Sons et lettres: A Pronunciation Method for Intermediate-level French

7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Portland State University has provided significant institutional support for this project in the form of a Professional Development Grant from the Office of Academic Affairs, technology fund support from the Department of World Languages & Literatures, and most recently through a grant from the PSU Library’s Open Textbook program, which made publication possible. I am deeply grateful for these sources of support. I wish to thank Jennifer Perlmutter, Gina Greco, Annabelle Dolidon, Stéphanie Roulon, my colleagues in the Department of World Languages and Literatures, as well as retired chair Sandra Freels, for their prodding and their encouragement of this project, and for their unfailing collaboration and congeniality. I also wish to thank the many PSU teaching assistants and instructors in 2nd-year French who have provided feedback and encouragement along the way. A number of individuals contributed to the creation of the Sons et lettres website, and I especially want to acknowledge the following individuals for sharing their talents: Markus Weltin, PSU programmer and systems analyst who created the application prototype; Drew Fisher, web designer who developed the user interface and enthusiastically partnered with me to implement many new features; and finally, the several francophone voices at the heart of the web application audio: Annabelle Dolidon, Nicolas Hinsinger, Isabelle Francou, Marine Léonard, Marc Botton, Stéphane Tullio and Matthias Bladou. Special thanks go to the readers who evaluated and critiqued the initial manuscript: Professor Amanda Dalola (U. South Carolina), whose insightful suggestions improved the manuscript; and Professor Diane Dansereau (U. Denver), whose 1995 French Review article first inspired and then nourished the project, and whose generosity with her time and editorial suggestions put the wind in my sails and shaped the form of the book. I am grateful to both for their contributions, which have made Sons et lettres a much better book. For any errors and flaws which remain, the responsibility is entirely my own. For their help transforming the manuscript into this book, I thank Brendan Brown, the copy editor, for his stylistic guidance; Christian Lagadec, the designer, for his patience, creative collaboration and technical savoir faire ; and above all, Karen Bjork, Head of Digital Initiatives in the PSU Library, whose guidance, encouragement, flexibility and sunny disposition have been invaluable in equal measure. Finally, I would like to thank Joe Alexander, who helped me clear away the obstacles and see this project through to completion; and my wife, Shawna Gandy, who started it all with her support of my career, and for her continuing encouragement, patience and devotion.