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What is the capital of Tunisia?

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What is the capital of Tunisia?

The pronunciation of French “e”

The conjunction et [e] is definitely an [e], you’re correct.

Words in the “[ə] open vs. closed” section seem quite correct except “apparte•ment” that belongs in a category of its own, category which includes mostly adverbs like “justement”, for instance. It’s the @ SAMPA symbol, and frankly you could merge them into the mute section.

Also :

[e] end of verb

  • je parlai [-e]
  • je parlerai [-e]
  • j’ai [-e]

These can belong to the “[ɛ] end of verb” paradigm as well. Both pronunciations are correct and widely used, even though as you correctly indicate, theoretically the [e] paradigm should be used. Technically though, the third person plural form “ils parlaient” use a “[ɛ] end of verb” paradigm and not a [e].

For this one : heureux [ɶrø], the common pronunciation is more (ə)r(ə) to be honest; or more precisely 2 r 2 if you use the SAMPA notation for French sounds again.

c+"ei"

  • ensei•gner [ɑ̃seɲe]
  • pei•ner [pene]

are more a [ɛ] paradigm, though that will very much depend on the person you’re talking to.

Also:

  • *une femme [fam]

is correct. And

  • *Monsieur [məsjø]
  • *nous faisons [- fə-]

are theoretically at the right place.

In a nutshell you will find very high local differences in France and French-speaking countries, and they will greatly vary from word to word. You may have different responses from different French people 😉 and that’s normal.

If you’re looking for something very descriptive and clear, you might want to use the CNRTL Morphalou tool available online : http://www.cnrtl.fr/morphologie/ along with a full SAMPA terminology cheat sheet.

Please note as well that some pronunciations have evolved from the early dictionaries you can find online or offline, and will still likely evolve. Good luck !

PS : the CNRTL site is down sometimes, just be patient 😉

 

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What is the capital of Tunisia?