An Introduction to French Pronunciation

4
The Vowel Phonemes
4.1 Principles of Classification
The Vowel Phonemes 21
If we are to classify the vowel phonemes of a language on a
systematic basis, we need to lay down the factors that have to
be taken into account. For French (though not necessarily for
other languages, where fewer, more or different factors may
come into the picture), there are four relevant factors, viz.:
(i) the point of articulation (see 4.2);
(ii) the height of the tongue or, alternatively, the degree of
aperture (see 4.3);
(iii) lip configuration (see 4.4);
(iv) orality or nasality (see 4.5).
4.2 Point of Articulation
‘Point of articulation’ is merely the technical term for ‘the place
in the mouth where a sound is produced’. French vowels may
be classified, broadly speaking, according to whether they are
pronounced in the front of the mouth, i.e. between the blade
of the tongue and the palate, or between the back of the tongue
and the velum. We may therefore speak of ‘front vowels’ and
‘back vowels’. (Many languages also have ‘central’ vowels but
we do not need this category for our present purposes.)