Editing Italian language (section)

== Writing system ==
{{Main|Italian orthography}}
[[File:Corsivo- come scriverlo a mano in italiano, schede didattiche con alcuni esempi di Paolo Villa (prima edizione commons wikimedia org)-Letters-characters in italics-cursive- how to write it by hand in Italian.pdf|thumb|An Italian handwriting script, taught in primary school]]
<!--please don't use angle brackets at the beginning here because most readers wouldn't understand that the letters of the alphabet are meant -->

Italian has a [[Phonemic orthography|shallow orthography]], meaning very regular spelling with an almost one-to-one correspondence between letters and sounds. In linguistic terms, the writing system is close to being a [[phonemic orthography]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Cossu |first=Giuseppe |date=1999 |editor-last1=Harris |editor-first1=Margaret |editor-last2=Hatano |editor-first2=Giyoo |title=Learning to Read and Write: A Cross-Linguistic Perspective (Cambridge Studies in Cognitive and Perceptual Development, Series Number 2) |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=10–33 |chapter=Chapter 2: The acquisition of Italian orthography |isbn=978-0521621847 |quote=On a hypothetical 'transparency scale' of writing systems, Italian orthography should be placed close to one extreme |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wzer287R2hkC&dq=Italian+orthography&pg=PA10 |access-date=17 December 2023 |archive-date=27 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427114114/https://books.google.com/books?id=Wzer287R2hkC&dq=Italian+orthography&pg=PA10#v=onepage&q=Italian%20orthography&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> The most important of the few exceptions are the following (see below for more details):
* The letter c represents the sound {{IPA|/k/}} at the end of words and before the letters a, o, and u but represents the sound {{IPAslink|tʃ}} (as the first sound in the English word ''chair'') before the letters e and i.
* The letter g represents the sound {{IPA|/ɡ/}} at the end of words and before the letters a, o, and u but represents the sound {{IPAslink|dʒ}} (as the first sound in the English word ''gem'') before the letters e and i.
* The letter n represents the phoneme {{IPA|/n/}}, which is pronounced {{IPA|[ŋ]}} (as in the English word ''sing'') before the letters c and g when these represent velar plosives {{IPA|/k/}} or {{IPA|/ɡ/}}, as in ''banco'' {{IPA|[ˈbaŋko]}}, ''fungo'' {{IPA|[ˈfuŋɡo]}}. The letter q represents {{IPA|/k/}} pronounced [k], thus n also represents {{IPA|[ŋ]}} in the position preceding it: ''cinque'' {{IPA|[ˈt͡ʃiŋkwe]}}. Elsewhere the letter n represents {{IPA|/n/}} pronounced {{IPA|[n]}}, including before the [[affricate]]s {{IPA|/tʃ/}} or {{IPA|/dʒ/}} spelt with c or g before the letters i and e : ''mancia'' {{IPA|[ˈmant͡ʃa]}}, ''mangia'' {{IPA|[ˈmand͡ʒa]}}. 
* The letter ''h'' is always silent: ''hotel'' {{IPA|/oˈtɛl/}}; ''hanno'' 'they have' and ''anno'' 'year' both represent {{IPA|/ˈanno/}}. It is used to form a [[Digraph (orthography)|digraph]] with ''c'' or ''g'' to represent {{IPA|/k/}} or {{IPA|/ɡ/}} before ''i'' or ''e'': ''chi'' {{IPA|/ki/}} 'who', ''che'' {{IPA|/ke/}} 'what'; ''aghi'' {{IPA|/ˈaɡi/}} 'needles', ''ghetto'' {{IPA|/ˈɡetto/}}.
* The spellings ''ci'' and ''gi'' before another vowel represent only {{IPA|/tʃ/}} or {{IPA|/dʒ/}} with no /i/ sound (''ciuccio'' {{IPA|/ˈtʃuttʃo/}} 'pacifier', ''Giorgio'' {{IPA|/ˈdʒordʒo/}}) unless ''c'' or ''g'' precede stressed {{IPA|/i/}} (''farmacia'' {{IPA|/farmaˈtʃi.a/}} 'pharmacy', ''biologia'' {{IPA|/bioloˈdʒi.a/}} 'biology'). Elsewhere ''ci'' and ''gi'' represent {{IPA|/tʃ/}} and {{IPA|/dʒ/}} followed by {{IPA|/i/}}: ''cibo'' {{IPA|/ˈtʃibo/}} 'food', ''baci'' {{IPA|/ˈbatʃi/}} 'kisses'; ''gita'' {{IPA|/ˈdʒita/}} 'trip', ''Tamigi'' {{IPA|/taˈmidʒi/}} 'Thames'.*

The Italian alphabet is typically considered to consist of 21 letters. The letters j, k, w, x, y are traditionally excluded, although they appear in loanwords such as ''jeans'', ''whisky'', ''taxi'',, ''xilofono''. The letter {{angle bracket|x}} has become common in standard Italian with the prefix ''extra-'', although ''(e)stra-'' is traditionally used; it is also common to use the Latin particle ''ex(-)'' to mean 'former(ly)' as in ''la mia ex'' ('my ex-girlfriend'), "Ex-Jugoslavia" ('Former Yugoslavia'). The letter {{angle bracket|j}} appears in the first name ''Jacopo'' and in some Italian place-names, such as [[Bajardo]], [[Bojano]], [[Joppolo]], [[Jerzu]], [[Jesolo]], [[Jesi]], [[Ajaccio]], among others, and in ''Mar Jonio'', an alternative spelling of ''Mar Ionio'' (the [[Ionian Sea]]). The letter {{angle bracket|j}} may appear in dialectal words, but its use is discouraged in contemporary standard Italian.<ref name="Clivio">{{cite book|title=The Sounds, Forms, and Uses of Italian: An Introduction to Italian Linguistics|first1=Gianrenzo|last1=Clivio|first2=Marcel|last2=Danesi|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2000|pages=21, 66}}</ref> Letters used in foreign words can be replaced with [[phonetics|phonetically]] equivalent native Italian letters and [[digraph (orthography)|digraphs]]: {{angle bracket|gi}}, {{angle bracket|ge}}, or {{angle bracket|i}} for {{angle bracket|j}}; {{angle bracket|c}} or {{angle bracket|ch}} for {{angle bracket|k}} (including in the standard prefix ''kilo-''); {{angle bracket|o}}, {{angle bracket|u}} or {{angle bracket|v}} for {{angle bracket|w}}; {{angle bracket|s}}, {{angle bracket|ss}}, {{angle bracket|z}}, {{angle bracket|zz}} or {{angle bracket|cs}} for {{angle bracket|x}}; and {{angle bracket|e}} or {{angle bracket|i}} for {{angle bracket|y}}.
* The [[acute accent]] is used over word-final {{angle bracket|e}} to indicate a stressed [[Close-mid front unrounded vowel|front close-mid vowel]], as in ''perché'' 'why, because'. In dictionaries, it is also used over {{angle bracket|o}} to indicate a stressed [[Close-mid back rounded vowel|back close-mid vowel]] (''azióne''). The [[grave accent]] is used over word-final {{angle bracket|e}} and {{angle bracket|o}} to indicate a [[Open-mid front unrounded vowel|front open-mid vowel]] and a [[Open-mid back rounded vowel|back open-mid vowel]] respectively, as in ''tè'' 'tea', and ''può'' '(he) can'. The grave accent is used over any vowel to indicate word-final stress, as in ''gioventù'' 'youth'. Unlike {{angle bracket|é}}, which is a ''close''-mid vowel, a stressed final {{angle bracket|o}} is almost always a [[Open-mid back rounded vowel|back open-mid vowel]] (''andrò''), with a few exceptions, such as ''metró'', with a stressed final [[close-mid back rounded vowel|back close-mid vowel]], making {{angle bracket|ó}} for the most part unnecessary outside of dictionaries. Most of the time, the penultimate syllable is stressed. But if the stressed vowel is the final letter of the word, the accent is mandatory, otherwise, it is virtually always omitted. Exceptions are typically either in dictionaries, where all or most stressed vowels are commonly marked. Accents can optionally be used to disambiguate words that differ only by stress, as for ''prìncipi'' 'princes' and ''princìpi'' 'principles', or ''àncora'' 'anchor' and ''ancóra'' 'still''/''yet'. For monosyllabic words, the rule is different: when two orthographically identical monosyllabic words with different meanings exist, one is accented and the other is not (example: ''è'' 'is', ''e'' 'and').
* The letter {{angle bracket|h}} distinguishes ''ho'', ''hai'', ''ha'', ''hanno'' (present indicative of ''avere'' 'to have') from ''o'' ('or'), ''ai'' ('to the'), ''a'' ('to'), ''anno'' ('year'). In the spoken language, the letter is always silent. The {{angle bracket|h}} in ''ho'' additionally marks the contrasting open pronunciation of the {{angle bracket|o}}. The letter {{angle bracket|h}} is also used in combinations with other letters. No [[phoneme]] {{IPA|/h/}} exists in Italian. In nativized foreign words, the {{angle bracket|h}} is silent. For example, ''hotel'' and ''hovercraft'' are pronounced {{IPA|/oˈtɛl/}} and {{IPA|/ˈɔverkraft/}} respectively. (Where {{angle bracket|h}} existed in Latin, it either disappeared or, in a few cases before a back vowel, changed to {{IPA|[ɡ]}}: ''traggo'' 'I pull' ← Lat. {{smallcaps|trahō}}.)
* The letters {{angle bracket|s}} and {{angle bracket|z}} can symbolize [[voice (phonetics)|voiced]] or [[voicelessness|voiceless]] consonants. {{angle bracket|z}} symbolizes {{IPA|/dz/}} or {{IPA|/ts/}} depending on context, with few minimal pairs. For example: ''zanzara'' {{IPA|/dzanˈdzara/}} 'mosquito' and ''nazione'' {{IPA|/natˈtsjone/}} 'nation'. {{angle bracket|s}} symbolizes {{IPA|/s/}} word-initially before a vowel, when clustered with a voiceless consonant ({{angle bracket|p, f, c, ch}}), and when doubled; it symbolizes {{IPA|/z/}} when between vowels and when clustered with voiced consonants. Intervocalic {{angle bracket|s}} varies regionally between {{IPA|/s/}} and {{IPA|/z/}}, with {{IPA|/z/}} being more dominant in northern Italy and {{IPA|/s/}} in the south.
* The letters {{angle bracket|c}} and {{angle bracket|g}} vary in pronunciation between [[plosives]] and [[affricates]] depending on following vowels. The letter {{angle bracket|c}} symbolizes {{IPA|/k/}} when word-final and before the back vowels {{angle bracket|a, o, u}}. It symbolizes {{IPAslink|tʃ}} as in ''chair'' before the front vowels {{angle bracket|e, i}}. The letter {{angle bracket|g}} symbolizes {{IPA|/ɡ/}} when word-final and before the back vowels {{angle bracket|a, o, u}}. It symbolizes {{IPAslink|dʒ}} as in ''gem'' before the front vowels {{angle bracket|e, i}}. Other Romance languages and, to an extent, English have similar variations for {{angle bracket|c, g}}. Compare [[hard and soft C]], [[hard and soft G]]. (See also [[Palatalization (sound change)|palatalization]].)
* The [[digraph (orthography)|digraphs]] {{angle bracket|ch}} and {{angle bracket|gh}} indicate ({{IPA|/k/}} and {{IPA|/ɡ/}}) before {{angle bracket|i, e}}. The digraphs {{angle bracket|ci}} and {{angle bracket|gi}} indicate 'softness' ({{IPA|/tʃ/}} and {{IPA|/dʒ/}}, the [[affricate consonant]]s of English ''church'' and ''judge'') before {{angle bracket|a, o, u}}. For example:

:{| class="wikitable"
!
! colspan="2" | Before back vowel (A, O, U)
! colspan="2" | Before front vowel (I, E)
|-
! rowspan="2" | Plosive
! C
| caramella {{IPA|/karaˈmɛlla/}} ''candy''
! CH
| china {{IPA|/ˈkina/}} ''[[India ink]]''
|-
! G
| gallo {{IPA|/ˈɡallo/}} ''[[rooster]]''
! GH
| ghiro {{IPA|/ˈɡiro/}} ''[[edible dormouse]]''
|-
! rowspan="2" | Affricate
! CI
| ciambella {{IPA|/tʃamˈbɛlla/}} ''[[doughnut|donut]]''
! C
| Cina {{IPA|/ˈtʃina/}} ''China''
|-
! GI
| giallo {{IPA|/ˈdʒallo/}} ''yellow''
! G
| giro {{IPA|/ˈdʒiro/}} ''[[wikt:round|round]], [[wikt:tour|tour]]''
|}

:Note: {{angle bracket|h}} is [[silent letter|silent]] in the digraphs ''[[ch (digraph)|{{angle bracket|ch}}]]'', ''[[gh (digraph)|{{angle bracket|gh}}]]''; and {{angle bracket|i}} is silent in the digraphs {{angle bracket|ci}} and {{angle bracket|gi}} before {{angle bracket|a, o, u}} unless the {{angle bracket|i}} is stressed. For example, it is silent in ''[[ciao]]'' {{IPA|/ˈtʃa.o/}} and cielo {{IPA|/ˈtʃɛ.lo/}}, but it is pronounced in ''farmacia'' {{IPA|/ˌfar.maˈtʃi.a/}} and ''farmacie'' {{IPA|/ˌfar.maˈtʃi.e/}}.{{sfn|Berloco|2018}}
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* There are three other special [[digraph (orthography)|digraphs]] in Italian: [[gn (digraph)|{{angle bracket|gn}}]], {{angle bracket|gl}} and {{angle bracket|sc}}. The digraph {{angle bracket|gn}} represents {{IPAslink|ɲ}}. {{angle bracket|gl}} represents {{IPAslink|ʎ}} before {{angle bracket|i}}, and never at the beginning of a word, except in the [[personal pronoun]] and [[definite article]] ''gli''. An exception is the word ''glicerina'' ("glycerin"), which is pronounced with a hard {{angle bracket|g}}. (Compare with Spanish {{angle bracket|ñ}} and {{angle bracket|ll}}, [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] {{angle bracket|nh}} and {{angle bracket|lh}}.) {{angle bracket|sc}} represents a fricative {{IPAslink|ʃ}} before {{angle bracket|e, i}}. Except in the speech of some northern Italians, all of these are normally [[geminate]] between vowels.
* In general, there is a clear one-to-one correspondence between letters or digraphs and phonemes, as in Spanish; in standard varieties of Italian, there is little allophonic variation. The most notable exceptions are assimilation of /n/ in point of articulation before consonants, assimilatory voicing of /s/ to following voiced consonants, and vowel length (vowels are long in stressed open syllables, except at the end of words, and short elsewhere) — compare with the substantial number of [[allophone]]s of the English phoneme /t/. Spelling is mostly phonemic and usually difficult to mistake, given a clear pronunciation. Exceptions exist, especially in foreign borrowings. There are fewer cases of [[dyslexia]] than among speakers of languages such as English,<ref>E. Paulescu et al., Dyslexia – cultural diversity and biological unity, "Science", vol. 291, pp. 2165–2167.</ref> and the concept of a [[spelling bee]] is strange to Italians.

=== Common variations ===
Some variations in the usage of the writing system may be present in practical use. These are scorned by educated people and normal written language, but they are so common in certain limited contexts that knowledge of them may be useful.
* Usage of ''x'' instead of ''per'' "for". This is common among teenagers and in SMS abbreviations. The multiplication operator is read "per" in Italian. For example, ''per te'' ("for you") is shortened to ''x te'' (compared with English ''4 u''). The ''per'' within words can also be replaced with ''x''. For example: ''perché'' ("why, because") to ''xché'' or ''xké''; ''sapere'' ("to know") to ''saxe''). This usage is useful shorthand in quick notes or in SMS, but it is unacceptable in formal writing.
* Usage of foreign letters such as {{angle bracket|k}}, {{angle bracket|j}} and {{angle bracket|y}}, especially in nicknames and SMS language: ''ke'' instead of ''che'', ''Giusy'' instead of ''Giuseppina''. This is mirrored in the usage of ''i'' in English names such as ''Staci'' instead of ''Stacey'' or in the usage of ''c'' in Northern Europe (''Jacob'' instead of ''Jakob''). The use of {{angle bracket|k}} instead of {{angle bracket|ch}} or {{angle bracket|c}} to represent a plosive sound is documented in some historical texts from before the standardization of the Italian language. The usage is no longer standard in Italian. The letter {{angle bracket|k}} has sometimes been used in satire to suggest a political figure is an authoritarian or even a "pseudo-nazi". For example, [[Francesco Cossiga]] was famously nicknamed ''Kossiga'' by rioting students during his tenure as minister of internal affairs. Compare the [[satiric misspelling#"K" replacing "C"|politicized spelling ''Amerika'']] in the USA. Although not a letter in the standard Italian alphabet, the letter {{angle bracket|j}} is found in many of the languages of southern Italy, including [[Neapolitan language|Neapolitan]] and [[Sicilian language|Sicilian]]. In modern texts written in any such language, the {{angle bracket|j}} is often replaced with {{angle bracket|i}}.
* The following abbreviations are limited to electronic-communications media: ''nn'' for ''non'' "not"; ''cmq'' for ''comunque'' "anyway, however"; ''cm'' for ''come'' "how, like, as"; ''d'' for ''di'' "of"; ''(io/loro) sn'' for ''(io/loro) sono'' "I am, they are"; ''(io) dv'' for ''(io) devo'' "I must, I have to" or for ''dove'' "where"; ''(tu) 6'' for ''(tu) sei'' "you are"; ''dmn'' for ''domani'' "tomorrow".
* Whenever non-[[ASCII]] characters are unavailable or unreliable (as in e-mail), accents may be replaced with adjacent apostrophes. For example: in ''perche<nowiki>'</nowiki>'' instead of ''perché''. The practice was standard on manual typewriters that had no accents and is still common for uppercase accented letters. Uppercase {{angle bracket|[[È]]}} is rare and is absent from the [[Keyboard layout#Italian|Italian keyboard layout]]. It is often substituted with {{angle bracket|E<nowiki>'</nowiki>}}, even though there are [[:it:Aiuto:Manuale di stile#Scrivere È|several ways]] of producing the uppercase È on a computer.

== Sounds ==
{{Main|Italian phonology}}

=== Vowels ===
Italian has seven [[vowel]] phonemes: {{IPA|/a/}}, {{IPA|/e/}}, {{IPA|/ɛ/}}, {{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/o/}}, {{IPA|/ɔ/}}, {{IPA|/u/}}, represented by five letters: "a, e, i, o, u". The pairs {{IPA|/e/}}-{{IPA|/ɛ/}}, and {{IPA|/o/}}-{{IPA|/ɔ/}} are seldom distinguished in writing and often confused, even though most varieties of Italian employ both phonemes consistently. Compare, for example standard "perché" {{IPA|[perˈke]}} (why, because) and "senti" {{IPA|[ˈsɛnti]}} (you hear), as pronounced by most central and southern speakers, with {{IPA|[perˈkɛ]}} and {{IPA|[ˈsenti]}}, employed by most northern speakers. As a result, the usage is strongly indicative of a person's origin. The standard (Tuscan) usage of these vowels is listed in vocabularies, and employed outside Tuscany mainly by specialists, especially actors and a few (television) journalists.
These are truly different [[phonemes]], however: compare {{IPA|/ˈpeska/}} (fishing) and {{IPA|/ˈpɛska/}} (peach), both spelled ''pesca'' ({{Audio|It-pesca.ogg|listen}}). Similarly {{IPA|/ˈbotte/}} ('barrel') and {{IPA|/ˈbɔtte/}} ('beatings'), both spelled ''botte'', discriminate {{IPA|/o/}} and {{IPA|/ɔ/}} ({{Audio|It-botte-mp.ogg|listen}}).

In general, vowel combinations usually pronounce each vowel separately. [[Diphthong]]s exist (e.g. ''uo'', ''iu'', ''ie'', ''ai''), but are limited to an unstressed ''u'' or ''i'' before or after a stressed vowel.

The unstressed ''u'' in a diphthong approximates the English semivowel ''w'', and the unstressed ''i'' approximates the semivowel ''y''. E.g.: ''buono'' {{IPA|[ˈbwɔːno]}}, ''ieri'' {{IPA|[ˈjɛːri]}}.

[[Triphthong]]s exist in Italian as well, like "contin''uia''mo" ("we continue"). Three vowel combinations exist only in the form semiconsonant ({{IPA|/j/}} or {{IPA|/w/}}), followed by a vowel, followed by a [[:wikt:desinence|desinence]] vowel (usually {{IPA|/i/}}), as in ''miei'', ''suoi'', or two semiconsonants followed by a vowel, as the group ''-uia-'' exemplified above, or ''-iuo-'' in the word ''aiuola''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Serianni | first=Luca | author2=Castelvecchi, Alberto |title=Italiano | publisher=Garzanti | year=1997 | page=15}}</ref>

=== Mobile diphthongs ===
Many Latin words with a short ''e'' or ''o'' have Italian counterparts with a so-called mobile diphthong (''ie'' and ''uo'' respectively). The mobility, however, is of stress: when the vowel sound is stressed, it is pronounced and written as a diphthong, e.g. ''buono'' 'good'; when not stressed, it is pronounced and written as a single vowel, as in ''bontà'' 'goodness'.

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 ''jocus'' comes Italian ''giuoco'' ("play", "game"), though in this case ''gioco'' is more common: ''giocare'' means "to play (a game)". 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: ''juego'' (play, game) and ''jugar'' (to play), ''nieve'' (snow) and ''nevar'' (to snow)). Stress-conditioned historical diphthongization can also produce alternating verb stems, as in stem-stressed ''siedo'' 'I sit' and suffix-stressed ''sediamo'' 'we sit'.

=== Consonants ===
{{See also|Syntactic doubling}}
Two symbols in a table cell denote the voiceless and voiced consonants, respectively.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Consonants of Italian<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Rogers & d'Arcangeli|2004|p=117}}</ref>
!
! [[bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
! [[labiodental consonant|Labio-<br />dental]]
! [[dental consonant|Dental]]/<br />[[alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[postalveolar consonant|Post-<br />alveolar]]
! [[palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[velar consonant|Velar]]
|-
! [[Nasal stop|Nasal]]
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA|m}}
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA|ɱ}}
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA|n}}
|
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA|ɲ}}
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA|ŋ}}*
|-
! [[plosive consonant|Plosive]]
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA|p}}, {{IPA|b}}
|
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA|t̪}}, {{IPA|d̪}}
|
|
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA|k}}, {{IPA|ɡ}}
|-
! [[affricate consonant|Affricate]]
|
|
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA|t͡s}}, {{IPA|d͡z}}
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA|t͡ʃ}}, {{IPA|d͡ʒ}}
|
|
|-
! [[fricative consonant|Fricative]]
|
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA|f}}, {{IPA|v}}
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA|s}}, {{IPA|z}}
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA|ʃ}}
|
|
|-
! [[trill consonant|Trill]]
|
|
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA|r}}
|
|
|
|-
! [[lateral consonant|Lateral]]
|
|
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA|l}}
|
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA|ʎ}}
|
|-
! [[approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|
|
|
|
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA|j}}
| style="text-align: center;" | {{IPA|w}}
|}

Note: unlike in standard English, {{IPA|ŋ}} is ''not'' a phoneme in standard Italian; instead, when preceding a velar ({{IPA|/k/}} or {{IPA|/ɡ/}}) {{IPA|[ŋ]}} appears as an [[allophone]] of {{IPA|/n/}}. More generally, nasals assimilate to the point of articulation of whatever consonant they precede. -->

Italian has geminate, or double, consonants, which are distinguished by [[Consonant length|length]] and intensity. Length is distinctive for all consonants except for {{IPA|/ʃ/}}, {{IPA|/dz/}}, {{IPA|/ts/}}, {{IPA|/ʎ/}}, {{IPA|/ɲ/}}, which are always geminate when between vowels, and {{IPA|/z/}}, which is always single.
Geminate plosives and affricates are realized as lengthened closures. Geminate fricatives, nasals, and {{IPA|/l/}} are realized as lengthened [[continuant]]s. There is only one vibrant phoneme {{IPA|/r/}} but the actual pronunciation depends on the context and regional accent. Generally one can find a flap consonant {{IPA|[ɾ]}} in an unstressed position whereas {{IPA|[r]}} is more common in stressed syllables, but there may be exceptions. Especially people from the northern part of Italy ([[Parma]], Aosta Valley, [[South Tyrol]]) may pronounce {{IPA|/r/}} as {{IPA|[ʀ]}}, {{IPA|[ʁ]}}, or {{IPA|[ʋ]}}.<ref>{{cite book |last= Canepari |first= Luciano |title= Il MªPI – Manuale di pronuncia italiana |edition= second |date=January 1999 |publisher= [[Zanichelli]] |location= [[Bologna]] |isbn= 978-88-08-24624-0}}</ref>

Of special interest to the linguistic study of [[Regional Italian]] is the ''[[Tuscan gorgia|gorgia toscana]]'', or "Tuscan Throat", the weakening or [[lenition]] of [[:wiktionary:intervocalic|intervocalic]] {{IPA|/p/}}, {{IPA|/t/}}, and {{IPA|/k/}} in the [[Tuscan language]].

The [[voiced postalveolar fricative]] {{IPA|/ʒ/}} is present as a phoneme only in loanwords: for example, ''garage'' {{IPA|[ɡaˈraːʒ]}}. Phonetic {{IPA|[ʒ]}} is common in central and southern Italy as an intervocalic allophone of {{IPA|/dʒ/}}: ''gente'' {{IPA|[ˈdʒɛnte]}} 'people' but ''la gente'' {{IPA|[laˈʒɛnte]}} 'the people', ''ragione'' {{IPA|[raˈʒoːne]}} 'reason'.