An elementary grammar of colloquial French on phonetic basis

Georges Bonnard

Sujets

• French language
• Phonetics
• Grammar

Informations

• Publié par: les_archives_du_savoir
• Nombre de lectures: 6
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 10 Mo

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http://www.archive.org/details/elementarygrammaOObonnrichAN ELEMENTARY
GRAMMAR OF
COLLOQUIAL FRENCHLONDON AGENTS :
SIMPKIN, MAKSHALL & Co. Ltd.ELEMENTARYAN
grammar of
Colloquial French
ON PHONETIC BASIS
BY
G. BONNARD
LausanneProfesseur au Gymnase de
CAMBRIDGE
W. HEFFER SONS LTD&
1915\
2111Fc
351
PREFACE
DANIEL JONESBy
THE TJNIVEESITT OE LONDONEEADEB IN PHONETICS IN
find that the strictly phonetic method ofis satisfactory to
IT
and more general inteaching French is becoming more
England. By the strictly phonetic method is meant the method
ofin which the language is written in initial stages by means
phonetic transcription exclusively, the pupil not being introduced
to the conventional spelling until he has mastered, at any rate,
elements of the spoken language.the
This method has the approval of the Board of Education
and it is used in many of the best English schools^ A teacher
'
of long experience writes as follows : One is so often asked by
those who are not yet converted to the exclusive use of phonetic
script in the early stages of language learning, if it has not a
tendency to make the acquirement later on of correct spelling
following passage from the Board CircularThe of Education 797
(Memorandum on the Teaching of Modern Languages), issued in 1912, may
"quoted : The explanation of the principles of sound-productionbe (p. 19)
and the comparison of the sounds used in different languages are greatly
facilitated by the adoption of a scheme of special symbols each of which
represents one and only one sound. Many teachers go further than this,
and use whole texts and books written in a phonetic script. It might seem
out thatsuperfluous to point the proper use of a phonetic script is to give
training in audition and systematic practice in the reproduction of the new
sounds and their combinations, while postponing for a while the further
difficulty of a new inconsistent orthography, . . . The script, if used, should
verybe introduced at the earliest stage, and it should then be used ex-
clusively until correct habits of pronunciation have been acquired by the
class as a whole."
^.g. the Perse School (Cambridge), Sydenham County Secondary
School for Grirls, Holloway County Secondary School, Whitgift Grammar (Croydon). Full particulars of the work at the fii-st three of these
schools are given in the appendix to the above-mentioned Circular of the
Board of Education.vi PREFACE
in the ordinary script a difficult achievement. To this question
experience has l)ut one reply, and it is this : If the transition
from the phonetic script to the ordinary spelling is carefully
woiked out, the children who have been trained on phonetic
lines from the beginning invariably make better spellers in the
end than those who have been so unfortunate as to have had no
^ "phonetic training at all. " Professor Jespersen says : The use
of phonetics and phonetical transcription in the teaching of
modern languages must be considered as one of the most im-
portant advances in modern pedagogy But these means
^"
must be employed immediately from the very beginning.
The strictly phonetic method being therefore well itson
way to becoming general, a need has arisen for Frencha
Grammar suitable for those learning the language on these
lines. The present work is intended to supply this deficiency,
and it appears to me to answer the purpose admirably.
When one deals with the grammar of spoken French quite
independently of the conventional written form of the language,
new rules are brought to light, and many of the rules found in
ordinary grammars appear in altered forms. Teachers and
students should have no difficulty in accustoming themselves
to the, in some respects, novel grouping of grammatical facts
thus rendered necessary in this book. A short trial cannot fail
to convince even the most sceptical that grammatical classifica-
tions and rules based exclusively on the spoken language will be
found by far the most satisfactory for the initial stages of
practical teaching ; anything beyond this should more properly
be treated not as grammar but as part of the subseciuent work
of transition from phonetic to conventional spelling.
This grammar is particularly well suited for adult beginners,
especially for those who from some cause or another are obliged
to begin their studies of French without a teacher. Such
students (and there are ofmany them) are commonly in a
Partington, "V. The Transition from Phonetic to Onliaary
.Spelling," p. 3.
O. Jespersen, "How to Teach a Foreign Language," 176.p.