Diction > Italian Diction > Flashcards
Italian Diction Flashcards
[a]
amo
[e]
vedo
[ɛ]
bella
[i]
mio
[o]
colore
[ɔ]
sposa
[u]
tuo, crudele
[v]
evviva
[f]
farfalla
[ʃ]
scendo
[s]
sasso
[z]
rosa
[l]
libro
[ʎ]
gli, figlio
[tʃ] [ttʃ]
cerco
[dʒ] [ddʒ]
gemo, fuggire
[ts] [tts]
zio, pazzo
[dz] [ddz]
Zerlina, mezzo
[j]
pianto
[w]
sguardo, sangue
[b]
abate, babbo
[p]
popolo, gruppo
[d]
alfredo, freddo
[t]
tutore, tutto
[g]
fuga, fuggo
[k]
seco, secco
[ɾ]
caro (flipped)
[r]
carta (not flipped)
[rr]
carro
[n]
pane, panna
[m]
ama, mamma
[ŋ]
fianco, languire
[ɲ] [ɲɲ]
gnocchi, agnello
If you see an ‘ɑ’ (not IPA)
represents [a] - cara, amara = [a]
If you see ‘e’ (not IPA)
represents [e] - vero, segreto
[ɛ] - prego, estremo
If you see ‘i’ (not IPA)
represents [i] - gigli, infinito
[j] - pieta, fiato
[silent] after c, g, sc or when preceding another vowel. Bacio, lasciare, giovanni
[silent] after ‘gl’ when preceding another vowel. Figlio, scegliere
If you see ‘o’ (not IPA)
represents [o] -voce, sonno
[ɔ] - sposa, donna
If you see ‘u’ (not IPA)
represents [u] - tuo, futuro
[w] - tuoi, guerra
Dipthongs
p16-18 in Adams Book -
[ae] aere, paese, maestà
[ai] mai, aita, ahimè
[ao] Paolo, faraone, Paolino
[au] Aura, causa, aurora,
[ea] open, first vowel syllabic - idea, rea
[ea] closed second vowel syllabic- beato, teatro,
[ea] unstressed- realtà
[ei] open, first vowel syllabic- lei, vorrei,
[ei] closed second vowel syllabic -veicolo, bey
[ei] unstressed deità
[eo] open - trofeo, orfeo
[eo] closed - leone,
[eo] unstressed - leonora
[eu] open - feudi, neutro
[eu] closed - N/A
[eu] unstressed, closed - euridice
[ia] closed - mia, osteria, dialogo, diamante
[ia] glide - pianto, piacere,
[ie] closed - mie, gallerie,
[ie] open - bienne,
[ie] glide - fiero (open), pietà (closed)
[io] closed - mio, addio, rione,
[io] glide - azione, fiorito
[iu] (no 1st vowel) closed - liuto,
[iu] glide - fume, chiudete, riunione
[oa] first vowel open - boa,
[oa] second vowel closed - soave, cloaca,
[oa] unstressed - soavità
[oe] first vowel - eroe [e’rɔ:e]
[oe] second vowel - poeta [po’ɛ:ta], poesia [poe’zi:a]
[oi] voi [vo:i], poi [pɔ:i], gioire [dʒo’i:ɾe], ohimè [oi’mɛ]
[ou] DOES NOT EXIST
[ua] glides - uguale, guanciale,
[ua] not glides - tua, sua, ingenua(unstressed)
[ue] glides - guerra, guerriero,
[ue] not glides - tue, sue, bue, cruente, assidue,
[ui] glides guisa, guidare,
[ui] not glides lui, altrui, ruina, luigi,
[uo] glides -buono, fuorché
[uo] not glides - tuo, suo, ingenuo,
Syllabic
When the diphthong occurs in the stressed syllable one vowel sound is longer than the other and that sound is called ‘syllabic’. Which vowel is longer. First or Second?!
MOST COMMON DIPTHONGS
First Vowel Syllabic [i] (-ia, -ie, io )
sia, mie, Dio
First Vowel Syllabic [u] (-ua, -ue, -ui, -uo)
(sua, due, cui, tuo)
First Vowel Syllabic Dipthongs ending in i
(-ai, -ei, -oi, -ui) (mai, lei, voi, lui)
First Vowel Syllabic [au]
(aula, aura, aumento, esaurito)
LEMONERS
Consonant Cluster - LMNR, syllable will divide after the first consonant in a cluster if first letter is LMNR. (And maybe s)
Some consonant combinations are spelled like clusters but act like double consonants:
sci - lasciare
sce - pesce
gn - sogno, maligno (double ɲ)
gli - figlio, periglio (double ʎ)
Almost all other cases are two letter clusters ending in r. The entire cluster belongs with vowel that follows it. Doesn’t divide: a’prire, ve’tro,
bl - o’blio
Word Stress
-Most words have penultimate stress
-If final syllable/vowel has accent, the final syllable takes stress.
-p38 for final stressed dipthong list.
-large minority of words take the antepenultimate syllable
p14 for examples: ‘anima
some word endings result in this antepenultimate pattern
-abile, ible, evole, esimo, issimo, udine, logo
-fourth to last syllable stress is rare but possible in third person plural of -are verbs (‘merita)…. p14 is better.
Tripthongs
- If first vowel letter is ‘i’, after c or g, (ciao), the ‘i’ is silent and the result is a dipthong. Otherwise, either the first or second vowel letter must be a glide.
- If first vowel letter is a glide, all three vowels are in the same syllable, five common words are: tuoi (ɔ), puoi, vuoi, suoi, miei. Less common: quei, guai,
- If second vowel letter is glide (only with j glide), tripthong separates into two syllables: they divide before the glide.: paio, buio, aiuto.
- Four successive vowel letters in a word result in one of two options:
- Glide, vowel, glide, vowel : muoio [‘mwɔ:jo]
- Softening i, vowel, glide, vowel: gioia [‘dʒɔ:ja]
* ** four successive vowels always separate over two
syllables. ***
Stress /o/ /e/
- Assuming all unstressed e’s and o’s are closed
- Monosyllables - excluding dipthongs - generally closed
(e, me, che, con, non, contractions: men, del, cor)
Exceptions: All amended by things around them: tè, piè, deh, est, Ciò, no, (accents or endings of word consonants). - Vo words - look it up.
- Polysyllabic words and STRESSED syllables
- final stressed /e/ is usually closed.
- all combos ending in chè: perchè, poichè, finchè
- Exceptions: caffè, ahimè, ohimè, moisè
- Polysyllabic words - penultimate stressed open syllable i/o.
-closed e - vedete p68
-open ɛ -mistero p68
- closed o -amore, dolore p69
-open ɔ -coro, ristoro p69 - Simple Words - Two syllables p70
-open ɛ - gelo, grede
-closed e - cena, lega
- open ɔ - cosa, globo
-closed o- coda, dove - Stressed e’s o’s - open or closed:
- Polysyllabic with penultimate stress - when e/o precede combinations -gn, -gli, -sce, -sci the syllable is technically open, but the vowel sounds are short.
(degno [deɲɲo], egli [eʎʎi], foglia [fɔʎʎa], rovescio [rɔvɛʃʃo],
- stressed e/o followed by another vowel results in open
(dea, ebreo, romeo, boa)
- Polysyllabic with penultimate stress - when e/o precede combinations -gn, -gli, -sce, -sci the syllable is technically open, but the vowel sounds are short.
- Common pattern: stressed e or o followed by adjacent vowels in the following syllable almost always result in open. Usually involves a glide. (commedia, antonio)
- Endings:
-ente - open /ɛ/ dolente
-enza - open /ɛ/ partenza
-mento - closed /e/ tormento, -mente - Stressed er + consonant = almost always open, certa
- Stressed es + consonant = usually open, festa
- Stressed ol + consonant = usually closed, dolce
- Stressed om + consonant = usually closed, ombra
- Stressed on + consonant = usually closed, alfonso
- Stressed or + consonant = goes both ways; look up
- Stressed os + consonant = usually open, bosco, costa
Intervocalic ‘s’
Z
Intervocalic ‘r’
amore - Flipped R - [ɾ]; never rolled
Intervocalic ‘z’
-pronounced as double - [ddz] (voiced) or [tts] (unvoiced)
-part of a cluster is single [ts] [dz]
-intervocalic z, followed by i, acting as glide, unvoiced [ts]
(nazione, grazia, polizia)
-not followed by i is voiced. (Suzuki, Donizetti) [dz]
-z begins word is often voiced - (zero, zerlina) [dz]
sometimes not (zitto, zucchero [ts]
-most of the time z following n is unvoiced (senza, stanza, costanza [ts])
-z follows L - unvoiced - calza [ts]
-follows R - unvoiced - forza [ts], Except: orzo [dz]
p26
C and G
- each have soft and hard sound
- hard sound occurs when followed by a, o u, or consonant. (canto, come, gatto, gusto, vago)
- soft sound occurs [tʃ] OR [dʒ], when followed by i, or e. (città, giro, duce, gente)
- In case of ‘i’ important to know if it functions as follow or to soften C or G. If “i” is followed by another vowel it will be silent (cielo, gioco).
- soft C and G are doubled, first sound is prolonged. Eccelente, faccio, leggeiro (lengthen the hold)
- h silent, hardens sound of C, G
p29
H
Is always silent biatches.
Ends up hardening sounds of C and G
Sc
Hard or Soft, (aren’t they all…… hehehe)
-h hardens sch. [sk]
-always followed by i or e in order to be ʃ
(fresco [k] vs lascia [ʃ])
GN
always results in ɲ (ɲ always like Spanish - ñ)
GLI
makes same sound as ‘valient’ [ʎ]
Regarding [ʎ]
Will always be doubled: [ʎʎ] unless it starts the word.
Gli [ʎi] vs. Figli [‘fiʎʎi]
P in PS combination
rare - but is slightly pronounced.
Psicologia - [psikolo’dʒia]
QU
Always [kw]
Characteristics of Double Consonants
- stop or continuing - airflow
- voiced or unvoiced -
Unpaired consonants
LMNR - don’t double
