Italian IPA

Italian

Italian is a favorite for singers because there relatively few vowels. These vowels are always pure (unaccented syllables do not become schwas), which can be challenging to English speakers but ultimately makes singing in Italian much easier than, say, French. The symbols for each sound are very consistent, so there are only a few rules to learn. Mastery of the language requires a dictionary and a knowledge of the grammar, but some general guidelines can get you most of the way there. To capture a proper Italian sound, singers are challenged to make the vowels bright enough and to appropriately pronounce doubled consonants.

The Vowels

u - tuo [tuo], crudele [kɾudɛle]

o - voce [votʃe], sonno [sɔnno]

ɔ - sposa [spɔza], donna [dɔnna]

a - amore [amore], stella [stella]

ɛ - bella [bɛlla], gelida [dʒɛlida]

e - pieta [pjeta], belta [belta]

i - sguardi [zgwaɾdi], voi [voi]

Glides:

j - piace [pjatʃe], buio [bujo]

w - tuoi [twoi], sangue [sangwe]

Doubling:

When an Italian consonant is doubled, the consonant is lengthened if it is voiced (such as l, m, or n, in bella, mamma, or donna) and there is a stop put before it if it is unvoiced (such as tt, gg, or cc in tutto, leggiere, caccia, or pizza [pittsa] or mezzo [mɛddzo]).

“R”

The Italian “r” is always either flipped, ɾ: cara [kaɾa]

or rolled, rr: correnti [kɔrrɛnti]

Italian consonants as they differ from English:

z = [ts] - danza [dantsa]

g = [dʒ] (in front of “i” or “e”) - gia [dʒja]

c = [tʃ] (in front of “i” or “e”) - cello [tʃɛllo]

sc = [ʃ] (in front of “i” or “e”) - nascere [naʃɛre]

ch = [k] - che [ke]

qu = [kw] - qui [kwi]

gn = [ɲ] - sogno [sɔɲo]

j = [j] – gioja [dʒjoja]

h: this consonant usually ‘disappears’: ahi = [ai]

-but it serves a purpose after “g” to make it a [g] sound: luoghi [lwogi]

gli = [ʎ] figlio [fiʎʎo]

s = [z] (between vowels) posa [poza]

Thanks to David Adams and his book, A Handbook of Diction for Singers 2^nd edition, Oxford University Press, 2008.