17
votes
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PrEndere but tenEre
Conventionally, people say that Italian verbs fall into three categories, or conjugations: those ending in -are, in -ere and in -ire. Those in -ere, however, correspond to two different conjugations ...
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13
votes
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Cosa significa "bumpete"? È una parola piana o sdrucciola?
No. È un suono onomatopeico (https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onomatopea).
"Bump" anche nei fumetti indica di solito una collisione, o meglio il suono emesso a seguito di una caduta o un tonfo.
In ...
- 7,007
8
votes
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Tremosine sul Garda, pronuncia corretta
Il Dizionario d'ortografia e di pronunzia è utilissimo per questo tipo di dubbi. In particolare, conferma la pronuncia con l'accento tonico sulla “o” (e la “o” aperta) per Tremosine. Purtroppo il DOP ...
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8
votes
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How is 'sii' supposed to be pronounced?
My ear as an Italian and, more verifiably, the pronunciation given in Migliorini, Tagliavini and Fiorelli's Dizionario d'ortografia e di pronunzia agree in saying that the correct way is the first one....
- 37.2k
8
votes
The use of the spellings -zz- vs. -z-
This isn't a complete answer, but while Googling to try to find out more, I came across the following explanation for why some speakers might think there is a difference in pronunciation:
The ...
- 418
8
votes
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Pronunciation of "sincero" and "sinceramente"
I assume you are talking about the pronunciation of the E in the second syllable. The change from [ɛ] in [sinˈtʃɛro] to [e] in [sintʃeraˈmente] is completely regular and predictable, because "standard"...
- 418
8
votes
Why is gemination so common in Italian?
It is not a matter of syllabification, rather the doubling of the consonant indicates a different pronunciation.
It is perhaps hard at first for non native speakers to hear the difference, but ...
- 12.2k
8
votes
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Pronunciation of "grazie"?
The Italian word grazie has most definitely two syllables. The “i” letter denotes here the semivowel which in IPA is denoted by /j/, so “ie” is a diphthong, as in piede or vieni, not two separately ...
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7
votes
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Pronuncia strana della "s" dopo una "r": un fenomeno romano o di tutta l'Italia?
Confermo empiricamente che a Roma (e, direi, almeno parte del Lazio) è un fenomeno piuttosto comune, ed è ben noto ai linguisti, insieme agli altri che caratterizzano il consonantismo dell'italiano di ...
- 37.2k
7
votes
Phonetic transcription dictionary
A good Italian pronunciation dictionary is
DOP, Dizionario d’ortografia e di pronunzia della RAI.
At this dictionary, you can see phonetic transcriptions and listen to the pronunciation of words.
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7
votes
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Pronunciation of ce/ci in Rome
Yes, it is. Note that “ci”/“ce” is only pronounced like this after a vowel. So macello is pronounced /maʃel:o/, while cena or pancia are pronounced as in standard Italian.
This sound is sometimes ...
- 37.2k
7
votes
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Sulla pronuncia del nome di Natalia Ginzburg
Io ho sempre sentito e detto “Natalìa Ginzburg”, ma questo non vorrebbe dire molto.
Quello che direi faccia testo è che lo pronunciano con l'accento sulla “i”:
il critico letterario Giulio Ferroni;
...
- 37.2k
7
votes
Is every written syllable pronounced?
Yes, in Italian every single syllable is normally pronounced. The possible exceptions you might have in mind are:
In a brisk conversation, a speaker might be imprecise in their enunciation and, say, ...
- 37.2k
6
votes
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When do I pronounce “i” in “sci-”?
Main law about exceptions (MLAE)
Every rule has its exceptions, including the main law about exceptions
You'll find several applications of the MLAE when dealing with grammar or orthography.
The ...
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6
votes
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C'è qualche differenza di pronuncia della "s" tra "chiuso" e "frase"?
Nell'italiano standard (quello derivato dal fiorentino) la s sorda e quella sonora – cioè, nell'IPA, /s/ e /z/ – sono due fonemi diversi. Esistono infatti “coppie minime”, come per esempio “chie[s]e” (...
- 37.2k
6
votes
Any Italians pronouncing pèsca and pésca differently?
In Standard Italian they are indeed pronounced distinctly, but the distribution of open and closed vowels in Italian can vary greatly depending on the dialect (due to the influence of regional ...
- 856
6
votes
Why is Paris called Parigi in Italian?
The name for Paris came from the ancient Latin term used by the Romans to call an earlier settlement, Lutetia Parisorum or "Lutetia of the Parisii".
The Parisii were Celtic Iron Age people who ...
- 20.4k
6
votes
Accepted
Does R + vowel at starts of a word pronounce like RR?
In Standard Italian, in most cases, in a word beginning by “r” + vowel, the “r” is pronounced as a simple, non-geminate one.
The “most cases” include the word in isolation, the word preceded by a ...
- 37.2k
6
votes
Accepted
The orthography of gi and ci
In Italian there are no hard and fast rules about stress. Even native speakers sometimes (often?) get it wrong on unfamiliar words. The only way to find the correct position of the stress of any given ...
- 12.2k
5
votes
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What's the origin of /ʎ/ sound of "gli"?
Serianni's Italiano, speaking of palatal sounds in Italian and why they are always geminated between vowels (/ʎʎ/, /ɲɲ/ and /ʃʃ/), explains (section I.47):
Le ragioni della pronuncia intensa di ...
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5
votes
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The correct pronunciation of the "ʎʎ" sound in IPA
First, no /l/ sound is present. The tip of the tongue for /ʎ/ is positioned like for /l/, but the jaw is raised so the sides of the tongue are pressed between the teeth.
There is no implicit or ...
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5
votes
Accepted
Perché in Turandot la Cina è chiamata China?
Ho trovato in questo post sul forum OperaClick una domanda simile alla tua:
Turandot: China (/ˈki.na/) oppure Cina (/ˈʧi.na/)?
Gentili esperti, un
quesito a cui non ho potuto dare risposta, ...
- 20.4k
5
votes
Why is gemination so common in Italian?
You have to distinguish between gemination in spelling and pronunciation.
French has a lot of geminated consonants in spelling, but none in pronunciation (except maybe at word boundaries, when a word ...
- 18.1k
5
votes
Are the pronunciations of "cie", "ce", "gie", "ge" the same when the letter "i" is used to soften?
If the i is unstressed (as in cielo), cie/ce and gie/ge are pronounced the same. If it is stressed, though (as in astrologia, astrologie and likewise e.g. farmacia, farmacie), it is pronounced even ...
- 611
5
votes
Accepted
Why is AC Milan's name emphasized on the first syllable, when the city's name is not?
As you can read anywhere, the football team was founded in December 1899 by a group of Englishmen and Italians as Milan Football & Cricket Club. It has been Milan since, except during the fascist ...
- 18.1k
4
votes
Are there any words with different pronunciation but same meaning?
In different regions of Italy there are differences in the way Italians do pronounce many words. I can give you some examples that I took from the book Italiano grammatica. Grammatica essenziale della ...
- 39.1k
4
votes
I need to know how to pronounce the name "Job" in Italian
The author of the paper was Paul Job. Though it was published in an Italian journal, Job was French - a student of Georges Urbain and cousin of André Job1, teaching at the Ecole nationale supérieure ...
- 856
4
votes
The use of the spellings -zz- vs. -z-
According to the Enciclopedia Treccani the first instance of this decision was made by Salviati, in his Avvertimenti sopra la lingua del Decamerone
A fine Cinquecento, è fondamentale la figura di ...
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4
votes
Elisione in questi casi?
L'Italiano di Serianni dice, parlando dei numeri cardinali (par. VI.10):
I numeri polisillabici possono elidere la vocale finale davanti all'iniziale vocalica della parola seguente. Oggi ciò ...
- 37.2k
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