Varieties of Italian and their Intonational Phonology

Abstract

The Italian language is characterized by an extremely strong phonetic and phonological variation that differentiates the language across space, communicative situations, social groups and socio-economic classes, and means of communication (Berruto 2010, 2012). In this chapter, we consider the phonetic and phonological variation at the intonational and prosodic level as it is found in the varieties of Italian, that is, in the official language of Italy as spoken by speakers with different regional accents. In particular, we focus on varieties of Italian spoken in most of the areas identified in previous dialectological studies. One of the possible cartographic representations of the distribution and differentiation of the dialetti spoken in Italy is shown in Fig. 5.1. As the map shows, a usual distinction is made between the Romance dialetti spoken northern than the line connecting La Spezia and Rimini (Walter von Wartburg (1936 [1950]) that reflects a bundle if isoglosses differentiating northern and central dialects. Dialetti northern of such a line, for instance, show the shortening of Latin long consonants and the lenition or deletion of Latin singletons (e.g., respectively, [kaˈval(o)] vs [kaˈvallo] cavallo 'horse' and [kaˈvɛj] vs. [kaˈpelli] capelli 'hair') and dialetti spoken southern than the line connecting Rome and Ancona (Rohlfs 1937 and 1967), show, for instance, the preservation of Latin long consonants and the progressive assimilation in –nd- and –mb- clusters (e.g. rom. [ˈgamma] vs [ˈgamba] gamba 'leg'). In the northern area, an eastern and western part can be identified, on the basis, for instance, of the presence/absence of rounded vowels (Ascoli (1980); piem. [ˈfœ] vs. ven. [ˈfogo] fuoco 'fire'). In the central area, Tuscany is distinguished from the other central dialetti, which are identified as median along the classification due to Pellegrini (1977). Tuscany is characterized by the presence of a lenition process know as Gorgia that consists in the spirantization of intervocalic unvoiced plosive consonants (e.g., [ˈdiho] vs. [ˈdiko] dico 'I say'), and by the absence of rounded vowels as in the other central and southern dialetti (e.g., tos. [ˈfɔho] vs. piem. [ˈfœ] fuoco 'fire'). On the other hand, the area immediately southern than the Roma-Ancona line is characterized by the presence of a schwa vowel in unstressed position, especially word finally before pauses (e.g., [na ˈbːεlla ˈfemːənə] vs. [na ˈfemːəna ˈbːεllə] una bella donna 'a beautiful woman' in Abruzzese) and by the /s/ affrication, often with voicing too, after liquid consonants (e.g., [ˈborʦa] and ˈborʣa]; the affrication is also found in some areas of Tuscany). Moving further south, the dialetti spoken in the extreme southern areas are separated from the others (Bertoni 1916). They mainly show a five vowel system, with the three extreme vowels used in unstressed position, and retroflex or cacuminal consonants (e.g., [kaˈvaɖɖu] vs. [kaˈvallo] cavallo 'horse') . Finally, other areas that are distinguished in the map, in line with Pellegrini's (1977) proposal, are those in which Franco-Provençal, Sardinian, Ladin and Friulian are spoken, although the latter group was not considered as peculiar to Italy by other linguists (such as Ascoli 1880), to the extent of being considered different languages.