WTI Magazine #52    2015 January, 23
Author : Manuela Bianchi for learnitalygroup.com      Translation by:

Today we start from how to pronounce vowels. As we have already said, the particular events that have characterized the history of the Italian language, an idiom mainly used in writing for centuries, have had very significant reflections on pronunciation.

Despite the spread of a unitary language, thanks to the media, still many regional varieties (the so-called "dialects") have been born, characterized by lexical, morphological and specific pronounce phenomena that often are just about phonetic issues, but not about changes in the meaning of the word: as to say, they don't create phonological changes. The standard Italian language is therefore based on the well-educated Florentine pronunciation and that is still a valid model nowadays in the courses of diction.

In the tonic vowel system of the Italian language seven phonemes are distributed on different degrees of openness: /i/ from "cinema" (cinema), /e/ from "pesce" (fish), /ɛ/ from "pezzo" (piece), /a/ from "casa" (home), /o/ from "molto" (much), /ɔ/ from "forte" (strong) and /u/ from "nuvola" (cloud). So, the opposition between open vowel and close vowel it is with the "E" letter (/e/-/ɛ/) and with the "O" letter (/o/-/ɔ/). These two different accents (low and high) are not graphically marked but they only indicate two different pronunciations of vowels: they are called phonic accents. So, words like bòtte (beatings) and bótte (barrel), or ésca (bait) and èsca (from the verb "uscire", to go out) etc. differ either for the different phonic accent, but above all for the different meaning. They are homonyms, with different meanings but written in the same way: because, remember, generally in these situations you don't put accents on the "e" or the "o", unless when it is advisable to do it because its omission undermines the clarity of a sentence.

A short list of homonyms may be useful: accetta (hatchet) - accetta (from the verb "accettare", to accept); affetto (affection) - affetto (from the verb "affettare", to slice); detti (from the verb "dire", to say) - detti (from the verb "dare", to give) - detti (proverbs); legge (law) - legge (from the verb "leggere", to read); venti (twenty)- venti (winds); pesca (fishing) - pesca (peach); colto (well educated) - colto (from the verb "cogliere), to pick).

However, it has to be said that these oppositions are consistently used only in a very restricted area (Tuscany, Umbria and part of Lazio) and that in the practice of speaking these forms are not always absolutely coincident. In fact, often the pronunciations tend to change from region to region. For instance, "perché" (why) in Milan is pronounced with an open final "e", and "bene" (good) with the first "e" closed; while in Rome the pronunciation is based on the Italian standard, the exact contrary.

So one ends up wondering: why study a rule when these oppositions have a such a low functional performance? The answer is simple: when you aspire to learn a language you must refer to the "standard", know the rule and then understand and and possibly adopt the exceptions, when needed.

Not all languages encode reality in the same way, and this for the fans of linguistics has always been a topic of enormous charm, while for translators and language teachers it is a formidable challenge. We start today from a question coming from an Anglophone student in our Learnitaly headquarters in New York: when do we use the demonstrative adjective "codesto"?

We know that demonstrative adjectives indicate the position of the noun to which they refer: for example, if I say "dammi quel libro" (give me that book), the adjective "quello" (that) indicates that the book is placed away from who is talking (me) and close to who is listening (you). In Italian, this rule is the same as in English. Talking about something or somebody closer to the speaker than to the listener, "questo/questa" is like "this", and "questi/queste" is like "these"; while talking about something or somebody far from the speaker and from the listener, "quello/quella" is like "that", and "quelli/quelle" is like "those".

In Italian, however, we have another demonstrative adjective: "codesto". It indicates something or somebody far from the speaker, but close to the listener. For example, Piero told Enzo: "Prestami codesta tua penna" (Lend me that pen of yours), to indicate a pen that is far from Piero speaking, but close to Enzo listening.

Finally, it is important saying that the use of "codesto" is now restricted within the borders of Tuscany and in the rest of Italy people predominantly use "quello" (that) even if they refer to something or somebody far from them, but close to those who are listening.