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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]].
==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]]).
==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.
===Mobile diphthongs===
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.
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)).
===Consonants===
Two symbols in a table cell denote the voiceless and voiced consonant, respectively.
{| class="wikitable"
!
![[bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
![[labiodental consonant|Labiodental]]
![[dental consonant|Dental]]
![[alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[postalveolar consonant|Postalveolar]]
![[palatal consonant|Palatal]]
![[velar consonant|Velar]]
|-
![[plosive consonant|Plosive]]
| align="center"|{{IPA|p}}, {{IPA|b}}
|
| align="center"|{{IPA|t̪}}, {{IPA|d̪}}
|
|
|
| align="center"|{{IPA|k}}, {{IPA|g}}
|-
![[nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| align="center"|{{IPA|m}}
|
| align="center"|{{IPA|n̪}}
|
|
| align="center"|{{IPA|ɲ}}
|
|-
![[trill consonant|Trill]]
|
|
|
| align="center"|{{IPA|r}}
|
|
|
|-
![[flap consonant|Flap]]
|
|
|
| align="center"|{{IPA|ɾ}}
|
|
|
|-
![[fricative consonant|Fricative]]
|
| align="center"|{{IPA|f}}, {{IPA|v}}
|
| align="center"|{{IPA|s}}, {{IPA|z}}
| align="center"|{{IPA|ʃ}}
|
|
|-
![[affricate consonant|Affricate]]
|
|
|
| align="center"|{{IPA|ʦ}}, {{IPA|ʣ}}
| align="center"|{{IPA|ʧ}}, {{IPA|ʤ}}
|
|
|-
![[lateral consonant|Lateral]]
|
|
|
| align="center"|{{IPA|l}}
|
| align="center"|{{IPA|ʎ}}
|
|}
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.
Italian plosives are not [[aspiration (phonetics)|aspirated]] (unlike in English).  Italian speakers hear the difference as a foreign accent.
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.
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]}}.
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]].
===Assimilation===
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.
<!--
===Historical sound changes===
Description of important sound changes in the history of the language. (Maybe this should go under history?)
-->

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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.

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) and Langue d'Oïl (“language of oïl” or French).

Sounds

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, [j]; in tuoi, the u functions as a [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 [j] is pushing out the "u" semivowel, [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.