Pronunciation and Spelling between english language and Italian Language

Pronunciation and Spelling 

Italian Language

1.  Vowels (Vocali)

Italian uses 5 letters (a, e, i, o, u) to denote its 7 vowels ([a], [], [e], [i], [], [o], [u]).

The letter a denotes a single sound, while the letters e and o may denote either an open ([] and []) or closed ([e] and [o]) sounds (note that open vowels occur in stressed syllables only); the pronunciation of the open and closed sounds may vary from one part of Italy to the other.

The letters i and u, on the other hand, have vocal ([i] and [u]) and semivocal ([j] and [w]) values; moreover the letter i may be silent in its function to palatalize a preceding c, g, or sc.

Italian vowels are short, clear-cut, and are never drawn out. The glide with which English vowels frequently end should be avoided.

The approximate English equivalents are as follows:

1. A is like a in the English word ah!, cf.:

amore m love;
antipasto m appetizer;
fama f fame;
sala f hall.

b.       E has two pronunciations:

• it is closed sound like e in the English word they (without the final i glide), cf.:
  bere v to drink;
  e conj and;
  fede f faith;
  me pron me;
• it is open sound like e in the word met (it occurs only in stressed syllable), cf.:
  bene adv well;
  è v is;
  festa f party; holiday;
  presto adv soon.

c.        I is used in 3 cases:

• to denote a vowel like i in machine, cf.:
  bimbo m child;
  libro m book;
  pino m pine;
  vino m wine;
• to denote a semivowel [j] like y in yet (it occurs before a vowel only), cf.:
  chiamare [kja-] v to call;
  fiama f flame;
  fiume m river;
  piuma f feather;
• the i is not pronounced in the combinations ci, gi, and sci when they are followed by a, o or u, unless the accent falls on the i; in these cases the letter i merely indicates that c, g and scare palatalized and pronounced, respectively, like the English ch, j and sh, cf.:
  arancia [aran'ta] f orange
  ciao [tao] interj hello! bye!;
  giornale [dor'nale] m newspaper
  giusto ['dusto] adj just, right;
  lasciare [la'are] v to leave;
  scienza ['entsa] f science
  NB! The stressed i, however, is pronounced:
  biologia f biology;
  bugia f lie.

d.       O has two pronunciations:

• it is closed sound like o in the English word oh!, cf.:
  dono m gift;
  mondo m world;
  nome m name;
  o conj or;
• it is open sound like o in or (it occurs only in stressed syllable), cf.:
  moda f fashion;
  no adv no;
  posta f mail;
  toga f toga.

e.        U is used in 2 cases:

• to denote a vowel like u in rule, cf.:
  fungo m mushroom
  luna f moon
  lungo adj long
  tubo m tube
• to denote a semivowel [w] like w in wet (it occurs before a vowel only), cf.:
  guardare v to guard;
  guerra f war.

Most Italian words end in a vowel. 

2.  Diphthongs (Dittonghi)

Diphthongs are two vowels fused to emit a single sound.

A diphthong is formed when an unstressed i or u combines with another vowel (a, e, o) or when the two vowels combine with each other, in which case either the i or u may remain unstressed. In diphthongs, unstressed i and u become semivowels approximating in sound the English consonants y and w, respectively.

• Diphthong examples:
  buono adj good;
  chiuso adj closed;
  fiore f flower;
  ieri adv yesterday;
  invidia f envy;
  più adv more.

3.  Tripthongs (Trittonghi)

Triphthongs also exist. These are sequences of three vowels with a single sound, usually a diphthong followed by an unstressed i, cf.:

o   buoi mpl oxen
miei pron pl mine
pigliai v (I) took
tuoi pron pl yours.

4.  Vocal Sequences

Italian has numerous words that contain sequences of vowels. The following words are not triphthongs (which are rare), but sequences of a vowel and a diphthong:

o    baia f bay;
febbraio m February;
fioraio m florist;
noia f boredom.

Each of the words below has a sequence of two diphthongs:

o    acquaio m sink;
ghiaia f gravel;
gioiello m jewel;
muoio v (I) die.

5.  Elision (Elisione)

The hiatus to be avoided, the function words drop their final vowel before a word beginning with a vowel. In these cases the apostrophe (l'apostrofo) is generally used to indicate this dropping, cf.:

o    lo amico => l’amico the friend;
la automobile => l’automobile the automobile;
una università => un’università a university;
di Italia => d’Italia of Italy;
dove è => dov’è where is.

The infinitives and masculine nouns may drop the final e without writing an apostrophe, cf.:

o    fare l'amore => far l'amore to make love;
dottore Nardi => dottor Nardi Dr. Nardi.

o     

6.  Consonants (Consonanti)

The consonants b, f, m, n, v are pronounced as in English.

The other consonants need specal treatment.

• C has two pronunciations:
• before a, o, u or a consonant, it is like the English k, cf.:

cane m dog;
con prep with;
culla f cradle;
credere v to think, believe;

• before e or i it is like the English sound ch in chest, cf.:

aceto m vinegar;
cena f supper;
cibo m food;
cipolla f onion.

• See also mute i.

• D is somewhat more explosive than in English, with the tongue near the tip of the upper teeth but with no aspiration, cf.:
• data f date;
  denaro m money;
  donna f woman;
  dove adv where.

• G has two pronunciations:
• before a, o, u or a consonant it is as in the English word go, cf.:
  gamba f leg;
  gomma f eraser;
  gusto m taste;
  grande adj great;
• before e or i it is like the j in jam, cf.:
  gelato m ice cream;
  gente f people;
  gita f outing;
  pagina f page.
• See also mute i.

• H is always silent; it is written in some form of the verb avere to have, in few other Italian words, and mainly in foreign words and names, cf.:
• ho v (I) have;
  hai v (you) have;
  ha v (he / she / it) has;
  hanno v (they) have;
  ahi! interj ouch!;
  hotel m hotel.

• L is sharper and more forward in the mouth than in English, similar to l in link, cf.:
• lingua f language;
  luna f moon;
  lungo adj long;
  olio m oil.

• P is as in English, but without the aspiration that sometimes accompanies this sound in English, cf.:
• pane m bread;
  pasto m meal;
  pepe m pepper;
  ponte m bridge.

• Q is always followed by a consonantic u [w] and this combination is pronounced like the English qu in quest, cf.:
• quadro m picture;
  quale adj which;
  quanto adv how much;
  questo pron this.

• R is pronounced with one flip of the tongue against the gums of the upper teeth. This is the trilled r and it is different from the English r; cf.:
• albergo m hotel;
  arte m art;
  ora adv now;
  orologio m watch.

• S has two pronunciations:
• between vowels or before b, d, g, l, m, n, r, and v it is like the English z in zoo, cf.:
  casa f house;
  sbaglio m mistake;
  sgridare v to scold;
  svelto adj quick.
• in all the other cases it is like the English s in set, cf.:
  passare v to pass;
  soggiorno m living room;
  stanza f room;
  stufato adj stew.

• T is approximately the same as in English, but no escaping of breath accompanies it in Italian, cf.:
• antipasto m appetizer;
  carta f paper;
  matita f pencil;
  testa f head.

• Z has two pronunciations:
• sometimes it is voiceless, like English ts is assets, cf.:
  dizionario m dictionary;
  grazie fpl thank you;
  negozio m store;
  pizza f pizza.
• sometimes it is voiced, like English ds in beds, cf.:
  pranzo m lunch;
  romanzo m novel;
  zanzara f mosquito;
  zebra f zebra.

7.Consonantic Digraphs

• GH (found only before e or i) is like the g in get, cf.:
• funghe v (he) escapes;
  ghetto m ghetto;
  laghi mpl lakes;
  maghi mpl magicians;

• GLI is approximately like ll in million, cf.:
• aglio m garlic;
  bottiglia f bottle;
  famiglia f family;
  meglio adv better.

• GN is approximately like ny in canyon, cf.:
• bagno m bath;
  signora f lady;
  signore m gentleman;
  signorina f young lady.

• CH (found only before e or i) is like the English k, cf.:
• anche adv also;
  che conj that;
  chi pron who;
  perché adv because.

• SC has two pronunciations:
• before a, o, or u is like the English sk in ask, cf.:
  ascoltare v to listen;
  pesca f peach;
  scaloppine fpl cutlets;
  scarpa f shoe;
• before e or i is like the English sound sh in shell, cf.:
  conoscere v to know;
  crescere v to grow;
  pesce f fish;
  scena f scene.

• SCH occurs only before e or i, and is pronounced like the English sk, cf.:
• dischi mpl disks; records;
  fiaschi mpl flasks;
  lische fpl fishbones;
  tasche fpl pockets.

8. Double Consonants

In Italian, all consonants except h and q can be doubled.

Double consonants are pronounced much more forcefully than single consonants. With double f, l, m, n, r, s, and v, the sound is prolonged; with double b, c, d, g, p, and t, the stop is stronger than for the single consonant. Double z is pronounced almost the same as single z. Double s is always unvoiced.

• Double consonant examples:
  albicocca f apricot;
  anno m year;
  assai adv a lot;
  babbo m dad;
  basso adj short;
  bello adj beautiful;
  bistecca f beefsteak;
  cavalletto m easel;
  espresso m espresso coffee;
  evviva adv hurrah;
  ferro m iron;
  fetta f slice;
  filetto m filet;
  mamma f mama;
  pennello m paint brush;
  ragazzo m boy;
  spaghetti mpl spaghetti;
  tavolozza f palette.

9.Assimilation (Assimilazione)

The sound [n] may be assimilated in a single word or in a syntactic group:

• before [k] and [g] it sounds like English ng in mingle, cf.:
  banco desk, congresso congress;
  un cavallo a horse, in campagna in field;
• before [f] and [v] it sounds as a nasalized [m], cf.:
  inverno winter, infrastruttura infrastucture;
  un vento a wind, un frate a friar;
• before [p] and [b] it sounds like [m], cf.:
  un bambino a child, un po' some quantity of...

The differences between English and Italian

1.      Introduction: Italian belongs to the Romance family, which in turn is part of the large Indo-European language family. It therefore shares many features with other Romance languages such as French or Spanish. Native-Italian learners of English, a stress-timed language, face similar kinds of problems to those faced by native speakers of the other Romance languages, which are syllable-timed.

2.      Alphabet: Italian words are made up of the same 26 letters as employed by English, although the letters j, k, w, x and y are considered foreign and are only used in import words. Italian learners may misspell dictated words containing the English letters r and e, which sound like Italian letters a and i. Some words that are capitalized in English (days, months, languages, etc) are not capitalized in Italian.

3.      Phonology: Italian learners typically have problems with the vowel differences in minimal pairs such as sheep / sheet  bet / mat   cot / coat, The tendency to 'swallow' weak vowels in English causes difficulties both in listening comprehension and in the production of natural-sounding speech.

The pronunciation of consonants include the predictable difficulties with words containing the letters th: (thin, this, other, lengths, etc). Also problematic is the failure to aspirate the h in words  such as house, hill, hotel (or to hyper-correct by adding an aspirated h to all words beginning with a vowel.)  Most Italian words end with a vowel, which often leads Italian learners to affix a short vowel sound to in English ending with a consonant. This, together with temptation to give full value or emphasis to all syllables, results in the stereotypical Italian production of sentences that sound like: I atə soupə for lunchə.

There is another factor leading to the often heavily-accented production of English by Italian learners. Namely, that in Italian the element which the speaker wishes to give most emphasis to is usually moved to the end of the clause. This contrasts with English, in which the salient element is identified by intonation changes rather than word order changes. Italians often find it difficult also to produce the right intonation patterns when asking questions or making requests.

4.      Grammar - Verb/Tense: Italian has 5 inflected tense forms: for the present, simple past, imperfect, future and conditional. The other tenses are formed with auxiliaries. The auxiliary do, however, has no equivalent in Italian, which leads to mistakes such as: What you do? or I no like German food.

Italian does not use the perfect tenses to make a connection to the present in the same way that English does. This results in problems such as I have done my homework on the bus. A similar lack of correspondence in the use of tenses in the two languages leads to interference errors such as: What will you do when you will leave school? or I live in Germany since 1999.

Shades of meaning, which are shown in English by varying the modal verb (must/should/ought to/might want to, etc.) are typically conveyed in Italian by an inflected form of the verb dovere (must). This often results in an overuse ofmust when Italians speak English.

5.      Grammar - Other: In English the meaning of a clause is largely dependent on the order of words in it (typically Subject Verb Object). Italian, being a more inflected language, allows greater variations in word order. Furthermore, adjectives in Italian usually follow the noun, not precede it as in English. These differences can result in non-standard syntax of Italian learners of English.

Italian learners frequently have problems with the correct use of articles in English. Although both the definite and the indefinite article exist in both languages, their use often does not coincide. As a result it is common to hear sentences such as: Is he teacher? or The health is the most important in the life.

The subject pronoun is not required in colloquial Italian, so learners may say sentences such as: Is impossible.

6.      Vocabulary: Italian and English share many words that are derived from Latin. This facilitates the acquisition of vocabulary, but comes with the associated problem of false friends. Here are some common examples. The Italian false friend comes first: bravo (good/clever) / brave; editore (publisher) / editor; fame (hunger) / fame; libreria (book shop) / library.

7.      Miscellaneous: Italian is a phonetic language. For this reason Italian learners suffer the usual problems that native speakers of such languages have with English. Namely, that they cannot predict with confidence a. the spelling of any new word that they hear, and b. the pronunciation of any new word that they read.