Quebec French phonology

The phonology of Quebec French is more complex than that of Parisian or Continental French. Quebec French has maintained phonemic distinctions between  and ,  and ,  and ,  and . The latter phoneme of each pair has disappeared in Parisian French, and only the last distinction has been maintained in Meridional French, yet all of these distinctions persist in Swiss and Belgian French.

Vowels

The phonemes  and  are both realized as  (parce que 'because', ), but before ,  is diphthongized to  or  if it is in the last syllable.

Tense vowels () are realized as their lax () equivalents when the vowels are both short (not before , ,  and , but the vowel  is pronounced  before ) and only in closed syllables. Therefore, the masculine and feminine adjectives petit 'small' and petite ( and  in France) are  and  in Quebec. In some areas, notably Beauce, Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, and (to a lesser extent) Quebec City and the surrounding area, even long tense vowels may be laxed.

The laxing of the high vowels (, , and ) in the specified context always occurs in stressed syllables, (lutte  'struggle'), but it sometimes does not occur in unstressed syllables: vulgaire 'vulgar' can be  or . The lax allophone of a high vowel may also appear in open syllables by assimilation to a lax vowel in a following syllable: musique 'music' can be either  or . The lax vowel may be retained in derived words even if the original stressed lax vowel has disappeared: musical can be  or . Also, the lax allophone may sometimes occur in open syllables by dissimilation, as in toupie 'spinning top'  or , especially in reduplicative forms such as pipi 'pee-pee'  or . Such phenomena are conditioned lexically and regionally. For example, for the word difficile 'difficult', the standard pronunciation  is found throughout Quebec, but the alternative pronunciations ,  and  are also used.

The phonemes  and  are distinct.  is not diphthongized, but some speakers pronounce it  if it is in a closed syllable or an unstressed open syllable, as in French of France. The pronunciation in final open syllables is always phonemically , but it is phonetically  or  (Canada  or ), the latter being informal. There are some exceptions; the words la, ma, ta, sa, fa, papa and caca are always pronounced with the phoneme . In internal open syllables, the vowel  is sometimes pronounced  or  (gâteau 'cake'  or ), which is considered to be informal. The vowel  is sometimes pronounced as  in final closed syllables (pâte 'paste' ), but it is diphthongized as  before  (tard 'late' ). Otherwise, there are many words which are pronounced with the long , even though there is no circumflex: sable, espace, psychiatre, miracle, mardi and as (noun), etc. There are some words which are pronounced with the short , even though there is a circumflex; they are exceptions: câlin and bâbord, etc. Some words are pronounced differently in different regions; for example, the words lacet, nage and crabe are exceptions: they are pronounced with the short  in Eastern Quebec, but with the long  in Western Quebec.

The phonemes  and  are distinct. In open syllables,  is diphthongized to  (pêcher is pronounced ), but it is pronounced  before   (mairie is pronounced ), it is pronounced  before  (trêve 'truce' ), and in closed syllables, it is diphthongized to , ,  or  (tête 'head' , ,  or ); on Radio-Canada, speakers pronounce  in both open syllables and closed syllables.
Also, there are many words which are pronounced with the long , even though there is no circumflex: aide, presse, cesse, caisse, graisse, sirène, scène, palmarès, etc. There are a few exceptions, which are pronounced with the short  phoneme, even though there is a circumflex; they are exceptions: êtes, bêche, extrême, suprême, pimbêche, prête (adjective), etc. Some words are pronounced differently in different regions; for example, the words arrête, haleine and baleine are exceptions: they are pronounced with the short  in Eastern Quebec, but with the long  in Western Quebec.

The phonemes  and  are not distinct in modern French of France or in modern Quebec French; the spelling <î> was the  phoneme, but il and île are both pronounced with a short  in modern French of France and in modern Quebec French. In modern Quebec French, the  phoneme is only used in loanwords: cheap.

The phonemes  and  are not distinct in modern French of France or in modern Quebec French; the spelling <û> was the  phoneme, but flûte is pronounced with a short /y/ in modern French of France and in modern Quebec French.

The phonemes  and  are not distinct in modern French of France or in modern Quebec French; the spelling <oû> was the  phoneme, but croûte is pronounced with a short  in modern French of France and in modern Quebec French. In Quebec French, the phoneme  is only used in loanwords: cool.

The phoneme  is pronounced  or  (fort 'strong'  or ) before .

The ⟨oi⟩ spelling is phonemically  or  (toi 'you' , but trois 'three' ), but when it is before  or  in closed syllables, it is phonemically : soir and framboise, etc. In joual,  can be pronounced  or , but  is found exceptionally in droit and froid and in inflexions of noyer and croire, as well as in soit. Those pronunciations are remnants from one of the founding French dialects.  is pronounced as  in formal speech but becomes  in informal speech. The ⟨oî⟩ spelling is phonemically . It is phonetically  in formal speech, but it can also be pronounced in some additional different ways () in joual (boîte 'box' ). Also, there are many words which are pronounced with the long , even though there is no circumflex: coiffe, croissant, soirée and poivre, etc.

Another informal archaic trait from 17th-century Parisian popular French is the tendency to open  into  in a final open syllable. On the other hand, in grammatical word endings as well as in the indicative forms of verb être (es and est), the  is tensed into . That is also common in France, but failure to tense the  in Quebec is usually perceived as quite formal. However, Quebecers usually pronounce  when they are reading.

Nasal vowels
Apart from , the nasal vowels are very different from Modern Parisian French, but they are similar to traditional Parisian French and Meridional French.  is pronounced exactly as in Meridional French:  → ,  →  (tempête 'storm' ), quand 'when' ),  →  (glaçon 'icicle' ), and  is pronounced .  occurs only in open syllables.  and  are always diphthongized.

Diphthongization
Long and nasalized vowels (except ) are generally diphthongized in closed syllables, but , , and  are not diphthongized if they are before  (with some exceptions: fève "bean", Lefebvre, orfèvre "goldsmith" and rêve "dream"):
  → , but  before , as in fête , Eng. "party"; père , Eng. "father"; fêter , Eng. "celebrate";
  → , as in neutre , Eng. "neutral"
  → , as in cause , Eng. "cause"
  → , but  (before ), as in pâte , Eng. "paste" bar , Eng. "bar"
  →  (only before ), as in bord , Eng. "side"
  →  (only before ), as in cœur , Eng. "heart"
  → , as in livre , Eng. "book/pound"
  → , as in four , Eng. "oven"
  → , as in cure , Eng. "treatment"
  → , as in banque , Eng. "bank"
  → , as in quinze , Eng. "fifteen"
  → , as in son , Eng. "sound"
  → , as in un , Eng. "one"
  → , as in boîte , Eng. "box"

Diphthongs , , , , , ,  
and  are the most exaggerated, so they are considered informal, but even some teachers use them.  and  are rarely used in formal contexts.  and  are never diphthongized, except in joual. Diphthongs , , , , , ,  and  are considered formal and usually go unnoticed by most speakers.  and  are not diphthongized by some speakers.

Phonological feminine

Metonymies provide interesting evidence of a phonological feminine. For instance, although most adults would probably say that autobus is masculine if they were given time to think, specific bus routes defined by their number are always feminine. Bus No. 10 is known as l'autobus 10, or more often la 10. Using le 10 in such a context, although it is normal in France, would be strikingly odd in Quebec (especially Montreal) except in some regions, particularly the Outaouais, where it is usual. (An alternative explanation, however, is that bus routes in Montreal are called "lines" and so la 10 is short for la ligne 10, not l'autobus 10 since it is the route that is being referred to, not an individual bus.)

There are many grammatical differences in informal speech. For instance, some words have a different gender from standard French (une job, rather than un job). That is partially systematic; just as the difference in pronunciation between chien  (masc.) and chienne  (fem.) is the presence or absence of a final consonant, ambiguous words ending in a consonant (such as job ()) are often considered to be feminine.

Also, vowel-initial words that in standard grammar are masculine are sometimes considered to be feminine, as preceding masculine adjectives are homophonous to feminine adjectives (un bel avion; bel  = belle fem.): the word is considered to be feminine (une belle avion). Another explanation would be that many other words ending in -ion are feminine (nation, élection, mission, etc.) and that the grammatical gender of avion is made to conform to this pattern through analogy. However, the number of -ion words that are masculine, particularly concrete nouns like avion (lion, pion, camion, lampion, etc.), as opposed to abstract -tion nouns, weakens that explanation.

Consonants

Around 12 different rhotics are used in Quebec, depending on region, age and education among other things. The uvular trill  has lately been emerging as a provincial standard, and the alveolar trill  was used in informal speech in Montreal. In modern Quebec French, the voiced uvular fricative  (but it becomes voiceless before voiceless consonants and after voiceless consonants ) is more common.

The velar nasal  is found in loanwords (ping-pong ), but is often found as an allophone of the palatal nasal , the word ligne 'line' may be pronounced .

In colloquial speech, the glottal fricatives  are found as allophones of  and , respectively. They can also be pronounced as  and  if the original fricatives are not entirely relaxed. That is particularly found in the Beauce region to the point where the pronunciation is frequently stereotyped, but it can be found throughout Quebec as well as other French-speaking areas in Canada.

Dental stops are usually affricated before high front vowels and semivowels: in other words, , , , , , , ,  are then pronounced , , , , , , ,  (except in Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine and Côte-Nord). Depending on the speaker, the fricative may be more or less strong or sometimes even assimilate the stop in informal speech. For example, constitution could have any of the following pronunciations:   →  → .

In Joual, some instances of final mute t may be pronounced:
lit  → .
There is also the special case of "debout"  'standing up' and "ici"  'here' (sometimes actually written icitte). On the other hand, the t in but 'goal' and août 'August' are not pronounced in Quebec, but they are pronounced in France (decreasingly for but). They often reflect centuries-old variation or constitute archaisms.

Many of the features of Quebec French are mistakenly attributed to English influence; however, the historical evidence shows that most of them either descend from earlier forms from specific dialects and are forms that have since changed in France or internal developments (changes that have occurred in Canada alone but not necessarily in all parts).

Consonant reduction
It has been postulated that the frequency of consonant reduction in Quebec French is due to a tendency to pronounce vowels with more "strength" than consonants, a pattern reversing that of European French.

Consonant clusters finishing a word are reduced, often losing altogether the last or two last consonants, in both formal and informal Quebec French. It seems that the liquids  and  are especially likely to get dropped, as in table,  → , or astre,  →  →  'star'.

The phone  in article determiners and even more in personal pronouns in most dialects does not exist in the mental representation of these words. As a matter of fact, pronouncing il and elle as  and  is seen as very formal and by some pedantic. Elle is further modified into  in informal speech, a sound change similar to that of  into  before .

In colloquial speech, the combination of the preposition sur + definite article is often abbreviated: sur + le = su'l; sur + la = su'a or sa; sur + les = ses. Sometimes dans + un and dans + les is abbreviated to just dun and dins. In the informal French of France, sur + le also becomes su'l, such as L'dimanche, i'est su'l pont dès 8 heures du mat ('On Sundays, he's hard at work from 8 am'). No other contractions are used.

Some initial consonants are also reduced:  gueule (France, ), especially in the construction ta gueule  "shut up". Many Québécois even write gueule as yeule.

Aspiration of voiceless plosives

In spoken Standard French, /k/, /p/ and /t/ are by and large regarded as unaspirated. However, in Quebec's (and certain other Canadian) variants of spoken French, aspiration in those consonants is quite common. The voice onset time of the afore-mentioned sounds produced by Québécoise francophones is, to some extent, longer than that of their French counterparts, meaning that they are often categorized as aspirated.

Combinatory phenomena

Vowel harmonization and consonant assimilation
The high front vowels in Quebec French show a net tendency to be unvoiced or even lost, as in municipalité  → , .

Much more common is the nasalization of some long vowels placed before a nasal consonant: même  →  ~ , jeûne  → , jaune  → , etc.

Similarly, consonants in clusters are often assimilated, usually with the consonant closer to the stress (the end of the word), which transmits its phonation (or its nasalization): demande  → , chaque jour  → . Progressive assimilation also occurs but only for  and  before  and : cheval  → .

The dropping of , which is as frequent in Quebec as it is in France (but occurs in different places), creates consonant clusters, which causes assimilation. For instance, the first-person singular pronoun "je" may be devoiced before a verb with a voiceless consonant initial. That occurs most notably with verbs that normally begin with , as the well-known example je suis 'I am' is often realized as "chu" () and je sais 'I know' as "ché" () or even (). However, the elision of  is not exclusive to Quebec, and the phenomenon is also seen in other dialects.

One extreme instance of assimilation in Quebec French is vocalic fusion, which is associated with informal speech and fast speech and consonant elisions. Vocalic fusion can be either total (as in prepositional determiners sur la  →  → , dans la  →  → , and dans les  → ) or partial (as in il lui a dit,  →  →  →  or ). Partial fusion can occur also in slow speech.

Liaison
Liaison is a phenomenon in spoken French in which an otherwise-silent final consonant is pronounced at the beginning of a following word beginning with a vowel. The rules for liaison are complex in both European French and Quebec French.

Sample passage

From Les insolences du Frère Untel (1960), by Jean-Paul Desbiens, p. 27.

References

Bibliography

Further reading

See also
French orthography

Phonology
French phonology