Quebec French phonology

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The phonology of Quebec French is more complex than that of Parisian or Continental French. Quebec French has maintained phonemic distinctions between /a/ and /ɑ/, /ɛ/ and /ɛː/, /ø/ and /ə/, /ɛ̃/ and /œ̃/. 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 /œ/ and /ə/ are both realized as (parce que 'because', [paʁ̥skœ̈] ^ⓘ), but before /ʁ/, /œ/ is diphthongized to or if it is in the last syllable.

Tense vowels (/i, y, u/) are realized as their lax () equivalents when the vowels are both short (not before /ʁ/, /ʒ/, /z/ and /v/, but the vowel /y/ is pronounced before /ʁ/) 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 (/i/, /u/, and /y/) 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 /a/ and /ɑ/ are distinct. /a/ 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 /ɑ/, but it is phonetically or (Canada [kanadɑ] ^ⓘ or [kanadɔ] ^ⓘ), the latter being informal. There are some exceptions; the words la, ma, ta, sa, fa, papa and caca are always pronounced with the phoneme /a/. In internal open syllables, the vowel /ɑ/ is sometimes pronounced or (gâteau 'cake' or ), which is considered to be informal. The vowel /ɑ/ is sometimes pronounced as in final closed syllables (pâte 'paste' [pɑʊ̯t] ^ⓘ), but it is diphthongized as before /ʁ/ (tard 'late' [tɑɔ̯ʁ̥] ^ⓘ). Otherwise, there are many words which are pronounced with the long /ɑ/, 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 /a/, 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 /a/ in Eastern Quebec, but with the long /ɑ/ in Western Quebec.

The phonemes /ɛ/ and /ɛː/ are distinct. In open syllables, /ɛː/ is diphthongized to (pêcher is pronounced ), but it is pronounced before /ʁ/ (mairie is pronounced ), it is pronounced before /v/ (trêve 'truce' ), and in closed syllables, it is diphthongized to , , or (tête 'head' , , [tæɪ̯t] ^ⓘ or [taɪ̯t] ^ⓘ); on Radio-Canada, speakers pronounce in both open syllables and closed syllables. Also, there are many words which are pronounced with the long /ɛː/, 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 /ɛ/ 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 /ɛ/ in Eastern Quebec, but with the long /ɛː/ in Western Quebec.

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

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

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

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

The ⟨oi⟩ spelling is phonemically /wa/ or /wɑ/ (toi 'you' /twa/, but trois 'three' /tʁwɑ/), but when it is before /ʁ/ or /z/ in closed syllables, it is phonemically /wɑ/: soir and framboise, etc. In joual, /wa/ 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. /wɑ/ is pronounced as in formal speech but becomes in informal speech. The ⟨oî⟩ spelling is phonemically /wɑ/. It is phonetically in formal speech, but it can also be pronounced in some additional different ways () in joual (boîte 'box' [bwaɪ̯t] ^ⓘ). Also, there are many words which are pronounced with the long /wɑ/, 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 /ɔ̃/, 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: /ɛ̃/ → ~ , /ɑ̃/ → ~ (tempête 'storm' [tã.pæɪ̯t] ^ⓘ), quand 'when' [kæ̃] ^ⓘ), /ɔ̃/ → (glaçon 'icicle' [ɡlæsɒ̃ʊ̯̃] ^ⓘ), and /œ̃/ is pronounced ~ ~ . occurs only in open syllables. /ɛ̃/ and /ɔ̃/ are always diphthongized.

Diphthongization

Long and nasalized vowels (except ) are generally diphthongized in closed syllables, but , , and are not diphthongized if they are before /v/ (with some exceptions: fève "bean", Lefebvre, orfèvre "goldsmith" and rêve "dream"):

• → ~ ~ ~ , but ~ ~ before /ʁ/, as in fête ~ , Eng. "party"; père ~ ~ , Eng. "father"; fêter , Eng. "celebrate";
• → , as in neutre , Eng. "neutral"
• → , as in cause , Eng. "cause"
• → , but (before /ʁ/), as in pâte , Eng. "paste" bar , Eng. "bar"
• → (only before /ʁ/), as in bord , Eng. "side"
• → ~ (only before /ʁ/), 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

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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 (/dʒɔb/)) 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 /bɛl/ = 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 once used in informal speech in Montreal.^[when?] In modern Quebec French, the voiced uvular fricative (though voiceless before and after voiceless consonants, e.g. treize [tʁ̥aɛ̯.zə̆] ^ⓘ) is most common.

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

In colloquial speech, the glottal fricatives / are found as allophones of /ʃ/ and /ʒ/, 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, /ty/, /ti/, /tɥ/, /tj/, /dy/, /di/, /dɥ/, /dj/ 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: /kɔ̃stitysjɔ̃/ → → .

In Joual, some instances of final mute t may be pronounced:

lit /li/ → .

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 (increasingly 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 /ʁ/ and /l/ are especially likely to get dropped, as in table, /tabl/ → , or astre, /astʁ/ → → 'star'.

The phone /l/ 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 /ʁ/.

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 /mynisipalite/ → , .

Much more common is the nasalization of some long vowels placed before a nasal consonant: même → ~ , jeûne → , jaune → [ʒõʊ̯̃n] ^ⓘ, 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 /ə/, 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 /ə/ 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