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Jean-Thomas "Tomi" Ungerer is a French illustrator best known for his erotic and political illustrations as well as children's books. These various pronunciations, together with regional features of vocabulary and grammar that may appear in the speech of Italians, in reality constitute different types of speech.
Will the pronunciation of these two Italians be exactly the same? Consequently, would you call PSI a one dialect or b various kinds of speech? Are there any native speakers of PSI? Are there any native speakers of NSI? Italian speakers, like speakers of other languages, are often worried about whether a certain linguistic feature is 'good' or 'bad 1 , 'correct' or 'incorrect'. Some of these 'dialects' are 'standard,' whereas others are 'non-standard.
Is ISI based upon any one Italian dialect? Is ISI identical to Tuscan? Does PSI contain regional variants? Is 'Milanese' a dialect of Italian? Is 'Tuscan' a dialect of Italian? Do Italians speak different dialects? Might one dialect be incomprehensible to the speaker of another dialect? May the term 'Italian' refer to a dialect such as Neapolitan or Sicilian? Here are two English words.
In their written form these two words differ. Is this difference found in the first letter, the second letter, or the third letter? If letters may be said to represent sounds, do the letters d and t in these two words represent different sounds? Now you will hear an English sentence. What is the second word in the sentence you just heard? In everyday American English speech the word spelled m-e-d-a-1 and the word spelled m-e-t-a-1 may both represent something that sounds the same.
Let us for a moment stop and think about this "same" type of sound heard in the pronunciation of both the word spelled m-e-d-a-1 and the word spelled m-e-t-a Listen again to what could be either word: Listen to the following five English words: In their spoken form, however, do all of these words have any one sound in common?
As a matter of fact, does it represent any sound at all in the word soften? Now listen to the following seven English words: In their written form all of these words have one letter in common. In these seven words, does the letter o represent the same sound? Are these two uses of the term the same? Similarly, people sometimes use the term 'the t-sound 1 to refer to: In view of the preceding observations, is it immediately clear what one means when one uses terms like 'the o-sound 1 or 'the t-sound'?
Which of the following two may be articulated and heard: Is a symbol used in writing or printing to represent speech sounds a sound or a letter? The emphasis on spelling In the English-speaking world has caused many people to confuse speech and writing , or s ounds and letters , and many people find it difficult to think of sounds as existing separately from letters.
However, sounds do exist separately from letters, and as a matter of fact, writing came into existence only after human speech was already completely developed. If, as we saw in frame No. Is it possible that such a letter might even be the letter r? If the term 'silent 1 is a term that pertains to the field of speech , and letters pertain to the field of writing or printing , is not a confusion reflected here between speech on the one hand, and writing and printing on the other? Is a letter ever 'noisy' i. Supply the missing words In the following statement: Which are produced vocally, letters or sounds?
Can a letter be 'pronounced 1 then, In the sense of 'pro- duced vocally'? Let us examine what is meant by ch in statement c. Is it the sound-type represented by the symbol ch in the word chemistry , for example? Is it the sound-type represented by the symbol ch in the word chef? Is it the sound-type represented by the symbol ch in the word cherry?
The following statement is more linguistically accurate than statement c. Pill in the missing items. Examine statement d which follows "The 'o-sound' is sometimes written ew, as in sew. Is the term 'the o-sound' ever ambiguous? Which of the following are used in writing or printing — letters or sounds? What is 'written' then, a sound or a letter? The following statement is more linguistically accurate than statement d.
A general term like 'the o 1 is ambiguous. One might be referring to the letter o, or to a type of sound see frame no. If one means 'the letter o, 1 is it linguistically accurate to say that a letter 'sounds' like something? Let us examine what is meant by 00 in statement e. Is it the sound-type represented by the symbol 00 in the word flood , for example?
Is it the sound-type represented by the symbol 00 in the word foot? Is it the sound-type represented by the symbol 00 in the word food? The following Is a more linguistically accurate statement than statement e. Pill In the missing items. The following is another statement which is more linguistically accurate than statement e.
Fill in the missing Items. In order to avoid confusion, these units will usually refer to Italian sound-types by a capitalized symbol between slanted lines. However, it would be possible to arrive at certain average character- istics of the utterances, and a certain range of definable differences could be established.
This word is pronounced here with an unstressed vowel No. In learning Italian, will you sometimes have to try to avoid making certain sound combinations? Here Is this same semivowel before another vowel sound. Get to Know Us. What would you say, then, to ask if someone is there? Approach and Methodology The learning process on the part of the student involves:
Many types of variation that exist in a language are not usually heard by the average person. To the speaker of Standard Italian all these sounds are normally classified as the 'same sound. In a given language, speakers are able to communicate because they somehow classify sounds as being 'the same' or 'different. In English, the word spelled b-l-t may represent different pronunciations especially of the last sound , but the meaning of the word does not change along with the pronun- ciation. Three different pronunciations are: Since the meaning remains constant, what may we say that the last sound heard in each of these three pronunciations belongs to?
On the other hand, the English words house as in: A sound-class such as the two described in frame No. The range of variation possible for the sound- types belonging to any one class may be large or small. You will now hear the English exclamation 'Ah! Repeat after each utterance. Now you will hear the English exclamation 'Eel 1 pronounced twice. Repeat after each utterance, and notice that the air passes freely out of the mouth.
Now you will hear a sound that we make when we want someone to be quiet. Listen and repeat again. Whenever the air does not pass freely out of the mouth for a sound, but encounters an obstruction or a constriction of some sort, we may say that we are dealing with a CONSONANT sound.
The sound-type represented by 'Shi' in English then, is what kind of sound? The following is a sequence of two non-consonant sounds. How many syllables do you hear in the following sequence? What about the following? How many vowels do you hear in the following utterance?
If there were two vowels, how many syllables were there? Now listen to something a little different that sounds something like this two-vowel sequence. How many syllables did you hear? In this last utterance, two sounds were present, but only one syllable. This other sound does not constitute a syllable by itself, but has to be pronounced along with a vowel.
What do you hear now? A semivowel does not always appear before a vowel. It may occur after a vowel. Notice that there is only one syllable. Here Is this same semivowel before another vowel sound. Is it the semivowel of frames No. What about the next utterance? And the next one? The three categories of sound-types that we have been discussing — i. In the preceding unit we talked about pulse beats, or syllables. The following utterance constitutes one syllable. The following constitutes two syllables. How many syllables does the following English word constitute? How many syllables are In the following English word?
The English sentence Give me two books contains four words. How many syllables does it contain? Here is one context. The two underlined items show what is being contrasted. Of the last four words In this context, the word give is pronounced somewhat more loudly than the rest. Here Is another context, with the underlined items again indicating what is being contrasted. Of the last four words In context No. Here Is another context, and another contrast. Here is context No.
The phrase ' give me' in context No. Does the phrase ' two books' then mean the same thing as the phrase 'two books? Listen to the following Italian utterance. It is the word for 'salts. How many syllables does the word contain? Which syllable is stressed, the first or the second? Now here is a similar utterance. This word does not stand for 'salts,' but expresses the idea 'it went up. As far as stress Is concerned, then, is the Italian word for 'salts 1 stressed like ' two books' or 'two books'? You will hear some English words, each said twice.
Write in column I those words that are stressed like 1 two books 1 ; write in column II those that are stressed like 'two books. Now you will hear some Italian words, each said twice. Some will be stressed on the first syllable like ' two books' and some stressed on the second syllable like 'two books'. As you hear each word, put a '1' or a '2', according to whether the word you hear is stressed on the first syllable or on the second.
You will hear some three-syllable English words, each said twice. As you hear them, write in column I those that are stressed like ' give me two'j write in column II those that are stressed like 'give me two'; write in column III those that are stressed like 'give me two. Some will be stressed on the first syllable like ' give me two' , some stressed on the second syllable like 'give me two' , and some stressed on the third syllable like 'give me two'. You will hear some four-syllable English words, each said twice. As you hear them, write in column I those that are stressed like ' give me two books!
Now you will hear some Italian items, each said twice. Some will be stressed on the first syllable like ' give me two books' , some stressed on the second syllable like 'give me two books' , some stressed on the third syllable like 'give me two books' , and some stressed on the fourth syllable like 'give me two books'. As you hear each item, write '1,' '2,' '3' or '4,' according to whether the item you hear is stressed on the first, the second, the third or the fourth syllable. Listen to the following Italian vowel, which we will call vowel No.
Here is an English vowel. Which is the Italian vowel, x or y? Here is another English vowel. Here is Italian vowel No. Are both of these Italian vowel No. Which is Italian, x, y or z? Which is it now, x, y or z? Are these three all Italian vowel No. Does the following syllable contain vowel No.
What about this one? Is the following Italian vowel No. So far, vowel No. A longer version of vowel No. This is the short vowel No. Which is the short vowel, x or y? Are the following three all short? Notice that the vowel sounds in the Italian pronunciation are all vowel No. Are they all the short vowel No. Which vowel in the word sounds a little longer than the other two the first, the second or the third? Which vowel in the word sounds a little louder than the other two the first, the second or the third? Which vowel is stressed in the following?
Is this stressed vowel longer than the unstressed vowels in the word? Most speakers of Standard Italian tend to make stressed vowels a little longer than unstressed vowels, although this tendency seems to be less strong in Northern Italy than in the rest of Italy. The following is an Italian syllable. The sound-type represented by the letter d in Italian is a sound-type not normally heard in English. Said with an American accent, the Italian syllable just given would sound like: The basic difference between the Italian consonant and the English one has to do with the position of the tongue in the mouth.
Whereas in English the letter d usually repre- sents a sound -type made by having the front part of the tongue touch the gum ridge behind the upper teeth , in Italian the same letter usually stands for a sound-type made by having the front part of the tongue touch the upper teeth. Have your tongue touch your upper teeth and repeat the Italian syllable. The 'X' that appears after some parentheses means that you are to repeat what you hear after what is indicated by each pair of parentheses.
As you have seen, vowel No. Each utterance will be heard twice. Now listen to the short vowel No. Are these three all short? Round your lips and repeat vowel No. Now repeat the following syllable containing vowel No. Here is another Italian syllable. Does it contain vowel No. The Italian syllable you just heard begins with a consonant sound something like the initial consonant of the English word 'key. Are the following all Italian syllables? Which is Italian, x or y?
Certain English sounds are pronounced with a puff of air, which should be avoided in Italian. Repeat the following Italian syllable, represented ca. Remember that the consonant is not aspirated. This unaspirated sound-type is very much like the second consonant heard in the English word 'scar. In the word 'car,' the sound-type In question is aspirated, but in the word 'scar' it Is not aspirated. It is spelled L-u-c-a. What have we been calling the following vowel sound? What letter is used in Italian to represent vowel No. Keep your mouth relatively closed.
Repeat after the model. The following syllable contains vowel No. There are two main differences between the Italian consonant you have been hearing and the English consonant. Listen to the following English word. The Italian consonant heard in frames No. What is such a sound called? Is the English consonant in 'tea 1 normally dental? Now listen carefully to the English word 'tea. The English consonant in this word is followed by a puff of air. Therefore, the English consonant in the word 'tea' is said to be what?
Are Italian consonants normally aspirated? Is the following statement true or false? If you listen carefully, you can hear a difference in the pronunciation of the sound-types represented by the letter t; in the following two English words: Listen again, tar star tar star Now try the following. Remember to avoid making a strong puff of air. Think of inhaling rather than exhaling. Is the following Italian or English? This name contains two vowels, vowel No. Which vowel is longer in this name, vowel No. What letter Is used to represent vowel No.
Repeat the three names you have learned, after the model. Of the three vowels you have learned, only is rounded. The final vowel in the name Tina is 5. Is the following sound, vowel No. However, because this vowel, unlike vowels No. For this reason we shall refer to it as vowel No. In pronouncing it don't be afraid to open your mouth wide. The following is a syllable you have already heard. Remember that the consonant in this syllable is not aspirated. Pronounce this consonant before vowel No.
The combination you have just made is an Italian word that signals a question asking for the identity of someone. Hence it corresponds roughly to the English question words 'who' and 'whom. Repeat the word again, this time looking at its proper spelling. Repeat the following syllables. Now you will hear a question In Italian asking for the Identity of a third person being referred to. This question has two vowels in it. Which of the following are they? Here is the proper spelling for this question. Repeat, while looking at the spelling. Notice that our units will use the special type s for vowel No.
Notice that the question just given contains two words that sound like one, with the stress on the last vowel. The phrase Chi s? The following may be an answer to Chi s? Imitate as closely as possible. Here are three other possible answers. Repeat the following question-answer pairs. Observe the following model: Every time you hear the question, quickly give the appropriate response using the names as they appear in the following list.
Your response will be confirmed each time. If the meaning of Chi s? What's the name of the person being referred to? Is there only one English translation possible for the Italian Chi s? Do the English translations given all 'mean' the same thing that is, may they all be used interchangeably in any given situation? Do they all refer to the same specific situation? Let us now take the very specific situation in which one wishes to identify a famous man being described in a guessing game.
Might one ask any of the following questions? In a particular situation then, might two or more utterances be used to refer to the same thing? The different translations given for Chi s? For Instance, in the case of Chi s? The English word 'who' is the literal translation of the Italian word chi. Consequently, can you expect to find 'who 1 in most cases in which Italians use the word chi? Should you expect to find 'who' in all cases in which Italians use chi , and should you expect to find chi in all cases in which English speakers use 'who 1?
As a consequence, it is impractical and often misleading for the language learner to equate words in one language with words in another language. If 'who' is the literal translation of the Italian word chi , Charles would expect to find chi in the normal Italian translation of the following two sentences: However, whereas chi may be used in the translation of a , it is not to be used in the translation of b. It is natural for Charles to be puzzled by this fact since he has been equating 'who' with chi. Is sentence a a question? Obviously then, you can expect chi in the Italian transla- tion of a.
Is sentence b a question? Obviously then, you should not expect chi in the Italian translation of b. As you learn to say things in Italian, try to understand and remember the situations and contexts in which they appear. At all times try to avoid associating Italian words and phrases with English.
Naturally, you will find that many times you will be associating Italian and English this is natural for a native speaker of English and sometimes this has to be done. However, if you con- sciously try to avoid making such associations you will find that you will be a concentrating more on the Italian way of saying things , b understanding Italian better, and c speeding up the learning process, since you will be going directly from the Italian utterance to its MEANING, without having to translate first into English in order to arrive at the MEANING.
UNO GNOMO IN CITTA' (Italian Edition) - Kindle edition by Vincenzo Lovisi. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. UNO GNOMO IN CITTA' (Italian Edition) Jun 27, by Vincenzo Lovisi · Kindle Edition. $$ Available for download now.
A consonant immediately following the word s is One big difference in the pronunciation of the English word 'key' and the Italian word chi is that the consonant in the English word is , whereas the consonant in the Italian word is not. The big difference in the pronunciation of the English word 'tea' and the Italian word ti is that the consonant in the English word is aspirated and not , whereas the consonant in the Italian word is not aspirated and.
The same word fits in both blanks here. If only one student is present, Instructor asks the question. The following are two English sentences: Are a and b questions or statements? Although both a and b are questions, they illustrate two different types of questions. To which question are you more likely to answer 'Yes' or 'No'? Which question are you likely to answer with a person 1 s name? And what about the following Italian question? What is the question word in the Italian sentence Chi s? Where is the stress in this question is it on vowel No. Notice too that as the voice fades into silence the question ends on a low pitch level.
If instead of a drop in pitch level, there were a rise in pitch, the question would not be the one most usually heard, and would sound like: Which is the more usual, x or y? Are all of the following the same? In other words, what kind of utterance is communicated in the Italian example we have been hearing? If this particular intonation is used to communicate something, may we say that the Intonation has meaning? What is its meaning in the Italian example we have been hearing?
Now listen to the following question and answer: In your opinion, are both the question and the answer said with a stress-drop intonation? The stressed vowel in the answer is indicated here by a line underneath the corresponding vowel letter. Notice that the 'drop' occurs right on the syllable with the stressed vowel. Now pay close attention to the intonation of the following question, asking if it is Amanda. Is there any 'drop in pitch level 1 in the question about Amanda? Is there any 'rise in pitch level 1 in this question? The stress in this question is on the vowel of - man- , indicated here by a line underneath the corresponding vowel letter.
Does the question seem to end on a high pitch level or a low pitch level, relatively speaking? If we were to use something resembling a musical scale to plot the sentences we have been examining, they would look like the following: If one were to reply to the preceding question in the affirmative, one could simply sayt si. Listen again to this word. Listen again and repeat. Repeat after the model, imitating as closely as possible.
X si, e Amanda. Remember to pronounce strongly any consonant that immediately follows the word s. Now we will do the opposite. As in the model, you will hear a statement for which you are to ask a question. With this end in mind we have presented only two commonly heard patterns so far, sometimes exaggerating in order to indicate the differences more clearly to the untrained ear.
If a particular intonation pattern of Italian is similar to one in English accept this as a fact, but do not expect Italian intonation patterns to be like English! Also, if a particular intonation pattern exists in both English and Italian, and its meaning is similar in both languages, accept this as a fact, but do not expect the meaning to be the same l What may mean cordial politeness in one language may mean anger or displeasure in another. The intonation patterns of a language are many and varied, and may even differ from one region to the next. If your instruc- tor's patterns differ from those presented here, by all means imitate your instructor.
Identify the kind of utterance by checking the appropriate column each time. In addition to these two patterns, there is a third type which is heard in Italian in both questions and statements. Now listen to the same information question said a little differently. As one goes from the unstressed vowel to the stressed vowel here, is there a drop in pitch level?
Is there any drop in pitch level at all here? If there is a drop in pitch level here and the drop does not occur as one goes from the unstressed vowel to the stressed vowel, where does it occur v x. The vertical arrow indicates a drop in pitch level on the stressed syllable. Listen to the same intonation here and repeat. It may be plotted as follows: These intonations parallel what we have seen in frame No. Listen to the two versions. The potentially emphatic question asking if it is Amanda may thus be plotted in either of the following ways: And with this one.
Now with this one. You will now hear a series of short dialogs. Repeat each line, imitating the intonation as closely as possible. You should review this section many times until you feel at ease with these intonations.
Looking at the diagrams of frame No. Now look at the diagrams of frame No. What is a meaning of the intonations we have been hearing in frames No. Is this a question or a statement? The consonant you just heard in the preceding example is one that had not been presented earlier. It is a sound very much like the second consonant heard in the English word 'spy. Occurring after the word s, it, like any other initial consonant following s, is strongly pronounced.
Repeat the question of frame No. TEST A not recorded The 20 diagrams below illustrate the various intonation patterns you have heard so far.