The Sounds of French: An Introduction

Description

Tranel's textbook is principally addressed to English speakers who want to improve their French pronunciation. It describes the difficulties typically encountered, explains why they occur and suggests ways to improve them. In addition, from a more theoretical perspective, the book provides readers with a fundamental understanding of the way French sounds are produced and how they behave according to general linguistic principles. Perfect for both relative beginners and more advanced students, Tranel's book draws on contrastive analysis, general phonetics, traditional knowledge, and more modern developments in phonology, historical linguistics, and orthography. Intended for classroom use, the book will appeal to teachers because of its wide scholarship and firm grasp of instructional principles, while students will welcome Tranel's clear style and organization. The Sounds of French Front Matter Contents Preface Acknowledgements Part 1 - Introductory concepts 1. Orthography, pronunciation, and phonetic notation 2. Basic notions of phonetics Part 2 - Vowels and glides 3. Vowel systems 4. Distribution of vowels 5. Nasal vowels 6. E 7. Glides Part 3 - Consonants 8. Consonantal systems 9. L and R 10. Double consonants and final consonants 11. Liaison Part 4 - Suprasegmentals 12. Stress and intonation Part 5 - Appendices Appendix A. The International Phonetic Association Appendix B. Diacritic marks in French orthography Appendix C. Outline of the history of French orthography Appendix D. Sounds and letters in French: summary Appendix E. A selection of h-aspiré words Appendixc F. Fundamental principles of French pronunciation: summary Bibliography