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Key research themes
1. How do French vowel contrasts and vowel-space organization reflect regional variation and ongoing sound changes?
This theme focuses on the phonological and phonetic dynamics of French mid-vowel contrasts, especially the distinction and neutralization of open-mid /ɛ/ and close-mid /e/ vowels, as well as the organization of the vowel space across different regional dialects in France. It matters because understanding these vowel changes sheds light on regional sound change mechanisms, sociolinguistic variation, and how vowel neutralization processes like the Loi de Position operate and evolve in contemporary French. This research also elucidates the social conditioning of phonological changes.
Key finding: This study provides a detailed cross-speaker acoustic analysis showing that in Normandy, the distinction between /ɛ/ and /e/ in Intonational Phrase-final open syllables is undergoing neutralization in progress. It finds that... Read more
Key finding: Through a comparative analysis of multiple Francoprovençal varieties spoken in France, Switzerland, and Italy, this study identifies contact-induced phonological changes, notably consonantal system accommodations aligning... Read more
2. How is rhythm and prosody shaped by social and contact factors in French dialects and minority contexts?
This theme investigates prosodic features like rhythm, accentuation, and intonational patterns in French varieties, particularly those situated in minority language contexts or in intense contact with other languages. Research addresses how factors such as language contact, speaker demographics (age, sex), and bilingualism affect temporal rhythm, pitch accents, and vocative intonation, facilitating understanding of prosodic transfer, adaptation, and social variation in phonological behavior.
Key finding: Analyzing rhythm in majority and minority francophone communities in Ontario, Canada, this study finds no evidence of English influence shifting French rhythm towards a less syllable-timed pattern in minority contexts.... Read more
Key finding: Examining Occitan-French bilinguals in Southern France, this research documents how centuries of diglossic contact have led to prosodic convergence, with Occitan adopting French prosodic units like the Accentual Phrase, while... Read more
Key finding: This paper provides empirical evidence that Cameroonian French, spoken by native Basaá tone language speakers, exhibits prosodic transfer in vocative calls, resulting in surface melodies mirroring L1 tonal patterns rather... Read more
3. What are the phonological and theoretical frameworks for analyzing French prosody and segmental phonology?
This research domain focuses on the formal representation, theoretical modeling, and computational analysis of French phonological phenomena, including intonation contours, syllabification, segmental inventories, and phonological theory (e.g., substance-free phonology). It provides foundational insights into the phonological structure, articulatory patterns, and computational implementation of French phonology, which underpin empirical descriptions and inform linguistic theory.
Key finding: Employing an Autosegmental-Metrical framework, this study develops a parsimonious inventory of French intonational contrasts by distinguishing two pitch accents and five boundary specifications, in contrast to previous... Read more
Key finding: This paper proposes that French syllabification is governed by the prohibition of violating the notion of 'possible French syllable' and the optimization of minimal syllabic markedness, including the number of syllables. It... Read more
Key finding: The article formalizes the requirements to realize a full substance-free phonology in French, distinguishing three computational modules: Sonority (Son) located at/above the skeleton and Place and Laryngeal (Lar) below. It... Read more
Key finding: This report documents a detailed generative phonological description of Parisian French, focusing on segmental inventories, phonetic feature classification, and phonological rules such as schwa deletion, glide formation, and... Read more