Tranel's textbook is principally addressed to English speakers who want to improve their French pronunciation. It describes the difficulties typically encountered, explains why they occur and suggests ways to improve them. In addition, from a more theoretical perspective, the book provides readers with a fundamental understanding of the way French sounds are produced and how they behave according to general linguistic principles. Perfect for both relative beginners and more advanced students, Tranel's book draws on contrastive analysis, general phonetics, traditional knowledge, and more modern developments in phonology, historical linguistics, and orthography. Intended for classroom use, the book will appeal to teachers because of its wide scholarship and firm grasp of instructional principles, while students will welcome Tranel's clear style and organization.
Author(s): Bernard Tranel
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2012
Language: English
Pages: 252
City: Cambridge
The Sounds of French
Front Matter
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Part 1 - Introductory concepts
1. Orthography, pronunciation, and phonetic notation
2. Basic notions of phonetics
Part 2 - Vowels and glides
3. Vowel systems
4. Distribution of vowels
5. Nasal vowels
6. E
7. Glides
Part 3 - Consonants
8. Consonantal systems
9. L and R
10. Double consonants and final consonants
11. Liaison
Part 4 - Suprasegmentals
12. Stress and intonation
Part 5 - Appendices
Appendix A. The International Phonetic Association
Appendix B. Diacritic marks in French orthography
Appendix C. Outline of the history of French orthography
Appendix D. Sounds and letters in French: summary
Appendix E. A selection of h-aspiré words
Appendixc F. Fundamental principles of French pronunciation: summary
Bibliography
