Boulangerie:
nice smells, great sounds

Boulangerie is a word quickly learned and quickly remembered. It is a word that triggers lovely smells and wonderful images, but it is also a pretty rich word in terms of sounds. For a language buff like me, I would say it is as phonetically yummy as a fresh croissant to a food lover. And please, don’t be put off by the word “phonetics” – we are not going for the full menu, but just taking a nibble:

How do you transcribe a sound with letters?

[i], [u] and [ã] are actual phonetic symbols. They are used to indicate what letters sound like. You may wonder why bother with learning new symbols while you are already making the effort of learning new words, i.e. new letter combinations. Well, this is because from one language to the other, letters are pronounced differently – something which unfortunately also happens within a language. In English, for example, the colour « red » is pronounced the same way as “Yesterday, I read a book”, which is spelt the same as “I always read when I’m on the train” – but not pronounced the same. Hence the necessity for an international phonetical alphabet that transcribes how letters sound like in a consistent way.

Le Robert dictionary lists the phonetical symbols used in French and how they sound here, with clickable words to listen to their pronunciation.

Apart from the 3 aforementioned vowel sounds [u] [ã] [i], this article will use 2 more phonetic symbols: [ʒ] like the “ge” in “boulangerie” and [ə], which is called “e caduc” (caduc also applies to the falling leaves of a deciduous tree, meaning they’re sometimes there, sometimes not.) or in English, “instable e”… which gives you a clue of where we are heading, doesn’t it?

What you see is not quite what you hear: the instable “e”

If this “e” is always there, in front of our eyes, it is not always heard... As a result, “boulangerie” sometimes sounds like a 3-syllable word, and sometimes like a 4-syllable word. A little reminder: a syllable is the smallest individual portion of a word always containing a vowel sound (a-e-i-o-u-y). Depending on speakers, areas, and circumstances, you’ll hear:

bou-lan-ge-rie => [bu-lã-ʒə-ri] : 4 syllables

bou-lan-g✘rie => [bu-lã-ʒri] : 3 syllables

I would say the latter is more common, but in some areas in Southern France or at the annual bakers’ conference or any other formal event, you may hear the former more often.

What you see is not even heard at all

Speaking of the letter “e” strange behaviour, let’s take a look at the final “e” of boulangerie. Again, it is graphically always there, but whereas the previous “e” was unstable, this one is audibly non-existent (hence called a “mute” or “silent e” by linguists). “I” and “ie” at the end of a word sound the same. The graphic “e” is just a grammatical indication that we are dealing with a feminine word.

Creation of a new sound: the case of “an”

Talking about French peculiarities, let’s tackle the “an” sound, the one you find in the second syllable of bou-lan-ge-rie. Contrary to the “an” you may find in an English word like “brand”, in which you hear a bit of an “a” but also a bit of an “n”, the [ã] is a single distinctive sound coming from the back of the throat and through the nose. However, add a vowel to it… and it’s back to 2 separate sounds: [a] + [n].

For example:

Nice and easy

And finally, the last sound of our list. I have kept the nicest one to wrap up my article, the one deprived of complications. The “o+u” combination makes the [u] sound, like in the English “you”. There are still a few exceptions – really just a few – like the month of August, which sneaks a mute “a” in front of the “ou”: août (ut] – as well as “saoul” [su] which means drunk. You will also come across plenty of words borrowed from other languages which have kept their original spellings, like “blues” and “cool”. Et voilà ! C’est tout 😊

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