I subjoin a few specimens of writing and the alphabet from ‘lə mɛːtr fɔnetik’ (Le Maître Phonétique).
The French alphabet is very simple. The consonants are as in English except
| - | ɲ | for the palatal n as in signe. | |
| ʃ | for ch as in champ—Ex. shut. | ||
| ʒ | for ʒʰ as in je—Ex. pleasure. |
The vowels are
| - | ɑ | pâte | - | ɛ | tête | - | i | ni | - | o | côte | - | u | tout | |||||
| a | patte | e | dé | j | yeux | ɔ | tort | y | tu |
| - | œ | seul | - | w | oui | - | nasalises | ||||
| ø | peu | ɥ | huile | ː | lengthens | ||||||
| ə | de | ||||||||||
The complete international [alphabet] which is subjoined requires more signs but this suffices in French.
French.—kɑ̃tquand ynune fwafois ɔ̃on lilit kuramɑ̃couramment l ekrityːrl’écriture fɔnetikphonétique iil syfisuffit dde kɛlkəzquelques œːrheures purpour aprɑ̃ːdrapprendre aà liːrlire l ekrityːrl’écriture ɔrdinɛːr.ordinaire.
In English we want θ ð for th in thick & then, ɕ for ch in hue, ŋ for the guttural nasal, ʌ for but, a vowel not quite the same as seul, æ for at—
English.—nau ðə pɔint ai wɔnt tu get æt iz hweðəɹ ðe seːm deskripʃən kæn bi givn.