A FRENCH ACCENT

INTRODUCTION

There are many dialects of French spoken throughout the French-speaking world. Theregional dialects of France are as varied as the dialects of Britain, and just as Britainexported English throughout the world, so, too, France exported her language all acrossthe globe. The French spoken in Montreal, Haiti, Louisiana, or Madagascar, is asdifferent from the French of Paris as the English of Australia, Mississippi, Capetown, orDelhi is from Received Pronunciation.

And, as you might imagine, when French speakers from those various places throughoutthe world come to speak English, their French-accented English is influenced by theirFrench dialect. Listen on IDEA to Krista Scott's recordings of subjects from QuebecCity, Montreal and Guinea; or Megan Schemmel's recording of a Haiti subject and youwill hear the differences. (Interestingly, Schemmel's Haiti subject speaks the Lord'sPrayer in both French and Creole to demonstrate the even bigger differences betweenvarious dialects of French than among the various accents of French.)

So yes, it is important for your French accent to know where your character is from, andto listen to a wide variety of speakers from that region.

The accent I offer here is based on the accents heard among natives of France, of whichIDEA has many examples.

CD TRACK 1

SIGNATURE SOUNDS

1. The French language, like all Romance languages, lacks the short Iii [I] of theEnglish lexical set kit. As it is acoustically close to the French vowel [i], there isa strong tendency for that vowel to be used instead. This sound also tends to belonger in duration. This is a subtle mispronunciation and, therefore, one thatlingers in the English of some French speakers long after they have correctedgrosser mispronunciations.

EXAMPLES: little, busy, ticket, biscuit, shipping, business, rehearsal,minister, mythical, England, women, sieve

As with any phonetic feature of a foreign language accent, this one is subject towhat I have called reverse mistakes, i.e. making a 'correction' where none isneeded. Hence: sheepdog, feeling, weekend, Tim's team, steam ship, etc.[SIpdng, fIliQ, wIk£nd, tirnz tIm, stIrn Sip]

261

A French Accent

2. Some dialects of English use a diphthong [£I] in the face set, although others usethe long monophthong [e :], which is the French speaker's strong tendency.

EXAMPLES: rain, great, place, failure, famous, maintain, crepe, weight,reign

Sometimes, particularly if the word has come from French in the first place, thereis a natural tendency to use the French pronunciation, at least until the Englishpronunciation has been learned. Hence: famous, maintenance, etc.[famus, ma:tana:s]

3. The RP and GenAm140 [re]vowel of the trap set is not one that is natural to theFrench speaker whose tendency when reading the short lal is to use the more openvowel, [a]. In attempting to imitate the English sound, the French speaker mayovershoot and use [£]. American English is evolving towards this vowel anyway,often being rendered as the diphthong [£a] e.g. man [me an]. So French speakers

learning English from American models have strong tendencies in that direction.

EXAMPLES: tap, mass, cab, badge, ham, hang, hand, lapse, Paris, marriage,plaid

4. The short English vowel [u] of the foot set, which in RP has a little lip-rounding,is often rendered rather longer, and more lip-round by the French speaker,resulting in a vowel in the vicinity of [u].

I EXAMPLES: put, bush, full, butcher, cook, woman, bosom, could, shouldn't

5. The long 101of goat - [a u] in RP - also tends to receive more lip-rounding fromthe French speaker, making it closer to the GenAm treatment of this vowel, andresult in a vowel near [0].

EXAMPLES: soap, road, rose, hole, home, don't, brooch, gauche, beau, blow,soul, colt, roll, sew, though

6. The English language is rare in having the dental fricatives [8, 0] in itsinventory of sounds. French does not use them, pronouncing Ithl words like

140 RP (Received Pronunciation) is Standard Southern British English. GenAm (General American) is amore loosely defined, non-regional style of US speech.

262

A French Accent

theatre with a [t]. However, in imitating the English style, the closest, easiestsounds are [8, z], perhaps dentalized [§,?;]. Other varieties are a simultaneousdental and alveolar hybrid [t8, eM],and a hyper-correct version, with thetongue tip visible between the teeth. I will demonstrate these various possibilities.

EXAMPLES: through, thought, bath, theatre, health, thing, anthropology,anthem, AND THE VOICED TYPE though, them, these, either, mother,gather, bathe, soothe

7. Written Ihl is silent in French, and so phonetic [h] is a new and awkward soundfor the French speaker. There is a strong tendency to elide the /hI when speakingEnglish. Again, the conscious decision to attempt it can sometimes result in anexaggerated correctness. You may also have heard French speakers put a [h]where none belongs, as in he is here [i hiz i8R], instead of [hi IZ h i s-].Remember not to intrude a glottal ['2] in place of the elided Ih! ['2i '2iz '2i8H]

EXAMPLES: in hell, behind, hit his head, rehearsal, inhabited, inhuman,key-hole

8. The post-vocalic III of/eel and stale, which is a velarized or dark III in RP andGenAm: [1], is rendered as a light 11/ [l]in French; e.g. mal, oncle, Balzac[mal, ok L, balzak]. So, this habit is brought into the speaking of English.I have found it to be a mispronunciation that survives long after other Englishsounds have been mastered.

I EXAMPLES: ill, well, temple, small, malcontent, self, almost, baffle, careful

9. One of the strongest markers for this accent is the treatment of Irl. In French,whether Irl precedes or follows the vowel, it is sounded, and the place ofarticulation is the uvula. French uses the trilled uvular /rl [R], although, inconnected speech, it does not always achieve that degree of definition. It is oftenjust a cursory, little fricative scrape [H] often devoiced [X], or even simply agesture in that direction without any contact at all, resulting in an approximant[Ii]. Actors adopting a French accent will do better if they understate the Ir/ inthis way. Interestingly, with the RP and GenAm approximant [J] being sodifferent from [R], both English and French speakers are apt to 'have a go' atdoing each other's Ir/, and often overdo it. An 'overdone' English Irl might sound

263

A French Accent

like this: strange, parents, arrange, etc. So, a good tip is to either understate the[R] or overstate the [.1].

EXAMPLES: run, bring, bird brain, car park, forty, strict, approach, crowd,growl, fear, score, careful

10. The voiceless plosives [p, t, k] are pronounced in English with aspiration, anh-sound [ph, t h, kh]. These are pronounced without aspiration in French ininitial and medial positions. Additionally [t], like [d] and [n], is rendered withthe tongue tip nearer the teeth than in English. This is also a subtle difference,and, therefore, a hard mispronunciation to overcome.

EXAMPLES: place, possible, proud, empower, time, tour, entire, California,kill, account, increase, BUT IN FINAL POSITIONS steep, Philip, light, rate,like, arc

CD TRACK 2

ADDITIONAL FEATURES

a. A vowel followed by a nasal consonant often results in a nasalized vowel inFrench. There is a tendency to render such combinations in English the sameway. Thus, we might hear: fancy, judgment, infant, etc.[f'a rsi . 3Y3ma, <Efa].

b. Words with the suffixes -sion, and -tion, are rendered III French as[sj5, zj5, tj5]; hence in English we might hear, question, fashion,permission, [k ast j o , fasj5, pe snu s j o ] and the like.

c. The letter lul is so often realized in French as [y] that in guessing at an unfamiliarEnglish word containing that letter, the French speaker might mistakenly use thissound. Hence: judge, justice, usual, humour, etc.[3Y3, 3ystis, Y3yal, ymrnH].

d. The /chi spelling demands a [S] pronunciation in French, rather than [tl], whichit usually does in English. So, a French person might say: choose, chicken,cheese, etc [Suz, SLk.en , Siz].

e. Errors of stress As English has no predictable stress pattern within polysyllabicwords, the actor should reflect the foreigner's confusion by making almostarbitrary errors of stress. A help in this is to know that French people stress thefinal syllable of many words in their own language, and so are likely to do thesame for English words. So we might hear: fantaSY, parTY, moment[fanta I z i , pas I ti, mo I merrt] and so on.

264

A French Accent

f. Reverse mistakes I referred to these earlier and they are a lot of fun for the actor.I call them reverse mistakes based on the observation that, as we start to correctour mistakes in another language not our own, we inevitably make some'corrections' where none are needed. The following are typical in French: steamship, suit, shoes, his eyes [s t rm Sip, sut, Suz, iz ha rz].

CD TRACK 3

RHYTHM, STRESS, INTONATION, TONE

All dialects and accents have characteristic acoustic patterning and tonal qualities. Oftena successful imitation depends as much on capturing the intonation, rhythm and tone of adialect as on capturing the phonemic features.

However, one can describe these features only in terms relative to other dialects. Anyblanket description is difficult if not impossible. Depending on your dialect you willhave to make different accommodations to 'capture' these features.

• English is particularly rich in weak forms - unstressed syllables and words -resulting in a distinctive rhythm and an enormous number of neutral vowels; e.g.return, possible, neighborly, can I help, for the time[uat an , n e rbe I r , ken a r he l p , fe oe tarrn ]. GenAm is a littleless so. But French rhythm can be caricatured by giving equal value to all wordsand syllables. So in single polysyllabic words we might hear: return, possible,fantastic, elementary,[n i t asn , posibl, fantastik, e l i.mentas i jetc. And, in connectedspeech, when in English one uses the weak forms of many unstressed words, theFrench speaker may not do this as much as English demands. This effect may bepartly attributable to our tendency, when speaking a language not our own, tospeak it onelwordlatlaltime.

• Liaison. It is the style of French to use the final consonant of one word to initiatea vowel-initial word that follows. Every word in the following sentence beginswith a vowel and the French speaker will tend to join each word to the onefollowing. All Americans eat every ounce of avocado available. This has theeffect, not only of eliminating any glottal stops, but also of lengthening all thevowels, one of the reasons we take such pleasure in listening to French. Bycontrast, an American speaker might glottally attack key words in the samesentence, producing a more aggressive, staccato style[?al ?ern~Ikenz it' ?8vJi ?auns ev ?ffivekado ?evelebl].American actors, particularly, will need to adopt this legato, linked style of speechto successfully imitate a French accent.

• The 'growled' style of the male French speaker, although something of astereotype, has its basis in fact. Hence: This is the way I always speak. There is

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CD TRACK 4

A French Accent

nothing strange about it at all. In complete contrast, the French female speakeroften uses a very clear tone and fairly high pitches: And this is the way I alwaysspeak. There is nothing strange about it at all. This mayor may not contrastwith your own tonality.

• French uses more rising inflections than most English dialects, a good feature toimitate.

SIGNATURE SOUNDS IN SENTENCE CONTEXT

1. His little sister Hilda is in the pink.

2. James laid the table with champagne and snails.

3. Carol's marriage in Paris was naturally a family matter.

4. The butcher should take a good look at the woman's cookbook.

5. Old Joe was alone at home on the phone.

6. This is a thoughtful thesis this is.

7. Hugh's home in Hawaii is happy but his heart is heavy.

8. Jill almost felt a little chilled in the old school hall.

9. The gardener started to hurriedly rearrange Mary's red roses.

10. Please try to come to Christopher's party at ten past two o'clock.

CD TRACK 5

REAL-LIFE DIALECT SPEAKERS ON IDEA

Now it's time to listen to recordings of authentic speakers of this dialect, which you canaccess from the IDEA 141 website. This is an essential part of your dialect study. Listento all the examples of this dialect you can find, on IDEA, and elsewhere.

141TheIDEA recordings are in two parts: extemporaneous speech, and the reading of a text. Notice thedifferences between these two activities. Most of the IDEA speakers read Comma Gets A Cure, adiagnostic passage for accent study specially composed using the J.c. Wells lexical sets that you are now

266

A French Accent

Among the recordings of French speakers in the archive at the time of this edition, youwill hear all the signature sounds, though no individual uses all of them, or is consistentin these mistakes. This is exactly what you expect of a foreign language accent speaker.Of the seven examples I have chosen, only France8 reads Comma Gets A Cure. Theothers read The Rainbow Passage'[", the passage we used at the time of their recordings.

France 2 , is a fairly mild accent. You will, nevertheless, hear the following features:• Signature Sound #1 in different, English [dif .rerrt , iIJgliS], and a 'reverse

mistake' in reach [J I tl ].• SS#2 in shape [S e: p].• SS#7 in horizon [oi "n.r iznn].• SS#8 in old, school [old, skul].• SS#9 in year [j i8H] though the subject's command of the English Irl is good.

France 3 has good American English, and has even acquired the creaky voice, or vocalfry of the American young women she associates with. It is interesting to note how fewsignature sounds she uses, yet clearly speaks English with a French accent. This showshow significant the less tangible qualities of tone, rhythm, intonation, and stress are inconveying accent and dialect.

France 4, brought up in Belgium of French-speaking parents (French and Flemish are thetwo major languages of Belgium) demonstrates the following features:

• SS#1 in living [li vi n].• SS#4 in looking [1 uk i.rj].• SS#6 in these, south [diz, saut].• SS#7 in came here [ke: m i8H].• SS#8 inpeople [pipl].

France 5, whose mistakes in English grammar are also revealing, demonstrates thefollowing features:

• SS#linlittletown,live[litl taun, liv].• SS#2 in rainbow [ue : nbo].• SS#3 in angry [aIJgJi].• SS#4 in looks [luks].• SS#7 in horizon, in the hall [oRiz5, in di 01].• SS#8 in school [skul].• SS#10 in town [taun], but has a good grasp of the aspiration needed for English

[p, t, k].

familiar with, © 2000, Douglas N. Honorof, Jill McCullough, and Barbara Somerville. The text of thepassage is in Section I, and on the website.142Thetext of the passage is on the website.

267

A French Accent

France 6, who grew up in Alsace on France's border with Germany, where they speak alocal Germanic dialect, exhibits some interesting sounds. Of all the eight speakers, heand his wife, France 7, are the clearest in their use of the consonant signature sounds. Inhis speech, notice:

• SS#6innorth, with my wife, path [nos, wiz mar war f , pas].• SS#7 in horizon [0 I aa rzan].• SS#9 in born, foreign, schoolyard, return, fourteen

[bORn, fORan, skuljaRd, RiteRn, fORtin].

France 7, whose first language is French, also grew up in Alsace. Her speech isinteresting in its staccato quality, often more associated with German. Like her husband,her uvular Irl is very strong. It should be noted that this is the type of Irl used in both theFrench and the German they speak. Notice the following:

• SS#9 in strikes, rainbow, round, born[stRaIks, Re:nbo, Raund, bORn].

France 8143 demonstrates the following:• SS#l in district, porridge [d i s t r i.k t , pO.lid3]'• SS#2 in gave [ge: v].• SS#4 in woman [wuman].• SS#7 in in a hurry, Mary Harrison, laid her

[in a 2:ri, mea.r i, 2a.lisan, le:d 23'], and a good 'reverse mistake' indifferent idea [dif .ren t ha rd La].

CD TRACK 6

COORDINATION EXERCISES(the numbers under the text refer to the signature sounds needed)

1. I find that true change is harder the older we become.a 6 3 9 c d 2 1 7 9 9 6 58 9 1 10 e

at rand zat tny Se:nd3 iZ_Q:B"d~B"~i oldos wi 'bikam

2. Moliere is remembered as the greatest French dramatist of all time.S 9 1 9 e 9 3 6 9 2 10 9 d 93 10 1 8 10

moljesiz IRimEmEB"d az ~~ gRe:tEst fREnS dsamatist ov ::>1jaim

143 Contributed by Elizabeth van den Berg.

268

A French Accent

3. The weather we I44having on our holiday is perfectly horrible.6 e 6 9 73 I 97 I 2 I 10 9 7 e9 I 8

~;} we'zex wiavin nn auonulide: iz pesfsktli n'nibl

4. Those other six children should be in schoolleaming how to read the Bible.6 5 6 9 I d I 89 4 I 8 9 e I 7 10 9 6 8

zoz A~;}Ifsiks jildssn ju.d bi in sku:l las'ninau tu Ri:d ~;}ba:bl

5. Please ask your father to pass me the old book behind the lamp ifhe will.10 96e910103 6584 17 631718

pli:z ask j~x fa'~ex tu pas mi ~i old buk biarnd zo lamp if i wil

6. Ball games are very popular with people all over the world.8 e2 9 9 1010 c e 9 16 10 8 8 5 9 6 98

bol 'qe.mz as veni popy'les wiz pipl ol ovex ~;}wsxld

7. The landing party hopes to confirm the little tropical island largely uninhabited.6 3 IIOe9 75 10 10e 96 189101108 9 173110

~;}landin paxlttops tu 'knnfasm ~;}litl txnpikl ailand lalf3li xninabited

8. Throughout history, people have disgraced themselves with alarming regularity.69 e 71e910 10873 le92 6 8 16 9 I 9 c391el0

'~xuaut):st;}'Ifi pipl av 'disqse.st zernselvz wiz olasmln neqylasi'ti

9. Peter put his heart and soul into building the house of his dreams.10109104 717 9 3 5 8110 18 I 6 7 71 9

pit;}Xput iz axt an sol intu bildin ~i aus nv iz dRi:mz

10. Henry's chocolate pudding was the triumph of the dinner party.7 9 d 104 I 6 9 6 Ie 910e910

enniz [okolot pudin WDZ~;} txaIAIDf nv ~;}di'ncx paX'ti

144 Errors in grammar and syntax are part and parcel of a foreign language accent. The playwright orscreenwriter will often write such errors into the role, but I believe an actor has a right, when playing such acharacter, to make such errors that are consistent with the character's command of English, even if theauthor has not written them in.

269

rA French Accent

CD TRACK 7

MONOLOGUE ONE

From The Scarlet Pimpemei", This is a scene between Chauvelin, a leader in theRevolution; Marguerite, his former lover, now married to the English aristocrat, Percy;Percy himself, disguised as Grappin; and Coupeau. The scene is a French prison, whereMarguerite has come to try to free her brother, Armand.

CHAUVELIN

An excellent performance, Marguerite. (pulls her headpiece oft) It's amazing when one sets a3 10 9 9 9 9 I 3 2 I

an ekselont pesfosmons masqeait its amezin WEnWAnsets ;}

trap what one catches (Percy enters as Grappin) Ah. Grappin. Do you recognize Mademoiselle1093 103 9310a 910e 3 8

tsap wat WAIlkatjsz a gRapre du ju ne'knqnaiz mamzsl

St. Just? She has taken off her British ...costume, and dressed herself more in her...truea c 73 102 7 9 91 101 10 c e 3 9 7 9 8 9 1 7 9 109c

sre 3yst ji az teken of £If bsitij' kns'tym and dssst esself mOR in £15 try

colors. Marguerite, allow me to introduce the man who has been tracking your every step10 9 9 9 1011095 c 6 3 7 73 1093101 9 9

kolnsz masqenit alau mi tu intsodys d5;} man u az bin tsakin jOR evsi step

these many weeks. The Belgian, Grappin.6 6 8 9310 a

ziz rneni wiks ~;} belgon gl5apre

(Marguerite spits at his feet) Tsk-tskI46, Marguerite.

9 9masqenit

bad manners and from an English lady ...Grappin, you go...question the boy. I have better3 3 e 9 3 9 1 I 2 9310 a 5 6 73 10 9

bad ma'nssz and fsnm an inli] ledi gl5apre ju go kM.£stj;}n~;}bot at av betex

145 Excerpt from the musical play, The Scarlet Pimpernel, with books and lyrics by Nan Knighton andmusic by Frank Wildhorn, copyright © Nan Knighton 1997. Used by permission.146 This is the dental click. See http://www.paulmeier.com/ipa/nonpulmonics.html for demonstration of thisand other rarer phonemes.

270

Such

SAtS

A French Accent

things to do tonight...Coupeau, lead Grappin down to the boy. I'm sure you know how to6 1 10 10 10 10 93 10 a 10 6 c 9 5 7 10

~ilJz tu du tunart kupo lid glfapre daun tu zo bot arm SYIfju no au tu

use torture most effectively. (to Marguerite) You want your brother to live? I need to knowc 9 9 5 1 1 9 9 6 910 1 10 5

jyz tostjss most ifektivli ju want joa bIfA~EIftu liv at nid tu no

who is the Pimpernel and where does he hide while he is in Paris? If you fail, your7 1 6 101 10 9 8 3 9 7 7 8 7 1 1 391 1 28 9

U iz ~;}pimpesnel and WEIf dxz i ard wall i iz in parris if ju fel jna

brother dies.969

blfAPIf darz

CD TRACK 8

MONOLOGUE TWO

From Shakespeare's Henry VI, Pt. J, Joan (Joan of Arc) La Pucelle's address to theDauphin (the heir-apparent to the French throne) in which she challenges him to combat,in proof of her God-given power to drive the English foe from France. It is not usual toplay this character with a French accent, but it will make a good exercise, nevertheless.In view of the character's idiomatic command of English (rising to speaking it in verse, toboot!), I will demonstrate how one can moderate the gross mispronunciations of the tensignature sounds.

JOAN: Dauphin, I am by birth a shepherd's daughter,3 96 9 9

dofse ar am bar b3IfB ;}SEP3Jfdzdotas

My wit untrain'd in any kind of art.1 2 1 10 9

mal wit Antxe:nd in eni kamd nv aJf1

Heaven and our Lady gracious hath it pleased7 3 9 2 92 736 1 10

EVn and aU;}Jfle:di gRe:S;}S as it pli:zd

271

A French Accent

To shine on my contemptible estate:10 10 10 10 I 8 10210

tu Sam nn mal knntemptibl estet

Lo, whilst I waited on my tender lambs,5 8 210 I 10 9 3

10 warlst ar we:tid nn mal tendox lamz

And to sun's parching heat display'd my cheeks,3 10 10 9 I 7 el 10 2

and tu SAllZ paXtsilJ)t 'disple:d mal tjiks

God's mother deigned to appear to me6 9 2 10 10 910

gndz IllA~;:}K demsd tu apix tu mi

And in a vision full of majesty3 I I b 48 3

and in o vizj5 ful nv madyesti

Will'd me to leave my base vocation 14718 10 2 5102

wild mi tu liv mal be:s vokeijicn

And free my country from calamity:3 9 10 9 9 103 3 I 10

and fXi mal kAntxi fxnm kalamiti

Ask me what question thou canst possible,6 103 10 I 8

ask mi wnt kwestjon zau kanst pnsibl

And I will answer unpremeditated:3 183 9 9 11021

and a wil ansex Allpximedite:ted

147 By a happy coincidence, the scansion requires 'vocation' to be expanded to four syllables, just as itwould be rendered in French!

272

A French Accent

My courage try by combat, if thou darest,10 9 9 10 3 1 6 9

mal kARid3 txai bar knmbat if zau desest

And thou shalt find that I exceed my sex.3 6 38 a 63

and zau Salt rand zat at eksid mal seks

Resolve on this, thou shalt be fortunate, 1489 8 61 6 38 9 c

niznlv on zis zau Salt bi fostjyne.t

If thou receive me for thy warlike mate.1 6 9 1 9 6 9 10 210

if zau 'nisiv mi blf zai woslaik me:t

NOTES

148 The option here is to use the strong form of the final syllable (something a French speaker is likely to doin English) and hence, reinforce the rhymed couplet which concludes the speech.

273