Help:IPA/Italian

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

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of 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.

Shortcuts

The charts below show how the International Phonetic Alphabet represents pronunciations of Standard Italian in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

See Italian phonology and Italian orthography for a more thorough look at the sounds of Italian.

Consonants
IPA	Examples	English approximation
b	banca, cibo	about
d	dove, idra, dado	today
dz	zaino, azalea, mezzo	dads
dʒ	gelo, giù, magia, judo, gadget	job
f	fatto, cifra, fon	fast
ɡ	gatto, agro, ghetto, glicosio	again
j	ieri, saio, più, Jesi, yacht, news	yes
k	cosa, acuto, finché, quei, kiwi, koala	scar
l	lato, tela, glicosio	ladder
ʎ	figli, glielo, maglia	billion
m	mano, amare, input	mother
ɱ	anfibio, invece	comfort
n	nano, punto, pensare, mangiare	nest
ŋ	unghia, anche, dunque	sing
ɲ	gnocco, ogni	canyon
p	primo, ampio, apertura	spin
r	Roma, quattro, morte	trilled r
s	sano, scusa, presentire, pasto	sorry
ʃ	scena, scià, pesci, flash, chic	shoe
t	tranne, mito, altro, thai	star
ts	zio, sozzo, marzo	cats
tʃ	certo, ciao, farmacia, chip	check
v	vado, povero, watt	vent
w	uova, guado, qui, week-end	wine
z	sbirro, presentare, asma	amazon
Non-native consonants
h	hobby, hertz	house
θ	Thatcher, Pérez	thing
x	jota, Bach, khamsin	loch (Scottish English)
ʒ	Fuji, garage, casual	vision

Vowels
IPA	Examples	English approximation
a	alto, sarà, must	fast (Scottish English)
e	vero, perché, liaison	fade
ɛ	etto, cioè, spread	bed
i	viso, sì, zia, feed, team, sexy	ski
o	ombra, otto, show, coach	story
ɔ	otto, sarò, Sean	off
u	usi, ragù, tuo, tour	rule
Non-native vowels
ø	viveur, goethiano, Churchill	murder (RP)
y	parure, brûlé, Führer	future (Scottish English)

Suprasegmentals
IPA	Examples	Explanation
ˈ	Cennini	primary stress
ˌ	altamente	secondary stress
.	continuo	syllable break
ː	primo	long vowel

Notes

^ Except /z/, all consonants after a vowel and before /r/, /l/, a vowel or a semivowel may be geminated. Gemination in IPA is represented by doubling the consonant (fatto , mezzo ), and can usually be told from orthography. After stressed vowels and certain prepositions and conjunctions, word-initial consonants also become geminated (syntactic gemination): va via .
^ ^a ^b ⟨z⟩ represents both /ts/ and /dz/. The article on Italian orthography explains how they are used.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e /ts, dz, ʃ, ɲ, ʎ/ are always geminated after a vowel.
^ ^a ^b ⟨gli⟩ represents /ʎ/ or /ʎi/, except in roots of Greek origin, when preceded by another consonant, and in a few other words, where it represents /ɡli/.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e A nasal always assimilates to the place of articulation of the following consonant. It is bilabial before /p, b, m/, labiodental before /f, v/, dental, alveolar or postalveolar before /t, d, ts, dz, tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, l, r/, and velar before /k, ɡ/. Utterance-finally, it is always .
^ Non-geminate /r/ is generally realised as a monovibrant trill or flap , particularly in unstressed syllables.
^ ^a ^b /s/ and /z/ contrast only intervocalically. Word-initially, after consonants, when geminated, and before voiceless consonants, only is found. Before voiced consonants, only is found.
^ /h/ is usually dropped.
^ /θ/ is usually pronounced as in English loanwords, and , (if spelled ⟨z⟩) or (if spelled ⟨c⟩ or ⟨z⟩) in Spanish ones.
^ In Spanish loanwords, /x/ is usually pronounced as or or dropped. In German, Arabic and Russian ones, it is usually pronounced .
^ Italian contrasts seven monophthongs in stressed syllables. Open-mid vowels /ɛ, ɔ/ can appear only if the syllable is stressed (coperto , quota ), close-mid vowels /e, o/ are found elsewhere (Boccaccio , amore ). Close and open vowels /i, u, a/ are unchanged in unstressed syllables, but word-final unstressed /i/ may become approximant before vowels, which is known as synalepha (pari età ).
^ Open-mid or close-mid if it is stressed but usually if it is unstressed. May be replaced by (stressed) or (stressed or unstressed).
^ /y/ is often pronounced as or .
^ Since Italian has no distinction between heavier or lighter vowels (like the English o in conclusion vs o in nomination), a defined secondary stress, even in long words, is extremely rare.
^ Primarily stressed vowels are long in non-final open syllables: fato , fatto .

External links

Dizionario italiano multimediale e multilingue d'ortografia e di pronunzia (in Italian)
Dizionario di pronuncia italiana online by Luciano Canepari (in Italian)

[1] Except /z/, all consonants after a vowel and before /r/, /l/, a vowel or a semivowel may be geminated. Gemination in IPA is represented by doubling the consonant (fatto , mezzo ), and can usually be told from orthography. After stressed vowels and certain prepositions and conjunctions, word-initial consonants also become geminated (syntactic gemination): va via .

[z-2] ⟨z⟩ represents both /ts/ and /dz/. The article on Italian orthography explains how they are used.

[geminated-3] /ts, dz, ʃ, ɲ, ʎ/ are always geminated after a vowel.

[gli-4] ⟨gli⟩ represents /ʎ/ or /ʎi/, except in roots of Greek origin, when preceded by another consonant, and in a few other words, where it represents /ɡli/.

[nasal-5] A nasal always assimilates to the place of articulation of the following consonant. It is bilabial before /p, b, m/, labiodental before /f, v/, dental, alveolar or postalveolar before /t, d, ts, dz, tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, l, r/, and velar before /k, ɡ/. Utterance-finally, it is always .

[6] Non-geminate /r/ is generally realised as a monovibrant trill or flap , particularly in unstressed syllables.

[s-z-7] /s/ and /z/ contrast only intervocalically. Word-initially, after consonants, when geminated, and before voiceless consonants, only is found. Before voiced consonants, only is found.

[8] /h/ is usually dropped.

[9] /θ/ is usually pronounced as in English loanwords, and , (if spelled ⟨z⟩) or (if spelled ⟨c⟩ or ⟨z⟩) in Spanish ones.

[10] In Spanish loanwords, /x/ is usually pronounced as or or dropped. In German, Arabic and Russian ones, it is usually pronounced .

[11] Italian contrasts seven monophthongs in stressed syllables. Open-mid vowels /ɛ, ɔ/ can appear only if the syllable is stressed (coperto , quota ), close-mid vowels /e, o/ are found elsewhere (Boccaccio , amore ). Close and open vowels /i, u, a/ are unchanged in unstressed syllables, but word-final unstressed /i/ may become approximant before vowels, which is known as synalepha (pari età ).

[12] Open-mid or close-mid if it is stressed but usually if it is unstressed. May be replaced by (stressed) or (stressed or unstressed).

[13] /y/ is often pronounced as or .

[14] Since Italian has no distinction between heavier or lighter vowels (like the English o in conclusion vs o in nomination), a defined secondary stress, even in long words, is extremely rare.

[15] Primarily stressed vowels are long in non-final open syllables: fato , fatto .

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Help:IPA/Italian

Notes

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External links

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