Quebec French: Encyclopedia II - Quebec French - Phonology and phonetics

Quebec French - Phonology and phonetics

Quebec French has more phonemes than France French, as /a/ and /ɑ:/, /ɛ/ and /ɜ:/, and /ɛ̃/ and /œ̃/ are still clearly opposed whereas the latter of each pair has disappeared at least in several parts of France.

Quebec French - Special realizations

Quebec French replaces tense vowels with their lax equivalents when the vowels are both short (e.g. not before "r", [ʒ], [z] and [v]) and in a closed syllable. This means that the masculine and feminine adjectives petit and petite, [pəti] and [pətit] in France, are [pəʦi] and [pəʦɪt] in Quebec. The same goes with [y] → [ʏ] and [u] → [ʊ]. In some areas, notably Beauce, Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean and, to a lesser extent, Quebec City and the surrounding region, even long tense vowels may be laxed.

The nasal vowels are slightly different, although native speakers are not generally able to tell between a French and a Quebecer vowel. [ɛ̃] and [ɔ̃] are tensed into [ẽ] (or even [ĩ]) and [õ], whereas [ɑ̃] is fronted into [ã]. Also, nasal vowels under stress in a final closed syllable are long and may be diphthongized in colloquial speech.

One letter whose distinct pronunciation is very noticeable in Quebec French is the letter A. The normal realization in final open syllable is [ɔ], which is nowadays strongly marked as colloquial, with [ɑ] being seen as more elevated. Parisian [a] is very formal, and often perceived as pretentious. Inside words, [aː] and [ɑː] often change into [ɑː] and [oː] although this too is increasingly considered to be colloquial. These variations are found in several European pronunciations and are usually also considered colloquial.

The letters oi, pronounced [wa] in France French, and [wa], [wɑ], and [wɑː] in formal Quebec French, can be realized in six additional different ways in less formal context, including the very famous [ɛ] found (exclusively) in droit, froid, flexions of noyer and croire, and soit, remnants from one of the founding French dialects.

Another informal archaistic trait from 17th century Parisian popular French is the tendency to open [ɛ] into [æ] in a final open syllable. On the other hand, in grammatical word endings, as well as in the indicative forms of verb être, the [ɛ] is tensed into [e]. This is also usual in France, but failure to tense the [ɛ] in Quebec is usually negatively perceived as pedantic.

Long and nasalized vowels are normally diphthongized when stressed. For instance père (father), /pɛr/, is [pɛːr] in France but [paer] in Quebec. Other cases include:

• [ɛː] → [ae]
• [øː] → [œy]
• [oː] → [ou]
• [ɑː] → [au]
• [œː] → [aœ]
• [ã] → [ɑ̃ũ]
• [ẽ] → [ẽĩ]
• [õ] → [õũ]
• [œ̃] → [œ̃ỹ]

Diphthongization is considered as marking less educated speech and avoided in more formal contexts. Diphthongization of [oː] and [øː] are unaffected by this stigma, however, and usually go unnoticed of most speakers.

Around twelve different R's are used in Quebec, depending on region, age and education among other things. The uvular trill [ʀ] has lately been emerging as a nation-wide standard, whereas the alveolar trill [r] was used before in and around Montreal. The voiced fricative [ʁ] can also be heard among younger people. As a matter of comparison, the voiced velar fricative or voiceless fricative [χ] is more generally used in France, whereas the uvular trill is considered typical of Parisian French. There is a tendency to vocalize final [ʀ] into [w] or drop it altogether.

The velar nasal [ŋ] is often found as an allophone of the palatal nasal [ɲ].

Dental stops are always affricated before high front vowels and semivowels: in other words, /ty/, ti/, /dy/, /di/ are pronounced [ʦy], [ʦi], [ʣy], [ʣi]. Depending on the speaker, the fricative may be more or less strong, or can sometimes even assimilate the stop in informal speech: [kõstɪtʏsjõ] → [kõsʦɪʦʏsjõ] → [kõssɪsʏsjõ].

In very informal speech, some final mute t's will sometimes be pronounced: [li] → [lɪt] (lit). There is also the special case of "debout" and [ɪsɪt], ici (sometimes actually written icitte). On the other hand, the t in but and août are not pronounced in Quebec but they are in France (albeit decreasingly for but). These 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, forms that have since changed in France, or internal developments (i.e., changes that have occurred in Canada alone, but not necessarily in all parts).

Quebec French - Linking

Linking (liaison) is a phenomenon found in spoken French where an otherwise mute final consonant is moved to the beginning of a following word beginning with a vowel. Voiced consonants are systematically devoiced when linking: 'un grand bâtiment' ("a tall building") /œ̃grãbɑtimã/, but un grand ami ("a great friend") /œ̃grãtami/, not /œ̃grãdami/

The rules for linking are complex in both standard and Quebec French. The general consensus among linguists is that Quebecers link less frequently than their European counterparts (this is a feature also common in regional varieties of French in France). Linking is only mandatory if the first word is monosyllabic, or is petit (normally monosyllabic anyway) or méchant, and is usually avoided in all other cases.

Some frequent co-occurrences such as ma tante ("my aunt") have been reanalyzed as /ma matãnte/, some say as a parallel to maman. In the example of mon mononcle ("my uncle") we see the linking has been fossilized as well in /mõ mõnõkl/.

Quebec French - Harmonization and assimilation

The high front vowels in Quebec French show a net tendency to be unvoiced, as in municipalité, [mʏnɪsɪpalɪte] → [mʏ̥nɪ̥sɪ̥palɪ̥te] (sometimes even noted [mnspalte]). Interestingly, the unvoiced vowels are not immediately audible to native French speakers of other dialects, causing incomprehension.

Much more generalized (but only in Quebec) is the nasalization of vowels placed after (or occasionally before) a nasal consonant: [mɛːm] → [mɛ̃ːm], [nɛːʒ] → [nɛ̃ːʒ].

Similarly, consonants in clusters are often assimilated, usually with the consonant closer to the stress (that is, to the end of the word) transmitting its phonation (or its nasalization): [dmãd] → [nmãd]. Progressive assimilation, although rare, also exists in very "strong" consonants such as [ʃ], [ʃval] → [ʃfal].

The drop of the /ə/, which is as usual in Quebec as it is in France (although it does not happen in the same places,) creates consonant clusters, hence making a ground for assimilation to happen. For instance, the 1st person singular pronoun "je" may be devoiced before a verb with a voiceless consonant initial. This is most notable in verbs normally beginning with an [s], as the well-known example "je suis" ("I am") that is often realized as "chu" ([ʃy]), or "je sais" ("I know"), realized as "ché" ([ʃe]). Since the drop of /ə/ is not exclusive to Quebec, this phenomenon is also seen in other dialects.

One extreme instance of assimilation in Quebec French is vocalic fusion, associated with informal speech, rapid elocution, and consonant drops. Vocalic fusion can be total – as in prepositional determiners sur la, /sʏʀla/ → [sʏa] → [saː] or dans la, /dãla/ → [dãa] → [dãː] – or it can be partial, as in il lui a dit, /ɪlɥiɔʣi/ → [iɥiɔʣi] → [ijɔʣi]. Partial fusion can happen also in slow elocution.

Quebec French - Consonant reduction

It has been postulated the frequency of this phenomenon 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 /ʀ/ and /l/ are specially likely to get dropped, as in table, [tabl] → [tab], or astre, [astʀ] →[ast] → [as].

The Phone /l/ in article determiners and even more in personal pronouns in most dialects doesn't exist in the mental representation of these words. As a matter of fact, pronouncing il and elle as [ɪl] and [ɛl] is seen as extremely formal, quite possibly pedantic. Elle is further modified into [aː] in informal speech, a sound change similar to that of [ɛ] into [a] before /r/.

Some initial consonants are also reduced: [ɰœl] gueule (France, [gœl]), especially in the construction ta gueule [tæɰœl], "shut up".

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Phonology and phonetics", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki