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In addition to oral vowels, French also has four nasal vowels.
Oral vowels are produced mainly within the oral cavity.
Nasal vowels are produced when air passes through the nose as well as the mouth.
English has nasal-like vowels in words such as sing and impossible,
but the nasal consonants /n/ and /m/ are still pronounced.
These consonants are not pronounced in French when following a nasal vowel.
The consonant is totally assimilated into the vowel pronunciation.
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| Oral vowels |
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Nasal vowels |
| nos |
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non |
| à |
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an |
| paix |
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pain |
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French has 4 nasal vowels:
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| /ã/: |
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centre, pantalon, sandales, manteau, planche, randonnée, médicaments, ventre, jambe, branché |
| /ɛ/: |
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moins, ceinture, bain, imperméable, alpin, peinture, main, mincir |
| /õ/: |
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talon, décontracté, tomber, bon, longue, son, pont, onze, content, maison |
| /œ/: |
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un, brun For most speakers, especially Parisians and younger people, un is usually pronounced as /ɛ/ rather than /œ/. |
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A. Repeat the following pairs of words contrasting oral and nasal vowels.
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| La voyelle /ã/ |
| gras/grand |
| chat/chanter |
| femme/faon |
| Jeanne/Jean |
| cane/quand |
| âne/an |
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| La voyelle /ɛ/ |
| panne/pain |
| fine/fin |
| certaine/certain |
| ancienne/ancien |
| aucune/aucun |
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| La voyelle /õ/ |
| peau/pont |
| mot/mont |
| haut/honte |
| trop/tronc |
| seau/son |
| beau/bon |
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B. Repeat the following phrases being careful to properly pronounce and distinguish the nasal vowels.
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| 1. |
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J'entre dans la lingerie. |
| 2. |
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Qu'est-ce que tu as pensé du concert? |
| 3. |
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Il chante une chanson marrante. |
| 4. |
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J'ai vu une interview avec un comédien ce matin. |
| 5. |
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Il se tient au courant. |
| 6. |
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C'est un roman plein de violence. |
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