COMPREHENSIVE FRENCH BOOK. PRONUNCIATION. 1.—The French, in forming their words, make use of all the letters of the English alphabet. They have also, in a few words, the compound letter œ (o e). 2. They have certain signs to alter the usual pronunciation of some of the letters, viz. (a) Three accents:—the acute accent (accent aigu); the grave accent (accent grave); and the circumflex accent (accent circonflexe). A (b) The diæresis ** (tréma). (c) The cedilla, (cédille). (d) The apostrophe' (apostrophe). 3.-An acute accent placed over e shows that it should be sounded with the mouth nearly shut. E with an acute accent is called e close (é fermé), as été, sévérité. 4.-The grave accent placed over e shows that it is to be sounded with the mouth much opened. This è is termed e open (è ouvert), as procès, amène. 5.—A grave accent placed over―à, đès, là, où, çà, deçà, delà, déjà, holà, voilà, does not alter the pronunciation of those words. 6.—A circumflex accent renders the pronunciation of the vowel over which it stands longer than it would be without it, as pâte, fête, apôtre. 7.-A diæresis is placed over the vowels e, i, u, to prevent them being combined in pronunciation with any other vowel. Saul without a diæresis forms only one syllable, it is the name of Paul before being converted; Saül with B a diæresis forms two syllables, Sa-ul; it is the name of the first king of the Israelites. Mais without a dieresis is the French for but, forming only one syllable; with a diæresis, maïs is the French for maize; and forms two syllables, ma-is. 8. The cedilla has the form of a hook placed under the c, to make it sound like s and not like k before a, o, u; ça, rançon, perçu, are sounded sa, ranson, persu. Without the cedilla we should say ka, rankon, perku. 9.-The apostrophe is used in French as in English, to show that a letter has been suppressed :—l'orange, l'homme, s'il, stand for la orange, le homme, si il. 10. We make use of the apostrophe with the following words only:-la, le, je, me, te, se, de, ne, ce, que, lorsque, puisque, quoique, quelque, jusque, entre, moi, toi, si, grand. 11.-Le and la, articles, are written l' before a vowel or an h mute, as: l'orange, l'histoire, instead of la orange, la histoire, l'argent, l'homme, le argent, le homme. 12.-Le and la, pronouns, are written l' before a verb beginning with a vowel or an h mute, as: Je l'aime, instead of je le aime, je la aime, I love him, her;-Je l'honore, instead of je le honore, je la honore, I honour him, her. Observe that le and la, pronouns, placed after the verb, are never written l', as : Servez-le avec zèle, never servez-l'avec zèle, serve him with zeal;-Servez-la avec zèle, never servez-l'avec zèle, serve her with zeal; Menez-le en France, never menez-l'en France, take him to France;--Menez-la en France, never menezl'en France, take her to France. |