Italian phonology

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This article is about the phonology of the Italian language. It deals with the phonology and phonetics of Standard Italian as well as with geographical variants.

1 Vowels
2 Consonants
3 Non-standard variants
- 3.1 /s/ ~ /z/
- 3.2 Gemination of /b/ and /dʒ/
4 Sample texts
5 References
6 Bibliography
7 See also

[edit] Vowels

Image:Italian vowel chart.gif

Vowels of Italian. From Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004:119)

Notes:

In Italian there is no phonemic distinction between long and short vowels. However, vowels in stressed open syllables are long (except when word-final).
The pairs /e/~/ɛ/ and /o/~/ɔ/ only contrast in stressed syllables. In unstressed syllables only /e/ and /o/ are found.
Stressed /o/ and unstressed /u/ are never found as the last phoneme of a word.
When the last phoneme of a word is an unstressed vowel and the first phoneme of the following word is any vowel, the former vowel tends to become non-syllabic. In Italian this phenomenon is called sinalefe and should be taken in account when counting syllables e.g. in poetry.

[edit] Consonants

**Consonants of Italian**^[1]
	Bilabial	Labio- dental	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m		n		ɲ
Plosive	p, b		t̪, d̪			k, g
Affricate			t̪s̪, d̪z̪	tʃ, dʒ
Fricative		f, v	s, z	ʃ
Trill			r
Lateral			l		ʎ
Approximant					j	w

Notes:

Between two vowels, or between a vowel and an approximant (/l/, /r/, /j/ or /w/), consonants can be both single or geminated. Geminated consonants belong to different syllables (this shortens the preceding vowel) and the first element is unreleased. For example, /fato/ [ˈfaː.t̪o] ~ /fatto/ [ˈfat̪̚.t̪o]. However, /ɲɲ/, /ʃʃ/, /ʎʎ/, are always geminated, except when they are at the beginning of the word and when they follow a consonant.
/z/ and /ŋ/ are the only consonants that cannot be geminated.
The trill /r/ is sometimes simplified to a flap [ɾ] when single.
Nasals assimilate to the point of articulation of whatever consonant they precede. For example, /ng/ is realized as [ŋg].
/s/ assimilates to the voicing of a consonant it precedes.

[edit] Non-standard variants

Main article: Italian dialects

Image:Wiki letter w.svg

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (January 2007)

The above IPA symbols refer to standard Italian, mainly based on the way Tuscan language is spoken in Rome and Milan. As is common in many cultures, this single version of the language was pushed as neutral, proper, and eventually superior, leading to some stigmatization of varying accents. Television news anchors and other high-profile figures had to put aside their regional Italian when in the public sphere. However, in more recent years the enforcement of this standard has fallen out of favor in Italy, and news reporters, actors, and the like are free to deliver their words in their native variety of Italian, which appeals to the Italian population's range of linguistic diversity. Though it is still technically the standard, the loosened restrictions have led to Tuscan being seen for what it is, just one dialect among many with its own regional peculiarities and qualities, shared though with Umbria, Southern Marche and Northern Lazio:

Single /p/, /t/, /k/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ between two vowels (even across word boundaries) are pronounced as [ɸ], [θ], [h], [ʃ] and [ʒ] respectively. Example: la casa /la ˈkaːsa/ [la ˈhaːsa].
In substandard accents of Central and Southern Italy stops at the end of a syllable completely assimilate to the following consonant.
Examples: a Venetian would say tecnica as [ˈtɛknika], while a Florentine should pronounce tecnica as [ˈtʰɛnniha], a Roman as [ˈtɛnnika].

[edit] /s/ ~ /z/

These phonemes are in complementary distribution everywhere except between two vowels within the same word, and even in this environment the minimal pairs are really few (fewer than a dozen). Even in standard Italian, there are many words in which now dictionaries indicate that both pronunciations are possible. Thus they have merged in many dialects: when between two vowels within the same word, it tends to always be pronounced /z/ in Northern Italy, and /s/ in Central and Southern Italy. The most notable example is the word casa ("house" or "home"): in Northern-Central Italy it is pronounced /ˈkaza/; in Southern-Central Italy it's pronounced /ˈkasa/.

[edit] Gemination of /b/ and /dʒ/

In popular Central and Southern Italian speech, /b/ and /dʒ/ tend to always be geminated ([bb] and [ddʒ]) when between two vowels, or a vowel and a sonorant (/j/, /w/, /l/, or /r/). Sometimes this is also used in written language (e.g. writing robba instead of roba) to suggest a regional accent.

[edit] Sample texts

From the Bible, Luke 2, 1-7 (for an English version click here)

You can listen to a rendition of this text as recorded by an Italian native speaker from Milan. One should notice that this speaker sometimes does not respect the standard pronunciation of the letter "e" (as represented in the phonetic translation), and he is at points unable to articulate correctly the rolling R: in Italian, he is said to have an 'R moscia' (soft R) (post-palatal R, technically, which many Italian have: they call it the "French R", although it looks more like an English R).

2:1 In quei giorni, un decreto di Cesare Augusto ordinava che si facesse un censimento di tutta la terra.
2 Questo primo censimento fu fatto quando Quirino era governatore della Siria.
3 Tutti andavano a farsi registrare, ciascuno nella propria città.
4 Anche Giuseppe, che era della casa e della famiglia di Davide, dalla città di Nazaret e dalla Galilea si recò in Giudea nella città di Davide, chiamata Betlemme,
5 per farsi registrare insieme a Maria, sua sposa, che era incinta.
6 Proprio mentre si trovavano lì, venne il tempo per lei di partorire.
7 Mise al mondo il suo primogenito, lo avvolse in fasce e lo depose in una mangiatoia, poiché non c'era posto per loro nella locanda.

Pronunciation:

2:1[in kwei ˈdʒorni un deˈkreːto di ˈtʃeːzare auˈɡusto ordiˈnaːva ke ssi faˈtʃesse un tʃensiˈmento di ˈtutta la ˈtɛrra.
2 ˈkwesto ˈpriːmo tʃensiˈmento fu fˈfatto ˈkwando kwiˈriːno ˈɛːra ɡovernaˈtoːre ˈdella ˈsiːrja.
3 ˈtutti anˈdaːvano a fˈfarsi redʒisˈtraːre, tʃasˈkuːno ˈnella ˈprɔːprja tʃitˈta.
4 ˈanke dʒuˈzɛppe, ke ˈɛːra ˈdella ˈkaːsa e dˈdella faˈmiʎʎa di ˈdaːvide, ˈdalla tʃitˈta di ˈnaddzarɛt e dˈdalla galiˈlɛːa si reˈkɔ in dʒuˈdɛːa ˈnella tʃitˈta di ˈdaːvide, kjaˈmaːta beˈtlɛmme,
5per ˈfarsi redʒisˈtraːre inˈsjɛːme a mmaˈriːa, ˈsuːa ˈspɔːza, ke ˈɛːra inˈtʃinta.
6 ˈprɔːprjo ˈmentre si troˈvaːvano li, ˈvenne il ˈtɛmpo per lɛi di partoˈriːre.
7 ˈmiːze al ˈmondo il ˈsuːo primoˈdʒɛːnito, lo avˈvɔlse in ˈfaʃʃe e llo deˈpoːze in ˈuːna mandʒaˈtoːja, poiˈke non tʃˈɛːra ˈposto per ˈloːro ˈnella loˈkanda.]