FR4207 - Phonetics and Phonology

Phonetics (sounds) & Phonology (comparing sound systems in relation to each other)

• some words sound the same, but have different spellings i.e. certain sounds are identical but are represented by different orthographic expressions (e.g. 'faim' and 'vin' rhyme, even though they are spelled very differently)
• one letter expresses multiple sounds - the IPA (international phonetic alphabet) avoids these ambiguities

Phonetic symbols 

French vowel sounds

[ə] - le

[a] - plat

[ɑ] - pâte

[ɑ̃] - vent

[e] - né

[ɛ] - lait

[ɛ̃] - vin

[i] - lit

[ɔ] - mort

[o] - beau

[ɔ̃] - bon

[ø] - peu

[œ] - peur

[œ̃] - brun

[u] - cou

[y] - vu

French semi vowel sounds

[j] - hier 

[w] - oui

[ɥ] - lui

French consonant sounds
[p] - pont
[t] - ton
[k] - cou
[b] - bon
[d] - don
[g] - goût
[f] - fou
[s] - sous
[ʃ] - chou
[v] - vous
[z] - zéro
[ʒ] - je
[l] - lent
[ʀ] - raie
[m] - mon 
[n] - non
[ɲ] - vigne
[ŋ] - dancing

English vowel sounds

[ə] - ago 
[æ] - hat
[ɑ:] - arm
[e] - ten
[ɜ] - fur
[ɪ] - sit
[i:] - see
[ɔ:] - saw
[ɒ] - got
[ʊ] - put 
[u:] - too
[ʌ] - cup 

English diphthongs 

[əʊ] - home 
[aɪ] - five
[aʊ] - now
[eə] - hair 
[ȩɪ] - page
[ɪə] - near 
[ɔɪ] - join
[ʊə] - pure 

English consonants

[p] - pen
[t] - tea 
[k] - cat 
[b] - bad 
[d] - did
[g] - got
[f] - fall 
[s] - so 
[ʃ] - she 
[v] - voice
[z] - zoo
[ʒ] - vision
[l] - lane
[r] - red 
[m] - man 
[n] - no 
[ŋ] - sing 
[w] - wet
[tʃ] - chin
[j] - yes
[dʒ] - June
[θ] - thin
[ð] - then
[h] - how 


Notes 

[ə] - most common sound across all languages called a schwa