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Cyrillization of French

{{short description|Transliteration of French into Russian Cyrillic script}}

Russian uses phonetic transcription for the Cyrillization of its many loanwords from French. Some use is made of Cyrillic's iotation features to represent French's front rounded vowels and etymologically-softened consonants.

Consonants

In the table below, the symbol {{angle bracket|ʲ}} represents either a "softened" consonant or the approximant {{IPA|/j/}}. When applicable, a softened consonant can be indicated in transcription either by a following iotated vowel or by {{angle bracket|ь}}.

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; width: 90%; margin-bottom: 10px;"

|+ Russian transcription of French consonants

! scope="col" colspan=2|French

! scope="col" rowspan=2| Russian
transcription

! scope="col" rowspan=2|Examples

! scope="col" rowspan=2|Comments

scope="col" |phoneme(s)

! scope="col" |grapheme(s)

[b]

|b

|б

|bateau-lavoir – бато-лавуар

|

[ʃ]

|ch

|ш

|Charles – Шарль

|

[d]

|d

|д

|Bordeaux – Бордо

|

[f]

|f, ph

|ф

|Foucault – Фуко

|

[ɡ]

|g, gu

|г

|Guillaume – Гийом

|

[ɲ]

|gn

|нь

|Boulogne – Булонь

|

rowspan=2| –

|rowspan=2|h

| –

|Humanité – Юманите

|

г

|Hugo – Гюго
Le Havre – Гавр

|often in the case of h aspiré

[ʒ]

|j, g(e)

|ж

|Jean – Жан

|

[k]

|c, qu, k

|к

|Camus – Камю

|

rowspan="2" |[l]

| rowspan="2" |l

|ль

|Gilbert – Жильбер

|before a consonant or at the end of a word

л

|Louvre – Лувр

|before vowels

[lj]

|li

|ль

|Montpellier – Монпелье

|

[m]

|m

|м

|monde – монд

|

[n]

|n

|н

|Rhône – Рона

|

[ŋ]

|ng

|нг

|

|

[p]

|p

|п

|Pierre – Пьер

|

[ʁ]

|r

|р

|Renoir – Ренуар

|

[s]

|s, ç, c

|с

|Rousseau – Руссо

|

[sj]

|ti

|сь

|Libération – Либерасьон

|

[t]

|t

|т

|pointe – пуэнт

|

[v]

|v

|в

|Verlaine – Верлен

|

[w]

|w

|в

|Gwénaël – Гвенаэль

|sometimes transliterated with {{angle bracket|у}} in loanwords from English

[ks]

[kz]

[gz]

|x

|кс

кз

гз

|Xavier – Ксавье

Saint-Exupéry – Сент-Экзюпери

| according to the pronunciation of the {{angle bracket|x}}

rowspan="3" | [j]

| rowspan="2" | y, i, il(l)

|й

|yeuse – йёз
Bayard – Байяр
Guillaume – Гийом

|after a vowel or word-initially

ь

|Lavoisier – Лавуазье

| after a consonant

il(l)

|ль

|Marseille – Марсель

|frozen form

[z]

|z, s

|з

|Vierzon – Вьерзон

|

Doubled French consonants remain doubled in their Russian transcription: Rousseau – Руссо. Silent consonants (common in French) are generally not transcribed, except where they exist in the surface form due to liaison.

Vowels

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; width: 100%; margin-bottom: 10px;"

|+Russian transcription of French vowels

! scope="col" colspan=2|French

! scope="col" rowspan=2| Russian
transcription

! scope="col" rowspan=2|Examples

! scope="col" rowspan=2|Comments

scope="col" |phoneme(s)

! scope="col" |grapheme(s)

[a], [ɑ]

|a, â

|а

|Charles – Шарль

|

rowspan="2" | [e], [ɛ]

| rowspan="2" | é, è, ê, ai, e

|е

|René – Рене

|

э

|Edmond – Эдмон
Citroën – Ситроэн

|at the beginning of a word, following a vowel, or rarely for {{IPA|[ɛ]}} at the end of a word

rowspan="2" |[ø], [œ]

| rowspan="2" |eu, œ, œu

|ё

|Villedieu – Вильдьё

| {{angle bracket|ё}} is generally simplified to {{angle bracket|е}} in Russian

э

|Eugène – Эжен
Maheu – Маэ

|at the beginning of a word, or after a vowel

rowspan="2" |[ə], —

| rowspan="2" |e

| –

|Charles – Шарль

|e muet

е

|De Gaulle – Де Голль

|only in cases where {{IPA|[ə]}} is usually pronounced, e.g., le, de, que, rebelle, etc.

[i]

|i, y

|и

|Village – Виляж

|

[o], [ɔ]

|o, au, ô

|o

|Rhône – Рона

|

[wa]

|oi

|уа

|Troyes – Труа

|

[u], [w]

|ou

|у

|Louvre – Лувр

|

[y], {{IPAblink|ɥ}}

|u

|ю

|L'Humanité – Юманите

|

[ɑ̃]

|an, am, en, em

|ан, ам

|Ambroise – Амбруаз
Occidental – Оксиданталь

|rowspan=5|nasal vowels are written as the corresponding oral vowel followed by {{IPA|/n/}} (or {{IPA|/m/}} before {{IPA|/m, b, p/}})

[ɛ̃]

|in, en, ain

|ен, ем, эн, эм

|Saintes – Сент
Ain – Эн

[ɔ̃]

|on, om

|он, ом

|Comte – Конт

[œ̃]

|un

|ен, ем, эн, эм

|Verdun – Верден

[wɛ̃]

|oin

|уэн

| pointe – пуэнт

Finally, the softened consonants modify the following vowels:

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; width: 100%; margin-bottom: 10px;"

|+ Palatalization

! rowspan="2" scope="col" | hard Russian vowel

! colspan="2" scope="col" | softening

! rowspan="2" scope="col" | Examples

! rowspan="2" scope="col" | Comments

scope="col" | After a vowel or {{angle bracket|й}}

! scope="col" |After a consonant or {{angle bracket|ь}}

ʲа

| colspan="2" |я

|cognac – коньяк
Bayard – Байяр

|

ʲе ; ʲё

|ие, йе ; йё

|ье ; ьё

|trieur – триер
Cahiers du cinéma – Кайе дю синема
Richelieu – Ришелье

|

э

| colspan="4" | {{angle bracket|э}} never follows a softened consonant

ʲи

|йи

|ьи

|Tilly – Тийи

|

ʲо

|йо

|ьо

|Chillon – Шильон

|

ʲу

| colspan="2" | ю

|

|

ʲю

|йю

|ью

|

|

ʲ

| colspan="4" | before a consonant or at the end of a word, softening is written with {{angle bracket|ь}}

Neither {{angle bracket|й}} nor {{angle bracket|ь}} are doubled.

Bibliography

  • Paul Garde, La Transcription des noms propres français en russe, Paris, Institut d'études slaves, 1974, 63 pages, 25 cm, collection « Documents pédagogiques de l'Institut d'études slaves » n° X, {{ISBN|2-7204-0090-4}}

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French

Category:French language