Italian and English
BY
Asako Uenishi
A FIVE PAGE PAPER
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE COURSE OF
SEMINAR 1 (World Englishes)
Kumamoto Gakuen University Foreign Language Department
English Course
SUPERVISOR: Judy Yoneoka
Kumamoto Gakuen University
Oe 2-5-1 Kumamoto
Japan
December 20, 2002
This paper consists of approximately １９００ words
1. Introduction
The European continent has many countries, and European people speak many
languages. I had a chance to visit both Italy and the United Kingdom. Although Japanese
study English for a long time, it was the first time for me to “experience” another language,
like Italian.
There are big differences between Italian and English; for example, in grammar
and pronunciation, but both languages use the Roman alphabet. So I’m interested in the
differences between them.
In this paper, I want to research Italian and English. Especially, I want to make
clear what big differences are from historical background to Italian Pronunciation.
2.
Historical relationship between English and Italian
There
is
a
common
parent
language
in
European
Language.
It’s
Pronto-indo-European. Both English and Italian are called Indo-European.
It is thought that The Indo-European family was organized from German Language,
Romance Language and Slavic Language. Romance differentiated into French, Italian and
Spanish. Slavic differentiated into Russian and Polish. German Language differentiated into
German, and German Language differentiated into three groups, West-German Language,
North-German Language, East-Language.
Italian and English were from West-German Language.
2.1 The origin of English
English belongs to the West-Germanic group of the family of Germanic languages.
In the fifth century, Germans (their language was called Englisc after one of their tribes, the
Anglo-Saxon) immigrated to Britain, and became the origin of the English language. It was
influenced by the French language in the eleventh century, during the Norman Conquest in
1066. There was a big change in the vowel sounds in the fifteenth century, which brought
about the present difference between pronunciation and spelling. English is the most
common language in the world at the present.
2.2. The origin of Italian
The origin of Italian is Latin, which was spoken by ancient Romans. Latin changed
gradually during the decline of the Roman Empire. It changed diversely everywhere in
Europe through The Middle Ages.
In the eighth century, Latin was divided into Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese
and Rumanian. These are called Romance languages. Italian is a remnant of Latin.
English
L a t i n
Italian
French
Spanish
Rumanian
Water
Aqua
Acqua
Eau
Agua
Apa
Son
Filius
Figlio
Fils
Hijo
Fiu
Wolf
Lupus
Lupo
Loup
Lobo
Lup
Eight
Octo
Otto
Huit
Ocho
Opt
*sleep
Dormit
Dorme
(il)dort
Duerme
Doarme
Table １．*≪He sleeps≫ in Indo-European languages
Table
１ shows the relationship of words in different languages that all
developed from Latin. They belong in Indo-European language, so their spellings are very
similar. Especially, first letters of words are all same. This mean, their language’s source is
same.
3.
Pronunciation
Italian pronunciation is different from English pronunciation. Italian pronunciation is
similar to Japanese pronunciation. Japanese often use “romaji” when they read foreign
words.
3.1 The English and Italian alphabets compared
≪English≫
A b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p
q r s t u v w x z
There are 26 letters in the English alphabet.
≪Italian≫
A b c d e f g h i l m n o p q r
s t u v z
There are 21 letters in the Italian alphabet.
j, k,w,x,y treats as a word of foreign origin.
As can be seen from j, k, w, x, y. 2, when we compare the English and Italian
alphabets, the Italian one doesn’t have the letters “j, k, w, x, y”. This means that when
Italians find words with these letters in other languages, they are sometimes at a loss as to
how to pronounce them. The following paragraphs will explore this phenomenon more
carefully.
The “w” in foreign or international words may either sound as a German w in
würstel (i.e. like Italian v), or as English w in window (i.e. as the Italian vowel u). When
Italians are in doubt, they usually pronounce letter w in the German way, as suggested by
the name given to the letter, which means double v.
The X in foreign or international words always sounds as English x. As for a Y in
foreign or international words, it always sounds as English y, i.e. as the Italian vowel I.
“J” is always pronounced as English. “J” often pronounce romaji’s ya, yu, yo,
for example, Italian football team’s name “Juventus” pronounce yubentosu in romaji. “Y”.
The Italian “j “ is “long i”. “j” only use in a few Christian names and surnames.
K is always sounds as “English k”. But “romaji” Ka, Ki, Ku, Ke, Ko, is Ca, Chi, Cu, Che,
Co. “h” is silent. It is never pronounce. Ha, Hi, Hu, He, Ho, pronounce “a, i, u, e, o”.
Like this, Italian pronounciation is very different from English. So it is difficult to pronounce
for English-speaker. But some of them are different from “romaji”. So, Italian is familiar to
Japanese-speakers.
(ア) Pronunciation of Italian alphabetical clusters
In this section, we see a sound chart of Italian pronunciation for English-speaker.s
Native English speakers made this chart, so it’s good to compare from Italian to English.
This is a good chart to learn how to pronounce Italian for English speakers.
CLUSTER
CE, CI
SOUND
While ca, co and cu are pronounced like in English, ce and ci
have a soft sound, like in English che and chi.
CIA, CIE,
When cluster the ci is followed by a further vowel, the sound of
CIO, CIU
i is dropped, becoming merely graphic (only to show that c has
to be pronounced as English "ch").
CHE, CHI
A letter h between c and e or between c and i gives the cluster
a hard sound:
Che sounds like an English ke, while chi sounds like an
English ki.
GE, GI
The clusters ga, go and gu are pronounced like in English, but
ge and gi have a "soft" sound, like English je and jy.
GIA, GIE,
Also in this case, when cluster the gi is followed by a further
GIO, GIU
vowel, i becomes mute, and the sound of English "j" is followed
by the second vowel.
GHE, GHI
In the same way explained above, an h inserted between g
and vowel e or i gives the cluster a hard sound:
Ghe sounds like an English gue in guest, while ghi sounds like
an English gui in guild.
GLI
When gl is followed by vowel i, it has the same sound as ll
would have in Spanish words like caballo, lluvia, etc.
GLIA, GLIE,
This sound does not exist in English, although a very similar
combination is obtained in expressions such as "I will call you",
GLIO, GLIU
where the "ll" cluster is followed by "y" + another vowel.
To get even closer to the Italian sound, while pronouncing this
cluster you should press the back of your tongue against your
rear teeth and your palate.
When gli is followed by vowels a, e, o and u it gives the vowel
the Spanish "ll" sound: glia sounds like Spanish "lla", glie like
Spanish "lle", glio like Spanish "llo", and gliu like Spanish "llu".
Instead, when gl (without an i) is followed by vowels a, e, o and
u, it is simply pronounced as in English, in words like glass,
glove etc.
GN
It is pronounced exactly as a Spanish ñ, in señor, mañana.
The gn cluster is always followed by a vowel.
SCE, SCI
Cluster sc only has a special sound when followed by vowels e
and i, in which case it sounds like the English sh in sheriff,
SCIA, SCIE,
fashion.
In any other case (sca, sco, scu) the pronunciation is like
SCIO, SCIU
English sk.
When cluster sci is followed by a vowel (scia, scie, scio,
sciu), the sound of i is omitted, i.e. this vowel only acts as a
phonetic part of the cluster, needed to produce the "sh" sound.
From
“Teach
Yourself
Italian”,
http://www.geocities.com/f_pollett/i-ind.htm
Some
consonants change sound when they come together forming one syllable
(monosyllabic clusters).
4.
Ｉｔａｌｉａｎ Grammar
As in all languages, there are many rules in Italian grammar. This section will
introduce some of them and compare them with English.
<Personal Pronoun>
English
Italian
I
io
you
tu /lei
he
lui
she
lei
we
noi
yours
voi
they
loro
All Italian verbs change according to 6 personal pronoun.
For example, “essere” case. “essere” is “be” mean in English.
i
o
s
t
u
s
l
u
i
/
l
e
o
n
e
i
o
i
/
l
e
i
n
o
i
v
o
i
l
o
e
s
s
r
o
i
a
i
e
s
o
m
o
t
e
n
o
If there is no subject, it can be identified what subject in the sentence. Because the
verb change following the subject.
In case of Interrogative sentence, it has to pronounce as lifting in the word-final
position.
All European language not only Italian Language grammar has gender. They
divide into masculine and feminine. And they have neuter, gender (for plants, non-living
objects, general concepts, etc.). It’s only in pronouns.
One other side, English doesn’t have gender. All English words changed according
to the gender of the noun they are related to.
Secondly, it is important singular or plural both Italian and English.
They are common. English has “-s” in plural case. Italian change following to gender in
plural case, too.
5. Conclusion
Italian and English are very different, which makes it difficult to find out a good way
to study. However, based on your first foreign language, the way to study a second foreign
language may differ, so important to know how the two foreign languages are different.
One attractive point of the Italian language is its pronunciation. There aren’t Italian
rhythmical sounds in English. On the other hand, Italian grammar is very complex.
Especially, Gender is difficult to distinguish for non-native Italian speakers. In this respect,
English is easy to study for foreigners, because it doesn’t have gender.
Bibliography
“Teach Yourself Italian”, http://www.geocities.com/f_pollett/i-ind.htm