1. In règle, règne, tête, prête, etc., etc., the penultimate syllable is closed and has the tonic accent; it is long. To this the grave and circumflex accents correspond. But if we alter the words to some small extent, so as to shift the tonic accent, there is only a partial change in the graphic accents. Régler, régner, assume the acute accent to point out the shortened vowel, but prêter, têtu, do not. 2. The penultimate syllable in collége, protége, aimé-je,* is closed and tonic. The syllable is long, in spite of the acute accent. 3. The same is true of e when the presence of a consonant in the same syllable renders it unnecessary to put any accent: chef, sel, cesse, etc. The e is closed, and bears the tonic accent; the e is long, as in tête. 4. In retraite, reine, neige, seigle, mauvaise, seize, etc., the ai and ei are long; for the syllable bears the tonic accent, and is closed. But if the syllable ai, ei be open, the vowel sound of its own accord becomes common (if not short): trait, mauvais, j'aurai, je sais, j'ai, etc. In such words, again, as amertume, intérieur, etc., the necessity for a strong syllable to do justice to the consonantal sounds which follow, point to a long deep stress, rather than to a short acute stress. Such is in reality the pronunciation, in spite of the acute graphic accent.* It must be acknowledged, however, that with ai, aî, ei, ê, è, the constant assertion in books, that it always represents a long deep sound (très ouvert), does much to force the pronunciation, in spite of position. But nature resists; the sound é is constantly heard in atonic syllables in ordinary conversation, in spite of dictionaries and grammars. 4. a and á; o and ó; au. The sound of a in tache, etc., is sufficiently different from that of â in tâche, to be called a distinct vowel. A still greater difference exists between o in mode, etc., and ô in hôte. In all we have four distinct sounds, symbolised usually by a, â, o, ô. Each vowel is long, common, or short, by its modern position.' In each of the words, mode, hôte, tache, tâche, the penultimate vowel is long, for it is closed and tonic. But if the syllable is atonic, the vowel becomes sensibly shortened, without regard to the graphic accent. * The same is true of événement, arénement, répéterais, etc., where there is a secondary accent. But as in French even the primary accent is weak, this secondary accent is necessarily difficult to detect (§ 52, 6). TONIC OR FORCE ACCENT. 52. Tonic or Force Accent in a Word.-1. The syllable in a word which is pronounced with the greatest force is said to bear the force or tonic accent. 2. The word accent in this sense must not be confused with its more frequent use with reference to the signs These signs rarely in French point out the syllable upon which the tonic accent is to be laid. 3. In English the tonic or force accent may be laid upon(a) the last syllable: brigade. (b) the last syllable but one: vapour. But the tendency is to put the accent as near the beginning of the word as possible. 4. In French, on the contrary, the tonic accent is always laid upon the last syllable if the word does not end in e mute, and upon the last but one if it does end in e mute. Except in verse this is the last pronounced syllable: brigade, vapeur, pastoral, inevitable. 5. The syllable upon which the accent is laid is said to be the tonic or accented syllable. Those syllables upon which no accent is laid are said to be atonic or unaccented syllables. 6. The tonic accent in French is at all times much weaker than in English. Or, what practically is the same thing, the unaccented syllables in French are more distinctly pronounced than in English, so that the contrast is not so great between unaccented and accented syllables. Compare cascade (Eng.) and cascade (Fr.), esteem and estime, fatigue (Eng.) and fatigue (Fr.), etc., etc. When, as in économie, vagabond, Normandie, éducation, comfortable, etc., the French word is the same or nearly the same as the corresponding English one, there is a danger (§ 57) of wrongly accenting in French the syllable that is accented in English. This must be carefully guarded against, as it is doubtless one of the principal causes of what is known as the " English accent" in the pronunciation of French. The principle may be safely laid down, that the less difference a speaker makes between accented and unaccented syllables, the better is his pronunciation.* This, of course is not true of English, where unaccented syllables are often scarcely heard (see § 81. 1). 53. Tonic or Force Accent in a Phrase.-At the end of every phrase in French, there is a tonic or force accent over and above that found at the end of each word. To this accent the term phrase-accent may be conveniently applied. It is stronger than the ordinary word-accent. In fact, in the mouth of many speakers it is the only accent that is heard. The word-accent, already weak, is made still weaker. See Prosody, for further details. NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER I. § 54. The Alphabet.-"By an alphabet we mean a list of symbols which represent conventionally to the eye the sounds which are heard in the speech of a nation. An alphabet will therefore be perfect if the number of its symbols exactly corresponds to the number of simple sounds which are commonly distinguishable in the spoken language. But this perfection has probably never yet been reached; all known alphabets have failed either by defect, i.e., from not representing all the simple sounds, or by redundancy, in having more than one symbol for the same sound. They must also necessarily become imperfect by lapse of time. No nation keeps the sound of its language unaltered through many centuries. Sounds change, as well as grammatical forms, though they may endure longer, so that the symbols no longer retain their proper values; often, too, several different sounds come to be denoted by the same symbol and in strictness the alphabet should be changed to correspond to all these changes. But little inconvenience is practically caused by the tacit acceptance of the old symbol to express the new sound; indeed, the change of language is so gradual, that the variation in the values of the symbols is This is what Vigny means by 'Leur langage (les Tourangeaux) est le plus pur français, sans lenteur, sans vitesse, sans accent.' It must not be forgotten that emphasis may displace the ordinary accent. imperceptible. It is only when we attempt to produce the exact sounds of the English language less than three centuries ago that we realise the fact that if Shakspeare could now stand on our stage he would seem to us to speak in an unknown tongue; though one of his plays when written is as perfectly full of intelligence now as then. Such changes of sound are most developed in countries where many different dialects, through conquest, immigration, or otherwise, exist side by side; they are checked by the increase of education, and by facility of locomotion, both of which causes tend to assimilate all dialects to that one which by some lucky chance has become the literary speech of the nation."-Encyclopedia Britannica. Alphabet.' § 55. Division of Syllables.-In the rules given for the division of syllables the etymological division has of necessity been sacrificed to the merely syllabic division. In theory, no doubt, the pronunciation ought to be subordinate to the components of which the word is built up: in practice the etymology may or may not coincide with the pronunciation. A compromise is the only way out of the difficulty for the purposes of pronunciation, let the word be divided according to the undoubtedly artificial, but correct and convenient, method given; for other purposes let the etymology be followed. It will be found that accents are employed in strict accordance to the rules given. Compare respecter and réfléchir, etc., etc. (see also §§ 67, 83).* In addition to the case in which a desire to display the etymology of a word may render it advisable to neglect this rule, we find in verse a frequent use of diphthongs as dissyllables: it is evident that here again the syllable must begin with a vowel, and that the general rules are not applicable. This subject is treated in greater detail in the Prosody. § 56. Graphic Accents.-i. The Graphic Accents were adopted from the Greek, but they have not in French the same meaning as in Greek. ii. They were introduced in the sixteenth century, to help learners to pronounce correctly, and were at first only employed for that purpose in elementary works. iii. Till the present century they were employed with little or * Diez recognises this formal division. The grave accent must be employed when e (according to the usual division of syllables) occurs at the end of a syllable or before s final. Compare me-ne, rè-gne, rè-gle, dès, procès; and terre, appelle, coquette, aspect, secret, fer, etc.'—Grammatik, vol. i., p. 419. no regularity.* Authors seem to have allowed the printers to put them or to omit them as they liked. Hence the subject is full of inconsistencies and contradictions; definite rules for their use are impossible. iv. The accent may show that there has been contraction in comparatively recent times.t This is especially true of the circumflex : 2. Many recent contractions exist, where no accents are employed (§ 426, C). v. The accent may show that the vowel on becoming tonic or semi-tonic has needed strengthening (see § 353). This is particularly true of the grave : 1. The acute may be added with no other meaning: 2. Double consonants may be preferred (see § 353, b): 3. If the circumflex is present already for other reasons, the tonic syllable is sufficiently marked by it : mêler je mêle. 4. If the acute is present already for other reasons, the tonic syllable may perhaps retain it (see § 353, a) : abréger j'abrége (tonic) je répéterai (semi-tonic). vi. The accent may show that the vowel has a sound when *Any one can convince himself that they were not much used by Racine, Boileau, Corneille, Voltaire, etc., if he examine the letters written by these authors, which are exposed to view in the British Museum :Predictions; entierement a vous; apres; preface (RACINE). Privilege, interesser; Art poetique (BOILEAU). Tres, assurement, d'etre (VOLTAIRE). (Accents have been put, however, according to modern usage, in quotations after 16th century.) See Appendix, A. †Thus the accent is put over maître, not because it is a contraction of magistrum, but of maistre. |