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Difference between revisions of "Language/Italian/Grammar/Italian-Alphabet"
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Italian | == ALPHABET AND PRONUNCIATION OF THE LETTERS == | ||
The Italian alphabet contains 21 letters (5 vowels and 16 consonants). The letters J, K, W, X, and Y are only used in foreign words, and in scientific or technical terms. Nowadays it is common to use the English alphabet instead of the Italian one since lots of commonly used words contain J, K, W, X and Y. | |||
The modern Italian alphabet includes the following 26 letters: | |||
The Italian alphabet includes the following 26 letters: | |||
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== '''CLUSTERS OF LETTERS''' == | |||
Some sounds do not have a specific letter, but a cluster of letters | |||
'''CONSONANT CLUSTERS CREATING DIFFERENT SOUNDS''' | |||
* '''GN''': this cluster is always followed by a vowel and must be pronounced '''/ɲ/''' (GNA /ɲa/, GNE /ɲe/, GNI /ɲi/, GNO /ɲo/, GNU /ɲu/). This cluster is prounced as /gn/ only in some technical or scientific terms. Notice that in rare cases syllable GNA must be spelled GNIA even if letter I is silent. (example: DISEGNIAMO, REGNIAMO etc.) | |||
* '''GLI''': this cluster is always followed by vowel 'I' alone or 'I + other vowels' and must be pronounced '''/ʎ/''' (GLIA (ʎa), GLIE (ʎe), GLI (ʎi) GLIO (ʎo), GLIU (ʎu). This cluster is pronounced as /gl/ almost only in technical or scientific terms | |||
* '''SCI/SCE''': 'SC' plus soft vowels 'E' and 'I' is pronounced '''/ʃ/'''; to reproduce sound /ʃ/ before other vowels, letter 'I' must always be used (SCIA /ʃa/, SCE /ʃe/, SCI /ʃi/, SCIO /ʃo/ SCIU /ʃu/); notice that syllable SCE must sometimes be spelled SCIE even if its pronunciation does not change. (example: SCIENZA, SCIENZIATO, SCIENTIFICO etc.) | |||
'''VOWEL CLUSTERS CREATING DIFFERENT SOUNDS''' | |||
In Italian you can find clusters of vowels that should be considered '''diphthongs, triphthongs or hiatus.''' | |||
A diphthong is a cluster of vowels inside the same syllable, in which one vowel is the core of the syllable and the other is pronounced slightly differently, most of the times as a half-vowel. | |||
The Italian diphthongs divide themselves into two groups: | |||
* '''ascending diphthongs''': they are composed of I or U + all the other vowels; the I and the U are not stressed and are pronunced as half vowels while the other vowels are pronounced clearly as always, so '''IA /ja/, IE /je/ or /jɛ/, IO /jo/ or /jɔ/, IU /ju/''' and '''UA /wa/, UE /we/ or /w, UI /wi/, UO /wo/ or /wɔ/'''. sounds /ji/ (II as a diphthong) and /wu/ (UU as a diphthong) do not exist in Italian). These diphthongs are pronounced exactly like in English YEsterday, YAwn, YOrk or WHAtch, WHen, WHIle etc.(you could just imagine to actually replace the I with a English Y and U with an English W) | |||
* '''discending diphthongs''': these are dipthongs in which the clear and stress vowel is the first one while the following one is I or U. In these cases I or U are still pronounced clearly but are considered non-syllabic vowel and are sometimes considered as halfvowel as well, even if in terms of pronounciation they are not. So we have '''AI /ai/, EI /ei/ or ɛi/, II /ii/, OI /oi/ or /ɔi/, UI /ui/''' and '''AU /au/, EU /eu/''' (IU, OU, UU with stress on the first vowel do not exist in Italian). | |||
Italian also uses rare '''triphthongs''' combining the two rules or using more than one ascending diphthong. For example: | |||
''' | * triphthong made of ascending + discending diphthong: V'''UOI''' /vwɔi/, where we have ascending UO /wɔ/ + discending OI /oi/ (this means "you want") | ||
* triphthong made of ascending + discending diphthong: G'''UAI''' /gwai/, where we have ascending UA /wa/ + discending AI /ai/ (this means "trouble") | |||
* triphthong made of two ascending diphthongs: CONTIN'''UIA'''MO /konti'nwjamo/, where we have ascending UI /wi/ and ascending IA /ja/ (this means "we continue") | |||
Sometimes clusters of vowels must be pronounced separately and considered as the core of different syllables: in some cases this happens between vowels that by nature cannot make a diphthong, while in other occasions this happens even between vowels that could form a diphthong, so this could bring you to pronounce the word wrong. This is called in anycase "'''hiatus'''". A hiatus is a suquence of vowel sounds each of which is the core of a different syllable. | |||
''' | * hiatus made between vowels that do not create a diphthong by nature: POETA /po'ɛta/, (it means "poet"). It syllabize as P'''O-E'''-TA | ||
* hiatus made between vowels that do not create a diphthong by nature: AEREO /a'ɛɾeo/ (it means "plain"); this word has two hiatuses, one between A and E and the other between E and O); it is syllabized as '''A-E'''-R'''E-O''' | |||
* hiatus made between vowels that could make a diphthong: VIA /'via/, (it means "road, street, avenue"); it is syllabized as V'''I-A''' | |||
* hiatus made between vowels that could make a diphthong: BAULE /ba'ule/, (it means "(trasure)chest, trunk"); it is syllabized as B'''A-U'''-LE | |||
== | == DIACRITICS == | ||
'''ACCENTS''' | '''ACCENTS''' | ||
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C'È -> C' stands for "CI": This expression means "there is" | C'È -> C' stands for "CI": This expression means "there is" | ||
== | == STRESS == | ||
In the Italian language stress cannot be guessed by diacritics like in Greek, Spanish or Portuguese. It does not even fall always on a specific syllable like in French (always on the last) or in Icelandic or Finnish (always on the first). Even if the tendence is to pronounce words with the stress on the last but one syllable, many commonly used words do not follow this rule. Plus, when a word ends with more than one vowel, it is always difficult to syllabize correctly. When learning Italian, I suggest you to always mark in written form the stressed vowel and to repeat it out loud once or twice. | In the Italian language stress cannot be guessed by diacritics like in Greek, Spanish or Portuguese. It does not even fall always on a specific syllable like in French (always on the last) or in Icelandic or Finnish (always on the first). Even if the tendence is to pronounce words with the stress on the last but one syllable, many commonly used words do not follow this rule. Plus, when a word ends with more than one vowel, it is always difficult to syllabize correctly. When learning Italian, I suggest you to always mark in written form the stressed vowel and to repeat it out loud once or twice. | ||
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As you can see, only troncated words require a graphic accent (acute or gave), but in the middle of a word accents are almost never written, so it is quite difficult to guess where the stress falls in Italian. | As you can see, only troncated words require a graphic accent (acute or gave), but in the middle of a word accents are almost never written, so it is quite difficult to guess where the stress falls in Italian. | ||
== | == SYLLABIZING == | ||
The rules to syllabize correctly are very different from one language to the other and are strictly connected to pronunciation and spelling. | The rules to syllabize correctly are very different from one language to the other and are strictly connected to pronunciation and spelling. | ||
In | Let us start from how words are built in Italian. | ||
Italian words are usually composed of an alternation of consonants and vowels like BANANA ('''c-v-c-v'''-c-v), PAROLA ('''c-v-c-v'''-c-v) | |||
They can also begin with a vowel and continuing with the alternation like EDERA ('''v'''-'''c-v'''-c-v), ANATEMA ('''v-c-v'''-c-v-c-v) | |||
Sometimes you can find clusters from two to three consonants (very rarely a cluster of 4 consonants). They can be found at the beginning or in the middle of the word, like CREDERE ('''cc'''-v-c-v-c-v), STRADA ('''ccc'''-v-c-v) LABBRA (c-v-'''ccc'''-v), ATTRAVERSARE (v-'''ccc'''-v-c-v-'''cc'''-v-c-v) IGNOTO (v-'''cc'''-v-c-v) etc. | |||
The last case you can find is a cluster of vowels (from two to three, very rarely four) that con behave in different ways: In fact when vowels are attached to one another they can form a diphthong, a triphthong or they can be pronounced separately forming a hiatus. This cannot be guessed and must be learnt by heart, like AIUTARE ('''vvv'''-c-v-c-v), CIAO (c-'''vvv'''), POETA (c-'''vv'''-c-v) | |||
In order to syllabyze coretly: | |||
# First step is recognizing vowels and consonants; Italian only has 5 vowels, A, E, I, O, U, while the other letters are all consonants (just do as you've seen above) | |||
# Second: clusters of consonants must be separated according to the following rules: | |||
#* clusters that creates different sounds cannot be separated: as we've seen above, GN (+ vowel) /ɲ'''/''', GL (+ I + vowel) '''/'''ʎ'''/''' SC(+ I or E) '''/'''ʃ'''/''' | |||
#* letter S cannot be separated from the consonant the follows, so SB, SC, SD, SF, SG, SL, SM, SN, SP, SQ, SR, ST, SV will stick together | |||
#* letters L and R cannot be separated form the consonant the precede (except the cluster -RL-), so BL, BR, CL, CR, DL, DR, FL, FR, GL, GR, ML, MR, | |||
First rule to know is: | |||
* every syllable must have only one vowel or one diphthong or one triphthong inside, and it could begin or end with one or more consonants. So the types of syllable we have are: | |||
** "'''V'''" or "'''VV'''" or "'''VVV'''" - only one vowel/diphthong: '''A'''-BI-TA-RE, '''EU'''-RO-PA | |||
** consonant(s) + vowel/diphthong: '''CRE'''-DE-RE, '''SPRO'''-FON-DA-RE | |||
** vowel/diphthong + consonant(s): '''AR'''-RI-VA-RE | |||
** consonant(s) + vowel/diphthong + consonant(s): '''COR'''-SA | |||
* | * when you see more consonants attached one to the other, they must be devided according to these rules: | ||
** | ** R and L remain attached to the consonant before: AP- '''PRE'''-SO, RE-'''CLA'''-MO | ||
** N and M | |||
** | |||
== Conclusion == | == Conclusion == | ||
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* [https://www.learnita.net/italian-grammar-alphabet/ Italian Grammar lesson 1 - Alphabet] | * [https://www.learnita.net/italian-grammar-alphabet/ Italian Grammar lesson 1 - Alphabet] | ||
*https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/accento-grafico_(Enciclopedia-dell'Italiano)/ | *https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/accento-grafico_(Enciclopedia-dell'Italiano)/ | ||
*https://accademiadellacrusca.it/it/consulenza/divisione-in-sillabe/302 | |||