Un 4.2
Pronunciation – Nasal Vowels
As their name suggests, nasal vowels are produced with air flowing out of both the nose and mouth. This is opposed to oral vowels, which only require air flow out of the mouth and are typical of English vowels. As this type of vowel doesn’t exist in English, many words taken from French into English have added the sound ‘n’ (a nasalized consonant) vowels to better approximate the sound of a French nasal vowel (e.g.)
Nasal Vowels – Les voyelles nasales
To pronounce a nasal vowel it’s necessary to lower the velum (soft palate), which is the softer back portion of the roof of the mouth, allowing for air to pass through the nose. At the same time, the tongue and lips will do what they usually do to pronounce the vowel in question. That said, the nasalization of these vowels often causes them to ‘shift’ closer to another vowel, as the required movements change the shape of the mouth (shown here with ‘~’).
|
Nasal Sound |
Pronunciation Notes |
Examples |
|
/œ̃/ |
Typically written as ‘un’. Pronounced like the German ‘ö’, while nasalized. This nasal vowel is now pronounced less and less in many francophone regions, and is merging with the sound ɛ̃. |
un /œ̃/, /ɛ̃/ |
|
/ɔ̃/ ~ /õ/ |
Typically written as ‘on’. Pronounced like the ‘o’ in a New Yorker ‘coffee’, while nasalized. |
bon /bɔ̃/
|
|
/ɛ̃/ |
Typically written as ‘in’. Pronounced like the ‘e’ in ‘set’, while nasalized. |
vin /vɛ̃/ |
|
/ɑ̃/ |
Typically written as ‘an’ or ‘en’. Pronounced like the ‘o’ in North American ‘hot’, while nasalized. |
blanc /blɑ̃/ |
As is common with vowels, nasal vowels can be quite different in the many dialects of French. As an example, Quebecois French contains the following nasal vowels.
|
/œ̃/ ~ /ɚ̃/ |
un /ɚ̃/ |
|
/ɔ̃/ ~ /õ/ |
bon /bɔ̃/ |
|
/ẽ/ |
vin /vẽ/ |
|
/ã/ ~ /æ̃/ |
blanc /blã/ |
Nasal vowels are found when a vowel letter is followed by either an ‘n’ or ‘m’ that is part of the same syllable. The vowel letter combines with the ‘n’ or ‘m’ to produce a single, nasal vowel sound (i.e. the ‘n’ or ‘m’ is not itself pronounced, but influences the pronunciation of the preceding vowel letter).
Exercices
Un 4.2 - Ex. 1
Listen and repeat.
1. sont
2. impossible
3. tempête
4. vent
5. anticiper
6. bonbon
7. sentiment
8. pion
9. baton
10. incomber
Un 4.2 - Ex. 2
Un 4.2 - Ex. 3
Listen and repeat the following sentences.
1. Lucien vient demain.
2. C’est un bon chanteur et musicien.
3. Mon cousin danse bien.
4. Nous achetons des raisins.
5. Je mange du thon et du bon pain.
6. Nous nageons comme des dauphins.
7. Vous rangez votre chambre maintenant.
8. Le chien de mon voisin aboie souvent.