The process of degradation proceeded gradually, and seems now to have reached its limit; the e has either disappeared, or is merely employed as an orthographical expedient, like the superposed e of the German: fat, fate, Vater, Väter.* 2. Various vowels have similarly descended to e in modern German. But in German the pronunciation is, so to speak, that of Chaucer. The e is almost always heard. This is true of French in some parts of France. This pronunciation must not be imitated. 3. The origin of the French e mute is in a great measure parallel. In Old French, most Latin atonic vowels had either disappeared altogether, or had left e as their representative. This e, as in Old English, was, as a rule, distinctly sounded till the sixteenth century.† Then it began to be dropped in pronunciation. The phonetic decay has not, however, in modern French, reached the same stage as in English. Whether final or medial, it is sounded or not, according to fixed rules founded on considerations which may be thus stated :— a. Every sounded consonant in modern French must have its full value, and must not be carelessly or slovenly pronounced. B. There are certain combinations of consonants which it is either difficult or impossible to pronounce without full help from the vowel. y. E mute must only be so made use of, as to enable these consonantal sounds to be distinctly articulated without effort, interruption, or harshness. 8. It is evident that a very slow and very clear speaker will need more help from the vowel, than one who speaks rapidly. Hence on all occasions when it is necessary to speak with exceptional distinctness and clearness, the e is more employed than in ordinary speaking and reading. The rules given in § 65 are founded on these facts. In singing it is rarely possible to omit e, nor, as a rule, is any attempt made to omit it. Its use in verse is altogether peculiar, see Prosody. *The tendency, however, of any atonic vowel to sink at once to the neutral sound is still in full force in modern English. (Early English Pronunciation, pp. 1158, passim.) But printing preserves the orthographical symbols from corruption. Ex. idea, Maria, above, placable, against, surgeon, fashion, waistcoat, huntsman, etc. † See Palsgrave's Grammar, 1530. His testimony is very distinct. "He shall be sounded almost like an o, and very much in the noose.' See also Littré, "Histoire de la Langue française, p. 197, passim.” It is never initial. The The mute e in fable, catéchisme, pinacle, etc. English custom of pronouncing the e in such words as the above, as if the word were written fabel (e=u in duck), cannot be too much guarded against. Ellis speaks of it as the test of a correct French pronunciation, and he is right. E mute in faites-le, etc.-In prose the rule is absolute: the accented pronoun * after the verb in the imperative is always sounded. In verse rare instances occur in which the necessities of the metre render it essential that e should be omitted. Such omission can only occur before a vowel. (See Prosody.) 1. Thus the e has its full value in Donnez-le. Voulez-vous que d'impurs assassins ?-RACINE De rossignols une centaine s'écrie: épargnez-le.-FLORIAN. 2. In the following instances it is cut off : Mais mon petit monsieur, prenez-le un peu moins haut.-MOL. Condamnez-le à l'amende, ou s'il le casse au fouet.-RACINE. In the French of § 82. The symbol eu.-(a) The Latin short o in most of the Romance languages was strengthened into a diphthong. In Italian it became uo, which remains: nuovo. In Spanish it became ue, which also remains: nueve. the ninth century, uo occurs: Buona pulcella fut Eulalie. But in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries we find sometimes ue (nuef), sometimes oe (noef), sometimes oeu. All these symbols probably represented the same sound. What this sound was, is not easy to say with certainty. Perhaps it was that of uo in Italian nuovo, perhaps that of u in English duke, namely y+ou. However that may be, u and e eventually changed places, and the sound descended to what it now is, a vowel sound standing between e mute and u. (B) ue, oe, oeu, = eu.-Ue, oe and oeu remain in various words, but in them the pronunciation has followed the fortunes of eu. Each now represents the vowel sound heard in peu, feu, when the syllable is open; and each sinks to the neutral sound of e mute when the syllable is closed. A 1. ue eu in cueillir, orgueil, écueil, and derivatives. change in the position of the u and e would change the value of c and g, and the old symbols remain. 2. œu=eu in bœuf, œuf, sœur, nœud, etc. 3. a eu in oil and derivatives. (y) eu―e mute.-In closed tonic syllables in French it is more often the neutral sound of e mute than pure eu which is Accented; for the addition of any pronoun is sufficient to shift the tonic accent, and to destroy the necessity of pronouncing the e: donnez-le, but donnez-le-moi donnez-l'-moi. = † Even so late as 1530, Palsgrave gives the English ew in new as the equivalent of eu. This would seem to show that in his time it was still a diphthong. F heard fleuve, neuf, peur, leur, etc. But when a sibilant closes the syllable, in the mouth of careful speakers it is doubtless eu pure précieuse. It must be acknowledged, however, that Littré, throughout his Dictionary, makes no distinction in the phonetic symbol; he treats eu as possessed only of one pronunciation. Possibly his motive may be to prevent the language from degenerating through indolence. Compare his efforts with l mouillé.* eu is found in German ö in König, Wörter, etc. Professor Max Müller calls attention to the easy descent of ö to the neutral sound. Professor Whitney cautions the student against confusing the sounds: he says, The German poets make ö rhyme with the simple e, and in parts of Germany the two are hardly distinguished. But their real difference, as properly pronounced, is quite marked, and should never be neglected." + (8) eu-u.-We have seen that the symbol eu has in most words supplanted the old ue. But eu in old French had the sound now represented by u. When eu assumed its modern value, u was employed as a symbol of the old eu sound. The presence of a circumflex shows us occasionally the omission of the e (meure left as mûre), but oftener no accent is present. Thus, blesseure blessure. Numberless examples might be given. Throughout avoir, and in gageure, we have the only remains of the old spelling and pronunciation: here eu u (du). § 83. e unaccented, but not mute.-1. "e unaccented, followed by a consonant in the same syllable, is pronounced as if it were accented: res-pec-ter" ($ 67). Consequently, when in the same syllable a consonant follows an e, no accent can be required. In the application of this rule a strict attention must be paid to the rules for the division of words into syllables (§ 45); the two stand or fall together. res-pec-ter ré-flé-chir re-tran-che dé-plai-re com-plet com-plè-te, etc. 2. x is a double letter, and therefore such words as vexation (vek-sa-tion), exiger (eg-zi-ger) may claim to fall under this rule. 3. s final is neither sounded nor has any influence over the preceding letters: hence succès, après, etc. Exceptions are, des (article), les, ces, ses, mes, tes, (tu) es. 4. In only a few words out of nearly two hundred that end in et, the circumflex accent remains to show the loss of a letter. * See also Ellis, Early English Pronunciation, p. 823. It may not be useless to caution the student against the careless pronunciation of this sound in that most difficult of all French words to an Englishman, Monsieur: pure eu occurs twice, meusieu. Even in Paris the first eu degenerates into e mute in the mouth of every waiter. "L'ancien usage allongeait les pluriels des noms terminés par une consonne; le chat, les chats, (les chá); le sot, les sots, (les số). Cela s'efface beaucoup, et la prononciation conforme de plus en plus le pluriel au singulier; c'est une nuance qui se perd."—(LITTRÉ.) § 84. u preceded by g and q.-1. u in the syllables gué, gui is silent. The u is preserved to prevent the g from having the value of j, which it has before e and i. This is exactly the converse of the process explained in mangeant, etc., where e is inserted in order that the j sound may be kept (see g, § 102). But ue, ui, form diphthongs in— a. aiguille, aiguillée, aiguiller, aiguilleter, aiguillette, aiguillon, aiguillonner, aiguiser, aiguiseur, etc. B. Compounds of ambigu, contigu, exigu. y. arguer, linguiste and derivatives. 2. u preceded by q is silent. But ua, ui, are diphthongs in foreign words of Latin or Italian origin which have not become decidedly naturalized. A few, however, can scarcely be said to be other than naturalized, and yet they maintain the u. They stand out as exceptions: aquarelle, aquatique, quadrupède, équitation, etc. * 85. The symbols oi and ai.-The Latin e produced in the Picardian and Burgundian dialect oi, pronounced apparently as oi in English: noise. In the Norman dialects it produced ei, pronounced éi. These two sounds seem to have coalesced, and to have given first óe a strong diphthong, and then oé a weak one. These remain in provincial French and in patois. In the sixteenth century we find the spelling oi regularly established, but with two modes of pronunciation, the one oé, oué or simply e, the pronunciation of the court; the other oa or ou-â, that of the people. These two modes of pronunciation were kept more or less distinct‡ till the end of the last century, when a compromise was, so to speak, arrived at. To the endings of verbs especially, and to some odd words, foible, monnoie, paroître, etc., the pronunciation è was given by all: this the symbol ai was made to express. To the remainder the pronunciation oua was given, and the old symbol oi retained. Roide and harnois are still undecided. * The oi in victoire, gloire (victoria, gloria), foi, soif (fidem, sitim), etc., has not the same origin, but its subsequent history is identical. † ELLIS, p. 824, and in LIVET: Robert et Henri Estienne; Pelletier; De Bèze, etc. More or less,' for it seems certain that even at the court oi had the sound oua in many words. Abundant examples of the faulty rhymes caused by the double pronunciation could be given. (See Prosody.) § As early as 1675 we find a Normandy lawyer suggesting that the spelling ai or ei should be employed. But he was not successful in his endeavour to reconcile the spelling with the pronunciation. Voltaire himself at length made the change, and set an example which was gradually followed. But there is yet confusion, for often still ai = a+i. Ei or è, would have been better. § 86. Oignon, ognon.—In older French oign was the usual spelling in this and similar words; the pronunciation was that of ogn in ognon.* Most words have changed their spelling or their pronunciation, cigoigne, roignon, coigner, have become cigogne, rognon, cogner, etc. Eloigner, témoigner, etc., have retained their old spelling, but have changed their pronunciation. In poigne, poignée, poignard, etc., we have the old spelling and the old pronunciation together.† Oignon and ognon are both written. § 87. Nasal Vowels and Nasal Consonants. The socalled nasal vowel sounds are nothing but modifications of four of the oral vowels. But their connection is greatly hidden by the symbols employed : Nasalized a (fâchez) is represented by an, am, en, em, (fantaisie). Nasalized a (fatigue) is represented by in, im, ain, aim, (fin). Nasalized o (modéré) is represented by on, om, (mon). Nasalized eu (jeu) or e (je) is represented by un, um (jeun).‡ The word 'nasal,' applied by every one to these four vowels, is misleading. Professor Max Müller gives the following explanation of what is meant :— "If, instead of emitting the vowel sound freely through the mouth, we allow . the air to vibrate through the cavities which connect the nose with the pharynx, we have the nasal vowels so common in French, as un, on, in, an. It is not necessary that the air should actually pass through the nose; on the contrary, we may shut the nose, and thus increase the nasal twang. The letters m and n, on the contrary, are the true nasals; with them the breathing is emitted, not through the mouth, but through the nose." § 88. en and em employed as prefixes. It is stated in § 77 that en and em, followed by a vowel, as in venir, or by another n or m, as in ancienne, amnestie, have not the nasal sound heard in dent, but (1) that e regains its usual value before a consonant; (2) that n is a consonant as in English. The following observations are necessary to a full comprehension of the difficulty: *Eloigne and Pologne are made to rhyme by Sarrasin, 17th century. + Quelques-uns prononcent poi-gne, poi-gnard.- LITTRÉ. The main point here is to call attention to the fact that the symbols employed for the oral vowels do not correspond throughout to those of the nasal vowels. Other lists are given by different writers on phonetics. Mr. Ellis declares himself unable to solve the question of the exact correspondence of the oral vowels with the French nasals. (Early English Pronunciation, vol. iv., p. 1123, 'q.') (See also pp. 825-829.) |