French Language - Revolutionary Standard (The Thread !)
PBLe...@gmail.com
Republic of France as the national language and first language
(except, I guess, in Piemont and Flanders, where it's only a second
language). This language is based on popular French, rather than on
the 17th century litteracy standard which has been judged "decadent"
by the revolutionaries.
In this first post, I will deal with phonology and orthography.
The French Language Committee retained the following phonemes:
Consonnants:
/p b t d k g m n J f v s z S Z r l j/
/r/ is [R] in Paris and its close neighborhood, but [r] elsewhere.
Compared to the standard, several differences are to be noted:
Coda /s/ are generally muted, except word finally where they
historically preceed a shwa.
Consonantic groups are simplified :
[pt kt] > [t]
[ps ks] > [s]
[pn gn] > [n]
[gz] > [z]
Etc...
Final /r/ have been systematically muted (except where, like /s/, they
preceeded an historical shwa).
Vowels:
/a A e E 2 9 o O i y u E~ 9~ A~ O~/
The shwa has merged with /9/ (but still keeps distinct morphological
features).
/A/ is longer than /a/.
/i y u/ tend to be laxer and shorter in closed syllable before a
voiceless consonant.
/e/ ~ /E/ contrast only in open syllable, in close syllable they are
both realised as [E]
/o/ ~ /O/ contrast only in close syllable, in open syllable they are
both realised as [o]
/i u y/ have the prevocalic allophones [j w H] respectively (thus /i/
and /j/ do not contrast before a vowel).
The dipthong written as <oi> in Modern French is here realised as [wa]
(the [we] realisation was, in the 19th century, that of the upper
class).
Orthography:
The French Language Committee has, rather than created a whole new
orthography, strongly simplified the existing one, notably removing
etymological letters and eliminating grapheme doublets where possible.
Result :
/p/ <p>
/b/ <b>
/t/ <t>
/d/ <d>
/k/ <c> before <a> <o> <u> and word finally, <qu> before <i> and <e>
/g/ <g> before <a> <o> <u> and word finally, <gh> before <i> and <e>
(Italian influence)
/m/ <m>, but <me> word finally.
/n/ <n>, but <ne> word finally.
/J/ <gn>, but <gne> word finally
/f/ <f>
/v/ <v>
/s/ <c> between vowels before <i> and <e>, <ç> between vowels before
<a>, <o> and <u>, <ce> in coda position, <s> elsewhere
/z/ <s> between vowels, <se> in coda position, <z> elsewhere.
/S/ <ch>
/Z/ <g> before <e> or <i>, <ge> before <a>, <o>, <u> or in coda
position.
/r/ <r>
/l/ <l>
/j/ <i> before vowel, <lle> word finally after <i>, <il> word finally
after another vowel, <ll> between vowels after <i>, <ill> between
vowels after another vowel
/a/ <a>
/A/ <â>
/e/ <é>
/E/ <è>, but <ê> in closed syllable (a syllable is treated as closed
spelling-wise if the next syllable contains <e> - without diacritic)
/2/ <eû> in closed syllable, <eu> elsewhere.
/9/ <eu> in closed syllable, when it does appears in open syllable it
is spelt <e> (but in this case it very often can be ellided).
/o/ <ô>, but <o> in open syllable
/O/ <o> in close syllable (never occures in open syllable)
/i/ <i>
/y/ <u>
/u/ <ou>, but <o> before a vowel.
/E~/ <in>, but <en> after <i>.
/9~/ <un>
/A~/ <an>
/O~/ <on>
Notice:
-nasilation occurs only before another consonant - before a vowel, <in
un an on> are realised [in yn an on] respectively
-spellingwise, nasals are treated as if they actually ended up with a
nasal vowel (so /s/ after nasal is spelt <s>, not <c> or <ç>)
Liaison is written as an ellided consonant before the next word, eg:
<lé peti z'anfan> or <lé p'ti z'anfan>.
Exemple text, DHH:
Tou lé z'êtr umin nêce lib' z'è égo an dignité è an droa. I' son doé
d'réson è d'consiance è doav agi lé z'un anvè lé z'ôt dan z'un epri
d'fratêrnité.
Modern Spelling:
Tous les êtres humains naissent libres et égaux en dignité et en
droits. Ils sont doués de raison et de conscience et doivent agir les
uns envers les autres dans un esprit de fraternité
Kristian Järventaus
About elision: possibly -z-? lé peti-z-anfan?
Also, possibly tilde for nasals? >:-) lé peti-z-ãfã?
--
Kristian Järventaus