French Belgium (fr-BE)

This documentation was updated on November 22, 2023.

Creating grammars

The following subsections describe key issues for working with grammar documents in Belgian French.

Character encoding

Nuance has full internal Unicode support. Create your grammars using UTF-8 or Latin-1 (also known as ISO-8859-1) character encoding. For example, your grammar header might be:

<?xml version=‘1.0’ encoding=‘UTF-8’?>

<grammar xml:lang=“fr-BE” version=“1.0” root=“test”>

Below are codes for writing some common French characters. These are useful if you do not have access to a French keyboard, and are typed by pressing the ALT key while entering digits on your keyboard (after typing the last digit, the desired character appears on your screen when you release the Alt key):

Alt/0224 = à	Alt/0238 = î
Alt/0226 = â	Alt/0239 = ï
Alt/0231 = ç	Alt/0244 = ô
Alt/0233 = é	Alt/0246 = ö
Alt/0232 = è	Alt/0251 = û
Alt/0234 = ê	Alt/0252 = ü
Alt/0235 = ë	Alt/0249 = ù

If you do not have access to a keyboard for your target language, you can use the Windows character map. (Choose the “System” font and the “Latin-1” subset.)

Start→Programs→Accessories→System Tools→Character Map

alphanum_lc built-in grammar

The alphanum_lc built-in grammar recognizes a connected string of up to 20 digits and lower case alphabetic characters. For example, this grammar could be used to recognize a product code or order number.

Characters are the letters a-z, and à â ç é è ê ë î ï ô ö û ü ù. Digits are 0-9.

NOTE: The alphanum_lc built-in grammar replaces the alphanum built-in grammar.

alphanum built-in grammar

The alphanum built-in grammar recognizes a connected string of up to 20 digits and alphabetic characters. For example, this grammar could be used to recognize a product code or order number.

Characters are the letters a-z, and à â ç é è ê ë î ï ô ö û ü ù. Digits are 0-9.

boolean built-in grammar

The boolean grammar collects an affirmative or negative response.

Properties

The y and n parameters let you associate any two touchtone buttons as synonyms for yes and no.

Parameter	Description
y	Desired DTMF digit to be equivalent to “oui” (default = 1)
n	Desired DTMF digit to be equivalent to “non” (default = 2)

Examples

Caller says	MEANING key
oui	true
non	false

ccexpdate built-in grammar

The ccexpdate grammar understands the expiration date on a credit card. Expiration dates are usually a month and a year, and are often embossed on a credit card in the form “mm/yy.” The grammar recognizes variations on the date, for example, “juin 2005,” “zéro six zéro cinq,” “juin trente slash zéro cinq,” “six barre oblique zéro cinq,” etc.

creditcard built-in grammar

The creditcard grammar understands a caller saying a credit card number, optionally preceding the number with the credit card name, or the words “account number” or “account.” For example, a caller can say, “Visa affaires numéro quatre zéro un sept …,” “mastercard numéro de compte cinq huit sept…,” or “deux deux cinq deux cinq….”

currency built-in grammar

The currency grammar collects currency amounts using Euro and Cent or centime.

MEANING

Contains a string in the following form: currencymain_unit_amount.subunit_amount If the caller explicitly says “euro,” “cent,” or “centime,” then a currency value of EUR is added as a prefix. If the caller does not explicitly indicate the currency type, then no prefix is added. If the caller omits the main unit or subunit amount, then that field is zero. The string contains a leading zero if the subunit amount is collected without the main unit.

SWI_literal

Contains the exact text that was recognized.

Examples

Caller says	MEANING
cinq euros	EUR5.00
cinq centimes	EUR0.05
cinq euros et cinq cents cinq euros et cinq centimes cinq euros cinq	EUR5.05
cinq vingt-cinq cinq virgule vingt-cinq	5.25
six cent vingt-cinq mille quatre cent soixante-quatre euros six cent vingt-cinq mille quatre cent soixante-quatre euros et zéro centime six cent vingt-cinq mille quatre cent soixante-quatre euros zéro centime six cent vingt-cinq mille quatre cent soixante-quatre euros zéro cent	EUR625464.00
un euro un euro et zéro centime un euro zéro centime un euro zéro cent	EUR1.00
un euro vingt-deux centimes un euro et vingt-deux centimes un euro et vingt-deux cents	EUR1.22

date built-in grammar

The date grammar accepts a date spoken in any of several formats. Recognized phrases include “4 Juin,” “4 Juin 2006,” ““4-6-2006,” “le quatre du six,” and “Lundi, le 4 Juin.”

The grammar also accepts “hier,” “aujourd’hui,” and “demain” which return values of -1, 0, and +1 respectively into the MEANING key.

Examples

Caller says	MEANING key
le 5 janvier 2000 le 5 janvier de l’an 2000 zéro cinq zéro un deux mille cinq un deux mille	20000105
hier	-1
avant-hier	(Phrase not recognized)
aujourd’hui	0
demain	+1
après-demain	(Phrase not recognized)
le quatre zéro quatre	??????04
mercredi	(Phrase not recognized)
mercredi le 12 mercredi 12	??????12
le quatre juin quatre juin	????0604
le quatre juin mille neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-sept quatre juin mille neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-sept	19970604
le quatre juin quatre-vingt-dix-sept quatre juin quatre-vingt-dix-sept	??970604
mercredi quatre juin mille neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-sept le mercredi quatre juin mille neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-sept le quatre juin mille neuf cent nonante-sept	19970604
le six zéro six	??????06
le six avril zéro six zéro quatre	????0406
le mercredi 12	??????12
le dix décembre dix douze le dix du douze	????1210
le dix du douze quatre-vingt deux	??821210
le dix décembre quatre-vingt-dix-sept dix douze quatre-vingt-dix-sept	??971210

digits built-in grammar

Valid characters are the digits 0-9.

number built-in grammar

The number grammar recognizes whole numeric numbers (the caller must not speak the individual digits).

Examples

Numbers from -999,999,999.99 to 999,999,999.99 are recognized. For example:

Caller says	MEANING key
vingt-cinq	25
douze mille trois cent quarante-cinq	12345
moins quatre	-4
quatorze virgule cinquante-six	14.56
six virgule deux sept neuf deux	6.2792

phone built-in grammar

Telephone numbers (national landline and cellular numbers, toll-free numbers, emergency numbers). Extensions are allowed.

In Belgium no phone numbers can be dialed without area code, except for the special numbers 100, 101, and 112. The grammar allows phrases such as “zéro deux cent cinquante-deux trente-quatre zéro huit” and “zéro onze trente-deux cinquante-cinq treize” as well as responses of just digits.

Properties

As stipulated in the VoiceXML specification, the caller may specify an extension. By default, extensions of one to four digits long are supported.

Property	Description
minextension	Minimum numeric value allowed for an extension.
maxextension	Maximum numeric value allowed for an extension. Set this to 0 to disallow extensions.

postcode built-in grammar

The postcode grammar recognizes valid four-digit postal codes in Belgium. The grammar allows phrases such as “quatre mille cent quarante” and “cinquante-cinq trente” as well as responses of just digits.

socialsecurity built-in grammar

The socialsecurity grammar understands 11-digit Belgium Social Security numbers. For example, a caller can say: “neuf neuf un deux trois un neuf neuf neuf quatre zéro.”

time built-in grammar

The time grammar recognizes spoken time utterances from the caller. Recognized phrases include times given in 12-hour format (for example, “cinq heures”) and 24-hour format (“vingt-trois heures quinze”). In addition, it recognizes “qualified” times such as “avant cinq heures.”

Return keys/values

The time grammar returns the keys listed in the Language Pack Guide, and recognizes these values for the QUALIFIER key:

QUALIFIER	Either “exact”, “approx” (abbreviation for approximately), “before”, or “after” depending on whether the caller spoke a word to qualify the time The default is “exact”, if no qualifier is heard. Here is a list of phrases that set the qualifier: approx = à_peu_près, environ, approximativement, autour_de, vers, aux_environs_de before = avant after = à_partir_de, après

Examples

For each entry, the values returned in the MEANING and QUALIFIER keys are shown. (Not shown are the values of the HOUR, MINUTE, and AMPM keys.)

Caller says	MEANING	QUALIFIER
tout de suite immédiatement	(Phrases not recognized)	--
dans une demi-heure	(Phrase not recognized)	--
à midi	1200p	exact
à minuit	0000a	exact
avant midi	1200p	before (Beware that the caller might have intended “approx.”)
après treize heures trente	1330h	after
vingt heures vingt	2020h	exact
huit heures vingt	0820?	exact
huit heures vingt du matin	0820a	exact
huit heures trente huit heures et demie	0830?	exact
dix-neuf heures quinze	1915h	exact
sept heures et quart du soir	0715p	exact
une heure	0100?	exact
une heure du matin	0100a	exact
vingt-quatre heures minuit zéro heures	0000h	exact

Vocabulary items and pronunciations

This chapter describes considerations for vocabularies and their pronunciations in Belgian French (fr-BE).

Specially tuned pronunciations

The following list shows common words that are fine-tuned by Nuance.

Words with tuned pronunciations (do not modify):

• All letters of the alphabet, a-z and and à â ç é è ê ë î ï ô ö û ü ù
• oui, non
• Monetary units: Euro, Euros, Cent, Cents
• Cardinal numbers: 0-1000

Belgian French pronunciations

This section provides detailed reference information to help create pronunciation dictionaries. It is intended for people who have sufficient knowledge of the French language as spoken in Belgium. It provides information about transcription and pronunciation.

This section explains all the phonemes and their SAMPA symbols used in French. As a reference pronunciation dictionary we use:

Le Nouveau Petit Robert (Pons); Dictionnaire de la Langue Française.
Paris: Dictionnaires Le Robert (Klett) 1995. (ISBN 2-85036-500-9)

If you are not sure how a certain word is pronounced you can refer to the IPA transcriptions given there and then convert them into the SAMPA symbols, given in the alphabetic SAMPA-IPA table ( The Belgian French symbol set in alphabetical order ).

The Belgian French phoneme system

The French phoneme system can be divided into three groups:

• Consonants
• Semi-consonants
• Vowels

Furthermore, it is possible to define five different types of consonants:

• Plosives
• Fricatives
• Laterals
• Trills
• Nasals

Within the vowel group, further distinctions can be made between oral and nasal vowels. The weak vowel /@/ (e instable' / e muet’) represents a special characteristic among the group of vowels.

Belgian French symbol set grouped by phoneme classes

Phoneme class	SAMPA	IPA	Examples of usage
Consonants	Plosives	b	b
p	p	pont	/po~/
g	g	gant	/ga~/
k	k	quand	/ka~/
d	d	dans	/da~/
t	t	temps	/ta~/
Fricatives	v	v	vent
f	f	femme	/fam/
z	z	zone	/zon/
s	s	sans	/sa~/
Z	Z	gens	/Za~/
S	S	champ	/Sa~/
Lateral	l	l	long
Trill	R	ʀ	rond
Nasals	m	m	mont
n	n	nom	/no~/
J	ɲ	bagne	/baJ/
Semi-consonants		H	ɥ
w	w	oui	/wi/
j	j	bouillir	/bujiR/
Vowels	Oral vowels	O	O
o	o	gros	/gRo/
9	œ	b?uf	/b9f/
2	ø	feu	/f2/
a	a	patte	/pat/
y	y	du	/dy/
i	ɪ / ɪ̆	si	/si/
u	u	doux	/du/
e	e	chanter	/Sa~te/
E	ɛ	anglaise	/a~glEz@/
Weak vowel	@	ə	justement
Nasal vowels	9~	œ̃	brun
a~	ã	vent	/va~/
e~	ɛ̃	vin	/ve~/
o~	õ	bon	/bo~/

Belgian French consonants

The French consonant system comprises:

• six plosives
• six fricatives
• one lateral
• one trill
• three nasals
• three semi-consonants

Plosives

There are three voiced and three voiceless plosives in French, which can be arranged in pairs as shown here:

Voiced	Voiceless
/b/	bain arbre snob	/be~/ /aRbR/ /snOb/
/g/	gant examen vague	/ga~/ /Egzame~/ /vag/
/d/	dans cadre sud	/da~/ /kadR/ /syd/

Fricatives

There are six fricatives in French, three voiceless and three voiced:

Voiced	Voiceless
/v/	vent avènement grave	/va~/ /avEnma~/ /gRav/
/z/	zone cousin gaz	/zon/ /kuze~/ /gaz/
/Z/	gens ajour litige	/Za~/ /aZuR/ /litiZ/

Laterals

The phoneme /l/ is the only lateral in the French SAMPA symbol set.

/l/	long élastique avril	/lo~/ /elastik/ /avRil/

Trills

The French SAMPA symbol set consists of one trill, the phoneme /R/:

/R/	rond horrible corps	/Ro~/ /ORibl/ /kOR/

Nasals

There are three nasals in the French SAMPA symbol system, /m/, /n/, and /J/.

/m/	mont comment chrome	/mo~/ /kOma~/ /kRom/
/n/	nom année saine	/no~/ /ane/ /sEn/
/J/	gnouf oignon gagne	/Juf/ /OJo~/ /gaJ/

Semi-consonants

In French orthography, semi-consonants occur as conjunctions of two vowels. But they are neither diphthongs, nor vowels. Phonetically they can be interpreted as a sequence of a consonantal element and a vowel.

There are three semi-consonants in French, /H/, /w/, and /j/:

/H/	huile juin	/Hil/ /ZHe~/
/w/	waters coin	/watER/ /kwe~/
/j/	milieu douille	/milj2/ /duj/

The /j/ consonant can also be a pure consonant as in the following words:

-y-	yucca voyage paye	/juka/ /vwajaZ/ /pEj/
-ill-	fille vieillard	/fij/ /vjEjaR/

Belgian French vowels

Orals, short and long vowels

There are ten so-called oral vowels in French. Four of these can be divided into two groups according to their length of articulation: short or long. The remaining six vowels can be used as either long or short.

The long and short vowel groups are shown in the following table:

Short	Long
/O/	automne pomme
/9/	?uf b?uf

The other six oral vowels are:

/a/	âme battre mât	/am/ /batR/ /m a /
/y/	utile durée accru	/ytil/ /dyRe/ /akRy/
/i/	il analyse idiotie	/il/ /analiz/ /idjOsi/
/u/	outrager soutenir clou	/utRaZe/ /sutniR/ /klu/
/e/	épée vétérinaire pied	/epe/ /veteRinER/ /pje/
/E/	aisance faire doublet	/Eza~s/ /fER/ /dublE/

Weak vowel /@/: “e muet” / “e instable”

French also has the weak vowel /@/ which is short and occurs only in unstressed positions. It mostly occurs in affixes and at the end of syllables:

/@/	tenir ce	/t@niR/ /s@/

At the end of a word, the `e muet’ is silent and not spoken (as in entre /a~tR/). If it appears in the middle of a word, it is almost silent, so that a variant should be introduced. For example:

entretenir	a~tr@tniR
entretenir <a~tr@t@niR>	a~tr@t@niR

Nasal vowels

In French there are four so-called nasal vowels: /9~/, /a~/, /e~/, and /o~/.

/9~/	humble tungstène brun	/9~bl/ /t9~gstEn/ /bR9~/
/a~/	embêter avancer camp	/a~bEte/ /ava~se/ /ka~/
/e~/	impossible absinthe vin	/e~pOsibl/ /apse~t/ /ve~/
/o~/	ondulation compte bon	/o~dylasjo~/ /ko~t/ /bo~/

Specific pronunciation transcription methods

Coarticulation

For “phonemic” SAMPA transcription, coarticulation is only relevant for the French “liaisons,” which means the linking of the ending-s when a vowel follows. For example:

(Je) suis_allée	/swizale/

Pronunciation of x

The grapheme x can be pronounced in several ways:

/ks/	xénon fixer axe	/kseno~/ /fikse/ /aks/
/gz/	xanthine exact	/gza~tin/ /Egzakt/
/z/	deuxième	/d2zjEm/
/s/	incendie	/e~sa~di/

When x occurs in location names, there are often two different ways of pronouncing it, either as /ks/ or as /s/. For example:

Auxerre	/oksER/ or /osER/

Silent consonants

Consonants at the end of a word are often silent, for example:

drap	/dRa/
bout	/bu/
froid	/fRwa/
plomb	/plo~/
sang	/sa~/

The letter p between two consonants is sometimes silent, for example:

compte	/ko~t/
temps	/ta~/

The letter m before n is sometimes not pronounced, for example:

automne	/otOn/
condamner	/ko~dane/

Transcription of the grapheme t

The letter t in combination with the letter i in the middle of a word can be pronounced as /s/, as in:

nation	/nasjo~/
initial	/inisjal/

Transcription of the grapheme combination gu

The letters gu can be pronounced as /g/, /gw/, or /gH/, for example:

guerre	/gER/
lingual	/le~gwal/
aiguille	/egHij/

The phoneme /s/ as initial sound of a word

The letter s at the beginning of a word is always pronounced /s/, for example:

son	/so~/

The letter c as the initial sound before the letters e, i, and y is also always pronounced /s/, for example:

centre	/sa~tR/
ciment	/sima~/
cygne	/siJ/

Gemination

Double /m/ can sometimes be pronounced. For example:

immobile	/immObil/
immense	/imma~s/

Usually the gemination is not considered in the Nuance Recognizer dictionary, but if it is necessary for your application you can consider to insert a variant. For details, see Multiple pronunciations (variants) .

Pronunciation of foreign words

To transcribe foreign words, you must use the French SAMPA symbol set. If you use a different symbol set your system will be incapable of understanding the input.

Every language has a different phoneme inventory, so you may have problems in covering each and every sound. For the most common cases we offer some transcription examples.

English words

Try to apply a pronunciation that has been adapted for French. For example:

camping	/ka~pin/

The transcription ‘k{mpIN’, cannot be realized because the English symbols ‘{’ and ‘N’ are not part of the French SAMPA symbol set. Other recommended transcriptions for English words are for example:

cheeseburger	/tSizb9Rg9R/
week-end	/wikEnd/

Multiple pronunciations (variants)

The type of pronunciation used in SAMPA and in the French dictionary conforms to the standard non-regional French pronunciation. It is possible for other varieties of French to occur in an application. If they markedly differ from the standard form, they should be transcribed as a separate variant, as in:

Anglet Anglet <a~glE>	a~glEt a~glE
Metz Metz <mEts>	mEs mEts

The Belgian French symbol set in alphabetical order

The following table shows the Belgian French symbol set in alphabetical order:

SAMPA	IPA	Examples of usage
2	ø	feu
9	œ	b?uf
9~	œ̃	brun
@	ə	justement
a	a	patte
a~	ã	vent
b	b	bon
d	d	dans
E	ɛ	anglaise
e	e	chanter
e~	ɛ̃	vin
f	f	femme
g	g	gant
H	ɥ	juin
i	ɪ / ɪ̆	si
J	ɲ	bagne
j	j	bouillir
k	k	quand
l	l	long
m	m	mont
n	n	nom
O	O	comme
o	o	gros
o~	õ	bon
p	p	pont
R	ʀ	rond
S	ʃ	champ
s	s	sans
t	t	temps
u	u	doux
v	v	vent
w	w	oui
y	y	du
Z	Z	gens
z	z	zone