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Alphabet & Pronunciation
Italian alphabet, vowels, double consonants, c/g rules and stress
Fonologia: il sistema vocalico
Phonology: the vowel system
seven vowel phonemes (open/closed e, o)
Italian has 7 vowel sounds: closed/open e and o
e/o aperte e chiuse
Open and closed e/o
pésca (fishing) vs pèsca (peach)
Vowel openness can distinguish words
Raddoppiamento fonosintattico
Syntactic doubling
a casa [akkasa], è bello [ebbello]
Initial consonant doubles after certain words
Accento e significato
Stress and meaning
àncora (anchor) vs ancòra (still)
Stress placement can change meaning
Intonazione regionale
Regional intonation
northern vs southern patterns
Italian intonation varies notably by region
La s sorda e sonora
Voiceless and voiced s
casa [z] vs sasso [s]
Intervocalic s often voiced in the north
Le consonanti doppie: produzione
Producing double consonants
fato vs fatto
Gemination is phonemic and must be mastered
Pronuncia standard vs regionale
Standard vs regional pronunciation
gli, c, s variation
Differences between standard and regional speech
Dittonghi mobili
Mobile diphthongs
buono/bontà, viene/venire
Diphthong appears only under stress
Troncamento e elisione
Truncation and elision
buon, quell', un'
Rules for dropping vowels/syllables