the use of ⟨ph⟩ in téléphone, ⟨th⟩ in théorème, or ⟨ch⟩ in chaotique.
In the first case, it is a vestige of the spelling in the word's original language (usually Latin or Greek) maintained in modern French, e.g. ( August 2008)įrench digraphs and trigraphs have both historical and phonological origins. For example, when ⟨o⟩ is part of a prefix ( coexister), or when ⟨e⟩ is part of a suffix ( minoen), or in the word moelle and its derivatives. ⟨œ⟩ is not used when both letters contribute different sounds. When ⟨œ⟩ is found after ⟨c⟩, the ⟨c⟩ can be pronounced /k/ in some cases ( cœur), or /s/ in others ( cœlacanthe). The pronunciation with /e/ is often seen to be more correct. œsophage /ezɔfaʒ/ or /øzɔfaʒ/, Œdipe /edip/ or /ødip/ etc. These words used to be pronounced with /e/, but in recent years a spelling pronunciation with /ø/ has taken hold, e.g. ⟨œ⟩ is also used in words of Greek origin, as the Latin rendering of the Greek diphthong ⟨οι⟩, e.g. écouter Old French buef/ beuf > Modern French bœuf. An ⟨é⟩ in modern French is often used where a combination of ⟨e⟩ and a consonant, usually ⟨s⟩, would have been used formerly, e.g. An acute accent over ⟨e⟩ represents /e/.Diacritics have no effect on the primary alphabetical order. The diacritics used in French orthography are the acute accent ( ⟨◌́⟩ accent aigu), the grave accent ( ⟨◌̀⟩ accent grave), the circumflex ( ⟨◌̂⟩ accent circonflexe), the diaeresis ( ⟨◌̈⟩ tréma), and the cedilla ( ⟨◌̧⟩ cédille). kilogramme, kilomètre, kilowatt, kilohertz. However, ⟨k⟩ is common in the metric prefix kilo- (originally from Greek χίλια khilia "a thousand"), e.g. w/ is usually written ⟨ou⟩ /k/ is usually written ⟨c⟩ anywhere but before ⟨e, i, y⟩, ⟨qu⟩ before ⟨e, i, y⟩, and sometimes ⟨que⟩ at the ends of words. ⟨w⟩ and ⟨k⟩ are rarely used except in loanwords and regional words. The French alphabet is based on the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, uppercase and lowercase, with five diacritics and two orthographic ligatures. Problems playing this file? See media help. A system of braille has been developed for people who are visually impaired. The French alphabet uses a number of diacritics, including the circumflex, diaeresis, acute, and grave accents, as well as ligatures. The reverse operation, producing written forms from pronunciation, is much more ambiguous. Nevertheless, there are rules governing French orthography which allow for a reasonable degree of accuracy when pronouncing French words from their written forms. older tans – compare English "tense", which reflects the original spelling – and vingt vs. Later attempts to respell some words in accordance with their Latin etymologies further increased the number of silent letters (e.g., temps vs. This is conspicuous in verbs: parles (you speak), parle (I speak / one speaks) and parlent (they speak) all sound like. This has resulted in a complicated relationship between spelling and sound, especially for vowels a multitude of silent letters and many homophones, e.g., saint/ sein/ sain/ seing/ ceins/ ceint (all pronounced ) and sang/ sans/ cent (all pronounced ). Even in the late 17th century, with the publication of the first French dictionary by the Académie française, there were attempts to reform French orthography. 1100–1200 AD, and has stayed more or less the same since then, despite enormous changes to the pronunciation of the language in the intervening years.
The spelling of words is largely based on the pronunciation of Old French c. It is based on a combination of phonemic and historical principles. For the distinction between, / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.įrench orthography encompasses the spelling and punctuation of the French language. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).