FR I - Semestre I.0.04b: The I.P.A. The International Phonetic Alphabet

 bi ɛ̃ve'ny ala 'paʒ u  ɔ̃'na'pʀɛ̃ lipɛ'a

wɛl'kʌm tə ðɘ ɑɪpi:'eɪ peɪʒ

The International Phonetic Alphabet, or the "IPA" for short, can be used to transcribe any language in the world. Since the alphabet is designed to spell out every conceivable sound in every human language, it is very very big. So, this particular blog page will only teach you the IPA "set" for French. 

If you're interested in learning the IPA sets for British and American English, click here. 

If you're interested in comparing IPA sets between English and French, click here.

THE BASICS

Let's get started. First, here is the IPA set for French in alphanumberic order. I won't mark these up in any way, so you can use this as a template to copy and paste characters:

a ɑ  ɑ̃  b d e ə ɛ ɛ̃  f g h i j k l m n ɲ ŋ o ø œ ɶ̃ ɔ ɔ̃  p ʀ ʁ s ʃ t u ɥ v w y z ʒ

Keep in mind that the IPA is only concerned with the sounds of French and has nothing to do with French spelling! Here is the French IPA set again. This time I have color-coded the set to facilitate learning.

a ɑ  ɑ̃  b d e ə ɛ ɛ̃  f g h i j k l m n ɲ ŋ o ø  ɶ̃ ɔ ɔ̃  p ʀ ʁ s ʒ ʃ t u ɥ v w y z

BLACK:   More or less the same sound and symbol as our English letters. Bold if that sound is limited. The symbol g in the IPA only has the value of the g in get /gɛt/, but not as the g in gene /dʒi:n/.
                 
                               BLACKS:    a b d f g h k l m n p s t v w z
                  BOLD BLACKS:    g i u

• g only as the g in get
• i  only as the ee sound in beet 
• u only as the oo sound in boot

BLUE:  We have the sound and symbol in English, but the symbol has a different property.  

BOLD BLUE if that sound is not found in the English language even though the symbol exists.
  

                                  BLUES:     j is pronounced as the y in yes
                     BOLD BLUES:    e o y

• e is a pure vowel; it almost sounds like the ay in bay but without the glide.
• o is a pure vowel; the Spanish '"no no no". Begin to say "no" but immediately freeze your lips to produce a clear
  steady note without gliding. Think of an opera star singing "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and getting stuck
  on the "o".
• y is a vowel that sounds like "ee" with the lips tersely rounded, quite a common sound in  French!

RED: We have the sound in both English and French, but we do not have a symbol for it in our regular alphabet.  

BOLD RED if we do not have either the sound or symbol in the English language!

                                     REDS:    ɑ ə ɛ ɛ: ɲ  ŋ ɔ ʒ ʃ
                        BOLD REDS:    ɑ̃  ɛ̃  ø œ  ɶ̃  ɔ̃  ʀ  ɥ

• ɑ like the British au in auntie; Fr. pâte, hâte. Many French native speakers pronounce this like a regular a; so I won't insist you use it because it's too subtle. Just be aware that it exists.
• ə like the e in the. The most common sound in both English and French has no symbol! Fr. le, de, regarder, demain.
• ɛ like the e in get; Fr. j'achète, cette, fête
• ŋ like ng in sing; Fr. un smoking, an imported sound!
  
• ɲ like the ni in Spaniard; Fr. Espagne, digne
• ɔ like the British au in caught; Fr. dormir, corps
• ʒ like the s in pleasure; Fr. jardin, âge
  
• ʃ like the sh in shoe; Fr. chat, acheter, hache

 No English equivalents:

• ɑ̃ nasal sound in lent, sang, dans
• ɛ: like ɛ above but longer. In the IPA, if you place a colon symbol (:) after a vowel it means you have to lengthen the sound. There are more colons in the English IPA set (British) than there are in the French! For practical purposes I will not insist you use it because the difference is too subtle. Just be aware it exists. Here are some French examples anyway:  fête, étais
• ɛ̃ nasal sound in matin, plain, indonésien
• ø is the eu in deux, yeux, fameuse
•        c is the oeu in sœur, and the eu in beurre
• ɶ̃ nasal sound in brun, un, parfum
  
• ɔ̃ nasal sound in non, pont, mon
• ʀ is the infamous French R which sounds like the little gurgling sound you make when you rinse your mouth with mouthwash. Here are some examples : rare, frère, leur, terrible.
• ʁ is the same infamous French R the way it's pronounced in Paris and in most of northern France. It's the same sound with less gurgle, a little raspy. The differences are so subtle that I will only use the above symbol ʀ. Just be aware if you find it in other IPA sites online, like the one in the Wikipedia!
  
• ɥ in English some people pronounce the wh in wheat or the w in sweet like a soft hw, a "w" sound produced by blowing air out of tightly rounded lips. French huit, lueur, 

NEXT STEPS:

Lets take another look at the IPA. This time we have organized it into three groups. I have eliminated the ɑ ɜ: and ʁ because the differences are too subtle. That's three less to learn! Nevertheless, be aware that they exist! Here is the French IPA set in a more organized arrangement, unmarked and raw for cut and paste purposes:

1. Consonants: b d f g k l m ɲ ŋ p ʀ s ʃ t v z ʒ
2. Semi-vowels: j w ɥ
3. Vowels: a e ɛ ə i œ ø o ɔ u y

4. Nasal Vowels: ɑ̃  ɛ̃  ɶ̃  ɔ̃

5. Special IPA Markers: / / '  . : ͜  

Here is the IPA again, but this time color-coded with the same system we used above.

1. Consonants: b d f g k l m ɲ ŋ p ʀ s ʃ t v z ʒ
2. Semi-vowels: j w ɥ
3. Vowels: ɑ a e ɛ ə i œ ø o ɔ u y

4. Nasal Vowels: ɑ̃  ɛ̃  ɶ̃  ɔ̃
5. Special IPA Markers: / / '  . : ͜  

1. CONSONANTS
Let's break the consonants down into easy, learnable units:

A. JUST LIKE ENGLISH: b, d, f, k, l, m, p, s, t, v, z
B. LIKE ENGLISH BUT LIMITED: g
C. FAMILIAR SYMBOL, DIFFERENT PROPERTY: n
D. UNFAMILIAR SYMBOL, FAMILIAR SOUND: ɲ, ŋ, ʃ, ʒ
E. FAMILIAR SYMBOL, UNFAMILIAR SOUND:  

F. UNFAMILIAR SYMBOL, UNFAMILIAR SOUND: ʀ

2. SEMI-VOWELS

A. JUST LIKE ENGLISH: w
B. LIKE ENGLISH BUT LIMITED: g
C. FAMILIAR SYMBOL, DIFFERENT PROPERTY: j
D. UNFAMILIAR SYMBOL FAMILIAR SOUND:  

E. FAMILIAR SYMBOL, UNFAMILIAR SOUND:
F. UNFAMILIAR SYMBOL, UNFAMILIAR SOUND: ɥ

 

3. VOWELS
A. JUST LIKE ENGLISH:  a
B. LIKE ENGLISH BUT LIMITED: i, u
C. FAMILIAR SYMBOL DIFFERENT PROPERTY: e, o
D. UNFAMILIAR SYMBOL, FAMILIAR SOUND: ɑ, ɛ, ə, ɔ, u
E. FAMILIAR SYMBOL, UNFAMILIAR SOUND: y

F. UNFAMILIAR SYMBOL, UNFAMILIAR SOUND: ə, ɛ, œ, ø


4. NASAL VOWELS
All nasal vowels are unfamiliar sounds to English, and their symbols are unfamiliar to you too!

F. UNFAMILIAR SYMBOL, UNFAMILIAR SOUND: ɑ̃,  ɛ̃,  ɶ̃,  ɔ̃



5. SPECIAL IPA MARKERS & CONVENTIONS

These symbols and conventions are extremely important. 

A. All IPA entries are always in small case letters and quoted between slashes. Here are some samples:
     FRENCH                                  IPA

monsieur                        /mə.'sju/
Madame  Dupont           /ma.dam.dy.'pɔ̃/

indonésien                     /ɛ̃.do.ne.'zjɛ̃/

B. The separation between word is not as important as the separation between syllables. See "Madame Dupont" above. The IPA is concerned with how a language sounds like. We mark the syllable break with an ordinary period. However, be aware that some texts use hyphens, dots, white space, or no separation at all:

FRENCH SPELLING              /IPA/                  


monsieur           /mə.'sju/
ALSO   • /mə-'sju/ • /mə •'sju/ • /mə 'sju/ • /mə'sju/

s'il vous plaît    /si.vu.'plɛ:/ 

ALSO   • /si.vu plɛ:/ • /si • vu •'plɛ:/ • /si vu 'plɛ:/ • /sivu 'plɛ:/
au revoir         /ɔ.ʀə.'vwaʀ/
ALSO   • /ɔ-ʀə- 'vwaʀ/  • /ɔ • ʀə • 'vwaʀ/ • /ɔ ʀə 'vwaʀ/ • /ɔʀə'vwaʀ/
C. The colon symbol ( : ) will lengthen a vowel. We saw this with the word fête /fɛ:t/. In the English IPA set this is very common. Suppose you were shouting "Au revoir" from a mountain. x 
J'étais chez moi  /ʒe.tɛ:.ʃe.'mwa/
Au revoir !         /ɔ.ʀə.'vwa:ʀ/

D. The liaison symbol in French (͜  ) is used when the latent final consonant is pronounced before a following vowel sound. We don't have to use the IPA to show it; you've seen it before: vous͜  êtes

Vous êtes mon ange         /vuz͜  ɛtmɔ̃ 'n͜ ɑ̃ʒ /

The liaison symbol is optional. In the IPA it is perfectly fine to divide by syllables without paying attention to when the word starts or ends. What is important is that the group of syllables convey a meaning. Here is the same phrase without the liaision syllable:

Vous êtes mon ange         /vu.zɛt.mɔ̃ 'nɑ̃ʒ /

THE WIKIPEDIA VERSION

Notes

1. ^ The French rhotic varies from region to region, though it is often uvular, especially in Northern France; the more common pronunciations include a voiced uvular fricative [ʁ] and a uvular trill [ʀ] and sometimes [χ] (after voiceless consonants).
2. ^ In European French, /ɑ/ is often replaced by [a].
3. ^ /ɛː/ is often replaced by [ɛ], particularly among younger speakers in France.
4. ^ In French, /ə/ is pronounced with some lip rounding [ɵ̞]; for a number of speakers, it is also more front and may even be phonetically identical to the vowel of sœur [sœʁ].
5. ^ /œ̃/ is often replaced by [ɛ̃].
6. ^ Stress falls on the last full syllable of a phrase, except in emphatic speech.
7. ^ Used sparingly.
8. ^ Latent final consonant is pronounced before a following vowel sound.

WATCH SOME VIDEOS ON THE IPA

I will use the space below to post videos to help you learn the IPA, that is, as I find them:

1. TITLE: French Pronunciation
    URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CQE9WOD6XM

This is an excellent video on YouTube. Not only does it help you learn the French IPA set but helps you with the French spelling system as well. The presenter is either British when an impeccable French accent or French with an impeccable British accent! Forward to [0:30] to skip the introduction in which he whines about his borrowed computer!

ASSIGNMENT
Your assignment is to collaborate with people in your group to listen and write the script for the video below. You don't have to include his comments in the first 30 seconds of the video, uless you want to transcribe it to the IPA!
 

DEEPER CUTS:
If your interests take you here, you deserve to be called a young linguist !  Linguistics is a fascinating journey that will make any language in the world accessible to you, including your own native tongue!

HELPFUL DEFINITIONS

1. A CONSONANT is a sound we make by either fully or partially blocking the flow of air sound out our mouth. Consonants can explode like a p, hiss like a s, tremble like a m, or buzz like a z. Here is the more academic definition as found in Wiki: "In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. " Consonants are divided into voiced and unvoiced consonants.

A. VOICED CONSONANTS are produced by vibrating the vocal chords while fully or partially blocking the flowof air being forced out the lung.

B. UNVOICED CONSONANTS are produced by NOT allowing the vocal chords to vibrate.

All this closing and opening of the vocal chords is done in the fraction of a second as we speak normally. Why is knowing this important? The real "official" alphabet of the IPA is not displayed in alphanumeric order. Rather, the sounds are organized around a map or chart that represents the mouth. How do you think this works? Hint: the sounds p, b, m are created by using both lips. So p, b. m are "two-lip" sounds (bilabial: bi [two] + labial [lips]) !









                                    PASSAGE TO NOSE

                 SOFT PALATE          
     TEETH         s z ʃ ʒ        HARD PALATE 
            f  v    TONGUE                    t d n
LIPS     p b m           

                                        k g ŋ GLOTTIS

                                               VOCAL CHORDS

                                                     LUNGS


2. A SEMI-VOWEL is an obstructed flow of air sound that we use to mark the beginning or end of a syllable. Here's the Wiki definition: "In phonetics and phonology, a semivowel (or glide) is a sound, such as English /w/ or /j/ ("y"), that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary rather than as the nucleus of a syllable." When we say the English word "away"/ə.'weɪ/ the w is the semi-vowel that separates the a /ə/ from the ay /eɪ/: /ɘ.'weɪ/ Fr. voyelle /vɔ.'jɛl/; Louisiane /lu.ɥi.si.'jan.ə/;


3. A VOWEL is an unobstructed flow of air sound coming out of our mouth. We can control the sound by how wide or narrow we open or round our lips. Open it wide and stretch your lips to get "a'. Now leave your lips wide, but close your mouth and you will get "i" . Now round your lips and you'll get that French sound /y/. Here is the academic definition: In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! [ɑː] or oh! [oʊ], pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis.  

4. A NASAL VOWEL is formed when you partially block the passage in the mouth and let the sound vibrate in your nose. Wikipedia says, "A nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the velum so that air escapes both through nose as well as the mouth. By contrast, oral vowels are ordinary vowels without this nasalisation. The term "nasal" is slightly misleading as the air does not come exclusively out of the nose in nasal vowels.


MAPPING THE VOWELS

Vowels are also mapped, usually as a triangle or trapezium. Here is a vowel map for the English of Southern California that I took from Wikipedia:

You may not recognize some of the symbols here, because they are from the IPA American English set. Nevertheless, you can immediately see that quite a few of the symbols are found in French too: i, e, ɛ, u, o, ɑ. The trapezium is a representation of the mouth. I personally prefer to see it in a simpler triangular form. Study the chart below:

This chart is based on a personal theory. That's right; I invented this theory. This one is mine! My theory is that vowels almost behave like colors. If you have ever studied Art (or Physics), you know that there are three basic colors: blue, yellow, and red. From blue and yellow you get green. Mix red and yellow and you get orange. Vowels are color-coded for me. So when I make the u sound, it's so blue. The o sound is violet because it is between the red a and the blue u. At the center is the neutral schwa or the ə sound.

Do these three exercises to learn and meditate on the exact position of your mouth when you produce these sounds:

1. Open your jaw as wide as you possibly can and pull your lips back until you can't no more. Now freeze that position and shout out any sound. You will probably produce the vowel ɑ in the word /jɑ:n/ Can you read the IPA? It's the English word "yawn". Quite appropriate, considering the position of our mouth when we yawn. Have you ever heard a yawn? It goes like this: /ɑ:/ or /ɑɑɑɑɑɑɑ:/.
2. Now slowly start to round your lips until they close. You will hear the ɔ turn into an o before it becomes a u. Try to imagine a string of colored sounds coming out the lips, the red turning to violet fuchsia, and then the violet fuchsia to plum purple before it turns bluuuue.
   
3. Now take the blue sound and start to widen your lips until it turns green.. that's the oe sound. Keep on widening your lips until the sound turns into a yellow eeeeeeee sound or i.