What would we do without French vowel sounds? Well, the obvious answer is that we’d say a lot of consonants! We’d end up sounding like a lot of other Eastern European languages rather than the mellifluous French language. This lesson takes a look at the nineteen vowel sounds in detail with some examples and practice exercises. French vowel sounds are divided into three groups; Voyelles orales (“oral vowels”), Voyelles nasales (“nasal vowels”), Semi-voyelles (“half vowels”). Part 1 of this lesson summary will focus on the first group mentioned, voelles orales, and its subgroups.
Voyelles orales (“oral vowels”) are vowels we pronounce by air going through the mouth area and where the tongue, uvula, and lips will have a certain position. There are twelve oral vowels, which we classify in three categories according to their pronunciation.
- Voyelles antérieures (“front vowels”): Voyelles antérieures are characterized by the placement of the tongue toward the front of the mouth. For example, try to pronounce the letter -è as in prey, producing an anterior vowel, and the letter -o as in orange, producing a posterior vowel. Notice the placement of your tongue in your mouth.
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- Practice Exercise: Pronounce these pairs and tell whether their sounds are identical or not; (met [may]/mais [meh]) (lait [lay]/ les [leh]) (trait [tray]/ très [tray])
- Voyelles centrales (“central vowels”):To pronounce properly the voyelles centrales, place your tongue in the middle area of your mouth. These sounds are very similar to the ear and may be difficult to distinguish, even for a native speaker of French. Their main difference while pronouncing them is the opening gap of the mouth, creating a more or less open sound.
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- Practice Exercise: Practice the pronunciation of the following vowels;(refaire [r-uh-fer] / zèbre [zaybr] / crier [kri-ay])（clair [kler] / petit [puh-ti] / écoute [eh-ku-t]) (peine [pe-n] / debout [duh-bu] / liez [li-eh])
- Voyelles postérieures (“back vowels”): To produce this type of sound, place your tongue in the back of your mouth. In other words, position the larger part of your tongue (the back part) toward the back of the mouth cavity.
Practice Exercise: Repeat these words several times: riz, pâte, rat. What happens?
