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| | '''Italian''', occasionally called ''Lingua di Sì'' (in its own language: ''italiano'' or rarely ''lingua di sì''), is a [[Romance language]] spoken by 66,000,000 persons. Italian-speakers are mostly found in [[Italy]], [[Switzerland]] (where it is an official language spoken by 6.5% of the population), [[France]], [[Argentina]], [[Canada]], and [[United States of America]]. |
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| | ==Naming== |
| | Besides the usual name of the language, ''Italian'' (''italiano''), one sometimes sees the rare name ''Langua di Sì''. It was spread from ''[[De vulgari eloquentia]]'' (1303-1305), the famous essay by Italian writer [[Dante Alighieri]], where three Romance languages were identified by the way of saying “yes”: ''Lingua di Sì'' (“language of sì” or Italian), ''Lenga d'Òc'' (“language of òc” or [[Occitan language|Occitan]]) and ''Langue d'Oïl'' (“language of oïl” or [[French language|French]]). |
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| ==Sounds== | | ==Sounds== |
| ===Vowels=== | | ===Vowels=== |
| [[Triphthongs]] always contain at least one [[semivowel]]: ''noia'' and ''febbraio'' have the sequence vowel-semivowel-vowel. In ''miei'' the first ''i'' is a semivocalic 'y' sound, {{IPA|[j]}}; in ''tuoi'', the ''u'' functions as a {{IPA|[w]}}; and the final ''i'' of such words can become semivocalic before a following vowel in the next word. The ''i'' is a semivowel also in the first person plural of some verbs: ''continuiamo, dissanguiamo''. And in the four-vowel sequence of ''aiuola'' ('flowerbed') the {{IPA|[j]}} is pushing out the "u" semivowel, {{IPA|[w]}}, so nowadays ''aiola'' is the usual spelling. A similar process appears in words like ''mariuolo'' ('rascal') and ''legnaiuolo'' ('woodcutter'): almost everybody uses them (if at all) in the form ''mariolo'', ''legnaiolo'' etc. | | [[Triphthongs]] always contain at least one [[semivowel]]: ''noia'' and ''febbraio'' have the sequence vowel-semivowel-vowel. In ''miei'' the first ''i'' is a semivocalic 'y' sound, {{IPA|[j]}}; in ''tuoi'', the ''u'' functions as a {{IPA|[w]}}; and the final ''i'' of such words can become semivocalic before a following vowel in the next word. The ''i'' is a semivowel also in the first person plural of some verbs: ''continuiamo, dissanguiamo''. And in the four-vowel sequence of ''aiuola'' ('flowerbed') the {{IPA|[j]}} is pushing out the "u" semivowel, {{IPA|[w]}}, so nowadays ''aiola'' is the usual spelling. A similar process appears in words like ''mariuolo'' ('rascal') and ''legnaiuolo'' ('woodcutter'): almost everybody uses them (if at all) in the form ''mariolo'', ''legnaiolo'' etc.[[Category:Suggestion Bot Tag]] |
| ===Mobile diphthongs===
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| Many Latin words with a short stressed ''e'' or ''o'' have Italian counterparts with a [[mobile diphthong]] (''ie'' and ''uo'' respectively). When the vowel sound is stressed, it is pronounced and written as a diphthong; when not stressed, it is pronounced and written as a single vowel.
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| So Latin ''focus'' gave rise to Italian ''fuoco'' (meaning both "fire" and "optical focus"): when unstressed, as in ''focale'' ("focal") the "o" remains alone. Latin ''pes'' (more precisely its accusative form ''pedem'') is the source of Italian ''piede'' (foot): but unstressed "e" was left unchanged in ''pedone'' (pedestrian) and ''pedale'' (pedal). From Latin ''iocus'' comes Italian ''giuoco'' ("play", "game"), though in this case ''gioco'' is more common: ''giocare'' means "to play". From Latin ''homo'' comes Italian ''uomo'' (man), but also ''umano'' (human) and ''ominide'' (hominid). From Latin ''ovum'' comes Italian ''uovo'' (egg) and ''ovaie'' (ovaries). (The same phenomenon occurs in [[Spanish language|Spanish]]: ''juego'' (play, game) and ''jugar'' (to play), ''nieve'' (snow) and ''nevar'' (to snow)).
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| ===Consonants===
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| Two symbols in a table cell denote the voiceless and voiced consonant, respectively.
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| {| class="wikitable"
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| !
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| ![[bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
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| ![[labiodental consonant|Labiodental]]
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| ![[dental consonant|Dental]]
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| ![[alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
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| ![[postalveolar consonant|Postalveolar]]
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| ![[palatal consonant|Palatal]]
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| ![[velar consonant|Velar]]
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| |-
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| ![[plosive consonant|Plosive]]
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| | align="center"|{{IPA|p}}, {{IPA|b}}
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| | align="center"|{{IPA|t̪}}, {{IPA|d̪}}
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| | align="center"|{{IPA|k}}, {{IPA|g}}
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| |-
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| ![[nasal consonant|Nasal]]
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| | align="center"|{{IPA|m}}
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| | align="center"|{{IPA|n̪}}
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| | align="center"|{{IPA|ɲ}}
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| ![[trill consonant|Trill]]
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| | align="center"|{{IPA|r}}
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| |-
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| ![[flap consonant|Flap]]
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| | align="center"|{{IPA|ɾ}}
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| |-
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| ![[fricative consonant|Fricative]]
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| | align="center"|{{IPA|f}}, {{IPA|v}}
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| | align="center"|{{IPA|s}}, {{IPA|z}}
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| | align="center"|{{IPA|ʃ}}
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| ![[affricate consonant|Affricate]]
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| | align="center"|{{IPA|ʦ}}, {{IPA|ʣ}}
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| | align="center"|{{IPA|ʧ}}, {{IPA|ʤ}}
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| ![[lateral consonant|Lateral]]
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| | align="center"|{{IPA|l}}
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| | align="center"|{{IPA|ʎ}}
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| |}
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| The phoneme {{IPA|/n/}} undergoes assimilation when followed by a consonant, e.g., when followed by a velar ({{IPA|/k/}} or {{IPA|/g/}}) it is pronounced {{IPA|[ŋ]}}, etc.
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| Italian plosives are not [[aspiration (phonetics)|aspirated]] (unlike in English). Italian speakers hear the difference as a foreign accent.
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| Italian has geminate, or double, consonants, which are distinguished by [[Consonant length|length]]. Length is distinctive for all consonants except for {{IPA|/ʃ/}}, {{IPA|/ʦ/}}, {{IPA|/ʣ/}}, {{IPA|/ʎ/}} {{IPA|/ɲ/}}, which are always geminate, and {{IPA|/z/}} which is always single.
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| Geminate plosives and affricates are realised as lengthened closures. Geminate fricatives, nasals, and {{IPA|/l/}} are realized as lengthened [[continuant]]s. Geminate {{IPA|/ɾː/}} is realised as the trill {{IPA|[r]}}.
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| Of special interest to the linguistic study of Italian is the ''[[Tuscan gorgia|Gorgia Toscana]]'', or "Tuscan Throat", the weakening or [[lenition]] of certain [[:wiktionary:intervocalic|intervocalic]] consonants in [[Tuscan dialect]]s. See also [[Syntactic doubling]].
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| ===Assimilation===
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| Italian has few diphthongs, and so most unfamiliar diphthongs heard in foreign words (in particular, those with a first vowel that is not "i" or "u", or a first vowel that is stressed), will be assimilated as the corresponding [[diaeresis]] (i.e., the vowel sounds will be pronounced separately). Italian [[phonotactics]] do not usually permit nouns and verbs to end with consonants, excepting poetry and song, so foreign words may receive extra terminal vowel sounds.
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| <!--
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| ===Historical sound changes===
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| Description of important sound changes in the history of the language. (Maybe this should go under history?)
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| -->
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| ==Grammar==
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| {{main|Italian grammar}}
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| <!--
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| ==Vocabulary==
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| This section should contain a discussion of any special features of the vocabulary (or lexicon) of the language, like if it contains a large number of borrowed words or a different sets of words for different politeness levels, taboo groups, etc.
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| -->
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| ==Writing system==
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| [[Image:Jon Hawk.jpg|right|thumb|280px|Example of Italian]]
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| {{main|Italian alphabet}}
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| <blockquote>
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| <math>\mathfrak{N}</math>el mezzo del cammin di nostra vita<br />
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| mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,<br />
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| che la diritta via era smarrita.<br />
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| Ahi quanto a dir qual era è cosa dura<br />
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| esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte<br />
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| che nel pensier rinova la paura!<br />
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| Tant'è amara che poco è più morte;<br />
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| ma per trattar del ben ch'i' vi trovai,<br />
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| dirò de l'altre cose ch'i' v'ho scorte.<br />
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| ([[Dante Alighieri]]), ''La Divina Commedia'', Inferno, I, 1-9, 1304-1307 AD
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| </blockquote>
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| <blockquote>
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| <math>\mathfrak{T}</math>utti li stati, tutti e' dominii che hanno avuto et hanno imperio sopra li uomini, sono stati e sono o repubbliche o principati. E' principati sono o ereditarii, de' quali el sangue del loro signore ne sia suto lungo tempo principe, o e' sono nuovi. E' nuovi, o sono nuovi tutti, come fu Milano a Francesco Sforza, o sono come membri aggiunti allo stato ereditario del principe che li acquista, come è el regno di Napoli al re di Spagna. Sono questi dominii così acquistati, o consueti a vivere sotto uno principe, o usi ad essere liberi; et acquistonsi, o con le armi d'altri o con le proprie, o per fortuna o per virtù.<br />
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| ([[Niccolò Machiavelli]]), ''Principe'', Ch. 1, 1513 AD
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| </blockquote>
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| <blockquote>
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| <math>\mathfrak{Q}</math>uel ramo del lago di Como, che volge a mezzogiorno, tra due catene non interrotte di monti, tutto a seni e a golfi, a seconda dello sporgere e del rientrare di quelli che, vien, quasi a un tratto, a ristringersi, e a prender corso e figura di fiume, tra un promontorio a destra, e un'ampia costiera dall'altra parte; e il ponte, che ivi congiunge le due rive, par che renda ancor più sensibile all'occhio questa trasformazione, e segni il punto in cui il lago cessa, e l'Adda ricomincia, per ripigliar poi il nome di lago dove le rive, allontanandosi di nuovo, lascian l'acqua distendersi e rallentarsi in nuovi golfi e nuovi seni.<br />
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| ([[Alessandro Manzoni]]), ''I promessi sposi'', Ch.1, 1840 AD
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| </blockquote>
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| Italian is written using the [[Latin alphabet]]. The letters ''J'', ''K'', ''W'', ''X'' and ''Y'' are not considered part of the standard [[Italian alphabet]], but appear in loanwords (such as ''jeans'', ''whisky'', ''taxi''). ''X'' has become a commonly used letter in genuine Italian words with the prefix ''extra-''. ''J'' in Italian is an old-fashioned orthographic variant of ''I'', appearing in the first name "Jacopo" as well as in some Italian place names, e.g., the towns of [[Bajardo]], [[Bojano]], [[Joppolo]], [[Jesolo]], [[Jesi]], among numerous others, and in the alternate spelling ''Mar Jonio'' (also spelled ''Mar Ionio'') for the [[Ionian Sea]]. ''J'' may also appear in many words from different dialects, but its use is discouraged in contemporary Italian, and it is not part of the standard 21-letter contemporary Italian alphabet. Each of these foreign letters had an Italian equivalent spelling: ''gi'' for ''j'', ''c'' or ''ch'' for ''k'', ''u'' or ''v'' for ''w'' (depending on what sound it makes), ''cs'' or ''s'' for ''x'', and ''i'' for ''y''.
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| * Italian uses the [[acute accent]] over the letter ''E'' (as in ''perché'', why/because) to indicate a front mid-close vowel, and the [[grave accent]] (as in ''tè'', tea) to indicate a front mid-open vowel. The [[grave accent]] is also used on letters ''A'', ''I'', ''O'', and ''U'' to mark [[stress (linguistics)|stress]] when it falls on final vowel of a word (for instance ''gioventù'', youth). Typically, the penultimate syllable is stressed. If syllables other than the last one are stressed, the accent is not mandatory, unlike in [[Spanish language|Spanish]], and, in virtually all cases, it is omitted. In some cases, when the word is ambiguous (as ''principi''), the accent mark is sometimes used in order to disambiguate its meaning (in this case, ''prìncipi'', princes, or ''princìpi'', principles). This is however not compulsory. Rare words with three or more syllables can confuse Italians themselves, and the pronunciation of [[Istanbul]] is a common example of a word in which placement of stress is not clearly established. Another instance is the American State of [[Florida]]: the correct way to pronounce it in Italian is like in Spanish, "Florìda", but since there is an Italian word meaning the same ("flourishing"), "flòrida", and because of the influence of English, many Italians pronounce it that way.
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| * The letter ''H'' at the beginning of a word is used to distinguish ''ho'', ''hai'', ''ha'', ''hanno'' (present indicative of ''avere'', 'to have') from ''o'' ('or'), ''ai'' ('to the'), ''a'' ('to'), ''anno'' ('year'). In the spoken language this letter is always silent for the cases given above. ''H'' is also used in combinations with other letters (see below), but no [[phoneme]] {{IPA|[h]}} exists in Italian. In foreign words entered in common use, like "hotel" or "hovercraft", the H is commonly silent. You commonly pronounce them as {{IPA|/oˈtɛl/}} and {{IPA|/ˈɔverkraft/}}
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| * The letter ''Z'' represents {{IPA|/ʣ/}}, for example: ''Zanzara'' {{IPA|/dzan'dzaɾa/}} (mosquito), or {{IPA|/ʦ/}}, for example: ''Nazione'' {{IPA|/naˈttsjone/}} (nation), depending on context, though there are few [[minimal pair]]s. The same goes for ''S'', which can represent {{IPA|/s/}} or {{IPA|/z/}}. However, these two phonemes are in [[complementary distribution]] everywhere except between two vowels in the same word, and even in such environment there are extremely few minimal pairs, so that this distinction is being lost in many varieties.
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| * The letters ''C'' and ''G'' represent [[affricate]]s: {{IPA|/ʧ/}} as in "chair" and {{IPA|/ʤ/}} as in "gem", respectively, before the [[front vowel]]s ''I'' and ''E''. They are pronounced as [[plosive]]s {{IPA|/k/}}, {{IPA|/g/}} (as in "call" and "gall") otherwise. Front/back vowel rules for ''C'' and ''G'' are similar in [[French language|French]], [[Romanian language|Romanian]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], and to some extent [[English language|English]] (including [[Old English]]). [[swedish language|Swedish]] and [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] have similar rules for ''K'' and ''G''. (See also [[palatalization]].)
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| * However, an ''H'' can be added between ''C'' or ''G'' and ''E'' or ''I'' to represent a plosive, and an ''I'' can be added between ''C'' or ''G'' and ''A'', ''O'' or ''U'' to signal that the consonant is an affricate. For example:
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| :{| class="wikitable"
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| !
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| !colspan="2"|Before back vowel (A, O, U)
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| !colspan="2"|Before front vowel (I, E)
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| |-
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| !rowspan="2"| Plosive
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| !'''C'''
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| |caramella {{IPA|/kaɾaˈmɛlla/}}
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| !'''CH'''
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| |china {{IPA|/ˈkina/}}
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| |-
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| !'''G'''
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| |gallo {{IPA|/ˈgallo/}}
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| !'''GH'''
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| |ghiro {{IPA|/ˈgiro/}}
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| |-
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| !rowspan="2"| Affricate
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| !'''CI'''
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| |ciaramella {{IPA|/ʧaɾaˈmɛlla/}}
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| !'''C'''
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| |Cina {{IPA|/ˈʧina/}}
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| |-
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| !'''GI'''
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| |giallo {{IPA|/ˈʤallo/}}
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| !'''G'''
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| |giro {{IPA|/ˈʤiro/}}
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| |}
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| :Note that the ''H'' is [[silent letter|silent]] in the digraphs ''[[ch (digraph)|CH]]'' and ''[[gh (digraph)|GH]]'', as also the ''I'' in ''cia'', ''cio'', ''ciu'' and even ''cie'' is not pronounced as a separate vowel, unless it carries the primary stress. For example, it is silent in ''[[ciao]]'' {{IPA|/ˈʧa.o/}} and cielo {{IPA|/ˈʧɛ.lo/}}, but it is pronounced in ''farmacia'' {{IPA|/ˌfaɾ.ma.ˈʧi.a/}} and ''farmacie'' {{IPA|/ˌfaɾ.ma.ˈʧi.e/}}.
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| * There are three other special [[digraph (orthography)|digraphs]] in Italian: ''[[gn (digraph)|GN]]'', ''GL'' and ''SC''. ''GN'' represents {{IPA|/ɲ/}} and ''GL'' represents {{IPA|/ʎ/}} only before ''i'', and never at the beginning of a word, except in the [[personal pronoun]] and [[definite article]] ''gli''. (Compare with [[Spanish language|Spanish]] ''ñ'' and ''ll'', [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] ''nh'' and ''lh''.) ''SC'' represents fricative {{IPA|/ʃ/}} before ''i'' or ''e''. Except in the speech of some Northern Italians, all of these are normally [[geminate]] between vowels.
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| * In general, all letters or digraphs represent phonemes rather clearly, and in standard varieties of Italian, there is little allophonic variation. The most notable exceptions are assimilation of /n/ in point of articulation before consonants, assimilatory voicing of /s/ to following voiced consonants, and vowel length (vowels are long in stressed open syllables, and short elsewhere) — compare with the enormous number of [[allophone]]s of the English phoneme /t/. Spelling is clearly phonemic and difficult to mistake given a clear pronunciation. Exceptions are generally only found in foreign borrowings. There are fewer cases of [[dyslexia]] than among speakers of languages such as English {{Fact|date=February 2007}}, and the concept of a spelling bee is strange to Italians.
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| ===Common variations in the writing systems===
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| Some variations in the usage of the writing system may be present in practical use. These are scorned by educated people, but they are so common in certain contexts that knowledge of them may be useful.
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| * Usage of ''x'' instead of ''per'': this is very common among teenagers and in [[Text messaging|SMS]] abbreviations. The multiplication operator is pronounced "per" in Italian, and so it is sometimes used to replace the word "per", which means "for"; thus, for example, "per te" ("for you") is shortened to "x te" (compare with English "4 U"). Words containing ''per'' can also have it replaced with ''x'': for example, ''perché'' (both "why" and "because") is often shortened as ''xché'' or ''xké'' or ''x' ''(see below). This usage might be useful to jot down quick notes or to fit more text into the low character limit of an SMS, but it is considered unacceptable in formal writing.
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| * Usage of foreign letters such as ''k'', ''j'' and ''y'', especially in nicknames and SMS language: ''ke'' instead of ''che'', ''Giusy'' instead of ''Giuseppina'' (or sometimes ''Giuseppe''). This is curiously mirrored in the usage of ''i'' in English names such as ''Staci'' instead of ''Stacey'', or in the usage of ''c'' in [[Northern Europe]] (''Jacob'' instead of ''Jakob''). The use of "k" instead of "ch" or "c" to represent a plosive sound is documented in some historical texts from before the standardization of the Italian language; however, that usage is no longer standard in Italian. Possibly because it is associated with the [[German language]], the letter "k" has sometimes also been used in satire to suggest that a political figure is an authoritarian or even a "pseudo-nazi": [[Francesco Cossiga]] was famously nicknamed ''Kossiga'' by rioting students during his tenure as minister of internal affairs. [Cf. the [[alternative political spelling#"K" replacing "C"|politicized spelling ''Amerika'']] in the USA.]
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| * Usage of other abbreviations: '''nn''' instead of ''non'' (not), '''cmq''' instead of ''comunque'' (anyway, however), '''cm''' instead of ''come'' (how, like, as), '''d''' instead of ''di'' (of), '''(io/loro) sn''' instead of ''(io/loro) sono'' (I am/they are), '''(io) dv''' instead of ''(io) devo'' (I must/I have to) or instead of ''dove'' (where), '''(tu) 6''' instead of ''(tu) sei'' (you are).
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| * Inexperienced typists often replace accents with apostrophes, such as in ''perche<nowiki>'</nowiki>'' instead of ''perché''. Uppercase ''[[È]]'' is particularly rare, as it is absent from the [[Keyboard layout#Italian|Italian keyboard layout]], and is very often written as ''E''' (even though there are [[:it:Aiuto:Manuale di stile#Scrivere .C3.88|several ways]] of producing the uppercase È on a computer). This never happens in books or other professionally typeset material.
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| * Few are aware of the distinction between grave and acute accents, so it is also common to see ''perchè''. Modern word processing systems, however, tend to correct this mistake (unlike the previous one).
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