In this paper prosodic characteristics of French language are analysed with a corpus of radio interview. Intonation patterns are interpreted in terms of raising pattern, focal raising pattern and falling pattern. Accentual prominence is classified in two types, rhythmic accent and focal accent. Focal accent permit to explain the cohesion in a utterance or between two utterances. As a prosodic variable of discourse pauses are described by their form of realization (filled pause, silent pause, hesitation etc), their distribution and their function in utterance.