An Introduction to French Pronunciation

96 The Semi-Consonants in Detail
(nous) ayons /εjf/ aïeul /ajœl/ ensoleillé /esblεje/
ennuyeux /endijø/ païen /pajh/ paillasse /pajas/
moyen /mwajh/ souillon /sujf/
payer /peje/ veuillez /vœje/
13.4.2 What happens when intervocalic /j/, represented
either by y (as in payer) or by ill (as in travailler), is followed
by one or other of the endings -ions /jf/ or -iez /je/, in either
the present subjunctive or the imperfect indicative? In careful
speech the result is a long or geminate (see chapter 17) form
of the semi-consonant, represented as /jj/, e.g. (nous) employions
/eplwajjf/, travaillions /travajjf/, cueillions /kœjjf/, (vous) payiez
/pεjje/, croyiez /krwajje/, asseyiez /asεjje/, but in colloquial
speech the pronunciation of such forms is usually identical
to that of the forms of the present indicative, employons,
travaillons, cueillons, payez, croyez, asseyez, etc., viz. /eplwajf,
travajf, kœjf, peje, krwaje, asεje/.
13.4.3 A /j/ is normally inserted in pronunciation, but is
not represented in spelling, between the vowel /i/ and an immediately
following vowel, e.g. février /fevrije/, client /klije/,
crier /krije/, quatrième /katrijεm/. Such a ‘transitional vowel’
may also occur between /e/ or /ε/ and /i/ in abbaye /abeji,
abεji/, pays /peji, pεji/.
13.5 /d/
13.5.1 It is important for the foreign learner to distinguish
clearly between the semi-consonants /d/ and /w/. The main
difficulty is not just that /d/ is a characteristically French
sound but that it seems to have no equivalent in any other
European language, or indeed any other well-known language.
The tendency for native-speakers of English as of many other
languages is to substitute for it a /w/-type sound.
13.5.2 The most satisfactory way of acquiring the sound is
perhaps first to pronounce the vowel /u/ and convert it into