47.-L is mouillée : (a) In ill, in the middle of a word, as billet, famille; pronounce biyet, famiye. Except in: distiller, distillateur, distillation, distillatoire, distil- mille, millénaire, millésime, milliaire, milliard, mil- osciller, oscillation, oscillatoire; papille, papillaire; pupille, pupillaire, pupillarité; pusillanime, pusillanimité; scintiller, scintillation; tranquille, tranquillement, tranquilliser, tranquillité; vaciller, vacillation; ville, villa, villace, village, villageois, villanelle, villette. (b) In the words ending in ail, eil, ueil, oueil, as :— camail, soleil, accueil, fenouil. (c) In avril, babil, cil, fenil, grésil, gril, mil (maize), péril. 48.-L is not sounded in baril, chenil, coutil, cul, fournil, fusil, gentil, nombril, outil, persil, pouls, soul, sourcil, and fils (son). It is sounded in fils (thread). It is not sounded in proper names ending in ault, as Quinault. 49.—LL are generally sounded as though they were but one letter, except in the following words, where two l's must be heard: 50.-ph. ph is always pronounced like ƒ: pharisien, phénomène, philosophe, Alphonse, Phocéen, physique, Phrygie. 51.-S. s is pronounced as in the word sir: salaire, service, silence, sou, espérance, histoire, presque, consul, justice, except between two vowels or between a vowel and an h mute, when it is pronounced like s in nose, nasal: base, présence, président, déshonneur, rose, résolution, présumer. 52.-Exceptions: (a) Pronounce s as in sir in-monosyllabe, polysyllabe, préséance, présupposer, présupposition (last s of the last two words is sounded like a z), parasol, entresol, désuétude, tournesol, vraisemblance, vraisemblable, havresac, soubresaut, gisant, nous gisons, ils gisent, il gisait, ils gisaient. (b) Pronounce s like z in-Alsace, balsamine, balsamique, transiger, transition, transaction, transalpine, transitoire, transit, transitif. 53. The first s is not sounded in words beginning with ress. Therefore, you must pronounce re, and not ré, in those words; as-ressentir, ressource: re-sentir, re-source. -In the three following words alone we pronounce ré: ressui, ressuyer, ressusciter. Dessus, dessous, are pronounced de-su, de-sou. 54.-t. t is pronounced generally as in English: ta, te, tien, tu, trône. 55.-T is pronounced like s in sir :— (a) When followed by ia (except tiare), iel, ieux, ion, and not preceded by s or :-initiation, essentiel, prétentieux (t in the conjugation of a verb is pronounced through all the verb as it is in the infinitive). (b) In the termination tien, not preceded by 8, of geographical or historical names:-égyptien, Domitien. (c) In the terminations tium, tius, atie, étie:-Actium, Martius, suprématie, péripétie. (d) in argutie, balbutier, Béotie, calvitie, impatience, impatiemment, impatient, impéritie, ineptie, inertie, initier, minutie, Négritie, patience, patiemment, patient, patienter, quotient, satiété, transsubstantier. 56.-th. th must be always pronounced as t in tea, and never as in the mathématiques, thé, thon, thym. 57.-X. x is generally pronounced like ks: sexe, élixir, syntaxe, luxe, maxime; pronounce sekse, éliksir, syntakse, lukse, maksime. 58. Exceptions: (a) X is pronounced like gz: 1. at the beginning of words: Le Xanthe, Xénophon; 2, in ex and inex beginning a word and followed by a vowel or an h mute: exorde, exhortation, inexact, pronounce egzorde, egzhortation, inegzact. (b) X is pronounced like ss in Bruxelles, Auxonne, Auxerre, soixante; pronounce Brusselles, Aussonne, Ausserre, soissante. (c) X is pronounced like z in deuxième, sixième, dixième, deuxièmement, sixièmement, dixièmement, sixain; pronounce deuzième ... sizain. 59.—ai. ai is pronounced like the French e with an accent: -j'ai, maison, palais. (Ai is pronounced like e mute before sa, si, so, in faire and its derivatives:-je faisais, nous faisions, bienfaisant; pronounce fesais, fesions, bienfesant.) When ai is followed by 7 mouillée, a must be pronounced by itself and i with l. Thus poulailler must be pronounced poula-yer. 60.—aim, ain must be pronounced like in of chemin:daim, main. 61.-a0 a is not heard in Saône, août, aoûteron, taon; pronounce Sône, oû, oûteron, ton. 62.—ao. o is not heard in paon, paonne, faon, Laon; pro nounce pan, panne, fan, Lan. 63.-au is pronounced like o:-jaune, pauvre. 64.-ee is never pronounced like ee in sheep. Each of the two e's must be pronounced separately; as :-créer, crée, créée; pronounce:-cré-er, cré-e, cré-é-e. 65.-ei is pronounced like ai of maison:-reine, seize. 66.-ein is pronounced like ain of main :-plein, serein. 67.-eu is pronounced almost like e of je unaccented, but with the mouth more opened, as if to pronounce the i of the English word Sir:-jeu, heureux, (Eu in the verb avoir is pronounced like u: j'eus, nous eûmes, etc.) 68.—ao, oa, oe, 00, must be pronounced in two syllables: -Laocoon, boa, coassement, poésie, coopérer, coexister, épizootie; pronounce La-o-co-on, bo-a, co-assement, po-ésie, co-opérer, co-exister, épizo-otie. 69.-oi must be pronounced like oo-ah in English:-roi, moine; pronounce roo-ah, moo-ahne. (Oi is never pronounced as in the English words boil, point.) 70.-ou is pronounced like oo of cook, or oe of shoe, but never like ou of mouse-moulin, fou, clou, soutien, prouesse, blouse. 71.—an, en, in, on, un, before any other consonant than n or h, or at the end of words, have a sound called nasal, peculiar to the French language. This sound can only be properly acquired by hearing it pronounced:enfant, prétention, soutiendra, pince, conte, clan, bien, fin, bon, brun. 72.-Whenever an, en, in, on, un, are followed by a vowel or an h mute, you must sound n with the next vowel: plane, voisine, voisinage, brune, inhumain inodore, inimitable, inutile, must be pronounced pla-ne, voisi-ne voisi-nage, bru-ne, i-nhumain, i-nodore, i-nimitable i-nutile. 73.-gue, gui, qua, que, qui, quo, qu'. U is generally not pronounced in gue, gui, qua, que, qui, quo, qu':-guenon, guide, qualité, querelle, lorsque, qui, liquide, quoi, quotidien, lorsqu'un. 74.-Exceptions : (a) U is pronounced in:-aiguille, aiguillon, aiguiser, ambiguité, consanguinité, contiguité, équestre, équiangle, équidistant, équilatéral, équimultiple, équitation, exiguité, inextinguible, linguiste, linguistique, liquéfaction, questeur, questure, quia, quibus, quinque, quinquennal, quinquerce, quintette, quintetti, quintil, quinto, quintuple, Quirinus, requiem. Pronounce: aigu-ille, aigu-iser, etc. 75.-(b) U is sounded like the French ou in:-adéquat, aquador, aquarelle, aquarius, aqua-tinta, aquatique, équateur, équation, guano, in-quarto, lingual, loquace, loquacité, quadragésimal, quadragésime, quadrangulaire, quadrat, quadratrice, quadration, quadrifide, quadriflore, quadrige, quadrilatère, quadrilobé, quadrimane, quadrumane, quadrinôme, quadrivalve, quadrupède, quadruple, quadrupler, quaker, quartz, quartzeux, quatuor. Pronounce:-Adekouat, etc. FINAL CONSONANTS. 76.-c, f, k, l, m, n, q, r, are sounded at the end of words except in the following: 77.-C is not sounded in:-estomac, tabac, almanach, lacs (toils), marc (weight, dregs), clerc, broc, croc, accroc, escroc, raccroc, banc, blanc, fer-blanc, flanc, franc, jonc, ajonc, tronc. 78.-ct is not sounded in:-instinct, distinct, indistinct, succinct. |