French Orthography and Pronunciation I 
                       
                       
                      The French Alphabet 
                       
                      The French alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet, cultivated by the Ancient Romans and given 
                      to much of Western civilization. There are 26 letters in the French alpahbet, which is the same 
                      as the English alphabet.  Additionally, the letters K and W are rarely used in French, and are 
                      typically reserved for loanwords or regional words.   
                       
                      Several variations of these letters exist in the forms of accent marks (diacritics) or letter 
                      combinations (ligatures). These variations either mark a change in pronunciation or convey 
                      more linguistic information. 
                       
                      Silent Letters 
                       
                      A unique aspect of French is the tendency to silence final letters in a word. The unaccented 
                      vowel E and all consonants except for C, F, L, and R may be silent at the end of French words. A 
                      useful mnemonic device to remember this is CRFL – CaReFuL. Be “careful” that you pronounce 
                      these letters at the ends of words. Occasionally the consonants S, Q and X will be pronounced in 
                      final position, as may any other at the end of words that are of foreign origin.  
                       
                      Observe the examples of silent letters below: 
                       
                      French           Pronunciation            English           
                      achat            [AH-SHAH]                purchase 
                      allemand         [ALL-MOHN]               German 
                      français         [FRAHN-SAY]              French 
                      parlez           [PAR-LAY]                speak (command, or present 2nd person pl.) 
                       
                      But: 
                       
                      French           Pronunciation            English           
                      porc             [PORK]                   pork 
                      actif            [AK-TEEF]                active 
                      mal              [MAHL]                   badly 
                      cuir             [KWEER]                  leather 
                       
                      N.B. :  An exception to this rule is found in -ER infinitve verbs (parler – to speak, [PAR-LAY]) 
                       
                       
                       
                       
                       
                      Liason 
                       
                      A unique feature of French is liason, when an otherwise silent final letter of a word becomes 
                      pronounced because the following word begins with a vowel. This is done to preserve harmony 
                      of speech. Observe the difference in the following two examples: 
                       
                      French           Pronunciation            English           
                      les chiens       [LAY  SHYEN]             the dogs 
                      les amis         [LAYZ AH-MEE]            the dogs 
                       
                      In les chiens, the S remains silent, but the first S is voiced, or pronounced like a Z in les amis. This 
                      is because it is immediately followed by a vowel in the next word. 
                       
                       
                      Accents and Combinations (Diactritics and Ligatures) 
                       
                      As previously stated, there are two types of letter variations in French – diacritics (marks place 
                      above or below letters) and ligatures (combinations of letters). Note that those in bold will 
                      change pronunciation 
                       
                      DIACRITICS 
                                   French                             English                        Appearance 
                       accent aigu                        acute/sharp accent                Éé 
                       accent grave                       grave accent                      Àà  Èè  Ùù 
                       circonflexe                        circumflex                        Ââ  Êê  Îî  Ôô  Ûû   
                       tréma                              diaeresis / umlaut                Ää  Ëë Ïï  Öö  Üü Ÿÿ 
                       cédille                            cedilla                           Çç 
                        
                      The e accent aigu (é) is pronounced as [AY].  
                      The e accent grave (è) is pronounced as [EH], other grave accents distinguish between homonyms. 
                      The circonflexe either marks the historical deletion of a letter (historical spelling changes over time) or may also 
                              distinguish between homonyms. 
                      The trèma accents serve to begin a new syllable in the middle of a vowel pair. Observe the diphthong AI as [AY] in 
                              français, but as [AH-EE] in Haïti. 
                      The cédille softens the C when it follows the vowels A, O, and U. 
                       
                      LIGATURES 
                                   French                             English                        Appearance 
                       e dans l’a                         æ                                 Ææ 
                       e dans l’o                         œ                                 Œœ 
                       
                      The e dans l’a is an older Latin diphthong and is usually reserved for words of direct Latin origin. 
                      The e dans l’o is roughly pronounced as [EUH].