French Accent of English (for “Standard” performance French)
BACKGROUND French is a Romance language of the Indo-European
family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire and has
evolved from Gallo-Romance (spoken in Gaul – the region of Western
Europe which was inhabited by Celtic tribes during the Iron Age). It was
also influenced by native Celtic languages.
The invasion of the Franks (Germanic), and the Normans of Scandinavian
heritage who were integrated in the 13th Century and out of all of these
languages evolved Français which became the official state language in
the 16th Century.
French colonisation began in 16th Century and France was the second
largest empire in the world (the Spanish Empire was the first) – and was
also the second largest colonial empire in the world in the 19 th and 20th
Century next to the British.
Here are the current French speaking countries. (N.B. Each of these
countries have their own individual dialect of French English):
Setting: The tongue sits high and forwards in the mouth. It has less
movement than in Standard English speech and the focus is on raising the
tip and the blade.
The soft palate is moderately raised. The jaw is flexible and “busy” but
with a fairly restricted drop.
There is a lot of movement in the lips – which are tight but also muscular,
vigorous & precise and with a focus on rounding, hooding and pouting –
giving a sensual feel. (Note the lip movement is usually forward with little
sideways spreading).
Morag Stark East 15 Southend Term 1 2021
French Accent of English (for “Standard” performance French)
Hesitation (“thinking”) sound is “EUM” (NURSE or SCHWA vowel)
(resonant 1.5 zone below)
Rhythm, Stress & Intonation:
A French accent is SYLLABLE-TIMED – generally indicating that all the
stressed syllables occur at regular intervals whether they are separated
by unstressed syllables or not. This means that although a syllable may be
emphasised in pitch or volume changes, each syllable is always the same
length (eg SYL – LAB – LE) – this includes small words like AS, BUT, TO etc.
often giving a dramatic effect. Although sometimes weak syllables are
given a little extra stress: compuTAIR
It is quick-fired and continuous moving – rat-a-tat, with suggested Laban
dynamic: PUNCH (soft) : Direct in Space, Heavy (ish) in Weight & Sudden
in its Timing. Vowels are shortened and hard consonants softened.
The intonation often has an upward inflection and each phrase finishes in
“major key” – giving a sense of completion or questioning to each thought
communicated.
French Accent CONSONANTS:
French accent of English is usually RHOTIC (i.e. all Rs are pronounced
when written) It’s forbidden to park your car there
R: (in French) is UVULAR FRICATIVE – i.e. made with friction between the
back of the tongue & area at the back of soft palate. Some speakers may
use a W replacement for R in effort to create the bending free R sound.
L: is usually always Light L is made with the tongue tip lightly making
contact with the gum ridge – flicking down as the vowel is released
Leave the lazy lion alone
H: is often dropped as this sound doesn’t exist in the French language.
Help Harry, he’s hurt.
Morag Stark East 15 Southend Term 1 2021
French Accent of English (for “Standard” performance French)
Sometimes the speaker will confuse H sounds & insert an H where there
isn’t one before a vowel if there strong repeated H sounds in a phrase – eg
HIS AUNT HELEN SAID TO HIM = ‘IS HAUNT ‘ELEN SAID TO ‘IM
NG: Soft release, G not dropped– as in Standard English speech I’m
saying the playing is ending
TH: sometimes replaced with T/D or S/Z Think both birthdays / They
breathe together
CH (as in church) becomes SH (as in SHIP) & J (as in judge) becomes like
the J sound in MEASURE ie they become fricative (slow release) sounds.
Y can be omitted before OO vowel after N, T, D - New costumes are due
on Tuesday.
T at the end of words is often omitted
Z sound has less voice (buzz) ie more like S, especially in plurals –
sometimes omitted altogether at the end of words
Words ending in a consonant often add a short vowel (schwa) sound (not
too much emphasis though – or it will sound too Latin)
VOWELS:
Note that vowel sounds may often use the French interpretation from the
spelling written.
Note also the variation in whether the speaker has learned UK or US
English – this will also determine whether Rs are pronounced in the middle
or at the end of words).
Vowel sound examples to follow use THE KIT LIST SETS (from JC Wells) –
using a KEY word for each set which shares the same sound regardless of
spelling (mainly compared here with the Standard English sounds).
ar The stark charm of the park
short ah/a A crafty laugh in the past, bad manners make me mad
(TRAP is longer, wider & merges with the RP BATH sound – Rs are
pronounced)
er Stern words can hurt birds
Morag Stark East 15 Southend Term 1 2021
French Accent of English (for “Standard” performance French)
Widen jaw & sound NURSE moves towards Standard English
SCHWA/STRUT sound. Also note differences in sound to correspond with
spelling
aw Caught by the law in a store
Varies with spelling – no W rounding – more towards BATH sound
ee We greeted the leading speaker short sound – see also KIT/FLEECE
notes below
oo A view of the beautiful moon lips are forward, centre of tongue
raised
short oo The crook took the book
GOOSE/ FOOT vowels merge – more lip rounding – same length
short I/ee A quick trip to the big inner city
KIT merges with the FLEECE (ie wider lips – not too wide)
“busy” lips widely spread, slightly longer sound than Standard English
short e Similar to Standard English shape hell bent on getting
revenge A touch of the FACE sound
short o The tock of the clock
Less jaw drop & not as far back on the tongue taking it towards SCHWA
(COMA sound)
short u A bunch of one hundred monks
Less jaw drop & not as far back on the tongue taking it towards NURSE/
SCHWA (COMA sound)
Diphthongs (little movement and generally short sounds)
OH (or short O) I hope you don’t go home
Towards schwa or STRUT in Standard English position. Lips forward.
OW A mound of brown flowers – similar to Standard English
AY Famous names amazed the ladies – Very little movement – limited
jaw drop
Morag Stark East 15 Southend Term 1 2021
French Accent of English (for “Standard” performance French)
EYE Try driving by the midnight light – Rapid glide to the EE position
OY The choice annoyed the boy – Again a rapid movement to the EE
postion
EAR Fearing a superior sneer – Like a lengthened KIT sound
AIR The rare fair haired bear – Very little movement – like a long
EH sound
Schwa : The women adjusted the roses
English as second language speakers are usually less likely to replace a
vowel with a schwa – especially in syllable-timed accents when full weight
is usually given to the vowel sound
NB “THE” & “A” (a car etc) both use schwa (not THEE or AY)
Resources:
The Accent Kit (Edda Sharpe & Jan Haydn Rowles) France Female 1
Real Accent Europe (Howard Weate) French English
International Dialects of English Archive:
https://www.dialectsarchive.com/france
Resources for Black & Global Majority Characters:
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls056079706/
African Accents (Beth McGuire) Rwandan
Morag Stark East 15 Southend Term 1 2021
