Three orthographic marks are called accents,— the acute (), the grave (), and the circumflex (^). The acute accent, accent aigu, is used only over the vowel e (6), which then has the sound of a in late. As été, vérité. The grave accent, accent grave, is used chiefly over the vowel e (a), which then has nearly the sound of e in met. As près, père. It is used over a and u merely to distinguish certain words which are otherwise spelled alike, and does not alter the pronunciation. As à (to) from a (has); là (there) from la (the or her); où (where) from ou (or). 1 In repeating the alphabet, e is usually pronounced like é; in spelling a word, an unaccented e is given the sound of e in le. See page 3. The circumflex accent, accent circonflexe, is used on any vowel, which is then long. As âge, tête, île, dôme, buche. It frequently indicates that a letter has been dropped, as in île, isle; âme (Latin, anima), soul. It distinguishes dû (owed) from du (of the) sûr, (sure) from sur (upon), mûr (ripe) from mur (wall). These accents do not imply any stress of voice on the syllable where they occur. The apostrophe, l'apostrophe, ('), indicates that one of the vowels, a, e, or i has been dropped before a word beginning with a vowel or h mute. a is elided only in the article or pronoun la; as l'âme for la âme. e is elided in le, je, me, te, se, de, ce, ne, que (but when je, ce, le, and la come directly after the verb, either as subjects or objects, no elision takes place); in jusque and lorsque; in puisque and quoique before il, ils, elle, elles, on, un, une; in quelque before un, une; and in entre in compound words. i is elided only in si before il or ils. No elision occurs before onze, onzième, oui, huit, huitième. The hyphen, le trait d'union, (-), marks the connection between two or more words or parts of a word. The hyphen is used between the verb and the pronouns je, moi, nous, tu, toi, vous, il, ils, elle, elles, le, la, les, lui, leur, y, en, ce, on, when they are placed after a verb of which they are subjects or objects. The other cases of its use will be noticed as they occur. The cedilla, la cédille, (c), is put under c when it has the sound of s before a, o, or u. As français, garçon, reçu. The diæresis, le tréma, ("), is placed over the second of two vowels to show that it begins a new syllable. As naïf (na-if), noël (no-el). PRONUNCIATION Most French sounds have no English equivalents. In the following pages on pronunciation, intended only to supplement the work of the teacher by furnishing examples for the use of both teacher and pupil, the word like means somewhat like, when French and English sounds are compared. Simple Vowels a (short) has a sound between the a of bar and the a in mat. As la, the; quatre, four; table, table; a, has; à, to; Canada. a (long) or â has the sound of a in father. The mouth should be opened wide. As âme, soul; bâtir, to build ; sale, dirty; fable, fable; pas, step; classe, class; espace, space; nation, nation: tentation, temptation. a is silent in août, Curaçao, toast, Saône. é has the sound of a in late.1 As été, summer; vérité, truth; cédé, yielded; répété, repeated; dégénéré, degenerate. è and ê vary in sound between the e of met and the ei of their. As près, near; père, father; mère, mother; tête, head; même, same. e without an accent has a sound similar to that of e in the before a consonant: the door, the boy, etc. As de, 1 When we pronounce an English vowel slowly, we really produce two sounds, a slight finish or vanishing sound being heard. A French vowel has only one sound. Practise the various vowel and nasal sounds, first placing the mouth in position, and then uttering the sound without moving lips, tongue, or jaws. Practise prolonging the sound, always stopping abruptly. |