Editing Quebec French (section)

== Phonology ==
{{main|Quebec French phonology}}
For phonological comparisons of Quebec French, [[Belgian French]], [[Meridional French]], and [[French language|Metropolitan French]], see [[French phonology]].

=== Vowels ===

==== Systematic (in all formal speech) ====
* {{IPA|/ɑ/}}, {{IPA|/ɛː/}}, {{IPA|/œ̃/}} and {{IPA|/ə/}} as phonemes distinct from {{IPA|/a/}}, {{IPA|/ɛ/}}, {{IPA|/ɛ̃/}} and {{IPA|/ø/}} respectively
* {{IPA|[ɪ]}}, {{IPA|[ʏ]}}, {{IPA|[ʊ]}} are [[tenseness|lax]] allophones of {{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/y/}}, {{IPA|/u/}} in closed syllables
* Nasal vowels are similar to the traditional Parisian French: {{IPA|/ɛ̃/}} is diphthongized to {{IPA|[ẽɪ̯̃]}}, {{IPA|/ɔ̃/}} is diphthongized to {{IPA|[õʊ̯̃]}}, {{IPA|/ɑ̃/}} is fronted to {{IPA|[ã]}}, and {{IPA|/œ̃/}} is generally pronounced {{IPA|[œ̃˞]}}
* {{IPA|/a/}} is pronounced {{IPA|[ɑ]}} in final open syllables (''avocat'' /avɔka/ → [avɔkɑ])
* {{IPA|/a/}} is pronounced {{IPA|[ɑː]}} before {{IPA|/ʁ/}} in final closed syllables (''dollar'' /dɔlaʁ/ → [dɔlɑːʁ])

==== Systematic (in both informal and formal speech) ====
* [[Long vowel]]s are diphthongized in final closed syllables (''tête'' /tɛːt/ → [tɛɪ̯t] ~ [taɪ̯t], the first one is considered as formal, because the diphthong is weak)
* Standard French {{IPA|/a/}} is pronounced {{IPA|[ɔ]}} in final open syllable (''avocat'' /avɔka/ → [avɔkɔ]) {{clarify|date=August 2017}}

==== Unsystematic (in all informal speech) ====
* {{IPA|/wa/}} (spelled ''oi'') is pronounced {{IPA|[wɛ]}}, {{IPA|[we]}} or {{IPA|[waɛ̯]}}
* {{IPA|/ɛʁ/}} is pronounced {{IPA|[aʁ]}} {{clarify|date=August 2017}}

=== Consonants ===

==== Systematic ====
* {{IPA|/t/}} and {{IPA|/d/}} [[affricate]]d to {{IPA|[t͡s]}} and {{IPA|[d͡z]}} before {{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/y/}}, {{IPA|/j/}}, {{IPA|/ɥ/}} (except in [[Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine]] and [[Côte-Nord]])

===== Unsystematic =====
* Drop of [[liquid consonant|liquid]]s {{IPA|/l/}} and {{IPA|/ʁ/}} (written as ''l'' and ''r'') in unstressed position with [[schwa]] {{IPA|/ə/}} or unstressed [[intervocalic]] position
* Trilled ''r'' - {{IPA|[r]}}

=== Sociolinguistic status of selected phonological traits ===
These examples are intended not exhaustive but illustrate the complex influence that European French has had on Quebec French pronunciation and the range of sociolinguistic statuses that individual phonetic variables can possess.
* The most entrenched features of Quebec pronunciation are such that their absence, even in the most formal registers, is considered an indication of foreign origin of the speaker. That is the case, for example, for the affrication of {{IPA|/t/}} and {{IPA|/d/}} before {{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/y/}}, {{IPA|/j/}} and {{IPA|/ɥ/}}.{{sfn|Dumas|1987|page=8}} (This particular feature of Quebec French is, however, sometimes avoided in singing.){{sfn|Dumas|1987|page=9}}
* The use of the lax Quebec allophones of {{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/y/}}, {{IPA|/u/}} (in the appropriate phonetic contexts) occurs in all but highly formal styles, and even then, their use predominates. Use of the tense allophones where the lax ones would be expected can be perceived as "pedantic".{{sfn|Ostiguy|Tousignant|1993|page=68}}
* The Quebec variant of nasal vowels {{IPA|[ã]}}, {{IPA|[ẽɪ̯̃]}}, {{IPA|[õʊ̯̃]}} and {{IPA|[œ̃˞]}} corresponding to the Parisian {{IPA|[ɒ̃]}} (traditionally pronounced {{IPA|[ɑ̃]}}), {{IPA|[æ̃]}} (traditionally pronounced {{IPA|[ɛ̃]}}), {{IPA|[õ]}} (traditionally pronounced {{IPA|[ɔ̃]}}) and {{IPA|[æ̃]}} (traditionally pronounced {{IPA|[œ̃]}}) are not subject to a significant negative sociolinguistic evaluation and are used by most speakers and of educated speakers in all circumstances. However, Parisian variants also appear occasionally in formal speech among a few speakers, especially speakers who were often watching [[cartoon]]s when they were a child, because the dubbing affected them and it is not considered as a Quebec accent. Some speakers use them in [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|Radio-Canada]], but they never have ''brin-brun merger''{{sfn|Ostiguy|Tousignant|1993|pages=112–114}} (The preceding discussion applies to stressed syllables. For reasons unrelated to their social standing, some allophones close to the European variants appear frequently in unstressed syllables.)
* To pronounce {{IPA|[ɔː]}} instead of {{IPA|[ɑː]}} in such words as ''gâteau'' clearly predominates in informal speech and, according to Ostiguy and Tousignant, is likely not to be perceived negatively in informal situations. However, sociolinguistic research has shown that not to be the case in formal speech, when the standard {{IPA|[ɑː]}} is more common. However, many speakers use {{IPA|[ɔː]}} systematically in all situations, and Ostiguy and Tousignant hypothesize that such speakers tend to be less educated.{{sfn|Ostiguy|Tousignant|1993|pages=75–80}} It must be mentioned that a third vowel {{IPA|[a]}}, though infrequent, also occurs and is the vowel that has emerged with {{IPA|/a/}} as a new European standard in the last several decades for words in this category.{{refn|For example, while ''The New Cassell's French dictionary'' (1962) records ''gâteau'' as {{IPA|[ɡɑto]}} and ''Le Nouveau Petit Robert'' (1993) gives the pronunciation {{IPA|[ɡato]}}.|group=note}} According to Ostiguy and Tousignant, this pronunciation is seen as "affected",{{sfn|Ostiguy|Tousignant|1993|page=80}} and Dumas writes that speakers using this pronunciation "run the risk of being accused of snobbery."{{sfn|Dumas|1987|page=149}} Entirely analogous considerations apply to the two pronunciations of such words as ''chat'', which can be pronounced {{IPA|[ʃɑ]}} or {{IPA|[ʃɔ]}}.{{sfn|Ostiguy|Tousignant|1993|pages=71–75}}
* The diphthonged variants of such words as ''fête'' (e.g. {{IPA|[faɪ̯t]}} instead of {{IPA|[fɛːt]}}), are rarely used in formal speech. They have been explicitly and extensively stigmatized and were, according to the official Quebec educational curricula of 1959 and 1969, among the pronunciation habits to be "standardized" in pupils. In informal speech, however, most speakers use generally such forms to some extent, but they are viewed negatively and are more frequent among uneducated speakers.{{sfn|Ostiguy|Tousignant|1993|pages=93–95}} However, many Québécois teachers use the diphthongization.
* Traditional pronunciations such as {{IPA|[pwɛl]}} for ''poil'' (also {{IPA|[pwal]}}, as in France. Words in this category include ''avoine'', ''(ils) reçoivent,'' ''noirci,'' etc. ) and {{IPA|[mwe]}} for ''moi'' (now usually {{IPA|[mwa]}}, as in France; this category consists of ''moi,'' ''toi,'' and verb forms such as ''(je) bois'' and ''(on) reçoit'' but excludes ''québécois'' and ''toit'', which have had only the pronunciation {{IPA|[wa]}}), are no longer used by many speakers, and are virtually absent from formal speech.{{sfn|Ostiguy|Tousignant|1993|page=102}} They have long been the object of condemnation.{{sfn|Ostiguy|Tousignant|1993|page=102}} Dumas writes that the {{IPA|[we]}} pronunciations of words in the ''moi'' category have "even become the symbol and the scapegoat of bad taste, lack of education, vulgarity, etc., no doubt because they differ quite a bit from the accepted pronunciation, which ends in {{IPA|[wa]}}, [...]"{{sfn|Dumas|1987|page=24}} On the other hand, writing in 1987, he considers {{IPA|[wɛ]}} in words in the ''poil'' group "the most common pronunciation."
* One of the most striking changes that has affected Quebec French in recent decades is the displacement of the alveolar trill ''r'' {{IPA|[r]}} by the uvular trill ''r'' {{IPA|[ʀ]}}, originally from Northern France, and similar acoustically to the Parisian uvular ''r'' {{IPA|[ʁ]}}. Historically, the alveolar ''r'' predominated in western Quebec, including Montreal, and the uvular ''r'' in eastern Quebec, including Quebec City, with an isogloss near Trois-Rivières. (More precisely, the isogloss runs through Yamachiche and then between Sherbrooke and La Patrie, near the American border. With only a few exceptions, the alveolar variant predominates in Canada outside Quebec.<ref>[http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/pub/pdf/C-71.pdf Les causes de la variation géolinguistique du français en Amérique du Nord] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141222194738/http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/pub/pdf/C-71.pdf |date=December 22, 2014 }}, Claude Poirier</ref>) Elocution teachers and the clergy traditionally favoured the trilled ''r'', which was nearly universal in Montreal until the 1950s and was perceived positively. However, massive migration from eastern Quebec beginning in the 1930s with the Great Depression, the participation of soldiers in the Second World War, travel to Europe after the war, and especially the use of the uvular ''r'' in radio and then television broadcasts all quickly reversed perceptions and favoured the spread of the uvular ''r''. The trilled ''r'' is now rapidly declining. According to Ostiguy and Tousignant, the change occurred within a single generation.{{sfn|Ostiguy|Tousignant|1993|pages=162–163}} The Parisian uvular ''r'' is also present in Quebec, and its use is positively correlated with socioeconomic status.{{sfn|Ostiguy|Tousignant|1993|page=164}}