French pronunciation (ctd): the French o vowels

French has two vowels represented by a single letter o. Recall that when we discussed French e vowels, we saw that French has "open" and "close" variants. The same is true of the vowels represented by the letter o and by a few other combinations of letters.

Close o vowel

The close o vowel is pronounced with the tongue at a similar height to the close e vowel, but with the lips rounded and the tongue further back in the mouth. This vowel is often represented by:

• the letter o followed by a single consonant letter (or, occasionally, at the end of a word);
• the letter combination eau and often au;
• the letter ô with a circumflex accent.

Listen to the following examples. Notice how in the first word haut, neither the h nor the t is pronounced, so that this word is actually pronounced as a single close o vowel.

Open o vowel

The open o vowel is pronounced with the tongue at a similar height to the open e vowel, but with the lips also rounded and the tongue a little further back in the mouth. It should be noted that for many speakers, the tongue is significantly furher forward than for the close o vowel, and in some cases may actually sound similar to the open eu vowel.

In the spelling system, it is most commonly represented:

• as the letter o written without an accent and followed by a double consonant letter;
• in some cases, au.

Choice between open and close o sounds

The choice bewteen the open and close o sounds is a little complex, and in some cases there is variation among speakers. However, as a general observation:

• the open o does not occur in the final syllable of a word unless that syllable has a pronounced consonant on the end (so in e.g. the words landau and dos, where there's no final consonant¹, the final vowel has to be a close o);
• the open o tends to occur in syllables that end in a consonant, and the close o in syllables that don't.

1. Noting that the final -s of dos isn't pronounced, as with most final -ss in French.

Next...

On the next page, we look at the French u and ou vowels.