Word of the Week #37 - Open Syllabication: The Key! - Mastering French Pronunciation w/Geri Metz

The principle of “open syllabication” is a fundamental key to good French pronunciation.
Bonjour! I'm Geri Metz and this is the "Word of the Week!" A mini video lesson in French Pronunciation!
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Word of the Week #37-open syllabication
Bonjour; I’m Geri Metz of Pronouncingfrench.com and I’m here with Word of the Week # 37.
This week I want to take a look at a principle I introduced briefly in the first Word of the Week and also in lesson 10. It’s called Open Syllabication, and it describes the French tendency to end each syllable in a vowel, which is exactly the opposite of the English tendency to end each syllable in a consonant.
In English we favor consonants, we go for the consonants, we hit them hard, we value them. And we like to end every syllable with a consonant. Begin to pay attention to this habit of English speech. Brings a heaviness to our words in French.
Notice the tendency to end each syllable in a consonant. (say sentence slowly with each syllable ending in the consonant sound.) Say any few English words together to see that this is in fact what you do. (this is in fact what you do.) A French speaker would say those words in English with her French habits and sound like this)
The French emphasize vowels, they anticipate the vowels and they minimize consonants. So their way is to keep each syllable open with a vowel at the end like the transcription below:
En chassant on fait sécher son visage au vent.
/ɑ̃ ʃa sɑ̃ ɔ̃ fe se ʃe sɔ̃ vi za ʒo vɑ̃/
Une espèce de cauchmar With the American mouth, it sounds like this: But with open syllabication like this:
y ne spe sde cau chma r
Notice that if a syllable ends in a consonant, the French way is to put that consonant onto the following syllable. And if there are 2 consonants, they both move over to the beginning of the next syllable.
Now, the French speaker is not aware of this habit, any more than we are aware that we are doing the opposite; it is just part of the normal speech habits of that language. But this is one of the most important aspects of correct French pronunciation.
We will be doing extensive work on open syllabication in Mastering French Pronunciation, the video course that will be available in July or August 2015. This is a course that helps you make the transition from English speech habits or what I call the American mouth, to acquiring French habits, or the French mouth. I believe this teaching is unique and I do hope that many of you will take advantage of it to develop a more authentic French accent and to improve the quality of your spoken French. Please go to my website, Pronouncingfrench.com for more information on the course and how to order. Merci, et à la prochaine.

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