The Italian alphabet contains 5 vowels : a, e, i, o and u. Of these, only the "a" has a tone as possible, while all others have two. In addition, the letters "e" and "i" changes the pronunciation of "c" or "g" before (see below).

In syllables supported by the main stress , the letter "e" represents the sound / / or / e /. The letter "o" represents both the sounds / / or / o /. There is generally no distinction between the two spelling sounds represented by each letter, although diacritical marks are used in some cases (see diacritics below). In syllables without stress, only the sounds / e / and / o / are pronounced.

The letters "i" and "u" in addition to representing respectively the sounds / i / and / u /, are also semi-vowels / j / and / w /, when in a syllable without an accent and tonic before another vowel. In addition, an "i" without the accent may mean that the tonic consonant previous (or next) is palatal (see below).

C and G

The letters "c" and "g" represent the consonants / k / and / g / when they appear before or By cons, when they appear before the "i" or "e" represent the sounds / t / (that is to say "tch") and / d / (that is to say "DJ" ), respectively.

The letter "i" can also mean the "c" or "g" above is palatal, as in cia (/ ta /) (/ tu /), etc.. The letter "h" is used between the "c" and "e", or between the "c" and "i" to give the "c" sound / k / Regular, the itself is dumb. Thus, "che" is the sound / ke / or / k / and represents the sound / ki /.

The letter "g" is also used to indicate that the "L" or "n" is following palatal (except in the case of foreign words ). In the case of an "L", "i" is then necessary: "famiglia" / famia / (family).

The digraph "si" to "i" or "e" is used to represent the sound / /.

Sounds / /, / / and / / are geminal when they are between two vowels.

Other letters

The letter H

The letter "h" at the beginning of a word is silent. It is used to distinguish the words orthographically ho, hai, ha, hanno ( indicative present tense of avere (have)) o words (or), ai (to), has (a) and anno (year), without its there is any difference in pronunciation. "H" is also used in combination with other letters (see above). In words borrowed from other languages, the "h" is silent even if it is drawn into the original language: "hovercraft" / overkraft /.

The letter Z

The letter "z" represents either a voiced alveolar affricate consonant (that is to say its a "dz" as in the word pizza in French or Italian), an alveolar affricate consonant deaf (ie say sound "ts" as in the word czar French or Italian grazia).

The letter S

The letter "s" is either the sound / s / at the beginning or end of a word or near a consonant (as in the Italian words or the sound / z / ( as is the Italian word To achieve a sound / s / between vowels, as there is two (as in the word red), even as French.

The letter R

The letter "r" is an alveolar fricative consonant beaten (that is to say the / /), an alveolar fricative consonant rolled (that is to say the sound / r /).

Foreign Letters

The letters "j" (i lunga) , 'k' (CAPP), "w" (doppia vi), x (ics) and "y" (ipsilon) are not considered part of the Alphabet Italian standard, but are used in words borrowed from other languages (eg jeans, whiskey and taxis, although we still find the old spelling cup).

The "j" in Italian is a variation on the old spelling of the letter "i" used early in the first Jacopo, and in some Italian place names as Bajardo , Bojano , Buja , Castel di Judica , Jacurso , Jelsi , Jenne , Jerago con Orago , Jerzu , Jesi , Jesolo , Jolanda di Savoia , Jonadi , Joppolo , Lajatico , Letojanni , Majano , Mezzojuso , Mojo Alcantara , Jonico Montalbano , Pietraroja , Raccuja , Reana del Rojale , San Giuseppe Jato , Scanzano Jonico , Torre Cajetani , Vajont , Vejano , etc.. It is also found in the alternative spelling Jonio March (also spelled Ionio March) for the Ionian Sea. It is also present in some words from Italian dialects , but its use is discouraged in contemporary language.

Diacritics

The vowels can carry accents acute or severe (most often). The words do not bear graphic accents on the last syllable when it is pronounced phonetically or in rare cases to avoid homonymy.

The vowels "O" and "to" always carry the accent. The vowel "e" can have two stamps and therefore takes the acute accent when it indicates an "e" closed / e / and the grave accent in the case of an open , even if this rule is not always respected why, because that is also written and pronounced / /.

For "i" and "u", usage seems to favor the grave accent "i", "U", but there are still defenders of the acute accent '', '', much more adherent to phonetic reality, / i / and / u / vowels being the two most closed of the Italian vowel system.

The vowel "o" has also two stamps, / o / and / /, but in the end it is always open Nevertheless, there are accents, optional, within words, intended to avoid confusion: articolatri, plural of articolatre (articulator) vs. articolatri, plural of articolatrio ("articulation").

The caret may be used to mark the contraction of two vowels, in particular, two "i". For example, it could be used to distinguish words like geni ( genes ) and Genia (geniuses). However, its use is very rare and seen as archaic.

History

The Italian alphabet is based on that of the Latin alphabet , which contains 23 letters:

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Yy Zz Xx Seen

The main features of the Latin alphabet are the following:

• We do not distinguish, orthographically, sounds corresponding to letters "U" and "V". The sound of the vowel like consonants are denoted by the letter "V". The distinction between "U" and "V" found in contemporary Italian texts result of a choice made by publishers to facilitate reading.
• The letter "I" represents two sounds: that of the vowel / i / and the semi-vowel yi.
• The letter "K" is used only in a few words that retain the archaic Latin alphabet, which always required a "K" before an "A" as in "kalendae)
• The letter "Y" and "Z" are used only in Greek words, as the combinations "PH" and "TH"

Formerly, the letters had a unique shape, similar to capital today. During the Middle Ages , people start to use the same text in two different styles, one called "capital" (restricted to titles and first letters of words) and one named "tiny" (reserved for the rest of the text). Subsequently, lower case letters are beginning to be used with capitals.

The letters "I", "V" and "S" each have two tiny separate, which do not represent different sounds. The choice of one form of tiny or the other is based on aesthetic criteria determined by the position of the letter in the word (a phenomenon that exists today for the sigma tiny Greek as well as alphabets Hebrew and Arabic ). In Latin, therefore, form V is only used at the beginning of a word and the form s the end or just after another S. "Vinum", "unus", "uva" and "session" written thus: vinum, VNUS, vua e sessions

To the ^sixteenth century , the S along tiny (" ") ceases to be used, except in Germany where even today it is found to the left of the letter " ".

The two forms of "I" and "V" lead to the creation of two separate letters "i" and "j" and "u" and "v" (in addition to the creation of corresponding uppercase "J" and "U"). These news letters are attributed to Gian Giorgio Trissino , who also proposed, with less success this time to use both forms of the "S" and the Greek letter " "and" "to distinguish the two sounds corresponding to each letter "S", "E" and "O" .

The rule of the letters "X" and "Y" after a letter "K" is removed from the Middle Ages. The "J" is used in the sixteenth century until the early twentieth century , either to indicate semi-consonant sound of "I" ("Jella"), or maybe the sound of "I" between two vowels (" grondaja, "" Aja "), as well as typographical sign for the double" I "(" principj).

Until the mid- twentieth century , the letters "I" and "J" are considered equivalent in terms of alphabetical order in encyclopedias and dictionaries Italian.

See also