L’HARMONISATION DES VOYELLES MOYENNES DU FRANÇAIS : DE LA VARIATION PHONÉTIQUE AU CHANGEMENT PHONOLOGIQUE
THE HARMONISATION OF MID VOWELS IN FRENCH: FROM PHONETIC VARIATION TO PHONOLOGICAL CHANGE

Summary/Abstract: This paper examines a typical process of French phonology by virtue of which the height of the mid vowel in an unstressed open syllable agrees in height with the word-final vowel. Often called “vowel harmony”, this gradient phenomenon in French is not a proper height harmony, but a process of vowel-to-vowel coarticulation. However, vowel harmony is considered to be the diachronic result of the phonologization of V-to-V coarticulation. Thus, this paper discusses the possibility that this allophonic process evolves towards a categorial one.

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