Appendix III – Italian Diction

The Italian language is the “backbone” of good singing and often the starting language that singing teachers use when teaching vocal technique. There is a link between good lyric diction and singing technique.

ITALIAN VOWELS

Italian spelling is phonetic; a single letter or cluster of letters represents the same sound, and each sound occurring in the language has only a single written representation. (Unlike English where the sound [i] can be spelled differently, as in “seat” and “feel.”)

There are only 7 Italian vowel sounds (one each for a, i and u; two each for e and o) compared to 15 or so in English, but the most striking differences between Italian and English vowels are the following:

• Italian vowels are pure. A sound written with a single letter has a single, unchanged sound, while in English the sound often changes from one pure sound to another. For example, the o in go changes from the pure o-sound of Italian to the sound made by oo in the English word boot.
• Unaccented English vowels tend to move toward a more neutral sound (schwa [ǝ]) ; while this does not happen with Italian vowels. In the English word amass [ǝmæs] each a has a different sound. In Italian words like alma the a [a] is consistent. One of the easiest pitfalls of American singers is to pronounce each a differently.

ITALIAN CONSONANTS

Several consonants in the Italian language have the same sound and IPA symbol as the written letter which makes it easier for American speakers.  However, there are some new sounds that can also tongue-tie the non-native singer!

General rules for Italian consonants:

• consonants are sounded much softer than English and d, t, n are “dentalized” – the tongue is behind the upper teeth. Think of the stereotypical “Godfather” pronunciation.
•  the letter r is rolled or flipped. The American r does not exist.
• double consonants are either lengthened (m, n, s, l) or stopped between the consonants. For example, to pronounce the word “tutto” [tut:to], hold the tongue up against your top teeth and then release. You will talk a little time away from the preceeding vowel in order to keep the tempo moving.
• Hard and soft: interactions among c, g, sc, h, and i                                                                 As in English, c and g may be hard or soft. Each is hard when followed by a (different) consonant or by one of the vowels a, o or u and is soft when followed by e or i. The hard sounds are similar to English: g as in good, c as in car. Soft g is also similar to English, like the g in general. However Italian soft c is like English ch in chess. But there are some additional wrinkles:
  • h following a g or c creates a hard sound (ghiardelli [gjardɛl:li], che [ke])
  • an i becomes silent because it gets “used up” in making a consonant soft (cielo [tʃɛlo]
  • The soft sound made by sc is like the sound sh [ʃ] in ship

The consonants below have symbols that differ from American sounds or written representations.