French orthography - Revision history

Nick at 14:04, 1 September 2019

2019-09-01T14:04:52Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:04, 1 September 2019
Line 1:		Line 1:
	'''French [[orthography]]''' encompasses the [[spelling]] and [[punctuation]] of the [[French language]]. It is based on a combination of [[phoneme\|phonemic]] and historical principles. The spelling of words is largely based on the pronunciation of [[Old French]] c. 1100–1200 A.D. and has stayed more or less the same since then, despite enormous changes to the pronunciation of the language in the intervening years. This has resulted in a complicated relationship between spelling and sound, especially for vowels, a multitude of [[silent letter]]s, and a large number of [[homophone]]s (e.g., ''saint/sein/sain/seing/ceins/ceint'' (all pronounced sɛ̃), ''sang/sans/cent'' (all pronounced sɑ̃)). Later attempts to respell some words in accordance with their [[Latin]] etymologies further increased the number of silent letters (e.g., ''temps'' vs. older ''tens'' – compare English "tense", which reflects the original spelling – and ''vingt'' vs. older ''vint''). Nevertheless, there are rules governing French orthography which allow for a reasonable degree of accuracy when pronouncing French words from their written forms. The reverse operation, producing written forms from a pronunciation, is much more ambiguous		'''French [[orthography]]''' encompasses the [[spelling]] and [[punctuation]] of the [[French language]]. It is based on a combination of [[phoneme\|phonemic]] and historical principles. The spelling of words is largely based on the pronunciation of [[Old French]] c. 1100–1200 A.D. and has stayed more or less the same since then, despite enormous changes to the pronunciation of the language in the intervening years. This has resulted in a complicated relationship between spelling and sound, especially for vowels, a multitude of [[silent letter]]s, and a large number of [[homophone]]s (e.g., ''saint/sein/sain/seing/ceins/ceint'' (all pronounced sɛ̃), ''sang/sans/cent'' (all pronounced sɑ̃)). Later attempts to respell some words in accordance with their [[Latin]] etymologies further increased the number of silent letters (e.g., ''temps'' vs. older ''tens'' – compare English "tense", which reflects the original spelling – and ''vingt'' vs. older ''vint''). Nevertheless, there are rules governing French orthography which allow for a reasonable degree of accuracy when pronouncing French words from their written forms. The reverse operation, producing written forms from a pronunciation, is much more ambiguous



	==Alphabet==		==Alphabet==

Nick at 14:03, 1 September 2019

2019-09-01T14:03:23Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:03, 1 September 2019
Line 1:		Line 1:
	'''French [[orthography]]''' encompasses the [[spelling]] and [[punctuation]] of the [[French language]]. It is based on a combination of [[phoneme\|phonemic]] and historical principles. The spelling of words is largely based on the pronunciation of [[Old French]] c. 1100–1200 A.D. and has stayed more or less the same since then, despite enormous changes to the pronunciation of the language in the intervening years. This has resulted in a complicated relationship between spelling and sound, especially for vowels, a multitude of [[silent letter]]s, and a large number of [[homophone]]s (e.g., ''saint/sein/sain/seing/ceins/ceint'' (all pronounced sɛ̃), ''sang/sans/cent'' (all pronounced sɑ̃)). Later attempts to respell some words in accordance with their [[Latin]] etymologies further increased the number of silent letters (e.g., ''temps'' vs. older ''tens'' – compare English "tense", which reflects the original spelling – and ''vingt'' vs. older ''vint''). Nevertheless, there are rules governing French orthography which allow for a reasonable degree of accuracy when pronouncing French words from their written forms. The reverse operation, producing written forms from a pronunciation, is much more ambiguous		'''French [[orthography]]''' encompasses the [[spelling]] and [[punctuation]] of the [[French language]]. It is based on a combination of [[phoneme\|phonemic]] and historical principles. The spelling of words is largely based on the pronunciation of [[Old French]] c. 1100–1200 A.D. and has stayed more or less the same since then, despite enormous changes to the pronunciation of the language in the intervening years. This has resulted in a complicated relationship between spelling and sound, especially for vowels, a multitude of [[silent letter]]s, and a large number of [[homophone]]s (e.g., ''saint/sein/sain/seing/ceins/ceint'' (all pronounced sɛ̃), ''sang/sans/cent'' (all pronounced sɑ̃)). Later attempts to respell some words in accordance with their [[Latin]] etymologies further increased the number of silent letters (e.g., ''temps'' vs. older ''tens'' – compare English "tense", which reflects the original spelling – and ''vingt'' vs. older ''vint''). Nevertheless, there are rules governing French orthography which allow for a reasonable degree of accuracy when pronouncing French words from their written forms. The reverse operation, producing written forms from a pronunciation, is much more ambiguous



			==Alphabet==
			The French alphabet is based on the 26 letters of the [[Latin alphabet]], uppercase and lowercase, with five [[diacritic]]s and two orthographic [[Typographic ligature\|ligatures]].

			:{\| class="wikitable"
			!Letter
			!Name
			!Name ([[International Phonetic Alphabet\|IPA]])
			!Diacritics and ligatures
			\|-
			\| [[A]] \|\| a \|\| /a/ \|\|Àà, Ââ, Ææ
			\|-
			\| [[B]] \|\| bé \|\| /be/ \|\|
			\|-
			\| [[C]] \|\| cé \|\| /se/ \|\|Çç
			\|-
			\| [[D]] \|\| dé \|\| /de/ \|\|
			\|-
			\| [[E]] \|\| e \|\| /ə/ \|\|Éé, Èè, Êê, Ëë
			\|-
			\| [[F]] \|\| effe \|\| /ɛf/ \|\|
			\|-
			\| [[G]] \|\| gé \|\| /ʒe/ \|\|
			\|-
			\| [[H]] \|\| ache \|\| /aʃ/ \|\|
			\|-
			\| [[I]] \|\| i \|\| /i/ \|\|Îî, Ïï
			\|-
			\| [[J]] \|\| ji \|\| /ʒi/ \|\|
			\|-
			\| [[K]] \|\| ka \|\| /ka/ \|\|
			\|-
			\| [[L]] \|\| elle \|\| /ɛl/ \|\|
			\|-
			\| [[M]] \|\| emme \|\| /ɛm/ \|\|
			\|-
			\| [[N]] \|\| enne \|\| /ɛn/ \|\|
			\|-
			\| [[O]] \|\| o \|\| /o/ \|\|Ôô, Œœ
			\|-
			\| [[P]] \|\| pé \|\| /pe/ \|\|
			\|-
			\| [[Q]] \|\| qu \|\| /ky/ \|\|
			\|-
			\| [[R]] \|\| erre \|\| /ɛʁ/ \|\|
			\|-
			\| [[S]] \|\| esse \|\| /ɛs/ \|\|
			\|-
			\| [[T]] \|\| té \|\| /te/ \|\|
			\|-
			\| [[U]] \|\| u \|\| /y/ \|\|Ùù, Ûû, Üü
			\|-
			\| [[V]] \|\| vé \|\| /ve/ \|\|
			\|-
			\| [[W]] \|\| double vé \|\| /dubləve/ \|\|
			\|-
			\| [[X]] \|\| ixe \|\| /iks/ \|\|
			\|-
			\| [[Y]] \|\| i grec \|\| /iɡʁɛk/ \|\|Ÿÿ
			\|-
			\| [[Z]] \|\| zède \|\| /zɛd/ \|\|
			\|}
			The letters w and k are rarely used except in [[loanword]]s and regional words. The phoneme /w/ sound is usually written ou; the /k/ sound is usually written c anywhere but before e, i, y, qu before e, i, y, and sometimes que at the ends of words. However, k is common in the metric prefix kilo- (originally from Greek χίλια ''khilia'' "a thousand"): ''kilogramme, kilomètre, kilowatt, kilohertz,'' etc..

	==External Links==		==External Links==

Nick: New page: '''French orthography''' encompasses the spelling and punctuation of the French language. It is based on a combination of phonemic and historical principles. Th...

2019-09-01T14:00:47Z

New page: '''French orthography''' encompasses the spelling and punctuation of the French language. It is based on a combination of phonemic and historical principles. Th...

New page

'''French [[orthography]]''' encompasses the [[spelling]] and [[punctuation]] of the [[French language]]. It is based on a combination of [[phoneme|phonemic]] and historical principles. The spelling of words is largely based on the pronunciation of [[Old French]] c. 1100–1200 A.D. and has stayed more or less the same since then, despite enormous changes to the pronunciation of the language in the intervening years. This has resulted in a complicated relationship between spelling and sound, especially for vowels, a multitude of [[silent letter]]s, and a large number of [[homophone]]s (e.g., ''saint/sein/sain/seing/ceins/ceint'' (all pronounced sɛ̃), ''sang/sans/cent'' (all pronounced sɑ̃)). Later attempts to respell some words in accordance with their [[Latin]] etymologies further increased the number of silent letters (e.g., ''temps'' vs. older ''tens'' – compare English "tense", which reflects the original spelling – and ''vingt'' vs. older ''vint''). Nevertheless, there are rules governing French orthography which allow for a reasonable degree of accuracy when pronouncing French words from their written forms. The reverse operation, producing written forms from a pronunciation, is much more ambiguous

==External Links==
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_alphabet Wikipedia Article on French Alphabet]

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