Language/French/Pronunciation/Accents-(advanced-level)
This article is an advanced version of this article
In French there are 5 kinds of diacritics, which people erroneously call "accents":
- The Accute Accent (é),
- the Grave Accent (è),
- the Circumflex (ê),
- the Diaeresis (ë) (erroneously called Umlauts),
- the Cedilla (ç).
Most diacritics indicate that the vowel is pronounced differently than the way it is when unmarked. However there isn't exactly a general pattern.
The Grave Accent occurs over A, E, and U. For (à) and (ù), it doesn't indicate a sound change. (ù) is only present in "où" but (à) is used in a few other words.
E is the tricky one. It's the only vowel that takes every diacritical mark. But these sound changes are very minor.
(e) can be pronounced in several different ways, but in most circumstances its /ɛ/ as in "bed" (in the American Accent)
(é) is pronounced /e/ as in "play." Returning to the Grave Accent,
(è) is pronounced the same as (e), /ɛ/.
These are all tiny differences and you'll most likely pick them up naturally in time.
The Circumflex is used over all vowels except Y. It indicates the following sound changes:
- a /a/ (Fr. là) -> â /ɑ/ (palm)
- e /e/ (play) -> ê /ɛ/ (bed)
- i /i/ (fleece) -> î /i/ (no change)
- o /ɔ/ (cloth) -> ô /o/ (Fr. mot)
- u /y/ (Fr. juge) -> û /y/ (no change)
The Diaresis (or Tréma, in French) is used over E, I, U, and Y. If there's a vowel cluster, it indicates that the marked vowel is not part of a true Diphthong. In English that means it's pronounced separately, not the way the vowel cluster normally is without the diaresis. For example, the oï in "astéroïde" is pronounced /ɔ.i/ not /wa/ as in "oiseau," which is that vowel cluster's normal sound. Another example is "haïr" /a.iʁ/ and "vrai" /vʁɛ/. Here's the rest: (ë) is /ɛ/ as in "bed" (ï) is /i/ "heat" (ü) is /y/ as in the French "dur" (ÿ) is only used in proper nouns and is pronounced as /i/.
The Cedilla doesn't indicate sound changes. The Cedilla is used to indicate that Ç is pronounced /s/ when preceding A, O, or U. Normally C is only pronounced /s/ when preceding E, I or Y. The Cedilla is for the exceptions.
Unfortunately there's a lot more but this should cover the essential stuff.
Here's an exhaustive table of French pronunciation: http://omniglot.com/writing/french.htm
Here's Wikipedia's list of French vowel clusters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_orthography#Vowels_and_combinations_of_vowel_letters
Hope that helps.
Good luck!