French phonology is the sound system of French.
Consonants[]
| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar |
Postalveolar/ Palatal |
Velar | Uvular | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ɴ | |
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | c | k | q |
| voiced | b | d | ɟ | ɡ | ɢ | |
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | x | χ |
| voiced | v | z | ʒ | ɣ | ʁ | |
| Approximant | plain | ʋ | ɹ | j | ɰ | |
| lateral | l | ʎ | ʟ | ʟ̠ | ||
| labial | ɥ | w | ||||
Vowels[]
Standard French contrasts up to 13 oral vowels and up to 4 nasal vowels. The schwa (in the center of the diagram next to this paragraph) is not necessarily a distinctive sound. Even though it often merges with one of the mid front rounded vowels, its patterning suggests that it is a separate phoneme (see the sub-section Schwa below).
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