Publisher's Synopsis
From the Author's NOTE.
This manual is but a briefer and simpler statement of material to be found in my Introduction to the Pronunciation of French (Jenkins); in a work like this completeness and minute accuracy are of course not to be expected. For advanced classes the Introduction is probably to be preferred, and it would be wise, too, for teachers using this manual to be familiar with the facts discussed in the longer work. The changes introduced in this book, which, it is hoped, will commend it to teachers desiring a systematic but simple treatment of French pronunciation, are: (1) the elimination of all but the essential rules; (2) the expansion of important exercises; (3) the simplification of the phonetic signs; (4) a radical rearrangement of the order of presentation. I have thought it best in this little book to give first a general treatment of the more important sounds, in which section of the book only the barest essentials are to be found, the exercises containing no words of more than one syllable, and no phonetic writing being even suggested. Part II begins with the questions of syllabification and tonic accent, after which a fuller treatment of the principles of pronunciation and orthography is introduced; the exercises in this part contain polysyllabic words, and the writing of exercises phonetically is advocated.
My thanks are due to my friend, Dr. R. L. Hawkins, of Harvard University, for his skillful assistance in the reading of the proofs as well as for some suggestions before printing was begun.
-P. H. C.
