Structures of contemporary French The areas of structures:

morphology: forms of words and how they change (e.g. Tense) syntax: the structure of phrases and sentences, how words combine lexis: the study of vocabulary (e.g. how borrowings are assimilated) semantics: the study of the meanings of words phonetics: the study of speech sounds, production and perception phonology: how speech sounds function and convey meaning using patterns & contrasts

All these areas interact constantly to form language that we understand French phonology The sounds in a language are known as phones. A phone is a phonetically distinct unit of sound. Each language has a vast number of phones. Some phones are distinct and functional, and thus play an important role in distinguishing words. These are phonemes, the smallest contrastive unit in a languages sound system. eg. /at/ and /at/ are distinct because and are phonemes Phonemes are abstract notions, but of huge importance. There are fewer phonemes than there are phones in a language French has 34 phonemes. These phonemes are language specific they can be shared, but each language will have a specific set. e.g. The phonemes /t/ and /v/ exist in both French and English, but the phoneme // only exists in French. Phonemes are in contrastive distribution with each other they are used to distinguish words. Allophones, however, do not contribute to meaning. An allophone is one form of a phoneme e.g. an allophone can be voiced or voiceless. Phonemes turn to allophones because speech is a flow, not a staccatic combination of words. A sound is influenced by the sounds that precede it and the sounds that follow it. e.g. Quitter and coter both contain the phoneme /k/ as they are /kite/ and /kute/ respectively. However, the /k/ phoneme is pronounced differently in each word, as in quitter it is followed by an /i/ and in coter it is followed by an /u/. The sounds differ, but are distinguishable as /k/ phonemes. They are examples of two allophones [k] and [k]. In reality, phonemes are rarely pure. Phonemes are abstract; we speak in allophones. Phonemes have a language specific status. What are phonemes in one language may be allophones in another e.g. The English words then and den are different words because in English the sounds /d/ and // are phonemic. In Spanish, they are not. /bojadar/ (voy a dar) has the same meaning as /bojaar/ as the sounds are allophones. Allophones are in complementary distribution with one another.

Minimal pairs To find out if a word is a phoneme or an allophone, the minimal pair test is used. When words are different in only one sound, the minimal pair test can be used to see if the sound is a phoneme or an allophone. e.g. [+k] and [k+] are allophones in French, as are [r], [R] and []. The main allophones of French /m/ /l/ and /R/ all have voiceless allophones, unless they are followed by another word without a pause e.g. [l poepl k ] t Therefore, we can conclude that the phoneme /R/ turns to [R] before a pause, [R] without a pause. Low register speech affects phonology. The /R/ and /l/ phonemes are commonly dropped in clusters of stop/f + /l/ or /R/ eg. notre maison -> R1 [nt mez] / R3 [ntR mez] All vowel sounds are voiced unless they are before a pause, which will lead to partial unvoicing of vowels /i/ /u/ /y/ and maybe /e/ /o/ and // e.g. Mercredi is usually [mRkRdi], but in 'c'est mercredi que...' it turns to [se mRkRdi k] Glides or semi-consonants are the phonemes /j/ /w/ and //. It is uncertain whether they are phonemes or allophones. They are contrastive. e.g. Miette [mjt] ; muette [mt]; mouette [mwt] they have minimal pairs But, are they phonemic from their corresponding vowels? The /j/ is phonemic with i e.g. paie pays as [pj] [pi] but only after vowels If they are prevocalic, the /j/ and /i/ sounds are allophones e.g. [jR] [iR] in hier Therefore, postvocalically, there is contrast; prevocalically, the contrast is neutralised. But this is a tendency and not a certainty. The /w/ sound has a more restricted distribution it only exists before vowels. However, the /u/ cannot exist before vowels. As they never exist in the same phonetic context, they cannot be in opposition, so are therefore NOT phonemes. They are therefore allophones of the same /u/ phoneme. The // sound also has restricted distribution it also only exists before vowels. We are therefore likely to conclude that // is an allophone of the corresponding vowel /y/. English speakers tend to confuse the /w/ and // sounds but there are many minimal pairs e.g. lui Louis -> [li] [lwi]

Allophones of glides are often found after voiceless consonants, even in the middle of words, however. e.g. pied [pje], tiens [tj~]