Italian

Consonants
The Italian consonant system has 29 obstruents and 14 sonorants. The obstruents are classified along two dimensions, voiced vs. voiceless and single vs. geminate; the sonorants are (by definition) all voiced, but are also distinguished on the single-geminate axis, with the exception of two semivowel glides.

The voiced vs. voiceless distinction is normally manifested acoustically by the presence vs. absence of periodicity resulting from vocal fold vibration (cf. French).

There are six single and six geminate plosives, p b t d k g, pp bb tt dd kk gg, as follows:

	Symbol		Word			Transcription
	p		pane			"pane
	b		banco			"banko
	t		tana			"tana
	d		danno			"danno
	k		cane			"kane
	g		gamba			"gamba

	pp		coppa			"kOppa
	bb		gobba			"gObba
	tt		zitto			"tsitto
	dd		cadde			"kadde
	kk		nocca			"nOkka
	gg		fugga			"fugga

The plosives t, tt, d, dd have a dental, not an alveolar place of articulation.

There are four single and four geminate affricates, ts dz tS dZ, tts ddz ttS ddZ:

	ts		zitto			"tsitto
	dz		zona			"dzOna
	tS		cena			"tSena
	dZ		gita			"dZita

	tts		bozza			"bOttsa
	ddz		mezzo			"mEddzo
	ttS		braccio			"brattSo
	ddZ		oggi			"OddZi

There are five single and four geminate fricatives, f v s z S, ff vv ss SS:

	f		fame			"fame
	v		vano			"vano
	s		sano			"sano
	z		sbaglio			"zbaLLo (initial only in clusters)
	S		scendo			"Sendo

	ff		beffa			"bEffa
	vv		bevvi			"bevvi
	ss		cassa			"kassa
	SS		ascia			"aSSa

There are three single and three geminate nasals, m n J, mm nn JJ, three single and three geminate liquids, r l L, rr ll LL, and two semivowels, j w:

	m		molla			"mOlla
	n		nocca			"nOkka
	J		gnocco			"JOkko

	mm		grammo			"grammo
	nn		panna			"panna
	JJ		bagno			"baJJo

	r		rete			"rete
	l		lama			"lama
	L		gli			Li  (only in function words)

	rr		ferro			"fErro
	ll		colla			"kOlla
	LL		foglia			"fOLLa

	j		ieri			"jEri
	w		uomo			"wOmo

Note: the velar nasal N is an allophone of n used before a velar. It may be written either way, thus <banco> banko or baNko.

There is no single--geminate opposition for the following six consonants in intervocalic position (including across word boundaries):

Five are always geminate:	tts ddz SS JJ LL
One is always single:		z

Vowels
The vowel system comprises seven vowels, i e E a O o u:

	i		mite			"mite
	e		rete			"rete
	E		meta			"mEta
	a		rata			"rata
	O		moto			"mOto
	o		dove			"dove
	u		muto			"muto

In unstressed position, the oppositions e - E and o - O are often neutralised.

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Maintained by J.C. Wells. Created 1995 09 19, last modified 1996 03 18