Mapping French Pronunciation
-
Jacques Durand
Abstract
Ever since the birth of phonology, French has been a favorite testing ground for theoretical claims concerning phonological structure. Sadly, far too many theoretical claims have just been reinterpretations of idealized data borrowed from the literature or observations taken from normative work teaching foreigners to pronounce French correctly. The PFC project (‘Phonologie du français contemporain: usages, variétés et structure’) aims at redressing the imbalance between observation and theorization. PFC involves over thirty researchers and aims at the recording, partial transcription and analysis of over 500 speakers from the francophone world on the basis of a common Labovian protocol. The aims of the paper will be to present the project, its goals, its actors, the methodology and the research tools used. Some preliminary results are presented concerning vocalic systems, the treatment of liaison and of schwa.
Abstract
Ever since the birth of phonology, French has been a favorite testing ground for theoretical claims concerning phonological structure. Sadly, far too many theoretical claims have just been reinterpretations of idealized data borrowed from the literature or observations taken from normative work teaching foreigners to pronounce French correctly. The PFC project (‘Phonologie du français contemporain: usages, variétés et structure’) aims at redressing the imbalance between observation and theorization. PFC involves over thirty researchers and aims at the recording, partial transcription and analysis of over 500 speakers from the francophone world on the basis of a common Labovian protocol. The aims of the paper will be to present the project, its goals, its actors, the methodology and the research tools used. Some preliminary results are presented concerning vocalic systems, the treatment of liaison and of schwa.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
- An Acoustic Basis for Palatal Geminate Behavior in Spanish 1
- Mapping the Patterns of Maintenance versus Merger in Bilingual Phonology 15
- New Tendencies in Geographical Dialectology 31
- Output-to-output Correspondence and the Emergence of the Unmarked in Spanish Plural Formation 49
- Mapping French Pronunciation 65
- Phonological Variability in the Laboratory 83
- Constraint Re-ranking in Three Grammars 97
- Mid Vowels and Schwa in Eastern Catalan 113
- The Nominal Stress System of Romanian (re)revisited 127
- Proto-Romance Stress Shift Revisited 141
- Final -m in Yucatan Spanish 155
- Stressed Enclitics? 167
- How To Do Things Without Junk 183
- Subject Index 207
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
- An Acoustic Basis for Palatal Geminate Behavior in Spanish 1
- Mapping the Patterns of Maintenance versus Merger in Bilingual Phonology 15
- New Tendencies in Geographical Dialectology 31
- Output-to-output Correspondence and the Emergence of the Unmarked in Spanish Plural Formation 49
- Mapping French Pronunciation 65
- Phonological Variability in the Laboratory 83
- Constraint Re-ranking in Three Grammars 97
- Mid Vowels and Schwa in Eastern Catalan 113
- The Nominal Stress System of Romanian (re)revisited 127
- Proto-Romance Stress Shift Revisited 141
- Final -m in Yucatan Spanish 155
- Stressed Enclitics? 167
- How To Do Things Without Junk 183
- Subject Index 207
