Why French sounds so unlike other Romance languages

Summary

This script humorously outlines the complex linguistic journey of French, from its Latin roots to modern pronunciation. It details how various sound shifts, influences from Celtic and Germanic languages, and socio-political factors shaped the language. The narrative playfully guides listeners through the evolution of French, from softening consonants to vowel changes, and the impact of the Franks. It ends with contemporary French, highlighting the dynamic nature of language.

Takeaways

• 🌐 French is a Romance language that evolved from Latin, influenced by Gaulish and other regional languages.
• 🕰 The development of French spans over two thousand years, with significant changes occurring in pronunciation and vocabulary.
• 📜 Latin was the base language, but it was not 'fresh' Latin; it was allowed to evolve and incorporate local dialects and influences.
• 🗣️ Sound shifts played a crucial role in the transformation of Latin into French, including the softening of consonants and changes in vowel sounds.
• 🇫🇷 The Franks' influence introduced Germanic elements into the language, including new words and the addition of the 'h' sound.
• 📚 The Old French period saw further phonetic changes, with the dropping of final vowels and the evolution of consonant clusters.
• 🏰 The distinction between northern and southern dialects became more pronounced, with 'oïl' and 'oc' emerging as key regional markers.
• 🏛️ Social changes and urbanization during the Middle Ages contributed to the standardization of French, particularly in the Parisian dialect.
• 🎨 The French Renaissance brought additional phonetic shifts, with some vowels merging and others becoming more distinct.
• 🌟 Modern French continues to evolve, with recent changes including the shifting of certain vowel sounds and the regularization of consonant pronunciation.

Q & A

What is the significance of Gaulish in the development of French?

Gaulish, a Celtic language, played a role in the development of French by contributing certain words and influencing the language's evolution, including the word 'change' itself.

Why does the script emphasize not using 'fresh Latin' for the base of French?

The script suggests using a form of Latin that has been influenced by time and other languages, such as Gaulish, to create the unique characteristics of French, rather than pristine, unaltered Latin.

What is the role of sound shifts in the evolution of French from Latin?

Sound shifts, such as softening of consonants and changes in vowel pronunciation, played a crucial role in transforming Latin into the early forms of French.

How did the Franks influence the development of French?

The Franks, a Germanic people, influenced French by introducing Germanic words and sounds, which were incorporated into the language as it evolved.

What historical event is referenced by the 'oath sworn in 842' in the script?

The script refers to the Strasbourg Oaths, a historical event where the grandsons of Charlemagne swore oaths in both Frankish and a form of Romance language, which would later be called 'Romana' or French.

Why does the script mention the distinction between 'oc' and 'oïl' in the development of French?

The script highlights the linguistic division in France between the southern 'oc' dialects and the northern 'oïl' dialects, with the latter being the basis for modern French.

How did the pronunciation of 'r' change over time in French?

The pronunciation of 'r' evolved from a trill to a uvular 'r' in some dialects, influenced by social changes and the standardization of French in Paris.

What is the significance of the 'Frankish haitches' mentioned in the script?

The 'Frankish haitches' refer to the introduction of the letter 'h' into French from Germanic influences, which later became a point of complexity in the language's spelling and pronunciation rules.

How did the French language change during the Renaissance period?

During the Renaissance, French continued to evolve with further sound changes, including the simplification of consonants and the merging of certain vowel sounds, reflecting the ongoing dynamic nature of the language.

What impact did colonization have on the French language?

Colonization spread French to various parts of the world, leading to regional variations and the incorporation of local influences, such as in Quebec French and Creole languages.

Why does the script discuss the unpredictability of French spelling?

The script addresses the complexity of French spelling due to historical sound changes that do not always correspond to modern pronunciation, making the spelling system appear less predictable.

Outlines

00:00

🌐 The Evolution of French Language

This paragraph delves into the historical and linguistic evolution of the French language, highlighting its divergence from other Romance languages. It begins with a humorous recipe analogy, suggesting starting with Latin and incorporating elements of Gaulish, allowing Latin to 'go bad' over three centuries. The paragraph discusses various sound shifts and phonetic changes, such as softening consonants and altering vowels, which have contributed to French's unique pronunciation. It also touches on the influence of the Franks and the integration of Germanic words, leading to further distinctive features of French. The narrative is rich with linguistic examples, illustrating the gradual transformation from Latin roots to the French language we know today.

05:02

📜 The Development of French Through Time

Paragraph 2 continues the narrative of French's development, focusing on the Old French period and the influences that shaped it. It describes the transformation of certain sounds and letters, such as 'k' to 'ch' and 'c' to 's', and the evolution of vowel sounds. The paragraph also discusses the geographical and social factors that contributed to the standardization of French, particularly in the northern 'oïl' regions. It mentions the impact of the Norman conquest on English, borrowing words from French. The summary also covers the Middle French period, detailing further phonetic changes and the simplification of consonants, leading to the modern French sound. The paragraph concludes with a look at the Renaissance period and the ongoing evolution of French pronunciation and spelling.

10:07

🌟 Contemporary French and Its Ongoing Evolution

The final paragraph addresses the modern state of the French language, emphasizing the ongoing changes and the challenges they present to learners. It discusses the pronunciation rules, such as the treatment of the letter 'h' and the rounding of vowel sounds. The paragraph also touches on the rhythmic nature of French speech and the importance of accenting the final syllable. It highlights the latest shifts in pronunciation, such as the change from 'œ̃' to 'ɛ̃' and the influence of regional accents. The narrative concludes with a call to action for viewers to learn more about the language and to support the creator's work, acknowledging the patrons who have contributed to the development of this educational content.

Keywords

💡Romance languages

Romance languages are a subfamily of Italic languages within the larger Indo-European language family. They evolved from Vulgar Latin, which was the colloquial form of Latin spoken in the late Roman Empire. In the video, the script discusses how French, being a Romance language, shares a common ancestry with Spanish, Italian, and other languages in this group, yet has distinct pronunciation and vocabulary due to historical and linguistic changes.

💡Latin

Latin is an ancient Italic language that was the language of the Roman Empire. It is the primary source from which all Romance languages, including French, evolved. The video script humorously suggests starting with Latin as the base ingredient for creating a language like French, emphasizing the historical significance of Latin in shaping the vocabulary and grammar of French.

💡Gaulish

Gaulish is an ancient Celtic language that was spoken in Gaul, the region that is now modern-day France and parts of Belgium, Switzerland, and Northern Italy. The script mentions Gaulish as one of the ingredients in the 'recipe' for creating French, indicating that Celtic words and influences played a role in the development of the French language, particularly in its early stages.

💡Sound shifts

Sound shifts, also known as phonological changes, refer to systematic changes in the pronunciation of a language over time. The script describes how various sound shifts, such as the softening of consonants and the shortening of vowels, contributed to the unique pronunciation of French compared to other Romance languages.

💡Franks

The Franks were a group of Germanic tribes whose invasions and eventual rule over Gaul influenced the development of the French language. The script mentions the Franks as guests who not only named the country but also contributed Germanic vocabulary to the language, highlighting the historical interaction between the Franks and the Gallo-Roman population.

💡Old French

Old French, also known as Old Norman, was the language spoken in what is now France from the 9th to the 14th century. The video script refers to Old French as a stage in the development of the French language, where many of the changes that distinguish modern French from other Romance languages began to take shape.

💡Vowel shifts

Vowel shifts are changes in the pronunciation of vowel sounds over time. The script describes several vowel shifts that occurred in the development of French, such as the transformation of 'a' to 'e' and 'o' to 'ou', which are crucial for understanding the evolution of French pronunciation.

💡Consonant changes

Consonant changes involve the modification of consonant sounds in a language. The video script details how consonants in French evolved, such as the softening of 'ptk' to 'bdg' and the loss of certain consonants in word-final positions, which are key to the distinct sound of French.

💡Germanic influence

The Germanic influence on French refers to the impact of Germanic languages, primarily Frankish, on the vocabulary and grammar of French. The script humorously describes the Franks adding 'hundred' Germanic words to French, illustrating how the language was enriched by the linguistic contributions of the ruling Frankish people.

💡Oïl and Oc

Oïl and Oc are terms used to distinguish the northern and southern dialects of Old French, respectively. The script uses these terms to explain the geographical division of French-speaking regions and how the northern 'oïl' dialects were the precursors to modern French, while the southern 'oc' dialects evolved into other languages like Provençal.

💡Middle French

Middle French refers to the stage of the French language that developed between the 14th and 16th centuries. The script describes the further evolution of French during this period, including additional sound changes and the development of new vocabulary, which contributed to the modern French language.

Highlights

French is a Romance language with unique pronunciation due to historical linguistic changes.

The recipe for creating a language like French involves starting with Latin and incorporating Gaulish influences.

Celtic words played a role in the changes that led to the development of French.

The Latin language had to 'go bad' over three centuries to form the base of French.

Sound shifts were not uniform and contributed to the distinct regional characteristics of French.

Consonant clusters like /ptk/ evolved into /bdg/, illustrating the phonetic changes in French.

The pronunciation of 'casa' and 'cambiar' in Spanish relates to 'changer' and 'chez' in French through historical sound shifts.

The Franks' influence introduced Germanic elements into the evolving French language.

The Old French period saw further phonetic changes, such as the dropping of final vowels.

The pronunciation of 'h' in French has a complex history, with its reintroduction and subsequent loss.

The division of 'oc' and 'oïl' in Southern and Northern France respectively shaped the language's regional dialects.

Social changes and urbanization in the Middle Ages contributed to the standardization of French.

The French Renaissance period saw further phonetic simplifications and vowel shifts.

French spelling reforms attempted to address the complexities and inconsistencies of the language.

Colonization and the French kingdom's expansion influenced the global spread of French.

Contemporary French continues to evolve, with recent changes including vowel shifts and the merging of certain sounds.

The recipe for French is a metaphor for the complex historical and linguistic processes that shaped the language.

Transcripts

French. You're a relative of Spanish, Italian and other Romance languages, so why do you

sound deceptively different? I mean, why is "acqua" just /o/? How are "cambiar" and "casa"

related to "changer" and "chez"? What's the story behind the changes that make your pronunciation

so, well, unique?

Euh, pardon, let me find where this starts... ah voilà! So say you wanted to create a language

that turns out just like French. Well, follow the following recipe. Precisely. Ahem.

Start preparing your ingredients two thousand years ago. Take a base of Latin. Combine traces

of Gaulish. Because Celtic words will become sources of change. Including, literally, the

word change.

I must emphasize: do not use fresh Latin for your base. Let it go bad. Ideally wait three

centuries until this stickler scribe pens terse corrections, disciplining people to

speak "good" Latin, not "bad" Latin. "Good" Latin, not "bad" Latin. Make sure you keep

the bad: the oricla, lancia, an aitchless aduc... Imperfections like these set you up

for a unique bake.

So far what you've mixed works for any Romance language. Spread it out from Portugal to Wallonia.

Gradually incorporate sound shifts. Not uniformly. Work them in to form a nice continuum where

the edges look distinct but locally it's similar from place to place. It's guesswork at this

stage to be honest, but make sure to include these changes throughout the age.

Soften ptk to bdg, then βðγ, then (shh). From vi[t]a and a[kw]a and se[k]uru make

[viðə] and [aɣwə] and [seɣur], and you're a step away

from early French [viə], [ewə], [səur].

Shorten two consonants to one: less Italian lèttera, more letre.

Indulge the palate, j-ing kʲ, tʲ, bʲ until a [kʲ]eresia is a [t͡sʲ]erisa, [g]ent-

becomes [d͡ʒ]ent, and cambiare is cangiar, one step closer to change. And squeeze /j/s

out of fact and lact, [fajtʲ] and [lajtʲ].

These are "changes" any "sage" out there may "sache", may already know.

Rework Rome's five neat short and long vowels into seven: i e ɛ a ɔ o u. And open up ɛ and

ɔ even more into [i͡ɛ] and [u͡ɔ], taking the word for foot from ancient pĕdĕm to

medieval [pi͡ɛ].

If sp, sk, st are especially sticky at this point, add vowels until your state is less Romanian stat,

more Old French estat, and what's written is no longer a script but an escript.

Ok, go chill your Western Romance dough. I know it's early, but I've invited some guests.

Here they are at the door. (Knocking.) Hallo? Ja, it's the Franks. They go on to say you've

been neighbors for a while. Now they're here to name your country and speak this language

you've been working on. Also, they suggest adding Germanic Frankish words.

Just a few. Hundred.

They hand you a manuscript with an oath sworn in 842 by two grandsons of Charlemagne. One

side swore in Frankish. The other vowed nearly the same lines in what they hastily called

Romana. In ink they capture your earlier changes: an aitchless om, softened aiudha,

and au is now a lost c[oː]sa.

Roll with this. Roll out your language dough until words are stressed with an inténse accént

and final vowels drop off: amur, cist. Except -a, which you should

weaken down to [ə] like [koːsə].

Oh, did I say to ditch haitch? At this stage, patch in a new aitch, Germanic h- like in

"hache". Even add it to some Romance words like "haut". This will create fun quirks

when we oust aitches again.

Take the voice out of final consonants, shifting u͡ɔ[v] to u̯ɛ[f] and gran[d] to gran[t].

Ooh, and manipulate mid vowels to ei̯ and i̯e, and ou̯ and u̯e.

Make L ("el") after a vowel more of an "ew": s[aɯ̯]ce.

Before you incorporate any more changes, you want to cut out one section from this dough.

Split it up at the word for "yes". In the south of France it's "oc". Up north it's a mesh of "oïl".

(In Spain and Italy, "si".) Well, to make what we today call French,

just work with those northern "oïl" varieties.

A thousand years into this recipe, it's time to dock and bake

Old French throughout the High Middle Ages.

Peek into the oven to see ka's cha-ing, turning

cange into change, a cat into a chat and castles into chastels.

Except near the northern coast, so England borrows Norman candles not "chandles"

but a double-take of both "canal" and "channel".

Then check if multiple [a]s are shifting to [e]: ague to ewe and caval to cheval. It's

ok if they go as far as [ie]: from "cap" to "chef" or "chief". Or a can-ine "chien".

The vowel u in se[u]r should now sound like se[y]r. And o in o-ïl should turn into [ʊ-iw]

and eventually, yes, ou-i!

At the end of the Old French period, watch and wait. You might think the sound of French-French

would come from a single dialect in Paris. Instead, observe as it arises from social

changes and urbanization bringing together people who speak many varieties of Oïl.

The oven timer goes off. It's 1300 and your beautifully baked case shines with some of

the prestige that Latin once had. Let's prepare to layer on Middle French.

Melt the m[ei̯] that was "me" to m[oi̯] then m[u̯ε]. And the [ai̯] in lai̯tʲ

to lɛt. The "eu" of old pu̯et or peu̯t is from here on /ø/. Vowels before N and

M will flow through the nose now: [bʊn] becomes [bõn].

Heat your slurry until a new set of long vowels seeps out. Where esses break down, [gʊːtə]

is merely longer than [gʊtə]. And where two vowels ooze into one, in Old French you

were seür, well now you're [syːr].

Dissolve complex consonants. No longer [t͡s]erise but [s]erise. No longer "quand" and "qui"

but [kãnt] and [ki]. And sa[t͡ʃ]e and sa[d͡ʒ]e cook down to sa[ʃ]e and sa[ʒ]e.

I was going to say pull Middle French off the heat at this point, but you know what?

Keep this caramel going. Melt away more sounds at the end of words throughout the French

Renaissance: chat, trouver, even ə in [syːɾ]. You're doing it right when

many loups sound identical to one lone loup.

And turn those nasal vowels into a critical distinction from here on out:

[a] is a preposition but [ã], later [ɑ̃], means year.

As this cools, it should be teeming with unpredictable letters.

(Ah, in other words, French spelling. There you are!)

No longer do you read the s, the p or the t in escript.

Pour these changes into your shell and watch spelling reformers grapple with their stickiness,

concocting accent marks and new letters to deal with them.

Now for a thick ganache of kingdom and colonization that will spread your French-so-far even farther.

Everywhere, temper au and eau to [o] and [o]. But when Québec gets cold, don't cover up

their archaic [frεt]. And keep [mwe] and [twe] while Paris spends a half-century before

the Revolution shifting to [twa] and [mwa]. Gwadloup creole will retain an old h in [h]anga

and [h]alé. And Amazonian Kheuól will inventively mash three and a third words together into

one zabapẽ for "breadfruit".

And from Tahiti to Louisiane to the continent with more French speakers than any other,

l'Afrique, as this era cools and sets, /r/ will sometimes remain a trill.

Remain, because after periods of Révolution and Napoléon, a new [ʁ] is stirred into

Paris. For many [ʁ] will replace [r], and while it does, you pour on a layer thick with

your most epicurean changes yet.

Coat those reemerged long vowels until by the mid 1900s only a slight flavor remains:

patte or pâte, Québec bette or bête. In Paris you should even hear

bête merge into bette, and, well, pâte is patte.

Although you attempted to melt all final consonants, they've been viscous enough to stick to vowels.

Indulge this, tacking gr[ɑ̃] to gr[ɑ̃‿t]ami and [lɛ] to [lɛ‿z]amis.

And remember those Frankish haitches? Pronounce them no more, but make sure they don't stick.

What a fun rule for students to have to remember:

H- that isn't and wasn't is sticky. H- that isn't but was isn't.

Hence les hôtes but les hautes.

Round weak ə to mang[ø], p[ø]tit. Or even smooth it away as you pour: mange, p'tit.

Fill to the brim and tap until your French sounds not like words but rhythm groups, syllables

freely cutting across words, ə dropp'd or added-ə, to r'fine the rhythm-ə, until you

accenntə, the final syllable.

Oh look, you've made quite a mess. Don't clean up yet. Garnish with the latest changes.

Shift œ̃ to ɛ̃, then even ɛ̃ to æ̃. (Confuse pot and peau.) And push ɔ in d'acc[ɔ]rd toward d'acc[œ]rd.

And end rhythm groups with a heavy, breathy vowel: T'as entend[y̥ç] ? Ou[i̥çː] !

Whew. You've now prepared a contemporary French, ready to serve. And you have a recipe to

hand down and adjust for the next thousand years of French's shifting sounds.

If you're eager to learn more and get into the details, my sources doc is made for you.

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during the months it took me to put this together.

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