French is the official language of 31 countries and there are a large number of French dialects. In this chapter, we focus on French spoken in France, specifically, the dialect that is theoretically taught in school (this variety is also named français de référence ‘Reference French’). French has 17 consonants, 3 semi-vowels and 14 vowels, where 11 are oral and 3 are nasal. It allows for consonant clusters word-initially, word-medially and word-finally. There are several studies of children’s acquisition of French that demonstrate that French phonology tends to be acquired quite early. Researchers have focused on children with developmental language disorders. Common speech assessments include picture naming tasks, word and nonword repetition.

Key words:
French, multilingual, communication, speech, language, children’s development, interdisciplinary, international communities, assessment, intervention

Book chapter:
Almeida, L., & dos Santos, C. (2025). French (France) speech development. In S. McLeod (Ed.). The Oxford handbook of speech development in languages of the world. Oxford University Press.

Language overview presentation:

• Almeida, L., & dos Santos, C. (2024). French (France): Multilingual children’s speech development. Charles Sturt University, Australia. https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/languages
• Video: French (France) [French version] – Children’s Speech Development
• Video: French (France) [English version] – Children’s Speech Development
• PowerPoint: French (France) [French version] – Children’s Speech Development (pdf)
• PowerPoint: French (France) [English version] – Children’s Speech Development (pdf)

This presentation relates to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
• SDG 4: Quality Education
• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
• SDG 17: Partnerships to Achieve the Goals