on, om. Both these symbols usually represent the vowel sound heard in key-word mon. But: 1. They lose their simple vowel value when followed either by a vowel* or by another n or m: then on=o+n': om=o+m': prononcer, raisonner. 2. on in monsieur=eu in jeu. 3. o is dropped in faon, paon, taon. The pronunciation is fan, pan, tan. un, um. Both these symbols usually represent the vowel sound heard in key-word jeun. But: They lose their simple vowel value when followed either by a vowel or by another n or m: then NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER II. § 78. General Rules on Quantity.-Most vowels have not only one long sound and one short sound, but at least one intermediate sound which may be called common, medial, or doubtful. Length in French depends mainly upon accent. Roughly speaking: Tonic syllables are long. Atonic syllables are short. But accent in French is weak, and the extra length of the accented syllable will at all times be small. Much depends upon the vowel itself, and the nature of the consonants which follow. *See also Hiatus (§ 100) and Liaison (§ 129). The following rules are sufficiently accurate for ordinary purposes :-* 1. In an open atonic syllable the vowel is short: fouet. 2. In a closed atonic syllable the vowel is common foulard. 3. In an open tonic syllable the vowel is common: fou. 4. In a closed tonic syllable the vowel is long: foule. The following cautions are perhaps needed : 1. The rules only treat of relative and not of absolute length, for each vowel has a length of its own. The consideration of this length by nature is not necessary here. 2. The same vowel sound will differ in length in the mouth of individual speakers. 3. Unstudied pronunciation differs greatly from deliberate and conscious pronunciation.† 4. These rules are framed for words by themselves. But the principle is true of words in combination. In a sentence, a tonic syllable often becomes atonic (§ 53), and the vowel from long becomes short or common. Or an open syllable is closed, and the vowel is lengthened. * That the rules given are based on correct principles, is borne out by the following testimony :-"On remarque généralement que dans les langues les plus anciennes, c'est la quantité qui domine et détermine l'accent, tandis que plus tard l'accent l'emporte sur la quantité."-G. PARIS, L'Accent Latin, p. 7. "No short vowel occurs, in modern languages, in an accented, and very few long vowels in an unaccented syllable: indeed, if we mark a secondary accent, we may almost affirm that no long vowel is now found without either a primary or secondary accent."-ELLIS, Alphabet of Nature, p. 70. And again :-"It may be a question whether any true short vowel can ever receive the accent."-Id., p. 142. "The only safe method is to listen to the natural speaking of some one who does not know that he is observed. This is conveniently done during the delivery of sermons or lectures. The only objection to this course is that a preacher or lecturer knows that his style of speech is liable to be criticized, and he may therefore indulge in rather a theoretical than a natural delivery. This is especially the case with professed orthoepists, whose pronunciation will necessarily labour under the sus picion of artificiality. And again, this plan is, of course, only possible with educated speakers, who are mostly fanciful in their pronunciation. It is never safe to ask such people how they pronounce a given word. Not only are they immediately tempted to "correct" their usual pronunciation, to tell the questioner how they think the word ought to be pronounced, and perhaps to deny that they ever pronounced it otherwise; but the fact of the removal of the word from its context, from its motional and phonetic relation to preceding and following sounds, alters the feeling of the speaker, so that he has as much difficulty in uttering the word naturally, as a witness has in signing his name, when solemnly told to sign it in his usual handwriting.”—Early English Pronunciation, p. 1087. Examples of Long, Common, and Short Vowels.-The order is the same as that in § 61, where quantity is ignored. The same key-words are employed. Every key-word has a common vowel. The special symbol to be noticed is printed in Italics. The symbols in brackets are from Ellis's palaeotypic alphabet; they are not intended for ordinary use, and may be left unnoticed. All diphthongal combinations are supposed, for the time being, to form two syllables. This is true in verse of a large number (Prosody). In a diphthong the rule would run more accurately thus:-Most diphthongs have the tonic accent on the second vowel, and the first vowel is very short. In exceptions the accent is on the first vowel; in them the first vowel is common, perhaps long. It is in sentences that open atonic syllables mostly occur. It may be fairly questioned whether the long and short vowels do not in this case differ in quality as well as in quantity; but great convenience must excuse a little inaccuracy. BOOK II.-PHONOLOGY. CHAPTER I.-ALPHABET, SYLLABLES, ACCENT, ETC. THE ALPHABET. § 43. Names of the Letters: (1) The letters, which are used to represent the various sounds employed in speaking any language, form its alphabet. The French alphabet is the same as the English. It is important not to confuse the names of the letters with their sounds; the sounds given to the letters often vary, the names do not. (2) The names of the vowels in French are :— a (fáchez), e (été), i (ici), o (écho), u (tu). (3) There are two ways of naming the consonants in French. The following is the ordinary way: bé, cé, dé, effe, gé, ache, ji, ka, elle, emme, enne, pé, ku, erre, esse, té, vé, ics, zède. w is called double vé,' and y 'i grec.' The following is the better way. The names then correspond as much as possible to the sounds : be, de, fe, ghe, he, je, ke, le, me, ne, que, (ke) re, se, te, ve, xe (kse) ze. c may be called se or ke; w may be called ou or ve. § 44. Imperfections of the French Alphabet.-For an alphabet to be perfect, every separate sound should have a separate symbol. The French alphabet, like the English, is imperfect : (1) There are at least thirty-two sounds, and only twentysix letters to represent them. (2) The same letter may represent more than one sound: the o in mode has a different sound from the o in rose; the g in manger has a different sound from the g in gant. (3) The same sound may have more than one letter to 13. jeun. [es] 1. Open atonic syllable, short: 14. doux. [u] un à un. fouet. 1. Open atonic syllable, short: 15. du. [y] 1. Open atonic syllable, short : fou. foule. lui. cuvette, flûté. § 79. The effect of graphic accents upon quantity.It is stated in most grammars, (1) that the circumflex accent makes a vowel very long (très-ouvert [?]); (2) that a grave accent makes a vowel long (ouvert [?]); (3) that an acute accent makes a vowel short (fermé [?]). This is only partially true. The vowel is relatively short, common, or long, according to its modern position, and independently of any graphic accents (see § 56). 1. i, u, ai, and î, û, aî, compared. No doubt the i in gîte, û in sûr, at in connaître, etc., are longer than the same vowel sounds in dit, jus, j'ai, etc. In the former words the syllables are closed, in the latter they are open. But this is true of vite, sur, connaissent, where no accent is found. The circumflex accent in itself shows only that the modern word is probably a contracted form of an older one, and that the vowel had once the consonants necessary to give it "position as understood in Latin. It says nothing for the length of the vowel as found in the modern form, where the origin and meaning of the accent is practically forgotten. 2. eu and eû. All the above is true of eu and eû. But the sound of euespecially if atonic-is apt to sink to the neutral sound of e mute; and care must be taken, in comparing the vowels, not to confuse the sounds (see § 81 y). 3. é, é, é.-ai, aî, ei. With e the graphic accents usually correspond to the pronunciation. But even here they are not always trustworthy guides to the length of the vowels. |