§ 95. SCHEME OF THE CONSONANTS. (§ 128.)

GENERAL RULES ON THE CONSONANTS.

§ 96. In modern French, all initial and medial consonants are sounded. The final consonant alone is silent.* Exceptions:

1. c, (k, q,) f, l, r, final, are more often sounded than not: as, le duc, le canif, le sel, le jour.

2. S final does not in any way influence the pronunciation of the consonant which precedes it; that consonant is still treated as final: abricot, abricots, mur, murs, etc.

3. Where the next word begins with a vowel or silent h, the final consonant, which under ordinary circumstances would be silent, is often sounded to prevent hiatus: il est ici.

But this subject requires special treatment; for hiatus (1) is often preferred, (2) is often only apparent, and mistakes are easily made.

* The first letter of a word is said to be ‘initial;' the last is 'final;' the others are 'medial.' A medial consonant often means a consonant in the body of a word, and between two vowels (§ 40). 'Medial' has no such meaning here.

Nor, except in des, les, mes, ces, tes, ses, tu es, that of the vowels. (§ 83.)

HIATUS.

§ 97. Any attempt at pronouncing two vowel-sounds rapidly and distinctly, is attended with a kind of hesitation known by the name of "hiatus."

Such hiatus may occur within a word; but the term is generally applied to the case in which one vowel ends a word, and the second begins one. It is only to the latter hiatus that the following observations and rules apply:

1. Hiatus is generally unpleasant, and is avoided.

2. Sometimes it is pleasant rather than otherwise, and no attempt is made to avoid it. Compare s'il vient and si elle vient.

3. Even when really unpleasant, it is not always possible to avoid it without injury to the sense: elle est allé à Athènes.

4. Hiatus is preferable to harshness, or to a repetition of the same consonant sound; thus et on le lira is better than et l'on le lira.

5. Hiatus is avoided:-(a) By elision. (b) By the use of a secondary form. (c) By sounding the final consonant of a

word.

§ 98. Hiatus avoided by elision.-Elision is only resorted to with three of the vowels; viz., a, i, and e mute. The other vowels are never cut off. The hiatus with them is maintained.

J'aurais aimé à lui parler.

Tu as entendu.

L'écho est bien distinct. Où allez-vous?

1. a is cut off in the article and in the pronoun la only: l'épée for la épée, il l'avait for il la avait.

Elsewhere the hiatus remains, il a acheté; or is destroyed by other means: vas-y for va-y.

2. i is cut off in si il only: s'il vient aujourd'hui. Elsewhere the hiatus remains: si elle vient.

3. e mute is rarely maintained: l'oiseau for le oiseau. Even when preserved, the sound of e is totally destroyed: ex. un père illustre, pronounced un pèr' illustre.

§ 99. Hiatus avoided by use of a secondary form.This expedient for avoiding the hiatus is only resorted to in a few isolated cases which are given and explained in the accidence:

(1) The older forms, nouvel, fol, mol, bel, vieil, are employed instead of nouveau, fou, mou, beau,

vieux.

(2) mon, ton, son, are employed instead of ma, ta, sa. (3) cet is employed instead of ce.

(4) l'on is employed instead of on.

(5) aime-t-il, etc., is employed instead of aime il.
(6) donnes-en, penses-y, vas-y, etc., are employed instead
of donne-en, pense-y, va-y.

§ 100. Hiatus avoided by sounding the final consonant (liaison). When the final consonant is sounded before the vowel, the words practically become one. This is spoken of as liaison' (Lat. ligationem, a binding). But often the

hiatus is only one in appearance.

1. There is no real hiatus, or at the most a very weak one, when the sense does not require the two vowel sounds to be rapidly pronounced one after the other, but allows of a pause between them :-

L'homme sortait | en chantant.

Bientôt ils leur défendront de venir.
Le soldat

ambitieux | a gagné la victoire.

J'aperçois Hélène.

Mon moulin | est à moi.

In each of the above, and in all similar cases, the consonant must not be sounded before the vowel: the hiatus is only apparent.

2. The converse is to a great extent true; when the pause is not possible, the consonant is sounded. Hence the following rules:

(a) In poetry the final consonant is almost always pronounced before a vowel sound, for the rules of verse require hiatus to be avoided. (See PROSODY, Hiatus.)

(B) In serious prose, hiatus is sometimes preferred, but the final consonant is sounded, and hiatus thus avoided :

(a) In an adjective before its substantive: ces bons amis, trois ouvrages, ces enfants, son orange, les excellents amis, son excellent vin.

(b) In an adverb before the word which it qualifies : c'est fort intéressant.

(c) In a preposition before its noun: as, il est sans argent.

(d) In conjunctions (except et).

(e) In a pronoun which is the subject or object of a verb: Nous avons les livres. Je les attends ici. (y) These rules apply in a general way to familiar and colloquial prose, but greater freedom is allowed.

THE VARIOUS SYMBOLS WHICH REPRESEN
CONSONANT SOUNDS.

K, G: (kan, gant.)

K.

§ 101. k has always the hard guttural sound heard in keyword kan.

G.

G initial or medial.

§ 102. g before a, o, u, or before a consonant, has its own proper soft guttural sound heard in key-word gant; ex.: goût, guêpe, gras, gland, etc.

g before e, i, y,

=

j: gingembre, manger, mangeons. g is silent in doigt, legs, vingt and derivatives.

G final.

§ 103. g final is usually silent: sang, faubourg.

It is sounded in joug, zigzag, grog.

When carried on to the following vowel, it has the sound of its corresponding hard guttural k. It is rarely thus carried on.

CH, J: (che-min, je-ter.)

CH.

§ 104. Ch is usually sounded as in chemin.

It has the sound of k

(a) In almost all words derived from the Greek, as chaos, archange. (b) In the word yacht..

It is silent in almanach. In drachme it equals g.

J.

§ 105. J is always pronounced as in jeter.

T, D: (te-nir, de-voir.)

T.

§ 106. T initial has always its pure sound: tard, tenir. T medial has usually its pure sound: entêter.

But it equals s in syllables*:

1. -atie, -etie, -itie: démocratie.
2. -tiel, -tieux, -tion: essentiel.
3. tia: martial.

4. In balbutier, initier, inertie, patient, and quotient. † T final is usually silent: tout, tient, etc. It is sounded(a) In most words ending in ct: correct.‡

etc.

(b) In but (goal); fat (fop); dot (dowry).

Est (east); ouest (west).

Sept, seven; huit, eight. (§ 132.)

Fret, freight; aconit, aconite; malt.

Lest, ballast; granit, granite.

Brut, in the rough; net, pure.

Chut! hush! ut, do (music).

(c) In semi-naturalized words from Latin: vivat, déficit,

* It will be seen by comparison that in the English language words similarly spelt have a corresponding peculiarity of pronunciation :

FRENCH.

ENGLISH. ambitious.

Ambitieux

Action

Patient

action.

patient, etc., etc.

Ti has its pure sound (1) in plural of verb étions; (2) in tiare, centiare, galimatias; (3) in words where the sound of s precedes: bastion. ‡ Not in distinct and instinct.