Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.22210/suvlin.2022.093.02
Slovene and Italian consonants – from contrastive analysis to Slovene pronunciation of Italian
Robert Grošelj
; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana
Abstract
Th e article deals with similarities and diff erences between consonant phonemes and their allophones in
Standard Slovene and Standard Italian, the phonotactic phenomena of consonant devoicing and voicing in
both languages, and the problematic issues related to the pronunciation of Italian consonants by Slovene
learners (at the university level). Th e phonological contrastive analysis has shown a relatively strong
similarity between the two languages in the case of consonant phonemes (18 phonemes in common out
of 22 Slovene and 23 Italian consonant phonemes); the number of allophones present in both languages is
much lower (4 allophones in common out of the total of 19 Slovene and 12 Italian consonant allophones).
Th e contrastive analysis of consonant devoicing and voicing in Slovene and Italian (the study examines
also the situation in Regional Italian) has shown that, in the languages analysed, the two phenomena
are triggered mostly in diff erent phonetic contexts and that they involve diff erent consonant groups.
Th e auditory analysis of the Italian pronunciation by Slovene (university) students has revealed some
problematic points: the substitution of some Slovene phonemes absent in Slovene by similar Slovene
phonemes (in particular, /ɲ ʎ/ → /lj, nj/, /r/ → /ɾ/, /v/ → /ʋ/, /kw, ɡw/ → /kʋ, ɡʋ/), a diff erent distribution
of some phonemes with respect to the Standard Italian (particularly, /s z/ and /ʦ ʣ/), and the presence
of consonant devoicing and voicing typical of Slovene. Beside the infl uence of Slovene, it can be assumed
that at least some problematic points could be caused by the northern Regional Italian (in particular, the
Regional Italian in Venezia Giulia) and the incoherent Italian orthography (see the “phonetic values” of
the graphemes ‹s›, ‹z›, ‹i›). Some problematic points of the Italian pronunciation by Slovene (university)
students tend to gradually disappear during a continuous exposure to Standard Italian, while others
(mainly those linked to the infl uence of Slovene) may be more persistent.
Keywords
consonants; phonemes; allophones; contrastive analysis; Slovene; Italian
Hrčak ID:
280905
URI
Publication date:
25.7.2022.
Visits: 1.547 *