Editing French language (section)

== Phonology ==
{{Main|French phonology}}
[[File:10-07-2013 - Mary Robinson juge « inacceptables » les violences faites aux femmes en RDC - VOA.ogg|thumb|Spoken French (Africa)]]
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|+Consonant phonemes in French
!colspan=2|
![[Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Dental consonant|Dental]]/<br />[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]/<br />[[Postalveolar consonant|Postalveolar]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]/<br />[[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
|-
!colspan=2| [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
| {{IPA link|ɲ}}
| ({{IPA link|ŋ}})
|-
!rowspan=2| [[Stop consonant|Stop]]
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPA link|p}}
| {{IPA link|t̪|t}}
|
| {{IPA link|k}}
|-
! {{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|d̪|d}}
|
| {{IPA link|ɡ}}
|-
!rowspan=2| [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPA link|f}}
| {{IPA link|s}}
| {{IPA link|ʃ}}
| rowspan=2 |{{IPA link|ʁ}}
|-
! {{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{IPA link|v}}
| {{IPA link|z}}
| {{IPA link|ʒ}}
|-
!rowspan=2|[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
!{{small|plain}}
|
| {{IPA link|l}}
| {{IPA link|j}}
|
|-
!{{small|[[Labialization|labial]]}}
|
|
| {{IPA link|ɥ}}
| {{IPA link|w}}
|-
|}
'''Vowel phonemes in French'''
{|
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
|
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Oral
|-
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | [[Front vowel|Front]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Central vowel|Central]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! {{small|[[Roundedness|unrounded]]}}
! {{small|[[Roundedness|rounded]]}}
|- class="nounderlines"
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA link|i}}
| {{IPA link|y}}
|
| {{IPA link|u}}
|- class="nounderlines"
! [[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
| {{IPA link|e}}
| {{IPA link|ø}}
| rowspan="2" | ({{IPA link|ə}})
| {{IPA link|o}}
|- class="nounderlines"
! [[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
| {{IPA link|ɛ}}/({{IPA link|ɛː}})
| {{IPA link|œ}}
| {{IPA link|ɔ}}
|- class="nounderlines"
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
| {{IPA link|a}}
|
|
| ({{IPA link|ɑ}})
|}
| valign="top" |
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+Nasal
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | [[Front vowel|Front]]
! rowspan="2" | [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! {{small|[[Roundedness|unrounded]]}}
! {{small|[[Roundedness|rounded]]}}
|- class="nounderlines"
! [[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
| {{IPA link|ɛ̃}}
| ({{IPA link|œ̃}})
| {{IPA link|ɔ̃}}
|- class="nounderlines"
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|
| {{IPA link|ɑ̃}}
|}
|}
Although there are many French regional accents, foreign learners normally use only one variety of the language.
* There are a maximum of 17 vowels in French, not all of which are used in every dialect: {{IPA|/a/, /ɑ/, /e/, /ɛ/, /ɛː/, /ə/, /i/, /o/, /ɔ/, /y/, /u/, /œ/, /ø/,}} plus the nasalized vowels {{IPA|/ɑ̃/, /ɛ̃/, /ɔ̃/}} and {{IPA|/œ̃/}}. In France, the vowels {{IPA|/ɑ/}}, {{IPA|/ɛː/}} and {{IPA|/œ̃/}} are tending to be replaced by {{IPA|/a/}}, {{IPA|/ɛ/}} and {{IPA|/ɛ̃/}} in many people's speech, but the distinction of {{IPA|/ɛ̃/}} and {{IPA|/œ̃/}} is present in [[Meridional French]]. In Quebec and Belgian French, the vowels {{IPA|/ɑ/}}, {{IPA|/ə/}}, {{IPA|/ɛː/}} and {{IPA|/œ̃/}} are present.
* Voiced stops (i.e., {{IPA|/b, d, ɡ/}}) are typically produced fully voiced throughout.
* Voiceless stops (i.e., {{IPA|/p, t, k/}}) are unaspirated.
* The velar nasal {{IPA|/ŋ/}} can occur in final position in borrowed (usually English) words: ''parking, camping, swing''.
* The palatal nasal {{IPA|/ɲ/}}, which is written ⟨gn⟩, can occur in word initial position (e.g., ''gnon''), but it is most frequently found in intervocalic, onset position or word-finally (e.g., ''montagne'').
* French has three pairs of homorganic fricatives distinguished by voicing, i.e., labiodental {{IPA|/f/~/v/}}, dental {{IPA|/s/~/z/}}, and palato-alveolar {{IPA|/ʃ/~/ʒ/}}. {{IPA|/s/~/z/}} are dental, like the plosives {{IPA|/t/~/d/}} and the nasal {{IPA|/n/}}.
* French has one rhotic whose pronunciation varies considerably among speakers and phonetic contexts. In general, it is described as a [[voiced uvular fricative]], as in {{IPA|[ʁu]}} ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|roue}}'', "wheel". Vowels are often lengthened before this segment. It can be reduced to an approximant, particularly in final position (e.g., ''fort''), or reduced to zero in some word-final positions. For other speakers, a uvular trill is also common, and an apical trill {{IPA|[r]}} occurs in some dialects. The cluster /ʁw/ is generally pronounced as a labialised voiced uvular fricative [ʁʷ], such as in [ʁʷa] ''roi'', "king", or [kʁʷaʁ] ''croire'', "to believe".
* Lateral and central approximants: The lateral approximant {{IPA|/l/}} is unvelarised in both onset (''lire'') and coda position (''il''). In the onset, the central approximants {{IPA|[w]}}, {{IPA|[ɥ]}}, and {{IPA|[j]}} each correspond to a high vowel, {{IPA|/u/}}, {{IPA|/y/}}, and {{IPA|/i/}} respectively. There are a few [[minimal pair]]s where the approximant and corresponding vowel contrast, but there are also many cases where they are in free variation. Contrasts between {{IPA|/j/}} and {{IPA|/i/}} occur in final position as in {{IPA|/pɛj/}} ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|paye}}'', "pay", vs. {{IPA|/pɛi/}} ''{{Wikt-lang|fr|pays}}'', "country".
* The lateral approximant /l/ can be [[Delateralization|delateralised]] when word- or morpheme-final and preceded by /i/, such as in /tʁavaj/ ''travail'', "work", or when a word ending in ⟨al⟩ is pluralised, giving ⟨aux⟩ /o/.

French pronunciation follows strict rules based on spelling, but French spelling is often based more on history than phonology. The rules for pronunciation vary between dialects, but the standard rules are:
* Final single consonants, in particular ''s'', ''x'', ''z'', ''t'', ''d'', ''n'', ''p'' and ''g'', are normally silent. (A consonant is considered "final" when no vowel follows it even if one or more consonants follow it.) The final letters ''f'', ''k'', ''q'', and ''l'', however, are normally pronounced. The final '''c''' is sometimes pronounced, as in '''bac''', '''sac''', '''roc''', but can also be silent, as in '''blanc''' or '''estomac'''. The final ''r'' is usually silent when it follows an ''e'' in a word of two or more syllables, but it is pronounced in some words (''hiver'', ''super'', ''cancer'' etc.).
** When the following word begins with a vowel, however, a silent consonant ''may'' once again be pronounced, to provide a ''[[liaison (linguistics)|liaison]]'' or "link" between the two words. Some liaisons are ''mandatory'', for example the ''s'' in ''les amants'' or ''vous avez''; some are ''optional'', depending on [[dialect]] and [[Register (sociolinguistics)|register]], for example, the first ''s'' in ''deux cents euros'' or ''euros irlandais''; and some are ''forbidden'', for example, the ''s'' in ''beaucoup d'hommes aiment''. The ''t'' of ''et'' is never pronounced and the silent final consonant of a noun is only pronounced in the plural and in [[set phrase]]s like ''pied-à-terre''.
** Doubling a final ''n'' and adding a silent ''e'' at the end of a word (e.g., ''chien'' → ''chienne'') makes it clearly pronounced. Doubling a final ''l'' and adding a silent ''e'' (e.g., ''gentil'' → ''gentille'') adds a [j] sound if the ''l'' is preceded by the letter ''i''.
* Some monosyllabic function words ending in ''a'' or ''e'', such as ''je'' and ''que'', drop their final vowel when placed before a word that begins with a vowel sound (thus avoiding a [[hiatus (linguistics)|hiatus]]). The missing vowel is replaced by an apostrophe. (e.g., ''*je ai'' is instead pronounced and spelled ''j'ai''). This gives, for example, the same pronunciation for ''l'homme qu'il a vu'' ("the man whom he saw") and ''l'homme qui l'a vu'' ("the man who saw him"). However, in Belgian French the sentences are pronounced differently; in the first sentence the syllable break is as "qu'il-a", while the second breaks as "qui-l'a". It can also be noted that, in [[Quebec French]], the second example (''l'homme qui l'a vu'') has more emphasis on ''l'a vu''.