Template:fr-IPA

The following documentation is located at Template:fr-IPA/documentation.

Useful links: subpage list • links • redirects • transclusions • errors (parser/module) • sandbox

This template uses Module:fr-pron to generate the IPA pronunciation of French words or text. If no parameter is provided, it will use the page title. Normally the text should be the standard written form of the text.

Many tricky cases are handled correctly.

But in some cases it is necessary to use respelling to indicate the correct pronunciation. Example:

Use |pos=v to indicate that a word is a verb. This currently only affects final -ai, -ent, and -tions.

Use the symbols ŏ, eŭ, ă to force the "lax" sounds /ɔ/ /œ/ /a/ in certain circumstances where the "tense" variants /o/ /ø/ /ɑ/ would otherwise be used (see below). These are the opposite of the standard symbols ô, eû, â, which force the "tense" variants.

Schwas of various sorts:

• Use ə (a schwa symbol) to force a normal schwa where e would otherwise be interpreted differently (e.g. in -ess-; but note that ress- /rəs/ is special-cased). This may be indicated as mandatory, optional or deleted depending on context, exactly like any other schwa.
• Use (ə) (a schwa in parens) to force an optional schwa.
• Use ĕ to force an always-pronounced schwa.
• Use ė to force a never-pronounced schwa.

Use an underscore to break up a set of letters that would be interpreted specially and force the letters on either side to be interpreted on their own. Examples:

Use the symbol ‿ to indicate liaison.

Many more examples can be found in Module:fr-pron/testcases.

In place of a respelling, you can use a substitution spec. For example, the spec says "respell <ch> as <k> in the page name" (i.e. wherever it occurs), and similarly says "respell <vient> as <vien> in the page name". This is useful in long page names, to avoid having to repeat most of the page name in the respelling:

If you precede a substitution spec with ^, e.g. , it restricts the substitution to apply to a whole word; by default, substitution specs can match within a word.

|1=, |2=, etc. are used to indicate one or more pronunciations, possibly respelled. See examples above for how this respelling works. An omitted parameter defaults to the pagename. You can indicate multiple pronunciations, e.g.

• {{fr-IPA|almana|almanac}}: IPA^(key): /al.ma.na/, /al.ma.nak/

|pos=v indicates that a word in the text is a verb, and controls the handling of certain endings (-ai, -ent, -tions); see examples above.

You can tag any pronunciation with a qualifier using |qual=, |qual2=, etc. and a reference using |n=, |n2=, etc., as with {{IPA}}.

|noalternatives=1 disables the automatic generation of alternative pronunciations (see above).

• b is normally /b/, but:
  • It is silent in final -mb(s).
  • It is /p/ in the sequence bs (obstacle).
• c is normally /k/, but:
  • It is /s/ before a front vowel, i.e. e, i, y, æ, ə or accented versions of these; also œ (cœliaque), except in the sequence œu (cœur with /k/). To get a hard c before a front vowel, write k or qu; to get a soft c before a back vowel, write ç.
  • ch is /ʃ/.
  • c is silent in final nc(t)(s).
• ç is always /s/.
• d is /d/, but:
• It is silent in final -d and -ds. -ied(s) is /je/ (pied, assieds, etc.).
• f is always /f/.
• g is normally /ɡ/ (note, this is a special IPA character, not the normal g character), except:
  • g is /ʒ/ before a front vowel, i.e. e, i, y, æ, ə or accented versions of these; also œ, except in the sequence œu (Argœuves with /ɡ/). To get a hard g before a front vowel, write gu; to get a soft g before a back vowel, write j; to get a pronounced gu before a front vowel, write gü.
  • gn is /ɲ/. To get /ɡn/, write g_n.
  • ng is /ŋ/ (as in parking, shopping) in the sequence consonant+ing when word-finally, before final s, or before _. Use _ to get ing -> /iŋ/ elsewhere in a word, e.g. respell Washington as Washing_tonne and swinguer as swing_guer. Note that vowel+ing (as in poing) is interpreted by the next rule.
  • Final g(s) is silent, as in rang, long, seing, joug and plurals.
  • g is silent in the sequence ngt, as in vingt.
• h is normally silent. Note:
  • ch, sh, sch, ssh are /ʃ/, except that initial désh- is /dez/ (déshonorer, déshabitué).
  • ph is /f/.
  • h between vowels prevents conversion of /i/ and /y/ into glides (as in nihilisme, jihad respelled djihade), but does not have a similar effect on /u/ (hence souhaite is rendered as /swɛt/).
  • nh is treated as if spelled n (as in inhérent, anhédonie), except in word-initial enh-, rendered as /ɑ̃/ (as in enhardir, enhaché, enhucher). For words where the h is "mute" and the enh- needs to be rendered as /ɑ̃n/ (enharmonie, enherber), use a respelling beginning with enn-.
  • Word-initial eu- is normally rendered as /ø/, but word-initial h blocks this, hence euro is /ø.ro/ but heureux is /œ.rø/.
• j is always /ʒ/.
• k is always /k/.
• l is /l/, except:
  • ill is /j/ after a vowel (faillir), /ij/ after a consonant fille, and /il/ word-initially illustrer. This applies regardless of what follows, which is useful in respellings (e.g. boycotter can be respelled boillcotter to get /bɔj.kɔ.te/). An exception is the sequence uill following a consonant, which is rendered /ɥij/ (as in juillet, cuillère) rather than expected */yj/. Note that many words having ill after a consonant are pronounced with /il/ rather than /ij/ (mille, village, tranquillité), and will need respelling using il.
  • The sequence oil is /wal/ (poil), unless another l follows (to allow respellings like cauboille /ko.bɔj/ for cowboy).
  • Otherwise, word-final il(s) is /j/ after a vowel (travail, orteil), /il/ otherwise (ils, avril, profil).
  • In the sequence vowel+il+consonant, il is rendered as /j/; this is an alternative way to get /j/ in respellings.
  • Special cases:
    • œil (œil, œillet) is interpreted as if spelled œuil.
    • cueil (accueil) is interpreted as if spelled keuil.
    • gueil (orgueil) is interpreted as if spelled gueuil.
    • oel, oêl (moelle, poêle) are interpreted as if spelled wal.
• m is /m/, except that it normally indicates nasalization when preceding b, p, or f (tomber, imprimer, symphonie), and also in the word-final sequences om(s), aim(s), eim(s) (faim, Reims, nom). Exceptions and special cases:
  • The sequence oum represents /um/ (schtroumpf), not a nasal vowel.
  • Word-final um(s) represents /ɔm/ (maximum, album).
• n is normally /n/, but usually indicates nasalization when following a vowel and not preceding a vowel or another n. Exceptions and special cases:
  • The sequence oun represents /un/ (Cameroun, Bouroundi), not a nasal vowel.
  • Word-final ing(s) after a consonant represents /iŋ/ (parking, shopping). See the entry for g above for the precise rules.
  • nh is rendered as /n/ except in word-initial enh-. See the entry for h above for the precise rules.
• p is /p/, except:
  • ph is /f/ (philosophe).
  • Word-final p(s) is silent (drap, loup, corps).
  • The sequence compt is as if spelled cont (compte, comptable, décompter).
• q and qu are always /k/. To represent a pronounced u, use ü if pronounced /ɥ/ (as in aquifère, ubiquité), and w if pronounced /w/ (as in adéquat, équanimité, squatter).
• r is /ʁ/, but is silent in final -er(s), which is rendered /e/ (aimer, volontiers, dîners, papiers). Exception: -er(s) in single-syllable words (cher, vers) is rendered /ɛʁ/. Words with pronounced final -er(s) in multisyllabic words will need respelling with -erre, e.g. travers, tiers.
• s is normally /s/, but:
  • It is /z/ between vowels and silent word-finally.
  • Words where s between vowels is /s/ (asocial, susurrer) will need respelling with ç, ss or (if before a front vowel) c. (Be careful with respelling using ss, as it may change the interpretation of a preceding e.)
  • Words where final s is pronounced (ours, métis, sens) will need respelling (e.g. ourse/ource/ourss/ourç/etc., métisse, sense).
  • sh, sch, ssh are /ʃ/, except that initial désh- is /dez/ (déshonorer, déshabitué).
  • In initial trans- and intrans- preceding a vowel, s is /z/.
  • The words es and est are rendered as if spelled ès and èt, respectively (i.e. they will be rendered as /ɛ/ except in a liaison context).
  • Except in the word est, final -st is pronounced (ouest, podcast, permafrost).
• t is normally /t/, but:
  • Word-final t(s) is silent except in st(s) (ouest, podcasts, permafrost) and ct(s) (correct, compact); but it **is** silent in nct(s) (instinct, succinct). The word est is handled specially; see above for details. Note that final -et(s) is rendered /ɛ/ (effet, filets).
  • t in the sequences tion (portion, national, sélection), tien (martien, quotient, patience), tial (partial, initialiser), tiel (présidentiel, substantiellement) is pronounced /s/, except when those sequences come at the beginning of a word (tien, tiens) or directly follow s, x or ç (combustion, questionnaire, admixtion). To force a /t/ in these sequences, insert an underscore after the t, e.g. cation spelled cat_ion, chrétien spelled crét_ien.
  • As an exception to the above rule, final -tions is rendered with /t/ not /s/ when |pos=v (portions, collections with final /sjɔ̃/ as plural nouns, but final /tjɔ̃/ as present subjunctive verbs).
• v is always /v/.
• w is always /w/.
• x is normally /ks/, but:
  • Word-final x is silent after i and u (prix, paix, chevaux, deux, bijoux). It is pronounced after other letters (inox, latex, Max).
  • Word-initial x is /ɡz/ (xénon, xylophone).
  • x is also /ɡz/ in the following circumstances: word-initial ex- (exister, examen), word-initial hex- (hexane), word-initial inex- (inexorable), and -ex- after a vowel (coexister, réexaminer).
• z is normally /z/, but:
  • Final z is silent (allez, nez). Final -ez is rendered as /e/.

• a is /a/, except that it is /ɑ/ before final -s and -z.
• (continue to fill in)