page_title: French phonology
section_title: Consonants
hierarchical_section_title: French phonology / Consonants
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of the distribution of uvular/dorsal rhotics (e.g. [ʁ ʀ χ]) in northwestern continental Europe. &#160;&#160; not usual &#160;&#160; only in some educated speech &#160;&#160; usual in educated speech &#160;&#160; general
context_page_description: French phonology is the sound system of French. Notable phonological features include its uvular r, nasal vowels, and three processes affecting word-final sounds: liaison, a specific instance of sandhi in which word-final consonants are not pronounced unless they are followed by a word beginning with a vowel; elision, in which certain instances of are elided; and enchaînement in which word-final and word-initial consonants may be moved across a syllable boundary, with syllables crossing word boundaries:
  An example of the various processes is this:
  Written: On a laissé la fenêtre ouverte.
  Meaning: "We left the window open."
  In isolation:
  Together:
context_section_description: Phonetic notes:
  /n, t, d/ are laminal denti-alveolar [n̪, t̪, d̪], while /s, z/ are dentalised laminal alveolar [s̪, z̪] (commonly called 'dental'), pronounced with the blade of the tongue very close to the back of the upper front teeth, with the tip resting behind lower front teeth.
  Word-final consonants are always released. Generally, /b, d, ɡ/ are voiced throughout and /p, t, k/ are unaspirated.
  /l/ is usually apical alveolar [l̺] but sometimes laminal denti-alveolar [l̪]. Before /f, ʒ/, it can be realised as retroflex [ɭ].
  In current pronunciation, /ɲ/ is merging with /nj/.
  The velar nasal /ŋ/ is not a native phoneme of French, but it occurs in loan words such as camping, bingo or kung-fu. Some speakers who have difficulty with this consonant realise it as a sequence [ŋɡ] or replace it with /ɲ/.
  The approximants /j, ɥ, w/ correspond to the close vowels /i, y, u/. While there are a few minimal pairs (such as loua /lu.a/ 's/he rented' and loi /lwa/ 'law'), there are many cases where there is free variation.
  Belgian French may merge /ɥ/ with /w/ or /y/
  Some dialects of French have a palatal lateral /ʎ/ (French: l mouillé, 'moistened l'), but in the modern standard variety, it has merged with /j/., Fagyal, Kibbee & Jenkins (2006:47) See also Glides and diphthongs, below.
  The French rhotic has a wide range of realizations: the voiced uvular fricative  [ʁ], also realised as an approximant, with a voiceless positional allophone [χ], the uvular trill [ʀ], the alveolar trill [r], and the alveolar tap [ɾ]. These are all recognised as the phoneme /r/, but [r] and [ɾ] are considered dialectal. The most common pronunciation is [ʁ] as a default realisation, complemented by a devoiced varant [χ] in the positions before or after a voiceless obstruent or at the end of a sentence. See French guttural r and map at right.
  Velars /k/ and /ɡ/ may become palatalised to [kʲ⁓c] and [ɡʲ⁓ɟ] before /i, e, ɛ/, and more variably before /a/. Word-final /k/ may also be palatalised to [kʲ]. Velar palatalisation has traditionally been associated with the working class, though recent studies suggest it is spreading to more demographics of large French cities.
caption: Distribution of guttural r (such as [ʁ ʀ χ]) in Europe in the mid-20th century.[1]   not usual   only in some educated speech   usual in educated speech   general
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