Language and Diction: Singing in French - Between Theory and Practice

In order to provide a guide for singing French-language songs, this article summarizes how linguists have understood and explained French liaisons and vocalic harmonization. The performance of French-speaking singers on various recordings is surveyed and their interpretations are compared. Finally, the article analyzes how well the outcome of these surveys matches up with the established grammatical and phonetic rules, and if there is a method behind French singers' voices. A table outlines the vocal harmonization of a number of singers on several common French words.