Qu'est-ce que tu voulais dire? : An investigation of a significant sound change in Parisian French
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2002
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Swarthmore College. Dept. of Linguistics
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Thesis (B.A.)
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en_US
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Abstract
Qu'est-ce que tu voulais dire? The preceding phrase, meaning What did you mean/want
to say?, is a hallmark example of the current Parisian sound change. While standard
pronunciation of the imperfect verb form voulais is generally considered [vulE], due to a
sound change affecting many words voulais is now often pronounced [vule]. This change
is quite significant, as many words that were once auditorially discemable from each
other now sound exactly alike, thus forcing the listener to rely on context for intended
meaning. The irony of the phrase Qu 'est-ce que tu voulais dire? is that in asking what a
person meant to say, implying perhaps that someone pronounced a word that is usually
[E] instead with [e], and that the listener could not distinguish which word was intended,
the main verb of the question itself has variable pronunciations. In this thesis 1 I discuss
the sound change from [E] to [e], including an analysis of in what environments it
changes, the new pairing of allophones with phonemes, different types of sound change,
and an analysis of data I generated and conclusions I made.