/, plain-pied , de plain-pied /d(@)plE ~ pje/.
Consonants
Aspiration of 'h'
Where it is impossible to make a liaison this is indicated by /
%
slash e.g. haine / En/.
@vni , v@ni /, patio /pasjo,
R R R R
%
/ immediately after the
Assimilation
A voiced consonant can become unvoiced when it is followed by an unvoiced
consonant within a word e.g. absorption /apsO
Vowels
Open 'e' and closed 'e'
A clear distinction is made at the end of a word between a closed 'e' and an open 'e'
e.g. pré /p e/ and près /p E/, complet /kO ~ plE/ and combler /kO ~ ble/.
R R
Within a word the following rules apply:
- 'e' is always open in a syllable followed by a syllable containing a mute 'e' e.g.
règle / Egl/, réglementaire / Egl@mA ~ tE
R R
- in careful speech 'e' is pronounced as a closed 'e' when it is followed by a syllable
containing a closed vowel (y, i, e) e.g. pressé /p
- 'e' is pronounced as an open 'e' when it is followed by a syllable containing an
open vowel e.g. pressant /p EsA ~ /.
R
Mute 'e'
The pronunciation of mute 'e' varies considerably depending on the level of
language used and on the region from which the speaker originates. As a general
rule it is only pronounced at the end of a word in the South of France or in poetry
and it is, therefore, not shown. In an isolated word the mute 'e' preceded by a single
consonant is dropped e.g. galetas /galta/, parfaitement /pa
agréablement /ag eabl@mA ~ /.
R
In many cases the pronunciation of the mute 'e' depends on the surrounding
context. Thus one would say une reconnaissance de dette /yn
but, ma reconnaissance est éternelle /ma
shown in brackets in order to account for this phenomenon.
Open 'o' and closed 'o'
The difference between open 'o' and closed 'o' is not clear and speakers may
hesitate, particularly in the pronunciation of compound words whose first element
ends in 'o' e.g. bronchopneumonie , sociolinguistique , politologue etc. It is not
psjO ~ /.
R
/
R
ese/
R
fEtmA ~ /, but
R
@kOnEsA ~ sd@dEt/,
R
kOnEsA ~ sEtetE nEl/. The mute 'e' is
R R
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