Specifications
74
Vowels
a
as in patte
/pat/
A
pâte
/pAt/
~A
clan
/kl~A/
e
dé
/de/
E
belle
/bEl/
~E
lin
/l~E/
@
demain
/d@m~E/
i
gris
/gRi/
o
gros
/gRo/
O
corps
/kOR/
~O
long
/l~O/
9
leur
/l9R/
~9
brun
/bR ~9/
{
deux
/d{/
u
fou
/fu/
y
pur
/pyR/
Semi-vowels
j
as in fille
/fij/
H
huit
/Hit/
w
oui
/wi/
Consonants
b
as in bal
/bal/
d
dent
/d~A/
f
foire
/fwaR /
g
gomme
/gOm/
k
clé
/kle/
l
lien
/lj~E/
m
mer
/mER /
n
nage
/naZ/
J
gnon
/J~O/
N
dancing
/d~AsiN/
p
porte
/pORt/
R
rire
/R iR /
s
sang
/s~A/
S
chien
/Sj~E/
t
train
/tR ~E/
v
voile
/vwal/
z
zèbre
/zEbR /
Z
jeune
/Z9n/
The pronunciation of French
The symbols used in this dictionary for the pronunciation of French are
those of the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). Certain differences in
pronunciation are shown in the phonetic transcription, although many
speakers do not observe them—e.g. the long ‘a’
/A/
in
pâte
and the
short ‘a’
/a/
in
patte
, or the difference between the nasal vowels ‘un’
/~9/
as in
brun
and ‘in’
/~E/
as in
brin
.
PWE260_introD_1031.pm65 10/31/2005, 14:3474
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