The Basics of Italian

1
The Basics of Italian

• Vowels, Consonants
• Applications

2
The Vowels (Italian)

• A
• father
• E
• hate (snotty), bed
• I
• meet
• O
• obey, ought
• U
• food

3
Syllabification

• Vvowel K consonant
• VKV V - KV
• caro ca-ro
• nome no-me
• fare fa-re
• amore a-mo-re
• finiti fi-ni-ti
• point quite like English

4
Syllabification

• V2KV V - KKV
• figlio fi-glio
• sogno so-gno
• misto mi-sto
• reclama re-cla-ma
• lascia la-scia
• cifra ci-fra
• venusta ve-nu-sta
• fosco fo-sco

5
Syllabification

• BUT VKKV VK-KV or homo
• donna don-na
• tutti tut-ti
• babbo bab-bo
• colla col-la
• acqua ac-qua
• agghindare ag-ghin-da-re
• occhi oc-chi

6
Syllabification

• BUT V(LMNR)KV V(LMNR) - KV
• volto vol-to
• tempo tem-po
• vento ven-to
• Parma Par-ma

7
Syllabification

• 3KV VK - KKV
• mentre men-tre
• altro al-tro
• barchetta bar-chet-ta
• sempre sem-pre
• BUT VSKKV V - SKKV
• astre a-stre
• estremo e-stre-mo
• mostra mo-stra
• maschera ma-sche-ra
• discrezione di-scre-zio-ne

8
Syllabification

• Consecutive vowels
• Book not consistent
• TGAK
• two vowels 2 syllables unless glide
• Glide
• KUV (ISS)
• KIV (ISS)

9
Stress

• majority penultimate next-to-last
• accent on last (\) ultimate
• some antepenultimate see score
• watch meaning changes see p. 43
• point for singers check the score!!!

10
The Long Short of It

• elongated before single K
• shorter before 2K
• usually but not nec.! related to open closed

11
The Open Shut of It

• unstressed E O two schools of thought
• open after, closed before
• always closed (ala spoken Italian pp.60, 70)
• Stressed E O closed (generally)
• final in syllable. E pp. 36, 61 O p. 38, 70
• E big exception word list, p. 61
• chant list of exceptions. E pp. 36, 61-62 O
  pp. 71-72
• Stressed E O open (generally)
• followed by K (ISS). E pp. 36, 62 O pp. 38, 72
  
• chant list of exceptions. E pp. 36, 63-64 O
  pp.38, 72-73

12
Apocopation

• all multi-syllable Italian words end in vowels
• poetic omission of said final vowel apocopation
• practical results
• stress reamins as if vowel were present
• E/O vowel quality remains as if vowel were
  present
• dead giveaway multisyllable word ending in K

13
Italian Consonants

• Substantial similarities
• B b D d F f K k L l M
  m N n P p QU kw S s,z T
  t V v
• C k, tS G g, dZ
• H silent (always)
• J j (never used as K)
• R r (flipped or rolled)
• W, X, Y nonexistent in native
• Z ts, dz

14
Italian Consonants

• CH k (always!)
• NG N sing
• GN tilde N señor in Spanish
• GL(I) tilde L
• SC S, sk
• doubled K stopped or elongated mm tt

15
Italian Consonants Application

• b, p d, t g, k
• dental and/or non-aspirate
• ballo, bella, pero, periglio, dal, dente, tesoro,
  ti, gola, gura, che, caro
• C, G
• soft tS, dZ before E/I
• cielo, cena, bacio, giusto, gira, gemma
• hard k, g everywhere else
• che, Schicchi, cura, grande

16
Italian Consonants Application

• CH k
• che, nocchiero, Schicchi
• NG (really N before k or g
• anche, fango, fandango, sangue, ancora
• GN tilde N señor in Spanish
• bagno, signore, sogno, legno, menzognero
• GL(I) ( to GN, only with L)
• periglio, artiglio

17
Italian Consonants Application

• SC
• before E/I
• lascia, scena, scemo, sciabla
• elsewhere
• Ascano, Toscano, scusa, scrive, scala
• doubled K stopped or elongated mm tt
• anno year
• ano anatomical reference

18
Italian Consonants Application

• R flipped r or rolled, rr
• initial R(alone or in group)
• usually flipped, may be trilled for emphasis
• rabbia, crudele, struggo, grato, rondine, rosa
• intervocalic R always flipped, never trilled
• vero, giro, nero, mira, raro, morirò, cura, dura
• doubled R always trilled
• narrare, orrore, terrore corre, burro, carro

19
Italian Consonants Application

• S s
• initial (sala, scuola, stato, sono)
• followed by unv. K (ascolta, disfido, aspetto)
• KSV (sensi, orso, pensare)
• doubled (tassa, messa, fisso, fossa)
• S z
• before v. K (initial or interior) (sguardo,
  sdegno, sbaglio, smania, disgegno, fantasma,
  medesma)
• z intervocalic (rosa, sposa, cosa,
  presa,luso)
• Point voiced intervocalic before voice K
  elsewhere unvoiced