Italian phonology

Notes: In Italian phonemic distinction between long and short vowels is rare and limited to a few words and one morphological class, namely the pair composed by the first and third person of the historic past in verbs of the third conjugation—compare sentii (/senˈtiː/, "I felt/heard'), and sentì (/senˈti/, "he felt/heard").

Normally vowels in stressed open syllables, unless word-final, are long at the end of the intonational phrase (including isolated words) or when emphasized.

Word-final unstressed /u/ is rare, [28] found in onomatopoeic terms (babau),[29] loanwords (guru),[30] and place or family names derived from the Sardinian language (Gennargentu,[31] Porcu).

[37] A competing analysis accepts that while the syllabification /s.C/ is accurate historically, modern retreat of i-prosthesis before word initial /s/+C (e.g. erstwhile con isforzo 'with effort' has generally given way to con sforzo) suggests that the structure is now underdetermined, with occurrence of /s.C/ or /.sC/ variable "according to the context and the idiosyncratic behaviour of the speakers.

The last combination is however rare and one of the approximants is often vocalised, e.g. quieto /kwiˈɛto, kuˈjɛto/, continuiamo /kontinuˈjamo, kontinwiˈamo, ((kontiˈnwjamo))/ The nucleus is the only mandatory part of a syllable (for instance, a 'to, at' is a word) and must be a vowel or a diphthong.

However, "rising diphthongs" (or sequences of an approximant and a following vowel) may precede clusters with falling sonority, particularly those that stem historically from an obstruent+liquid onset.

This type normally originates in language history: modern a, for example, derives from Latin AD, and today's geminate in [akˈkaːza] is a continuation of what was once a simple assimilation.

To summarize, syntactic gemination occurs in standard Italian mainly in the following two cases:[44] Syntactic gemination is the normal native pronunciation in central Italy (both "stress-induced" and "lexical") and southern Italy (only "lexical"), including Sicily and Corsica (France).

In northern Italy and Sardinia, San Marino, Ticino and Italian Grisons (Switzerland) speakers use it inconsistently because the feature is not present in the dialectal substratum and is not usually shown in the written language unless a new word is produced by the fusion of the two: "chi sa"-> chissà ("who knows" in the sense of goodness knows).

The above IPA symbols and description refer to standard Italian, based on a somewhat idealized version of the Tuscan-derived national language.

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.

Although it still represents the basics for the standard variety, 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, many of which are shared with Umbria, southern Marche and northern Lazio.

Ambient language plays an increasingly significant role as children begin to solidify early syllable structure.

[53][54] This goal, acting simultaneously with the child's initial inability to produce polysyllabic words, often results in weak-syllable deletion.

Compared to those children whose mother tongue exhibits closed syllable structure (CVC,CCVC, CVCC, etc.

), Italian-speaking children develop this segmentation awareness earlier, possibly due to its open syllable structure (CVCV, CVCVCV, etc.).

[56] Rigidity in Italian (shallow orthography and open syllable structure) makes it easier for Italian-speaking children to be aware of those segments.

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.

6 Proprio mentre si trovavano lì, venne il tempo per lei di partorire.

A rough phonetic transcription of the audio sample is: 2:1 [iŋ ˈkwɛi ˈdʒorni un deˈkreːto di ˈtʃeːzare auˈɡusto ordiˈnaːva ke si faˈtʃɛsːe un tʃensiˈmento di ˈtutːa la ˈtɛrːa2 ˈkwɛsto ˈpriːmo tʃensiˈmento fu ˈfatːo ˈkwando kwiˈriːno ˈeːra ɡovernaˈtoːre dɛlːa ˈsiːrja3 ˈtutːi anˈdaːvano a ˈfarsi redʒiˈstraːre tʃaˈskuːno nɛlːa ˈprɔːprja tʃiˈtːa4 ˈaŋke dʒuˈzɛpːe ke ˈeːra dɛlːa ˈkaːza e dɛlːa faˈmiʎːa di ˈdaːvide dalːa tʃiˈtːa di ˈnadzːaret e dalːa ɡaliˈleːa si reˈkɔ in dʒuˈdeːa nɛlla tʃiˈtːa di ˈdaːvide kjaˈmaːta beˈtlɛmːe 5 per ˈfarsi redʒiˈstraːre inˈsjeːme a maˈriːa swa ˈspoːza ke ˈeːra inˈtʃinta6 ˈprɔːprjo ˈmentre si troˈvaːvano ˈli ˈvɛnːe il ˈtempo per ˈlɛi di partoˈriːre7 ˈmiːze al ˈmondo il swo primoˈdʒeːnito, lo aˈvːɔlse iɱ ˈfaːʃe e lo deˈpoːze in ˈuːna mandʒaˈtɔːja poiˈke non ˈtʃeːra ˈpɔsto per ˈloːro nɛlːa loˈkanda] The standard Italian pronunciation of the text is: 2:1 [iŋ ˈkwei ˈdʒorni un deˈkreːto di ˈtʃeːzare auˈɡusto ordiˈnaːva ke sːi faˈtʃesːe un tʃensiˈmento di ˈtutːa la ˈtɛrːa2 ˈkwesto ˈpriːmo tʃensiˈmento fu ˈfːatːo ˈkwando kwiˈriːno ˈɛːra ɡovernaˈtoːre delːa ˈsiːrja3 ˈtutːi anˈdaːvano a ˈfːarsi redʒiˈstraːre tʃaˈskuːno nelːa ˈprɔːprja tʃiˈtːa4 ˈaŋke dʒuˈzɛpːe ke ˈɛːra delːa ˈkaːsa e dːelːa faˈmiʎːa di ˈdaːvide dalːa tʃiˈtːa dːi ˈnadzːaret e dːalːa ɡaliˈlɛːa si reˈkɔ in dʒuˈdɛːa nelːa tʃiˈtːa dːi ˈdaːvide kjaˈmaːta beˈtlɛmːe 5 per ˈfarsi redʒiˈstraːre inˈsjɛːme a mːaˈriːa ˈsuːa ˈspɔːza ke ˈɛːra inˈtʃinta6 ˈprɔːprjo ˈmentre si troˈvaːvano ˈli ˈvenːe il ˈtɛmpo per ˈlɛi di partoˈriːre7 ˈmiːse al ˈmondo il ˈsuːo primoˈdʒɛːnito, lo aˈvːɔlse iɱ ˈfaʃːe e lːo deˈpoːse in ˈuːna mandʒaˈtoːja poiˈke nːon ˈtʃɛːra ˈposto per ˈloːro nelːa loˈkanda]