Saturday, 9 June 2012

ðə dɑːmənd dʒuːbəliː


ðə dɑːmənd dʒuːbəliː əz bɪn ə mʌltinæʃnəl seləbreɪʃn̩ mɑːkɪŋ ðə sɪkstjəθ ænəvɜːʃri əv ði əkseʃn̩ əv kwiːn əlɪzəbəθ ðə sekən tə ðə θrəʊnz əv sevŋ̩ kʌntriz.

ðə fɜːs meɪdʒər ɪvent ə ðə dʒuːbəliː seləbreɪʃn̩z wəz ðə dɑːmənd dʒuːbəliː pædʒənt, ə kævl̩keɪd held əʔ wɪnzə kɑːsl̩ tə seləbreɪt ðə kwiːnz vɪzɪts tuː ən tɔːz ɒv əʊvə tuː hʌndrəd ən fɪfti kʌntriz ən hə pæʃn̩ fə hɔːsɪz. ðə ʃəʊ fiːtʃəd faɪv hʌndrəd ən fɪfti hɔːsɪz əm wʌn θaʊzm̩ wʌn hʌndrəd pəfɔːməz frəm əraʊn ðə wɜːld.

ðen, ɒn ðə θɜːd əv dʒuːn, ðə rɪvə temz dɑːmənd dʒuːbəliː pædʒənt wəz held. ɪʔ wəz ə mærətaɪm pəreɪd əv wʌn θaʊzm̩ bəʊts frəm əraʊn ðə kɒmənwelθ – ðə lɑːdʒəs flətɪlə siːn ɒn ðə rɪvər ɪn θriː hʌndrəd ən fɪfti jɪəz. hevi reɪn stɑːtɪd dʒɜːrɪŋ ði ɪvent, ən ðə kəmemərətɪv ɛːfɔːs flaɪ-pɑːst əʔ ði end wəz kænsl̩d dʒuː tə veri bæd vɪzəbɪləti. ði ɪvent wəz ətendɪd baɪ vɛːriəs ɡʌvnə dʒenrəlz frəm ðə kɒmənwelθ relmz ʌðə ðn̩ ðə juːkeɪ.

ðə naɪt ɑːftə ðə temz rɪvə pædʒənt, prɪnts fɪlɪp, ðə kwiːnz hʌzbənd, fel ɪl wɪð ə blædər ɪnfekʃn̩ ən wəz teɪkən tə hɒspɪtl̩. ðɪs ment ðət i wəz ʌneɪbl̩ tu ətend ðə rimeɪndər əv ðə dʒuːbəliː ɪvents.

membəz ə ðə rɔːl fæmli əm praɪ mɪnəstəz frəm ðə kɒmənwelθ relmz ətendɪd vɛːriəs ɪvents ɒn ðə fɔːθ ən fɪfθ ə dʒuːn. ə rəsepʃn̩ wəz held əʔ bʌkɪŋəm pæləs bɪfɔː ðə dɑːmənd dʒuːbəliː kɒntsət ɒn mʌndeɪ, ən ə sɜːvɪs ə θænksɡɪvɪŋ tʊk pleɪs ɒn tʃuːzdi əʔ sm̩ pɔːlz kəθiːdrəl, ɔːlsəʊ ətendɪd baɪ tuː θaʊzn̩d ʌðə ɡess.

ðə laɪtɪŋ ə θaʊzn̩dz ə biːkənz əkrɒs ðə kɒmənwelθ tʊk pleɪs ɒn dʒuːn ðə fɔːθ. ðə nʌmbər əv biːkənz wəz ərɪdʒnəli set əʔ tuː θaʊzn̩ ən twelv bəʔ baɪ ðə kləʊzɪŋ deɪt fə redʒɪstreɪʃn̩z, əprɒksɪməʔli fɔː θaʊzn̩d əd bɪn səbmɪtɪd ɪn ðə junaɪtɪd kɪŋdəm ələʊn. ðə fɜːs biːkən ə ðə dʒuːbɪliː wəz lɪt ɪn tɒŋə, baɪ tɒŋən ɡɜːl skaʊts əm bɔɪ skaʊts juːzɪŋ kəʊkənʌʔ ʃiːθ tɔːtʃɪz. ʌðə neɪʃn̩z ɪŋkluːdɪŋ kenjə, ɒstreɪliə, njuː ziːlənd, ɪndiə, ʃrɪ læŋkə, ən sevrəl kærəbɪən steɪts tʊk pɑːt ɪn ðə biːkən laɪtɪŋ. ðə wɜːldz məʊs riməʊʔ biːkən wəz lɪt ɪn ðə saʊθ əʔlæntɪk. ðə kwiːn ɔlːsəʊ lɪt ə biːkən aʊʔsaɪd bʌkɪŋəm pæləs ɒn tjuːzdi əʔ ten θɜːti piː em, baɪ ɪnsɜːtɪŋ ə lɑːdʒ, speʃli meɪd, dɑːmənd-kʌʔ krɪstl̩ ɪntu ə riseptəkl̩. ðə laɪtɪŋ prəsiːdɪd əntɪl ðə faɪnl̩ biːkən wəz lɪt ɪŋ kænədə eɪt aəz leɪtə.

Saturday, 2 June 2012

Ca(p)pannoni in Emilia Romagna

The catastrophic events in northern Italy, recently hit by a series of powerful earthquakes, have given phoneticians the opportunity to listen more closely to the regional accents spoken by the people who live in the Emilia Romagna region.

One of the characteristics of these accents is the doubling of p, t, k and after a stressed vowel. This can be heard in, for example, andato (‘gone’), often realised as something like anˈdaːtto, rather than the usual anˈdaːto of SIP (=Standard Italian Pronunciation).

Another word that one constantly hears with a doubled consonant is capannone (‘warehouse’). As you know, many capannoni and factories have been destroyed in the quake. People in Emilia Romagna normally pronounce this word (ˌ)kappanˈnone. This can be heard, for example, in this YouTube video clip at 0:36 and 0:38. 

Forvo, too, has a recorded pronunciation for this word. Funnily enough, the woman who pronounces it is from Scandiano, near Modena. She says ˌkappanˈnone, not ˌkapanˈnone

Although ˌkappanˈnone is a typical regional pronunciation, I get the impression that it is also becoming more common in SIP. You can in fact frequently hear it on television from journalists and reporters on several channels. It’s difficult to pinpoint the reasons for the occurrence of this variant. I suppose one of them could be regularization, that is producing a series of doubled consonants in the same word rather than alternating a single consonant with geminate ones. Or it could be due to the influence of the term cappa (‘cowl’), though this is less likely I think. 

A quick Google search reveals about 13,100 hits for cappannone vs 10,500,000 for capannone. Does that mean we can begin to use both spellings? Also, is ˌkappanˈnone only heard in Emilia Romagna or do people from other Italian regions say that as well? (My grandmother, for instance, born and bred in Lazio, also regularly pronounces this word with -pp-.) 

Among the towns shaken by the quake is San Felice sul Panaro. The last bit of this name is locally paˈnaro, but people not familiar with the place sometimes call it ˈpanaro. I have to confess I didn’t know how to pronounce it either when I first saw it written in the newspapers, so I looked it up in the DiPI and found the former is the ‘correct’ pronunciation. This fact reminds us of how difficult it can be for both native and non-native speakers of Italian to locate stress in polysyllabic words. (I recently discovered I’m not the only one to ‘mispronounce’ the place name Panaro: presenters and newsreaders, too, seem to be having exactly the same ‘stress’ problems!)

Saturday, 26 May 2012

Medical English pronunciation


One of the courses I teach in Rome is called ‘Medical English Pronunciation’. It is a course designed to help medical students prepare for an attachment in an English-speaking country as well as medical professionals who want to work in English or take part in conferences conducted in English. It is, I think, the only course of this kind that we have in Italy.

The textbooks I use in class are Peter Roach’s English Phonetics and Phonology (2009; 4th edition. Cambridge, CUP) and Collins & Mees’ Practical Phonetics and Phonology (2008; 2nd edition. Routledge). My students also own a copy of J. Wells’ LPD.

It being a medical English pronunciation course, when I started in April I recommended that my students also have a book covering a wide variety of medical vocabulary in English. After spending almost a month thinking carefully about a suitable one, I chose Professional English in Use: Medicine by Eric H. Glendinning and Ron Howard (2007. Cambridge, CUP). The book has 60 two-page units and “topics include diseases and symptoms, investigations, treatment, examining, and prevention”. As far as I know, this is the only medical English textbook which contains a glossary with the pronunciations of most of the words/phrases/idiomatic expressions mentioned in the units. 

Having been using the book for nearly two months now I’ve realized I should have warned my students at the beginning of the course that some of the IPA transcriptions provided in the index are not always consistent or are indeed entirely wrong. Have a look at the following expressions (pp.168-175):


approximation əˈprɒk.sɪ.meɪ.ʃən

blood culture ˈblʌd ˌkʌltʃa

book into ˌbʊk ɪnˈtuː

bowel baʊ.el

cadaver kəˈdæv.ər, kəˈdaːv.ər

chiropodist kɪrˈɒp.ə.dɪst

coeliac disease ˈsiː.liː.æk dɪzˌiːz

empty the bladder ˌemp.ti ðə bˈlædər

example ɪgzˈɑːm.pl

malabsorption ˌmæl.əˈbzɔːp.ʃən

metastasis ˌmətæˈstæsɪs

orthotist ɔː.ˈθə.tɪst

persistent vegetative state pəˌsɪs.tənt ˈvedʒ.ɪ.te.tɪv ˌsteɪt

pins and needles ˌpɪnz ənd ˈniː.dlˌz

prosthetist ˈprɒ.θə.tɪst

purulent ˈpjʊəruːl.ənt

stitches ˈstɪtʃiz


One of the difficulties students encounter when dealing with English pronunciation is the stressing of compounds. My students know that, for example, medical history usually has late stress, ˌmedical ˈhistory, but medical school is different since it is early-stressed: ˈmedical ˌschool

What about the expression terminally ill, as in the phrase a hospice for the terminally ill? Glendinning & Howard give ˈtɜː.mɪ.nə.li ˌɪl in the index (p.175), but I suppose this is incorrect. Don’t English native speakers say the ˈterminally ˈill?  

And what do you make of panic attack, transcribed as ˈpæn.ɪk əˌtæk (p.172)?

Saturday, 21 April 2012

Epenthesis?

What do you make of the following statement? 


Is epenthesis really possible in English in the phonetic environments described above? (Click on the picture to enlarge it.) Any comments most gratefully received.

NB The symbol with the l upside down simply stands for ‘dark l’, whereas the letters i, a and b are to be taken to mean ‘International English’, ‘American English’ and ‘British English’ respectively.

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The scan above is taken from Luciano Canepari's English PronunciationS (2010; 2nd edition. Aracne. Volume 1, p.127). You can take a look at parts of his book here.


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I shall be busy throughout the whole month of May. So my next post will be Saturday 26th May. (In the meantime, keep your comments coming!)

Saturday, 7 April 2012

maɪ fənetɪks tɔːk ɒn vaʊlz


ðə riːzən waɪ aɪ dɪdm̩ pəʊst eni ɑːtɪkl̩ lɑːs wiːk wəz bɪkəz aɪ wəz ɪŋkredəbli bɪzi prɪpɛːrɪŋ fər ə tɔːk aɪ wəz ɑːs tə ɡɪv ɒm wenzdeɪ ðə twenti-eɪtθ əv mɑːtʃ əʔ ði Università degli Studi della Tuscia, Viterbo, wɛːr aɪv bɪm wɜːkɪŋ əz ə lektʃərər ɪn ɪŋɡlɪʃ fənetɪks sɪnts lɑːst ɒktəʊbə.

ðə tɔːk aɪ prɪzentɪd wəz ɪntaɪtl̩d “ði ɪŋɡlɪʃ vaʊl sɪstəm: wiːk fɔːmz, smuːðɪŋ əŋ kəmpreʃn̩”. aɪ tʃəʊz ðɪs tɒpɪk bɪkəz, əʒu nəʊ, rekəɡnaɪzɪŋ əm prədʒuːsɪŋ vaʊlz ən vaʊl siːkwəntsɪz ɪŋ kənektɪd ɪŋɡlɪʃ spiːtʃ ɪz ə veri trɪki ɛːriə fə nɒn-neɪtɪv spiːkəz.

aɪ stɑːtɪd maɪ prezn̩teɪʃn̩ baɪ ɪləstreɪtɪŋ ðə θriː kætəɡəriz ɪntə wɪtʃ ði ɪŋɡlɪʃ vaʊlz ə juːʒəli dɪvaɪdɪd: tʃekt vaʊlz, friː vaʊlz, ən dɪfθɒŋz. aɪ ðen tɔːkt əbaʊʔ dʒɒm welzɪz stændəd leksɪkl̩ sets ən ðə vaʊlz əv kəntempri stændəd brɪtɪʃ ɪŋɡlɪʃ. sʌbsɪkwəntli, aɪ dɪskʌs ði ʌnsteɪbl̩ steɪt əv sɪləbl̩z ɪn spəʊkən ɪŋɡlɪʃ ənd ɪɡzæmɪnd wiːk (ɔː rɪdʒuːst) əz əɡenst strɒŋ (ɔː fʊl) sɪləbl̩z. aɪ ɔːlsəʊ ɪntrədʒuːs ðə kɒnsepts əv stres ən æksent ən ðə dɪfrənts bɪtwiːn wɜːd stres ən sentəns stres. faɪnli, aɪ dɪskʌs ði ɪkstriːmli friːkwənt juːs əv wiːk fɔːmz ɪn ɪŋɡlɪʃ ən ðə təʊtl̩ æpsənts əv sʌtʃ fɔːmz ɪn ə læŋɡwɪdʒ sʌtʃ əz ɪtæljən.

ðə pɑːt əv ðə tɔːk ði ɔːdjənts laɪk məʊst, aɪ θɪŋk, wəz wen aɪ ʃəʊd ðəm ə sɪəriːz əv vɪdiəʊz əv ɪtæljən neɪtɪv spiːkəz huːz spəʊkən ɪŋɡlɪʃ kənteɪm bɛːli eni rɪdʌkʃn̩z/wiːk fɔːmz ət ɔːl. ðə fɜːs klɪp wəz ðæt əv wʌŋ kəmɑːndə nɪkæstrəʊ (=Nicastro), ɪntəvjuːd baɪ biːbisiː njuːz prəzentə nɪk ɡaʊɪŋ ɒn ðə hʌb suːn ɑːftə ðə kɒstə kɒŋkɔːdiə dɪzɑːstə bæk ɪn dʒænjʊri. ðə ʃtʃuːdn̩ts ən tiːtʃəz prezənt əʔ ðə tɔːk dɪskraɪbd ɪz prənʌntsieɪʃn̩ əz ‘terəbli ʌn-ɪŋɡlɪʃ’ (ɪm pətɪkjʊlə ðeɪ nəʊtɪs ðə wɜːd environment, prənaʊnst əz sʌmpθɪŋ laɪk ɛɱˈvirɔmɛnt) ən ɔːlsəʊ pɔɪntɪd aʊʔ ðəʔ mɪstə ɡaʊɪŋ, ɪn ɔːdə fər ɪz ɪntəvjuiː tu ʌndəstænd betə, hæd tə ‘rɪdʒuːs ðə nʌmbər əv wiːk fɔːmz’ ɪn ðə kwestʃənz i wəz ɑːskɪŋ. tuː ɪɡzɑːmpl̩z əv ðɪs kəm bi faʊnd ɪn What do you think the danger is now for the ship? (0:55) ən What is the forecast now for the weather? (1:31), ɪm wɪtʃ ðə prepəzɪʃn̩ for ɪz prənaʊnst əz fɔː rɑːðə ðən ðə mɔː juːʒəl .

ðə sekən vɪdiəʊ wəz ðæt əv ɪtəliz eks fɒrəm mɪnɪstə fræŋkəʊ frætiːni (=Franco Frattini) biːɪŋ ɡrɪld baɪ biːbisiː prɪzentə dʒerəmi pæksmən əbaʊʔ ðə sɪtʃʊeɪʃən ɪn ɪtəli ənd ɪn lɪbiə bɪfɔː kɜːnl̩ ɡədɑːfiz deθ. ɪn ðɪs klɪp hi kən, frɪnstənts, bi hɜːd tə juːz ðə ʌnrɪdʒuːst fɔːmz əv can, to ən that ɪn Nobody can consider him as an interlocutor (0:18), *Nobody can guarantee to him the impunity (1:10), ... *no hesitation to support me... (2:48), ænd ... the people of Benghazi that we are supporting strongly... (3:25). 

“wɒʔ dʒu θɪŋk əv mɪstə frætiːniz  prənʌntsieɪʃn̩?”, aɪ ɑːskt. – wɒʔ dju θɪŋk ðɛːr ɑːntsə wɒz?

aɪ ðen muːvd ɒntə smuːðd əŋ kəmprest prənʌntsieɪʃn̩z ən juːzd sʌm əv ðə saʊɱ faɪəlz kənteɪnd ɪn ðə siːdiːrɒm ðəʔ kʌmz wɪð LPD3: flower, flowery, fire department, fire drill, fire extinguisher, ənd hour hand. sevrəl dɪɡriːz əv smuːðɪŋ kən ɔːlsəʊ bi hɜːd ɪn ði ʌtrəntsɪz scientists (00:08), shower (00:42), our (00:52), ourselves (01:05) ən scientist (03:35) ɪn ðɪs ʌðə biːbisiː vɪdiəʊ wɪtʃ traɪz twɪkspleɪn ðə sɑːənts əv ðə hɪɡz bəʊsɒn, ðə səʊ kɔːl ɡɒd pɑːtɪkl̩. tiːtʃəz ən stʃuːdn̩ts əlaɪk siːm twəv ɪndʒɔɪd ðɪs klɪp, tuː.

faɪnli, aɪ wɒntɪd tə pleɪ ənʌðə vɪdiəʊ dʒʌs tə riːkæp ðə meɪm pɔɪnts əv maɪ tɔːk bət aɪ rɪəlaɪzd aɪd rʌn aʊt əv taɪm, səʊ aɪ tɒʊl ðə piːpl̩ prezənt aɪ wəz ɡənə pəʊst ɪt ən dɪskʌs ɪt ɒm maɪ blɒɡ. ɪn ðɪs lɑːs klɪp wɪð lʌndən mɛː bɒrɪs dʒɒntsn̩, wi kən hɪə ðə freɪz youth violence prənaʊnst wɪð ə smuːð dɪfθɒŋ ɪn violence əp bəʊθ 02:32 ən 03:07. ɔːlsəʊ nəʊʔwɜːði ɪz ði ʌtrənts we’re, rɪəlaɪzd baɪ mɪstə dʒɒntsn̩ əz ðə les juːʒəl wiːk fɔːm wə(ː) ət 01:31, 03:38, 05:20 ən 05:30. ɪts ɪntrəstɪŋ tə nəʊʔ ðəʔ ði ODP ɪz ði əʊnli prənaʊntsɪŋ dɪkʃənri tə lɪst ðɪs rɪdʒuːs fɔːm əz ə pɒsəbl̩ vɛːriənt (siː peɪdʒ 1180).

maɪ tɔːk wəs səʊ səksesfl̩ ðəʔ ðə ʃtʃuːdn̩ts ɑːst mi tə kʌm əɡen əŋ ɡɪv ənʌðə lektʃə leɪtə ðɪs mʌntθ. ðə neks tɒpɪk wl̩ bi ɪŋɡlɪʃ ɪntəneɪʃn̩.
  
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hæpi iːstə! neks pəʊstɪŋ: sætədi ðə twenti-fɜːst əv eɪprəl.

Saturday, 24 March 2012

Italian compression


How do you pronounce words like piano, pieno, genio and riunire in Standard Italian Pronunciation (SIP)? Are they ˈpjano, ˈpjɛno, ˈpje-, ˈdʒɛnjo and rjuˈnire, -ɛ or piˈano, piˈɛno, piˈe-, ˈdʒɛnio and (ˌ)riuˈnire, -ɛ?

This is prompted by reading the phonetic transcriptions contained in the Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI) for the following utterances: abiogenesi, abituandosi, abituo, accentuale, accentuo. How do Italians say these words? 

Here’s what we find in DiPI:

abiogenesi abioˈdʒɛnezi, -jo-

abituandosi abituˈandosi; -ˈtwa-; ↓-zi

abituo aˈbituo; -wo

accentuale atʃtʃentuˈale, -ˈtwa-

accentuo atʃˈtʃɛntuo; -wo

(Note: the comma before a transcription indicates that the following pronunciation is to be regarded as “acceptable”; the symbol (;) stands for “tolerated” though also “not particularly recommended”; the downward-pointing arrow means “slovenly”.)

I find the above transcriptions somewhat inconsistent. Why would a compressed pronunciation be “acceptable” in accentuale but “tolerated”/”not particularly recommended” in accentuo? What’s the reasoning behind this decision on the part of the author?

In SIP, sequences of i/u plus another vowel are normally pronounced as rising/crescendo diphthongs (=compressed), the close vowels being realised as j and w respectively. But in less hurried/more emphatic speech, the uncompressed variants with vowel hiatus are always possible. Thus for dizionario I can say ˌdi(ts)tsioˈnario, ˌdi(ts)tsjoˈnario, ˌdi(ts)tsioˈnarjo, and ˌdi(ts)tsjoˈnarjo. The same for italiano: (ˌ)italiˈano, (ˌ)itaˈljano

The town in which I was born is called Tarquinia. Again this can be both tarˈkwinia and tarˈkwinja (perhaps also (ˌ)tarkuˈi- in carefully articulated speech).

So that's how I would transcribe the five words above:

abiogenesi (ˌ)abioˈdʒɛnezi, →(ˌ)abjo-, -ˈdʒɛnesi

abituandosi (ˌ)a(ˌ)bituˈandosi, →-ˈtwan-

abituo aˈbituo, →-two; aˈbituɔ, →-twɔ

accentuale (ˌ)atʃ(ˌ)tʃentuˈale, →-ˈtwa-

accentuo atʃˈtʃɛntuo, →-two

(Note: the comma and the (;) symbol here are used only to separate out the different pronunciations and don't imply any degree of ‘acceptance’/’tolerance’.)

The symbol (→) could be taken to mean the same as in John Wells’s LPD: 

“For some speakers, a form shown with → may correspond to the way a word is stored in the mental lexicon, whereas for others the same form may be derived by phonological rule”. (p.xxviii)

What I’ve tried to describe here is what we might call la ˌkompresˈsjoneitaˈljana.

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Next post: Saturday 7 April.

Saturday, 17 March 2012

Speec-h-less!

I’m sorry I wasn’t able to post any article last week and the week before. This was due to serious family problems.

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What do you make of the following newspaper headline? (Click on the picture to enlarge it.)


Look at the expressions I have highlighted. I’m sure most Italians will be able to spot the mistakes and correct them.

The article dates back to Friday 30th September 2011 and is about a meeting, organized by the Italian Institute of International Affairs Ipalmo, which was held to discuss the situation in Libya before Colonel Gaddafi’s death.  

Translated into English the headline would sound something like this: “The meeting organized by Ipalmo focussed on Italy’s attitude (towards Libya)”. In Italian it reads: “Il meating organizzato dall’Ipalmo ha messo ha fuoco la posizione dell’Italia”. 

Yes, you probably noticed that the word meeting is spelt as *meating. The (incompetent!) journalist confused the noun meat with the verb (to) meet, and that’s because these lexical items are homophonous in most (all?) varieties of English. 

I wonder how this spelling mistake could have occurred, meeting being an extremely common word in Italian. The Devoto-Oli dictionary (2011) says it has been in the language since 1819 (p.1681). I’ve never seen it spelt wrongly.

The second dreadful mistake is to be found in the phrase “ha messo ha fuoco”. This should be ha messo a fuoco, the preposition a having no h in the spelling. 

As my readers will know, h is not part of the Italian phoneme system since it is only sometimes used paralinguistically in exclamations or interjections such as hai!/ahi! (‘ouch!’), (h)ai, or poh! (‘oh, no!’), pɔ(h), p(h)ɔ. In writing h is used to distinguish the verb forms ho, hai, ha, and hanno from o, ai, a, and anno. These are all homophones except potentially for the pair hoo, the former being pronounced ɔ whereas the conjunction is usually o. (The name of the letter o, though, is generally ɔ, like the verb.)

The letter h is also written after c, g and sc before i and e to represent the sounds k, g, and sk respectively: cichi, tʃi – ki; GerardoGherardo, dʒeˈɾaɾdo – ɡeˈɾaɾdo; scenaschema, ˈʃɛna – ˈskɛma.

It is shocking to hear that some primary school teachers in Italy, when having to explain the difference between ha (from avere) and a (the preposition), sometimes get their pupils to ‘aspirate the verb’, thus producing the extremely unnatural ha. Don’t they know that writing is one thing and speech is another?
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English native speakers interested in Italian will be glad to know that the new edition of Practical Phonetics and Phonology (Routledge) soon to be published will include an article on Italian phonetics which B. Collins and I. Mees have co-authored with me. This new section will also feature audio clips with my own voice.