Help:IPA/Central Italian

This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Central Italian on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Central Italian in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing consensus on the talk page first.

For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

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The charts below show the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) representations of Central and Tuscan Italian pronunciations. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

Standard Italian phonemes, in bold, are followed by their most common phonetic values and their respective occurrence among dialects. Unless otherwise noted, unmentioned dialectal realizations are the same as for Standard Italian (e.g. Tuscan andando is [anˈdando], not [anˈnanno], and is therefore not listed below). Examples in the chart are spelled in Standard Italian.

The phonological processes described in the notes are normally valid at word boundaries as well.

Consonants^[1] and semiconsonants
Phoneme	Phones	Examples	Occurrence	English approximation
b	b	orbo, base, sembrare	all dialects	base
	b	libertà, una bibita	Tuscany and easternmost Umbria	base
	bː	libertà, una bibita	most non-Tuscan dialects^[2]	rib bone
	m	gamba, cambio	Rome, areas of Marche and southern Umbria^[3]	mate
d	d	addentare, perdere	all dialects	date
	l	scaldare	parts of Marche	late
	n	andando, sindaco	Rome, areas of Marche and southern Umbria^[3]	nose
dz^[4]	dz	gazza, manzo	all dialects^[5]	lads
dʒ	dʒ	Sergio, un giro	all dialects	jade
	dːʒ	logica, la gente	most non-Tuscan dialects^[2]	mad joker
	ʒ	logica, la gente	Tuscany and easternmost Umbria^[6]	leisure
f	f	figli, effetto, confondere	all dialects	fade
ɡ	ɡ	magro, agghindare	all dialects	game
j	j	maiali, chiave	all dialects	Yale
k	ɡ	ancora, in chiesa	Sabina, Marche, Ciociaria, areas of Umbria^[7]	game
	k	palchi, accanto	all dialects	scale
	k̬	amico, la cura	southern Tuscany and Lazio^[8]	this game
	h	amico, la cura	most of Tuscany and easternmost Umbria^[8]	hay
l	l	ala, bellezza	all dialects	lane
l	r ɾ	soldi, molto	Lazio, parts of Marche and southern Umbria	carro or caro in Spanish
ʎ^[4]	j	maglio, tigli	Lazio	vermilion or vermilion
ʎ^[4]	ʎ	maglio, tigli	other dialects	vermilion or vermilion
m	m	temperamento, ammirare	all dialects	main
n	n	annona, lancio	all dialects^[9]	nine
	ɲ	con gnomi		canyon
	ŋ	ingordo, ovunque		ring
	ɱ	inverno, canfora		comfit
	m	buon pasto, in modo tale		main
ɲ^[4]	ɲ	bagno, spegnere	all dialects	canyon
p	b	tempo, in piazza	Sabina, Marche, Ciociaria, areas of Umbria^[7]	base
	p	pattini, arpa	all dialects	space
	p̬	dopo, i pini	southern Tuscany and Lazio^[8]	this base
	ɸ	dopo, i pini	most of Tuscany and easternmost Umbria^[8]	between fay and pay
r	r ɾ	cortometraggio, arrivo	all dialects^[10]	carro or caro in Spanish
s	s	sospiro, anglosassone	all dialects^[11]	same
	ts	insieme, perso	all dialects^[11]	rats
	ʃ	sospiro, anglosassone	southern areas of Umbria and Marche	shade
ʃ^[4]	ʃ	conscia, cuscino	all dialects	shade
t	d	tarantola, in Toscana	Sabina, Marche, Ciociaria, areas of Umbria^[7]	date
	t	costoletta, a Taranto	all dialects	state
	t̬	ditata, la tavola	southern Tuscany and Lazio^[8]	this date
	θ	ditata, la tavola	most of Tuscany and easternmost Umbria^[8]	thane
ts^[4]	ts	pazza, danzo, Lazio	all dialects^[5]	rats
tʃ	dʒ	conceria	Sabina, Marche, Ciociaria, areas of Umbria^[7]	jade
	tʃ	ciao, nel cielo	all dialects^[4]^[6]	chap
	ʃ	cacio, ora di cena	all dialects^[4]^[6]	shade
v	v	cavallo, avremo	all dialects	vane
w	w	squallido, guardare	all dialects	waste
z	z	risma, bismuto	all dialects	laze
	z	rosa, visivo	Tuscany and easternmost Umbria	laze
	s	rosa, visivo	most non-Tuscan dialects	same

Stressed vowels and diphthongs^[12]
Phoneme	Phones	Occurrence	English approximation
a	a	all dialects	between fat and father^[13]
e	e	all dialects	fader
e	ɛ	non-Tuscan dialects^[14]	feather
ɛ	ɛ	all dialects	feather
ɛ	e	non-Tuscan dialects^[14]	fader
jɛ^[15]	je	certain non-Tuscan dialects	yet
jɛ^[15]	jɛ	other dialects	yet
i	i	all dialects	eat
o	o	all dialects	story
o	ɔ	non-Tuscan dialects^[14]	off
ɔ	ɔ	all dialects	off
ɔ	o	non-Tuscan dialects^[14]	story
wɔ^[15]	ɔ	all dialects	off
u	u	all dialects	cool

Unstressed vowels
Phoneme	Phones	Occurrence	English approximation
a	a	all dialects	between fat and father^[13]
e	e	all dialects	fader
e	i	certain non-Tuscan dialects^[16]	eat
i	i	all dialects	eat
i	e	certain non-Tuscan dialects^[16]	fader
o	o	all dialects	story
o	u	Sabina, southern areas of Umbria and Marche^[17]	cool
u	u	all dialects	cool

Other symbols
IPA	Explanation
ˈ	primary stress indicator (placed before the stressed syllable)
ˌ	secondary stress indicator (placed before the stressed syllable)
.	syllable separation indicator
ː	long vowel or geminated consonant indicator

Notes

^ Consonant length is phonemic, with dialects featuring syntactic gemination as well, though sometimes with a different occurrence from the standard outside Tuscany.
^ ^a ^b After a vowel, /b/ and /dʒ/ are always geminated in all Central dialects.
^ ^a ^b In these dialects, (semi)vowel-preceding /mb/ and /nd/ undergo total progressive assimilation to [mː] and [nː], respectively.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f As it is the standard, /dz/, /ts/, /ʎ/, /ɲ/ and /ʃ/ are always geminated after a vowel; this means in such instances /ʃ/ and single /tʃ/ (realized as [ʃ]) are only distinguished by their length (e.g. pesce [ˈpeʃːe] vs pece [ˈpeːʃe]).
^ ^a ^b Though this is generally true for most words, /dz/ and /ts/ may not have the exact same distribution everywhere.
^ ^a ^b If preceded by a vowel, single /tʃ/ and (in Tuscany) /dʒ/ generally deaffricate.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d In those places nasals trigger the voicing of certain following consonants.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f In such areas, single /k/, /p/, /t/ lenite after a vowel, in Tuscany (in which such consonants, if geminated instead, might be slightly aspirated [kʰ], [pʰ], [tʰ]) following a phenomenon known as Tuscan gorgia.
^ As in Standard Italian, assimilation to the following consonant always occurs for nasals.
^ In a few South Central dialects, chiefly Romanesco, geminated /rː/ is always a single flap [ɾ]: e.g. guera [ˈɡwɛːɾa] instead of guerra.
^ /s/ becomes an affricate in post-consonantal position, except after another /s/.
^ Stressed vowels tend to be realized as longer in a non-final open syllable.
^ ^a ^b Closer to fat in most British and Irish accents; closer to father in most North American, Australian and New Zealand accents
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Some non-Tuscan dialects may differ from the standard in the distribution of stressed close- and open-mid vowels in certain restricted cases (e.g. Tuscan attentamente [aˌtːɛntaˈmente], sarebbe [saˈɾɛbːe], sono [ˈsoːno] vs Marchigiano attentamente [aˌtːɛndaˈmɛnde], Romanesco sarebbe [saˈɾebːe], sono [ˈsɔːno]).
^ ^a ^b We refer here to /jɛ/ and /wɔ/ as resulting from diphthongization of Latin ĕ and ŏ, respectively (e.g. cuoco, from Latin coquus, or lieve, from levis); not to cases like sapiente, from Latin sapiens, or annacquò, third singular past historic of annacquare, whose pronunciation is the same as in Standard Italian for all dialects).
^ ^a ^b This change only occurs in a few monosyllables, e.g. Romanesco si te ce vedi [si tːe ʃe ˈveːdi] vs Standard se ti ci vedi [se tːi tʃi ˈveːdi].
^ Occurs word-finally in a few words, e.g. Marchigiano rosciu [ˈroʃːu] for Standard rosso [ˈrosːo].

External links

Vignuzzi, Ugo. "Italia mediana" [Central Italy]. Enciclopedia Treccani (in Italian).

[1] Consonant length is phonemic, with dialects featuring syntactic gemination as well, though sometimes with a different occurrence from the standard outside Tuscany.

[bdʒgem-2] After a vowel, /b/ and /dʒ/ are always geminated in all Central dialects.

[bdassim-3] In these dialects, (semi)vowel-preceding /mb/ and /nd/ undergo total progressive assimilation to [mː] and [nː], respectively.

[geminated-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f As it is the standard, /dz/, /ts/, /ʎ/, /ɲ/ and /ʃ/ are always geminated after a vowel; this means in such instances /ʃ/ and single /tʃ/ (realized as [ʃ]) are only distinguished by their length (e.g. pesce [ˈpeʃːe] vs pece [ˈpeːʃe]).

[zee-5] Though this is generally true for most words, /dz/ and /ts/ may not have the exact same distribution everywhere.

[deaffrication-6] If preceded by a vowel, single /tʃ/ and (in Tuscany) /dʒ/ generally deaffricate.

[nasalvoicing-7] In those places nasals trigger the voicing of certain following consonants.

[lenition-8] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f In such areas, single /k/, /p/, /t/ lenite after a vowel, in Tuscany (in which such consonants, if geminated instead, might be slightly aspirated [kʰ], [pʰ], [tʰ]) following a phenomenon known as Tuscan gorgia.

[9] As in Standard Italian, assimilation to the following consonant always occurs for nasals.

[10] In a few South Central dialects, chiefly Romanesco, geminated /rː/ is always a single flap [ɾ]: e.g. guera [ˈɡwɛːɾa] instead of guerra.

[11] /s/ becomes an affricate in post-consonantal position, except after another /s/.

[12] Stressed vowels tend to be realized as longer in a non-final open syllable.

[a-13] Closer to fat in most British and Irish accents; closer to father in most North American, Australian and New Zealand accents

[diffoccur-14] Some non-Tuscan dialects may differ from the standard in the distribution of stressed close- and open-mid vowels in certain restricted cases (e.g. Tuscan attentamente [aˌtːɛntaˈmente], sarebbe [saˈɾɛbːe], sono [ˈsoːno] vs Marchigiano attentamente [aˌtːɛndaˈmɛnde], Romanesco sarebbe [saˈɾebːe], sono [ˈsɔːno]).

[breve-15] We refer here to /jɛ/ and /wɔ/ as resulting from diphthongization of Latin ĕ and ŏ, respectively (e.g. cuoco, from Latin coquus, or lieve, from levis); not to cases like sapiente, from Latin sapiens, or annacquò, third singular past historic of annacquare, whose pronunciation is the same as in Standard Italian for all dialects).

[monosyll-16] This change only occurs in a few monosyllables, e.g. Romanesco si te ce vedi [si tːe ʃe ˈveːdi] vs Standard se ti ci vedi [se tːi tʃi ˈveːdi].

[17] Occurs word-finally in a few words, e.g. Marchigiano rosciu [ˈroʃːu] for Standard rosso [ˈrosːo].

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External links