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Italian orthography

Italian orthography (the conventions used in writing Italian) uses 21 letters of the 26-letter Latin alphabet to write the Italian language. This article focuses on the writing of Standard Italian, based historically on the Florentine dialect,[1] and not the other Italian dialects.

Written Italian is very regular and almost completely phonemic – having an almost one-to-one correspondence between letters (or sequences of letters) and sounds (or sequences of sounds). The main exceptions are that stress placement and vowel quality (for ⟨e⟩ and ⟨o⟩) are not notated, ⟨s⟩ and ⟨z⟩ may be voiced or not, ⟨i⟩ and ⟨u⟩ may represent vowels or semivowels, and a silent ⟨h⟩ is used in a very few cases other than the digraphs ⟨ch⟩ and ⟨gh⟩ (used for the hard ⟨c⟩ and ⟨g⟩ sounds before ⟨e⟩ and ⟨i⟩).

Alphabet edit

The base alphabet consists of 21 letters: five vowels (A, E, I, O, U) and 16 consonants. The letters J, K, W, X and Y are not part of the proper alphabet, and appear only in loanwords (e.g. "jeans", "weekend"),[2] foreign names, and in a handful of native words – such as the names Kalsa, Jesolo, Bettino Craxi, and Cybo, which all derive from regional languages. In addition, grave and acute accents may modify vowel letters; circumflex accent is much rarer and is found only in older texts.

 
An Italian computer keyboard layout
 
An Italian handwriting script, taught in primary school
Letter Name IPA Diacritics
A, a a [ˈa] /a/ à
B, b bi [ˈbi] /b/
C, c ci [ˈtʃi] /k/ or //
D, d di [ˈdi] /d/
E, e e [ˈe] /e/ or /ɛ/ è, é
F, f effe [ˈɛffe] /f/
G, g gi [ˈdʒi] /ɡ/ or //
H, h acca [ˈakka] silent
I, i i [ˈi] /i/ or /j/ ì, í, [î]
L, l elle [ˈɛlle] /l/
M, m emme [ˈɛmme] /m/
N, n enne [ˈɛnne] /n/
O, o o [ˈɔ] /o/ or /ɔ/ ò, ó
P, p pi [ˈpi] /p/
Q, q cu (qu) [ˈku] /k/
R, r erre [ˈɛrre] /r/
S, s esse [ˈɛsse] /s/ or /z/
T, t ti [ˈti] /t/
U, u u [ˈu] /u/ or /w/ ù, ú
V, v vi [ˈvi], vu [ˈvu] /v/
Z, z zeta [ˈdzɛːta] /ts/ or /dz/

Double consonants represent true geminates and are pronounced as such: anno "year", pronounced [ˈanno] (cf. English ten nails). The short–long length contrast is phonemic, e.g. ritto [ˈritto] "upright" vs. rito [ˈriːto] "rite, ritual", carro [ˈkarro] "cart, wagon" vs. caro [ˈkaːro] "dear, expensive".

Vowels edit

The Italian alphabet has five vowel letters, ⟨a e i o u⟩. Of those, only ⟨a⟩ represents one sound value, while all others have two. In addition, ⟨e⟩ and ⟨i⟩ indicate a different pronunciation of a preceding ⟨c⟩ or ⟨g⟩ (see below).

In stressed syllables, ⟨e⟩ represents both open /ɛ/ and close /e/. Similarly, ⟨o⟩ represents both open /ɔ/ and close /o/ (see Italian phonology for further details on those sounds). There is typically no orthographic distinction between the open and close sounds represented, though accent marks are used in certain instances (see below). There are some minimal pairs, called heteronyms, where the same spelling is used for distinct words with distinct vowel sounds. In unstressed syllables, only the close variants occur.

In addition to representing the vowels /i/ and /u/, ⟨i⟩ and ⟨u⟩ also typically represent the semivowels /j/ and /w/, when unstressed and occurring before another vowel. Many exceptions exist (e.g. attuale, deciduo, deviare, dioscuro, fatuo, iato, inebriare, ingenuo, liana, proficuo, riarso, viaggio). An ⟨i⟩ may indicate that a preceding ⟨c⟩ or ⟨g⟩ is "soft" (ciao).

C and G edit

The letters ⟨c⟩ and ⟨g⟩ represent the plosives /k/ and /ɡ/ before ⟨r⟩ and before the vowels ⟨a⟩, ⟨o⟩, ⟨u⟩. They represent the affricates /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ when they precede a front vowel (⟨i⟩ or ⟨e⟩).

The letter ⟨i⟩ can also function within digraphs (two letters representing one sound) ⟨ci⟩ and ⟨gi⟩ to indicate "soft" (affricate) /tʃ/ or /dʒ/ before another vowel. In these instances, the vowel following the digraph is stressed, and ⟨i⟩ represents no vowel sound: ciò (/tʃɔ/), giù (/dʒu/). An item such as CIA "CIA", pronounced /ˈtʃi.a/ with /i/ stressed, contains no digraph.

For words of more than one syllable, stress position must be known in order to distinguish between digraph ⟨ci⟩ or ⟨gi⟩ containing no actual phonological vowel /i/ and sequences of affricate and stressed /i/. For example, the words camicia "shirt" and farmacia "pharmacy" share the spelling ⟨-cia⟩, but contrast in that only the first ⟨i⟩ is stressed in camicia, thus ⟨-cia⟩ represents /tʃa/ with no /i/ sound (likewise, grigio ends in /dʒo/ and the names Gianni and Gianna contain only two actual vowels: /ˈdʒanni/, /ˈdʒanna/). In farmacia /i/ is stressed, so that ⟨ci⟩ is not a digraph, but represents two of the three constituents of /ˈtʃi.a/.

When the "hard" (plosive) pronunciation /k/ or /ɡ/ occurs before a front vowel ⟨i⟩ or ⟨e⟩, digraphs ⟨ch⟩ and ⟨gh⟩ are used, so that ⟨che⟩ represents /ke/ or /kɛ/ and ⟨chi⟩ represents /ki/ or /kj/. The same principle applies to ⟨gh⟩: ⟨ghe⟩ and ⟨ghi⟩ represent /ɡe/ or /ɡɛ/ and /ɡi/ or /ɡj/.

In the evolution from Latin to Italian, the postalveolar affricates /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ were contextual variants of the velar consonants /k/ and /ɡ/. They eventually came to be full phonemes, and orthographic adjustments were introduced to distinguish them. The phonemicity of the affricates can be demonstrated with minimal pairs:

Plosive Affricate
Before ⟨i⟩⟨e⟩ ch china /ˈkina/ "India ink" c Cina /ˈtʃina/ "China"
gh ghiro /ˈɡiro/ "dormouse" g giro /ˈdʒiro/ "lap", "tour"
Elsewhere c caramella /karaˈmɛlla/ "candy" ci ciaramella /tʃaraˈmɛlla/ "shawm"
g gallo /ˈɡallo/ "rooster" gi giallo /ˈdʒallo/ "yellow"

The trigraphs ⟨cch⟩ and ⟨ggh⟩ are used to indicate geminate /kk/ and /ɡɡ/, when they occur before ⟨i⟩ or ⟨e⟩; e.g. occhi /ˈɔkki/ "eyes", agghindare /aɡɡinˈdare/ "to dress up". The double letters ⟨cc⟩ and ⟨gg⟩ before ⟨i⟩ or ⟨e⟩ and ⟨cci⟩ and ⟨ggi⟩ before other vowels represent the geminated affricates /ttʃ/ and /ddʒ/, e. g. riccio "hedgehog", peggio "worse".

⟨g⟩ joins with ⟨l⟩ to form a digraph representing palatal /ʎ/ before ⟨i⟩ (before other vowels, the trigraph ⟨gli⟩ is used), and with ⟨n⟩ to represent /ɲ/ with any vowel following. Between vowels these are pronounced phonetically long, as in /ˈaʎʎo/ aglio "garlic", /ˈoɲɲi/ ogni "each". By way of exception, ⟨gl⟩ before ⟨i⟩ represents /ɡl/ in some words derived from Greek, such as glicine "wisteria", from learned Latin, such as negligente "negligent", and in a few adaptations from other languages such as glissando /ɡlisˈsando/, partially italianised from French glissant. ⟨gl⟩ before vowels other than ⟨i⟩ represents straightforward /ɡl/.

The digraph ⟨sc⟩ is used before ⟨e⟩ and ⟨i⟩ to represent /ʃ/; before other vowels, ⟨sci⟩ is used for /ʃ/. Otherwise, ⟨sc⟩ represents /sk/, the ⟨c⟩ of which follows the normal orthographic rules explained above.

/sk/ /ʃ/
Before ⟨i e⟩ sch scherno /ˈskɛrno/ sc scerno /ˈʃɛrno/
Elsewhere sc scalo /ˈskalo/ sci scialo /ˈʃalo/

Intervocalic /ʎ/, /ɲ/, and /ʃ/ are always geminated and no orthographic distinction is made to indicate this.[3]

Some words are spelled with ⟨cie⟩, ⟨gie⟩, and ⟨scie⟩. Historically, the letters ⟨ie⟩ in these combinations represented a diphthong, but in modern pronunciation these combinations are indistinguishable from ⟨ce⟩, ⟨ge⟩, and ⟨sce⟩. Notable examples: cieco /ˈtʃɛko/ "blind" (homophonous with ceco "Czech"), cielo /ˈtʃɛlo/ "sky" (homophonous with celo "I conceal"), scienza /ˈʃɛntsa/ "science".

The plurals of words ending in -⟨cia⟩, -⟨gia⟩ are written with -⟨cie⟩, -⟨gie⟩ if preceded by a vowel (camicia "skirt" → camicie "skirts", valigia "suitcase" → valigie "suitcases") or with -⟨ce⟩, -⟨ge⟩ if preceded by a consonant (provincia "province" → province "provinces"). This rule has been established since the 1950s; prior to that, etymological spellings such as valige and provincie were in use.

The letter combination ⟨gnia⟩ is pronounced the same as ⟨gna⟩ and occurs when the ending -iamo (1st person plural present indicative and 1st person plural present subjunctive) or -iate (2nd person plural present subjunctive) is attached to a stem ending in ⟨gn⟩: sognare "to dream" → sogniamo "we dream".

C and Q edit

Normally /kw/ is represented by ⟨qu⟩, but it is represented by ⟨cu⟩ in some words, such as cuoco, cuoio, cuore, scuola, scuotere and percuotere. These words all contain a /kwɔ/ sequence derived from an original /kɔ/ which was subsequently diphthongised. The sequence /kkw/ is always spelled ⟨cqu⟩ (e.g. acqua), with exceptions being spelled ⟨qqu⟩ in the words soqquadro, its derivation soqquadrare, and beqquadro and biqquadro, two alternative forms of bequadro or biquadro.[4]

S and Z edit

⟨s⟩ and ⟨z⟩ are ambiguous to voicing.

⟨s⟩ represents a dental sibilant consonant, either /s/ or /z/. However, these two phonemes are in complementary distribution everywhere except between two vowels in the same word and, even with such words, there are very few minimal pairs.

  • The voiceless /s/ occurs:
    • At the start of a word before a vowel (e.g. Sara /ˈsara/) or a voiceless consonant (e.g. spuntare /spunˈtare/)
    • After any consonant (e.g. transitare /transiˈtare/)
    • Before a voiceless consonant (e.g. raspa /ˈraspa/)
    • At the start of the second part of a compound word (e.g. affittasi, disotto, girasole, prosegue, risaputo, reggiseno). These words are formed by adding a prefix to a word beginning with /s/
  • The voiced /z/ occurs before voiced consonants (e.g. sbranare /zbraˈnare/).
  • It can be either voiceless or voiced (/s/ or /z/) between vowels; in standard Tuscany-based pronunciation some words are pronounced with /s/ between vowels (e.g. casa, cosa, così, mese, naso, peso, cinese, piemontese, goloso), but most words are pronounced with /z/ (e.g. bisogno, rosa, cisalpino, medesimo, invaso); in Northern Italy (and also increasingly in Tuscany) ⟨s⟩ between vowels is always pronounced with /z/ whereas in Southern Italy ⟨s⟩ between vowels is always pronounced /s/.

⟨ss⟩ always represents voiceless /ss/: grosso /ˈɡrɔsso/, successo /sutˈtʃɛsso/, passato /pasˈsato/, etc.

⟨z⟩ represents a dental affricate consonant; either /dz/ (zanzara /dzanˈdzara/) or /ts/ (canzone /kanˈtsone/), depending on context, though there are few minimal pairs.

  • It is normally voiceless /ts/:[5]
    • At the start of a word in which the second syllable starts with a voiceless consonant (zampa /ˈtsampa/, zoccolo /ˈtsɔkkolo/, zufolo /ˈtsufolo/)
      • Exceptions (because they are of Greek origin): zaffiro, zefiro, zotico, zeta, zafferano, Zacinto
    • When followed by an ⟨i⟩ which is followed, in turn, by another vowel (e.g. zio /ˈtsi.o/, agenzia /adʒenˈtsi.a/, grazie /ˈɡrattsje/)
      • Exceptions: azienda /adˈdzjɛnda/, all words derived from words obeying other rules (e.g. romanziere /romanˈdzjɛre/, which is derived from romanzo)
    • After the letter ⟨l⟩ (e.g. alzare /alˈtsare/)
      • Exceptions: elzeviro /eldzeˈviro/ and Belzebù /beldzeˈbu/
    • In the suffixes -anza, -enza and -onzolo (e.g. usanza /uˈzantsa/, credenza /kreˈdɛntsa/, ballonzolo /balˈlontsolo/)
  • It is normally voiced /dz/:
    • At the start of a word in which the second syllable starts with a voiced consonant or the letter ⟨z⟩ itself (e.g. zebra /ˈdzɛbra/, zuzzurellone /dzuddzurelˈlone/)
      • Exceptions: zanna /ˈtsanna/, zigano /tsiˈɡano/
    • At the start of a word when followed by two vowels (e.g. zaino /ˈdzaino/)
      • Exceptions: zio and its derived terms (see above)
    • If it is single (not doubled) and between two single vowels (e.g. azalea /addzaˈlɛa/)
      • Exceptions: nazismo /natˈtsizmo/ (from the German pronunciation of ⟨z⟩)

Between vowels and/or semivowels (/j/ and /w/), ⟨z⟩ is pronounced as if doubled (/tts/ or /ddz/, e.g. vizio /ˈvittsjo/, polizia /politˈtsi.a/). Generally, intervocalic z is written doubled, but it is written single in most words where it precedes ⟨i⟩ followed by any vowel and in some learned words.

⟨zz⟩ may represent either a voiceless alveolar affricate /tts/ or its voiced counterpart /ddz/:[6] voiceless in e.g. pazzo /ˈpattso/, ragazzo /raˈɡattso/, pizza /ˈpittsa/, grandezza /ɡranˈdettsa/, voiced in razzo /ˈraddzo/, mezzo /ˈmɛddzo/, azzardo /adˈdzardo/, azzurro /adˈdzurro/, orizzonte /oridˈdzonte/, zizzania /dzidˈdzanja/. Most words are consistently pronounced with /tts/ or /ddz/ throughout Italy in the standard language (e.g. gazza /ˈɡaddza/ "magpie", tazza /ˈtattsa/ "mug"), but a few words, such as frizzare "effervesce, sting", exist in both voiced and voiceless forms, differing by register or by geographic area, while others have different meanings depending on whether they are pronounced in voiced or voiceless form (e.g. razza: /ˈrattsa/ (race, breed) or /ˈraddza/ (ray, skate)).[7][8] The verbal ending -izzare from Greek -ίζειν is always pronounced /ddz/ (e.g. organizzare /orɡanidˈdzare/), maintained in both inflected forms and derivations: organizzo /orɡaˈniddzo/ "I organise", organizzazione /orɡaniddzatˈtsjone/ "organisation". Like frizzare above, however, not all verbs ending in -izzare continue suffixed Greek -ίζειν, having instead -izz- as part of the verb stem. Indirizzare, for example, of Latin origin reconstructed as *INDIRECTIARE, has /tts/ in all forms containing the root indirizz-.

Silent H edit

In addition to being used to indicate a hard ⟨c⟩ or ⟨g⟩ before front vowels (see above), ⟨h⟩ is used to distinguish ho, hai, ha, hanno (present indicative of avere, "to have") from o ("or"), ai ("to the", m. pl.), a ("to"), anno ("year"); since ⟨h⟩ is always silent, there is no difference in the pronunciation of such words. The letter ⟨h⟩ is also used in some interjections, where it always comes immediately after the first vowel in the word (e.g. eh, boh, ahi, ahimè). In filler words ehm and uhm both ⟨h⟩ and the preceding vowel are silent.[9][10] ⟨h⟩ is used in some loanwords, by far the most common of which is hotel,[4] but also handicap, habitat, hardware, hall "lobby, foyer", hamburger, horror, hobby.[11] Silent ⟨h⟩ is also found in some Italian toponyms: Chorio, Dho, Hano, Mathi, Noha, Proh, Rho, Roghudi, Santhià, Tharros, Thiene, Thiesi, Thurio, Vho; and surnames: Dahò, Dehò, De Bartholomaeis, De Thomasis, Matthey, Rahò, Rhodio, Tha, Thei, Theodoli, Thieghi, Thiella, Thiglia, Tholosano, Thomatis, Thorel, Thovez.[12]

J, K, W, X and Y edit

The letter ⟨j⟩ (I lunga "long I" or gei) is not considered part of the standard Italian alphabet; however, it is used in some Latin words, in proper nouns (such as Jesi, Letojanni, Juventus, etc.), in words borrowed from foreign languages (most common: jeans, but also jazz, jet, jeep, banjo),[13] and in an archaic spelling of Italian.

Until the 19th century, ⟨j⟩ was used in Italian instead of ⟨i⟩ in word-initial rising diphthongs, as a replacement for final -⟨ii⟩, and between vowels (as in Savoja); this rule was quite strict in official writing.

The letter ⟨j⟩ represents /j/ in Latin and Italian and dialect words such as Romanesco dialect ajo /ˈajjo/ ("garlic"; cf. Italian aglio /ˈaʎʎo/); it represents // in borrowings from English (including judo, borrowed from Japanese via English); and /ʒ/ in borrowings from French (julienne, bijou).

The letters ⟨k⟩ (cappa), ⟨w⟩ (V doppia or doppia V, "double V"), ⟨x⟩ (ics) and ⟨y⟩ (ipsilon or I greca "Greek I") are not part of the standard Italian alphabet and are used only in unassimilated or partially assimilated loanwords.

The letter ⟨k⟩ is used in karma, kayak, kiwi, kamikaze,[14] etc.; it is always pronounced /k/. It is often used informally among young people as a replacement for ⟨ch⟩, paralleling the use of ⟨k⟩ in English (for example, ke instead of che).

The letter ⟨w⟩ is used in web, whisky, water "water closet / toilet", western "Western movie", watt,[15] etc; it is alternately pronounced /w/ (in web, whisky, western) or /v/ (in water, watt). A capital ⟨W⟩ is used as an abbreviation of viva or evviva ("long live"). Although ⟨w⟩ is named V doppia or doppia V, in initialisms such as B. M. W., T. W. A., W. W. F., W. C., www it is normally read simply as vu.

The letter ⟨x⟩ represents either /ks/, as in extra, uxorio, xilofono, or /ɡz/ when it is preceded by ⟨e⟩ and followed by a vowel, e.g. exoterico.[16] In most words, it may be replaced with ⟨s⟩ or ⟨ss⟩ (with different pronunciation: xilofono/silofono, taxi/tassì) or, rarely, by ⟨cs⟩ (with the same pronunciation: claxon/clacson). In some other languages of Italy, it represents /z/ (Venetian), /ʃ/ (Sicilian), or /ʒ/ (Sardinian and Ligurian).

The letter ⟨y⟩ is used in yoga, yogurt, yacht, Uruguay, etc. This letter is sometimes replaced by ⟨i⟩ in some words like yoga/ioga and yogurt/iogurt, but the spellings with ⟨y⟩ are much more common.

Diacritics edit

 
The letter Î in the original version of the Constitution of the Italian Republic in the heading Principî Fondamentali.

The acute accent (´) may be used on ⟨é⟩ and ⟨ó⟩ to represent stressed close-mid vowels. This use of accents is generally mandatory only to indicate stress on a word-final vowel; elsewhere, accents are generally found only in dictionaries. Since final ⟨o⟩ is hardly ever close-mid, ⟨ó⟩ is very rarely encountered in written Italian (e.g. metró "subway", from the original French pronunciation of métro with a final-stressed /o/).[citation needed]

The grave accent (`) is found on ⟨à⟩, ⟨è⟩, ⟨ì⟩, ⟨ò⟩, ⟨ù⟩. It may be used on ⟨è⟩ and ⟨ò⟩ when they represent open-mid vowels. The accents may also be used to differentiate minimal pairs within Italian (for example pèsca "peach" vs. pésca "fishing"), but in practice this is limited to didactic texts. In the case of final ⟨ì⟩ and ⟨ù⟩, both diacritics are encountered. By far the most common option is the grave accent, ⟨ì⟩ and ⟨ù⟩, though this may be due to the rarity of the acute accent to represent stress; the alternative of employing the acute, ⟨í⟩ and ⟨ú⟩, is in practice limited to erudite texts, but can be justified as both vowels are high (as in Catalan). However, since there are no corresponding low (or lax) vowels to contrast with in Italian, both choices are equally acceptable.[citation needed]

The circumflex accent (ˆ) can be used to mark the contraction of two unstressed vowels /ii/ ending a word, normally pronounced [i], so that the plural of studio "study, office" may be written ⟨studi⟩, ⟨studii⟩ or ⟨studî⟩. The form with circumflex is found mainly in older texts, though it may still appear in contexts where ambiguity might arise from homography. For example, it can be used to differentiate words like geni ("genes", plural of gene) and genî ("geniuses", plural of genio) or principi ("princes", plural of principe) and principî ("principles", plural of principio). In general, current usage usually prefers a single ⟨i⟩ instead of a double ⟨ii⟩ or an ⟨î⟩ with circumflex.[17]

Monosyllabic words generally lack an accent (e.g. ho, me). The accent is written, however, if there is an ⟨i⟩ or a ⟨u⟩ preceding another vowel (più, può). This applies even if the ⟨i⟩ is "silent", i.e. part of the digraphs ⟨ci⟩ or ⟨gi⟩ representing /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ (ciò, giù). It does not apply, however, if the word begins with ⟨qu⟩ (qua, qui). Many monosyllabic words are spelled with an accent in order to avoid ambiguity with other words (e.g. , versus la, li). This is known as accento distintivo and also occurs in other Romance languages (e.g. the Spanish tilde diacrítica).[citation needed]

Sample text edit

"Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura
ché la diritta via era smarrita."

Lines 1–3 of Canto 1 of the Inferno, Part 1 of the Divina Commedia by Dante Alighieri, a highly influential poem. Translation (Longfellow): "Midway upon the journey of our life \ I found myself in a dark wood \ for the straight way was lost."[18]

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Maiden & Robustelli 2014, p. 4.
  2. ^ "Italian Extraction Guide – Section A: Italian Handwriting" (PDF). Brigham Young University. 1981. Retrieved 2 March 2021. The letters J, K, W, X, and Y appear in the Italian alphabet, but are used mainly in foreign words adopted into the Italian vocabulary.
  3. ^ Maiden & Robustelli 2014, p. 10.
  4. ^ a b Maiden & Robustelli 2014, p. 5.
  5. ^ Dizionario d'ortografia e di pronunzia.
  6. ^ Dizionario d'ortografia e di pronunzia.
  7. ^ Dizionario d'ortografia e di pronunzia.
  8. ^ Dizionario di pronuncia italiana online.
  9. ^ . Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  10. ^ . Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  11. ^ Google Books Ngram Viewer [1]
  12. ^ The surname Pamphili is pronounced as Panfili.
  13. ^ Google Books Ngram Viewer [2]
  14. ^ Google Books Ngram Viewer [3]
  15. ^ Google Books Ngram Viewer [4]
  16. ^ "x, X in Vocabolario - Treccani" [x, X in Vocabulary - Treccani]. Treccani (in Italian). Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  17. ^ Maiden & Robustelli 2014, pp. 4–5.
  18. ^ "Inferno 1". Digital Dante. from the original on 27 June 2015. Retrieved 22 April 2022.

References edit

  • Maiden, Martin; Robustelli, Cecilia (2014). A Reference Grammar of Modern Italian (2nd ed.). Routledge. ISBN 9781444116786. Retrieved 19 June 2021.

External links edit

  • Danesi, Marcel (1996). Italian the Easy way.

italian, orthography, conventions, used, writing, italian, uses, letters, letter, latin, alphabet, write, italian, language, this, article, focuses, writing, standard, italian, based, historically, florentine, dialect, other, italian, dialects, written, italia. Italian orthography the conventions used in writing Italian uses 21 letters of the 26 letter Latin alphabet to write the Italian language This article focuses on the writing of Standard Italian based historically on the Florentine dialect 1 and not the other Italian dialects Written Italian is very regular and almost completely phonemic having an almost one to one correspondence between letters or sequences of letters and sounds or sequences of sounds The main exceptions are that stress placement and vowel quality for e and o are not notated s and z may be voiced or not i and u may represent vowels or semivowels and a silent h is used in a very few cases other than the digraphs ch and gh used for the hard c and g sounds before e and i Contents 1 Alphabet 2 Vowels 3 C and G 4 C and Q 5 S and Z 6 Silent H 7 J K W X and Y 8 Diacritics 9 Sample text 10 See also 11 Notes 12 References 13 External linksAlphabet editThe base alphabet consists of 21 letters five vowels A E I O U and 16 consonants The letters J K W X and Y are not part of the proper alphabet and appear only in loanwords e g jeans weekend 2 foreign names and in a handful of native words such as the names Kalsa Jesolo Bettino Craxi and Cybo which all derive from regional languages In addition grave and acute accents may modify vowel letters circumflex accent is much rarer and is found only in older texts nbsp An Italian computer keyboard layout nbsp An Italian handwriting script taught in primary school Letter Name IPA Diacritics A a a ˈa a a B b bi ˈbi b C c ci ˈtʃi k or tʃ D d di ˈdi d E e e ˈe e or ɛ e e F f effe ˈɛffe f G g gi ˈdʒi ɡ or dʒ H h acca ˈakka silent I i i ˈi i or j i i i L l elle ˈɛlle l M m emme ˈɛmme m N n enne ˈɛnne n O o o ˈɔ o or ɔ o o P p pi ˈpi p Q q cu qu ˈku k R r erre ˈɛrre r S s esse ˈɛsse s or z T t ti ˈti t U u u ˈu u or w u u V v vi ˈvi vu ˈvu v Z z zeta ˈdzɛːta ts or dz Double consonants represent true geminates and are pronounced as such anno year pronounced ˈanno cf English ten nails The short long length contrast is phonemic e g ritto ˈritto upright vs rito ˈriːto rite ritual carro ˈkarro cart wagon vs caro ˈkaːro dear expensive Vowels editThe Italian alphabet has five vowel letters a e i o u Of those only a represents one sound value while all others have two In addition e and i indicate a different pronunciation of a preceding c or g see below In stressed syllables e represents both open ɛ and close e Similarly o represents both open ɔ and close o see Italian phonology for further details on those sounds There is typically no orthographic distinction between the open and close sounds represented though accent marks are used in certain instances see below There are some minimal pairs called heteronyms where the same spelling is used for distinct words with distinct vowel sounds In unstressed syllables only the close variants occur In addition to representing the vowels i and u i and u also typically represent the semivowels j and w when unstressed and occurring before another vowel Many exceptions exist e g attuale deciduo deviare dioscuro fatuo iato inebriare ingenuo liana proficuo riarso viaggio An i may indicate that a preceding c or g is soft ciao C and G editSee also Hard and soft C and Hard and soft G The letters c and g represent the plosives k and ɡ before r and before the vowels a o u They represent the affricates tʃ and dʒ when they precede a front vowel i or e The letter i can also function within digraphs two letters representing one sound ci and gi to indicate soft affricate tʃ or dʒ before another vowel In these instances the vowel following the digraph is stressed and i represents no vowel sound cio tʃɔ giu dʒu An item such as CIA CIA pronounced ˈtʃi a with i stressed contains no digraph For words of more than one syllable stress position must be known in order to distinguish between digraph ci or gi containing no actual phonological vowel i and sequences of affricate and stressed i For example the words camicia shirt and farmacia pharmacy share the spelling cia but contrast in that only the first i is stressed in camicia thus cia represents tʃa with no i sound likewise grigio ends in dʒo and the names Gianni and Gianna contain only two actual vowels ˈdʒanni ˈdʒanna In farmacia i is stressed so that ci is not a digraph but represents two of the three constituents of ˈtʃi a When the hard plosive pronunciation k or ɡ occurs before a front vowel i or e digraphs ch and gh are used so that che represents ke or kɛ and chi represents ki or kj The same principle applies to gh ghe and ghi represent ɡe or ɡɛ and ɡi or ɡj In the evolution from Latin to Italian the postalveolar affricates tʃ and dʒ were contextual variants of the velar consonants k and ɡ They eventually came to be full phonemes and orthographic adjustments were introduced to distinguish them The phonemicity of the affricates can be demonstrated with minimal pairs Plosive Affricate Before i e ch china ˈkina India ink c Cina ˈtʃina China gh ghiro ˈɡiro dormouse g giro ˈdʒiro lap tour Elsewhere c caramella karaˈmɛlla candy ci ciaramella tʃaraˈmɛlla shawm g gallo ˈɡallo rooster gi giallo ˈdʒallo yellow The trigraphs cch and ggh are used to indicate geminate kk and ɡɡ when they occur before i or e e g occhi ˈɔkki eyes agghindare aɡɡinˈdare to dress up The double letters cc and gg before i or e and cci and ggi before other vowels represent the geminated affricates ttʃ and ddʒ e g riccio hedgehog peggio worse g joins with l to form a digraph representing palatal ʎ before i before other vowels the trigraph gli is used and with n to represent ɲ with any vowel following Between vowels these are pronounced phonetically long as in ˈaʎʎo aglio garlic ˈoɲɲi ogni each By way of exception gl before i represents ɡl in some words derived from Greek such as glicine wisteria from learned Latin such as negligente negligent and in a few adaptations from other languages such as glissando ɡlisˈsando partially italianised from French glissant gl before vowels other than i represents straightforward ɡl The digraph sc is used before e and i to represent ʃ before other vowels sci is used for ʃ Otherwise sc represents sk the c of which follows the normal orthographic rules explained above sk ʃ Before i e sch scherno ˈskɛrno sc scerno ˈʃɛrno Elsewhere sc scalo ˈskalo sci scialo ˈʃalo Intervocalic ʎ ɲ and ʃ are always geminated and no orthographic distinction is made to indicate this 3 Some words are spelled with cie gie and scie Historically the letters ie in these combinations represented a diphthong but in modern pronunciation these combinations are indistinguishable from ce ge and sce Notable examples cieco ˈtʃɛko blind homophonous with ceco Czech cielo ˈtʃɛlo sky homophonous with celo I conceal scienza ˈʃɛntsa science The plurals of words ending in cia gia are written with cie gie if preceded by a vowel camicia skirt camicie skirts valigia suitcase valigie suitcases or with ce ge if preceded by a consonant provincia province province provinces This rule has been established since the 1950s prior to that etymological spellings such as valige and provincie were in use The letter combination gnia is pronounced the same as gna and occurs when the ending iamo 1st person plural present indicative and 1st person plural present subjunctive or iate 2nd person plural present subjunctive is attached to a stem ending in gn sognare to dream sogniamo we dream C and Q editNormally kw is represented by qu but it is represented by cu in some words such as cuoco cuoio cuore scuola scuotere and percuotere These words all contain a kwɔ sequence derived from an original kɔ which was subsequently diphthongised The sequence kkw is always spelled cqu e g acqua with exceptions being spelled qqu in the words soqquadro its derivation soqquadrare and beqquadro and biqquadro two alternative forms of bequadro or biquadro 4 S and Z edit s and z are ambiguous to voicing s represents a dental sibilant consonant either s or z However these two phonemes are in complementary distribution everywhere except between two vowels in the same word and even with such words there are very few minimal pairs The voiceless s occurs At the start of a word before a vowel e g Sara ˈsara or a voiceless consonant e g spuntare spunˈtare After any consonant e g transitare transiˈtare Before a voiceless consonant e g raspa ˈraspa At the start of the second part of a compound word e g affittasi disotto girasole prosegue risaputo reggiseno These words are formed by adding a prefix to a word beginning with s The voiced z occurs before voiced consonants e g sbranare zbraˈnare It can be either voiceless or voiced s or z between vowels in standard Tuscany based pronunciation some words are pronounced with s between vowels e g casa cosa cosi mese naso peso cinese piemontese goloso but most words are pronounced with z e g bisogno rosa cisalpino medesimo invaso in Northern Italy and also increasingly in Tuscany s between vowels is always pronounced with z whereas in Southern Italy s between vowels is always pronounced s ss always represents voiceless ss grosso ˈɡrɔsso successo sutˈtʃɛsso passato pasˈsato etc z represents a dental affricate consonant either dz zanzara dzanˈdzara or ts canzone kanˈtsone depending on context though there are few minimal pairs It is normally voiceless ts 5 At the start of a word in which the second syllable starts with a voiceless consonant zampa ˈtsampa zoccolo ˈtsɔkkolo zufolo ˈtsufolo Exceptions because they are of Greek origin zaffiro zefiro zotico zeta zafferano Zacinto When followed by an i which is followed in turn by another vowel e g zio ˈtsi o agenzia adʒenˈtsi a grazie ˈɡrattsje Exceptions azienda adˈdzjɛnda all words derived from words obeying other rules e g romanziere romanˈdzjɛre which is derived from romanzo After the letter l e g alzare alˈtsare Exceptions elzeviro eldzeˈviro and Belzebu beldzeˈbu In the suffixes anza enza and onzolo e g usanza uˈzantsa credenza kreˈdɛntsa ballonzolo balˈlontsolo It is normally voiced dz At the start of a word in which the second syllable starts with a voiced consonant or the letter z itself e g zebra ˈdzɛbra zuzzurellone dzuddzurelˈlone Exceptions zanna ˈtsanna zigano tsiˈɡano At the start of a word when followed by two vowels e g zaino ˈdzaino Exceptions zio and its derived terms see above If it is single not doubled and between two single vowels e g azalea addzaˈlɛa Exceptions nazismo natˈtsizmo from the German pronunciation of z Between vowels and or semivowels j and w z is pronounced as if doubled tts or ddz e g vizio ˈvittsjo polizia politˈtsi a Generally intervocalic z is written doubled but it is written single in most words where it precedes i followed by any vowel and in some learned words zz may represent either a voiceless alveolar affricate tts or its voiced counterpart ddz 6 voiceless in e g pazzo ˈpattso ragazzo raˈɡattso pizza ˈpittsa grandezza ɡranˈdettsa voiced in razzo ˈraddzo mezzo ˈmɛddzo azzardo adˈdzardo azzurro adˈdzurro orizzonte oridˈdzonte zizzania dzidˈdzanja Most words are consistently pronounced with tts or ddz throughout Italy in the standard language e g gazza ˈɡaddza magpie tazza ˈtattsa mug but a few words such as frizzare effervesce sting exist in both voiced and voiceless forms differing by register or by geographic area while others have different meanings depending on whether they are pronounced in voiced or voiceless form e g razza ˈrattsa race breed or ˈraddza ray skate 7 8 The verbal ending izzare from Greek izein is always pronounced ddz e g organizzare orɡanidˈdzare maintained in both inflected forms and derivations organizzo orɡaˈniddzo I organise organizzazione orɡaniddzatˈtsjone organisation Like frizzare above however not all verbs ending in izzare continue suffixed Greek izein having instead izz as part of the verb stem Indirizzare for example of Latin origin reconstructed as INDIRECTIARE has tts in all forms containing the root indirizz Silent H editIn addition to being used to indicate a hard c or g before front vowels see above h is used to distinguish ho hai ha hanno present indicative of avere to have from o or ai to the m pl a to anno year since h is always silent there is no difference in the pronunciation of such words The letter h is also used in some interjections where it always comes immediately after the first vowel in the word e g eh boh ahi ahime In filler words ehm and uhm both h and the preceding vowel are silent 9 10 h is used in some loanwords by far the most common of which is hotel 4 but also handicap habitat hardware hall lobby foyer hamburger horror hobby 11 Silent h is also found in some Italian toponyms Chorio Dho Hano Mathi Noha Proh Rho Roghudi Santhia Tharros Thiene Thiesi Thurio Vho and surnames Daho Deho De Bartholomaeis De Thomasis Matthey Raho Rhodio Tha Thei Theodoli Thieghi Thiella Thiglia Tholosano Thomatis Thorel Thovez 12 J K W X and Y editThe letter j I lunga long I or gei is not considered part of the standard Italian alphabet however it is used in some Latin words in proper nouns such as Jesi Letojanni Juventus etc in words borrowed from foreign languages most common jeans but also jazz jet jeep banjo 13 and in an archaic spelling of Italian Until the 19th century j was used in Italian instead of i in word initial rising diphthongs as a replacement for final ii and between vowels as in Savoja this rule was quite strict in official writing The letter j represents j in Latin and Italian and dialect words such as Romanesco dialect ajo ˈajjo garlic cf Italian aglio ˈaʎʎo it represents dʒ in borrowings from English including judo borrowed from Japanese via English and ʒ in borrowings from French julienne bijou The letters k cappa w V doppia or doppia V double V x ics and y ipsilon or I greca Greek I are not part of the standard Italian alphabet and are used only in unassimilated or partially assimilated loanwords The letter k is used in karma kayak kiwi kamikaze 14 etc it is always pronounced k It is often used informally among young people as a replacement for ch paralleling the use of k in English for example ke instead of che The letter w is used in web whisky water water closet toilet western Western movie watt 15 etc it is alternately pronounced w in web whisky western or v in water watt A capital W is used as an abbreviation of viva or evviva long live Although w is named V doppia or doppia V in initialisms such as B M W T W A W W F W C www it is normally read simply as vu The letter x represents either ks as in extra uxorio xilofono or ɡz when it is preceded by e and followed by a vowel e g exoterico 16 In most words it may be replaced with s or ss with different pronunciation xilofono silofono taxi tassi or rarely by cs with the same pronunciation claxon clacson In some other languages of Italy it represents z Venetian ʃ Sicilian or ʒ Sardinian and Ligurian The letter y is used in yoga yogurt yacht Uruguay etc This letter is sometimes replaced by i in some words like yoga ioga and yogurt iogurt but the spellings with y are much more common Diacritics editThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Italian orthography news newspapers books scholar JSTOR March 2024 Learn how and when to remove this template message nbsp The letter I in the original version of the Constitution of the Italian Republic in the heading Principi Fondamentali The acute accent may be used on e and o to represent stressed close mid vowels This use of accents is generally mandatory only to indicate stress on a word final vowel elsewhere accents are generally found only in dictionaries Since final o is hardly ever close mid o is very rarely encountered in written Italian e g metro subway from the original French pronunciation of metro with a final stressed o citation needed The grave accent is found on a e i o u It may be used on e and o when they represent open mid vowels The accents may also be used to differentiate minimal pairs within Italian for example pesca peach vs pesca fishing but in practice this is limited to didactic texts In the case of final i and u both diacritics are encountered By far the most common option is the grave accent i and u though this may be due to the rarity of the acute accent to represent stress the alternative of employing the acute i and u is in practice limited to erudite texts but can be justified as both vowels are high as in Catalan However since there are no corresponding low or lax vowels to contrast with in Italian both choices are equally acceptable citation needed The circumflex accent ˆ can be used to mark the contraction of two unstressed vowels ii ending a word normally pronounced i so that the plural of studio study office may be written studi studii or studi The form with circumflex is found mainly in older texts though it may still appear in contexts where ambiguity might arise from homography For example it can be used to differentiate words like geni genes plural of gene and geni geniuses plural of genio or principi princes plural of principe and principi principles plural of principio In general current usage usually prefers a single i instead of a double ii or an i with circumflex 17 Monosyllabic words generally lack an accent e g ho me The accent is written however if there is an i or a u preceding another vowel piu puo This applies even if the i is silent i e part of the digraphs ci or gi representing tʃ and dʒ cio giu It does not apply however if the word begins with qu qua qui Many monosyllabic words are spelled with an accent in order to avoid ambiguity with other words e g la li versus la li This is known as accento distintivo and also occurs in other Romance languages e g the Spanish tilde diacritica citation needed Sample text edit Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita mi ritrovai per una selva oscura che la diritta via era smarrita Lines 1 3 of Canto 1 of the Inferno Part 1 of the Divina Commedia by Dante Alighieri a highly influential poem Translation Longfellow Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself in a dark wood for the straight way was lost 18 See also editGian Giorgio Trissino humanist who proposed an orthography in 1524 Some of his proposals were taken Claudio Tolomei humanist who proposed an orthography in 1525 Notes edit Maiden amp Robustelli 2014 p 4 Italian Extraction Guide Section A Italian Handwriting PDF Brigham Young University 1981 Retrieved 2 March 2021 The letters J K W X and Y appear in the Italian alphabet but are used mainly in foreign words adopted into the Italian vocabulary Maiden amp Robustelli 2014 p 10 a b Maiden amp Robustelli 2014 p 5 Dizionario d ortografia e di pronunzia Dizionario d ortografia e di pronunzia Dizionario d ortografia e di pronunzia Dizionario di pronuncia italiana online Dizionario d ortografia e di pronunzia Archived from the original on 27 September 2020 Retrieved 28 December 2021 Dizionario d ortografia e di pronunzia Archived from the original on 27 September 2020 Retrieved 28 December 2021 Google Books Ngram Viewer 1 The surname Pamphili is pronounced as Panfili Google Books Ngram Viewer 2 Google Books Ngram Viewer 3 Google Books Ngram Viewer 4 x X in Vocabolario Treccani x X in Vocabulary Treccani Treccani in Italian Retrieved 26 January 2021 Maiden amp Robustelli 2014 pp 4 5 Inferno 1 Digital Dante Archived from the original on 27 June 2015 Retrieved 22 April 2022 References editMaiden Martin Robustelli Cecilia 2014 A Reference Grammar of Modern Italian 2nd ed Routledge ISBN 9781444116786 Retrieved 19 June 2021 External links editDanesi Marcel 1996 Italian the Easy way Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Italian orthography amp oldid 1219528519, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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