PRONONCIATION
Unstressed Vowels
English and French have very different systems of accentuation. In English, the stressed syllable of a word is pronounced louder than the unstressed syllables. Read the following English words aloud and listen for the stress.
hospital
affair
police
conference
perish
Which syllables are stressed?
In the above words, where does the primary stress fall? The secondary stress?
If you say the above English words again, you will notice that the vowels of the unstressed syllables are all the same: they are reduced to a neutral vowel called schwa in phonetics.
In French, there is no system of stress by which one syllable is pronounced louder than another. All syllables of a French word are pronounced with equal stress. The vowel of the last syllable is slightly elongated and pronounced at a slightly higher pitch than the preceding ones. The vowels of all syllables are distinctly pronounced. Listen to the ten English words you have practiced, along with their French cognates.
|
hospital |
hôpital |
|
affair |
affaire |
|
police |
police |
|
conference |
conférence |
|
perish |
périr |
|
conversation |
conversation |
|
interrogation |
interrogation |
|
confidential |
confidentiel |
|
celebrated |
célébré |
|
complicated |
compliqué |
Now pronounce the following words after the speaker. Be careful not to copy English habits of stress and not to reduce any of the vowels to the neutral vowel (schwa). You will repeat each word twice.
|
hôpital |
|
affaire |
|
police |
|
conférence |
|
périr |
|
conversation |
|
interrogation |
|
confidentiel |
|
célébré |
|
compliqué |
|
consommation |
|
psychologie |
|
programmation |
|
commissariat |
|
assassiné |
|
téléphoner |
|
informaticien |
|
anniversaire |
|
propriétaire |
|
mathématiques |
|
ordinaire |
|
politicien |
|
passionnant |
|
monument |
|
national |
|
merveilleux |