NB FSL Oral Proficiency flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Liaison obligatoire

A linking sound between a final silent consonant and a following vowel, required after determiners and pronouns, as in 'les_amis' and 'vous_avez'.

Enchaînement

Linking of an already pronounced final consonant to a following vowel without any change of sound, as in 'elle_est' or 'avec_elle'.

H aspiré

A historically aspirated initial h that blocks liaison and elision, as in 'le héros' and 'en haut', unlike the mute h of 'l'homme'.

Ne deletion in speech

In informal spoken French the negative particle 'ne' is usually dropped, so 'je ne sais pas' is heard as 'je sais pas'.

Fast-speech reductions

Common contractions in casual speech, such as 'je suis' becoming /ʃɥi/ and 'il y a' becoming /ja/, which listeners must decode.

Stress-final rhythm

French accents fall on the last syllable of each rhythmic group, so non-final syllables are not stressed and final vowels lengthen.

Filled pause tolerance

Hesitation markers like 'euh' and 'ben' are accepted at roughly one per fifteen to twenty words before they signal a fluency breakdown.

Four-three-two technique

A fluency drill in which the same content is delivered in four, then three, then two minutes, raising speech rate while errors stay stable.

Self-repair

Correcting one's own error immediately and continuing; quick forward-moving repair supports fluency, while repeated restarts on one word do not.

Floor-holding markers

Discourse signals such as 'alors', 'donc', 'en fait' and 'écoutez' that mark boundaries and let a speaker keep the turn while planning.

Actuellement

A false friend meaning 'currently' or 'at present', not 'actually'; the English 'actually' corresponds to 'en fait' or 'effectivement'.

Assister à

A false friend meaning 'to attend' an event, not 'to assist' someone; 'to help' is 'aider' or 'assister quelqu'un'.

Fixed verb-noun collocations

Conventional verb-noun pairs such as 'prendre une décision', 'poser une question' and 'faire des recherches' that must be learned as units.

Register pairs

Synonym sets differing in formality, such as 'boulot/travail' and 'bouffer/manger', chosen according to the speaking situation.

Circumlocution strategy

Describing a missing word with a definition or category, as in 'une sorte de machine pour…', which preserves vocabulary range credit.

Nominalization for register

Replacing a verb clause with a noun phrase, as 'nous avons décidé' becoming 'notre décision de…', which raises the formality of speech.

Subjunctive triggers

Conjunctions and expressions requiring the subjunctive, including 'il faut que', 'bien que', 'avant que', 'pour que' and 'à condition que'.

Participe passé agreement

With 'avoir', the past participle agrees only with a preceding direct object, as in 'les lettres que j'ai écrites'.

Depuis with present

The present tense with 'depuis' expresses an action still ongoing, as in 'je travaille ici depuis 2019'.

Si clause tense rules

'Si' plus present leads to present, future or imperative; 'si' plus imperfect leads to conditional; 'si' plus conditional is never correct.

Pronoun order before verb

Object pronouns follow the order me/te/se/nous/vous, then le/la/les, then lui/leur, then y, then en, as in 'il me le donne'.

Relative pronoun dont

The relative pronoun replacing a phrase introduced by 'de', as in 'le livre dont je parle', equivalent to 'the book I am talking about'.

CaReFuL final consonants

Final c, r, f and l are usually pronounced in French, while most other final consonants stay silent, as in 'avec' and 'petit'.

Nasal vowel inventory

French has four nasal vowels: /ɛ̃/ in 'vin', /ɑ̃/ in 'vent', /ɔ̃/ in 'bon', and /œ̃/ in 'brun', which merges with /ɛ̃/ in some varieties.

Tu versus tout vowel

'Tu' uses the high front rounded vowel /y/ with spread lips, while 'tout' uses the back rounded /u/; the contrast carries meaning.

Schwa deletion

The optional dropping of unstressed 'e' in speech, as in 'je ne sais pas' pronounced /ʒn sɛ pa/, which is normal but can harm clarity.

Question intonation contours

Yes/no questions rise at the end, information questions fall, and statements fall; a misplaced rise can sound uncertain or unfinished.

Opinion answer structure

A coherence pattern for opinion tasks: state position, give two supports with examples, concede a counterpoint, then restate the position.

Softening disagreement

A politeness strategy using hedged formulas such as 'je vois ce que vous voulez dire, mais…' instead of a blunt 'non'.

Checking comprehension

An interaction move that confirms understanding, as in 'si j'ai bien compris, vous voulez dire que…', keeping the exchange accurate.

Vous versus tu

Formal 'vous' is used with strangers, superiors and in professional settings; 'tu' marks closeness, and uninvited switching is a pragmatic error.

Turn-taking moves

Explicit signals for initiating, holding and yielding the floor, such as 'j'aimerais revenir sur…' and 'qu'en pensez-vous?'.