An Introduction to French Pronunciation

76 Mute e
11
Mute e
11.1 Introduction
11.1.1 The vowel known as mute e (for other terms applied
to it, see 4.9.1) is a front vowel pronounced in much the
same part of the mouth as the vowels /ø/ and /œ/. It is often
considered to be an unstressed allophone of one or other of
these (if anything, it is closer to /œ/ than to /ø/). Indeed, a
survey made in 1971 (Dauzes, 1973: 36) showed that many
Parisian teenagers and some adults failed to distinguish
between such pairs as ample rang /eplc re/ and en pleurant
/e plœre/, elle se le demande /εl sc l dcme:d/ and elle seule
demande /εl sœl dcme:d/, c’est comme je dis /sε kbm ʒc di/
and c’est comme jeudi /sε kbm ʒødi/, using an eu moyen
(see 10.7.7 (iii)) in all cases. Another survey, published in
1977, of the way people actually speak (as distinct from the
way normative works say they ought to speak) also concluded
that the way in which the vowel in question is pronounced
varies from one speaker to another but that, particularly in
Paris, most pronounce it ‘exactement de la même manière que
l’un des phonèmes de la série antérieure /ø/ ou /œ/’ (Walter,
1977: 50).
However, the fact remains that /c/, however it may be
pronounced when it is pronounced, can often be omitted
altogether (which is largely what this chapter is about), while
/ø/ and /œ/ as traditionally defined are never omitted, even