Editing Italian orthography (section)

==J, K, W, X and Y==
The letter {{vr|j}} ({{lang|it|I lunga}}, "long I", or {{lang|it|gei}}) is not considered part of the standard Italian alphabet; however, it is used in some [[Latin]] words, in proper nouns (such as [[Jesi]], [[Letojanni]], [[Juventus]], etc.), in words borrowed from foreign languages (most common: ''jeans'', but also ''jazz'', ''jet'', ''jeep'', ''banjo''),<ref>[https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=jazz%2Cjeans%2Cjeep%2Cjet&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=it-2019&smoothing=5 Google Books Ngram Viewer]</ref> and in an archaic spelling of Italian.

Until the 19th century, {{angbr|j}} was used in Italian instead of {{angbr|i}} in word-initial rising [[diphthong]]s, as a replacement for final -{{vr|ii}}, and between vowels (as in {{lang|it|[[Savoia (disambiguation)|Savoja]]}}); this rule was quite strict in official writing.

The letter {{angbr|j}} represents {{IPA|/j/}} in Latin and Italian and dialect words such as [[Romanesco dialect]] ''ajo'' {{IPA|/ˈajjo/}} ("garlic"; cf. Italian {{lang|it|aglio}} {{IPA|/ˈaʎʎo/}}); it represents {{IPAslink|dʒ}} in borrowings from English (including ''[[judo]]'', borrowed from Japanese via English); and {{IPAslink|ʒ}} in borrowings from French (''julienne, bijou'').

The letters {{vr|k}} ({{lang|it|cappa}}), {{vr|w}} ({{lang|it|V doppia}} or {{lang|it|doppia V}}, "double V"), {{vr|x}} ({{lang|it|ics}}) and {{vr|y}} ({{lang|it|ipsilon}} or {{lang|it|I greca}}, "Greek I") are not part of the standard Italian alphabet and are used only in unassimilated or partially assimilated loanwords.

The letter {{angbr|k}} is used in ''karma'', ''kayak'', ''kiwi'', ''kamikaze'',<ref>[https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=karma%2C+kayak%2C+kiwi%2C+kamikaze&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=it-2019&smoothing=5 Google Books Ngram Viewer]</ref> etc.; it is always pronounced {{IPA|/k/}}. It is often used informally among young people as a replacement for {{angbr|ch}}, paralleling the use of {{angbr|k}} in English (for example, ''ke'' instead of ''che'').

The letter {{angbr|w}} is used in ''web'', ''whisky'', ''water'', "water closet / toilet", ''western'', "Western movie", ''watt'',<ref>[https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=watt%2Cwater%2Cweb%2BWeb%2Cwestern%2Cwhisky&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=it-2019&smoothing=5 Google Books Ngram Viewer]</ref> etc; it is alternately pronounced {{IPA|/w/}} (in ''web'', ''whisky'', ''western'') or {{IPA|/v/}} (in ''water'', ''watt''). A capital {{vr|W}} is used as an abbreviation of {{lang|it|viva}} or {{lang|it|evviva}} ("long live"). Although {{angbr|w}} is named {{lang|it|V doppia}} or {{lang|it|doppia V}}, in initialisms such as {{lang|it|B.&nbsp;M.&nbsp;W., T.&nbsp;W.&nbsp;A., W.&nbsp;W.&nbsp;F., W.&nbsp;C., www}} it is normally read simply as {{lang|it|vu}}.

The letter {{angbr|x}} represents either {{IPA|/ks/}}, as in {{lang|it|extra}}, {{lang|it|uxorio}}, {{lang|it|xilofono}}, or {{IPA|/ɡz/}} when it is preceded by {{angbr|e}} and followed by a vowel, e.g. {{lang|it|exoterico}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/x-x/|title=x, X in Vocabolario - Treccani|trans-title=x, X in Vocabulary - Treccani|language=it|website=[[Treccani]]|accessdate=26 January 2021}}</ref> In most words, it may be replaced with {{vr|s}} or {{vr|ss}} (with different pronunciation: {{lang|it|xilofono}}/{{lang|it|silofono}}, {{lang|it|taxi}}/{{lang|it|tassì}}) or, rarely, by {{vr|cs}} (with the same pronunciation: {{lang|it|claxon}}/[[:it:clacson|clacson]]). In some other languages of Italy, it represents {{IPA|/z/}} ([[Venetian language|Venetian]]), {{IPA|/ʃ/}} ([[Sicilian language|Sicilian]]), or {{IPA|/ʒ/}} ([[Sardinian language|Sardinian]] and [[Ligurian language|Ligurian]]).

The letter {{angbr|y}} is used in ''yoga'', ''yogurt'', ''yacht'', ''Uruguay'', etc. This letter is sometimes replaced by {{angbr|i}} in some words such as ''yoga/ioga'' and ''yogurt/iogurt'', but the spellings with {{angbr|y}} are much more common.