Italian diction for singers: vowels, consonants, IPA and double-consonant rules

Italian spelling hides one rule that trips beginners: c and g are hard before a consonant or before a, o or u, and soft before e or i³. Italian is often the starting language that singing teachers use when teaching vocal technique³. Other languages are in the diction section.

The seven vowels

Italian has 7 vowel sounds spelled with 5 letters². A, I and U have one sound each; E and O have two³.

The most striking difference from English is purity. A sound written with a single letter has one unchanged sound³. In English the sound often changes from one pure sound to another, and the Italian vowel does not³. Unaccented English vowels drift toward schwa, and this does not happen with Italian vowels³. Vowels in Italian diphthongs stay closed or bright, where the second vowel of an English diphthong is open⁸. One easy pitfall for American singers is to pronounce each a differently³.

Open and closed E and O

Only the vowel carrying the tonic accent can be open or closed⁴. Unstressed vowels are always closed⁴, and closed e is very common in open syllables too⁸. Open [ɛ] is always stressed⁸. A word holds only one open e or o: when the stressed one is open, every other e and o in the word is closed⁸. The distinction between close-mid and open-mid vowels is neutralised in unstressed position². Word-final stressed /ɔ/ occurs in only a few words².

Two tendencies help when a dictionary is not at hand:

• Monosyllables are often open on the o and closed on the e⁴.
• Proparoxytone words (parole sdrucciole, stressed on the third syllable from the end) often have an open tonic vowel⁴.

Every dictionary reports the phonetic transcription of the words⁴. The rules here follow standard Italian lyric diction, based mostly on Florentine Italian, as the Northern Colorado lyric diction handbook lays them out⁸.

Stress and written accents

Every Italian word has one stressed vowel, and it lies on a vowel even when no accent is written⁴. A written accent is not compulsory in Italian⁴. When it is written, an acute accent gives a closed sound and a grave accent an open one⁴. Most Italian words are parole piane, stressed on the penultimate syllable⁴. If a word fits no other pattern, stress the penultimate syllable⁸. Words ending in -abile, -obile and -ibile stress the antepenultimate syllable⁸. A written accent on the final vowel marks stress on the last syllable, and IPA does not transcribe the accent⁸.

Vowels in stressed open syllables are normally long, unless word-final². Final stressed vowels are short by nature².

A change of accent changes the meaning of the word⁴. Most pronunciation and comprehension errors occur between sounds that share an articulation point, and practising the sounds in direct opposition helps⁴.

Consonants

Italian consonants are sounded much softer than English. The letter h is silent⁸. D, t and n are dentalized: the tongue sits behind the upper teeth³. Several consonants share a symbol with the letter, which makes them easy for English speakers; the others need work³.

Between vowels, [ʎ], [ɲ] and [ʃ] are always doubled¹, so the gli in voglio and the gn in sogno are sung long^1,3.

C and g. Each is hard before a consonant or before a, o or u, and soft before e or i³. An h after g or c forces the hard sound: che is [ke]³.

Silent i. In cielo the i is silent, used up in softening the consonant³. The same applies to the group sci plus a vowel: do not dwell on the i; the following vowel is what you hear⁴.

Sc. Soft sc sounds like English sh³.

Gli and gn. Gn sounds like the ny of onion³. It is the palatal /ɲ/, not a dental n plus g⁴, and the pair canna and cagna shows the contrast⁴. Transcriptions always double gli and gn⁸. Gn and gli are always geminate between vowels, including across word boundaries, and so are /ʃ/, /dz/ and /ts/². /ɲ/ and /ʎ/ are alveolo-palatal².

Z and s. Z is [ts] or [dz], and a dictionary settles which⁸. The contrast between s and z is neutralized before consonants and at the beginning of words².

Double consonants and the single versus double r

Double consonants are longer and sharper⁴. In IPA, gemination is written by doubling the symbol: fatto is [ˈfatto] and mezzo is [ˈmɛddzo]¹. The stressed vowel is longer before a single consonant and shorter before a double one⁴. Geminate consonants shorten the preceding vowel, so fato has a long vowel and fatto a short one². Doubling often radically changes the meaning of the word⁴. Only /j/, /w/ and /z/ cannot be geminated².

Syntactic gemination adds a wrinkle. After stressed vowels and certain prepositions and conjunctions, word-initial consonants also become geminated¹. It is the normal native pronunciation in central Italy². In parlò portoghese [parˈlɔpportoˈɡeːze] (he or she spoke Portuguese) the p doubles after the stressed final vowel². The k of a casa (homeward) is transcribed [akˈkaːza]². This is not a purely phonological process: the article la in la casa cues no gemination².

The r follows the same logic. The Italian r is rolled or flipped, and the American r does not exist³. A single r between vowels is flipped, and rr is rolled⁸. The geminate rr is a trill with three to seven contacts². A single r between vowels is a trill with one or two contacts², and some literature treats the single-contact trill as a tap².

Sung versus spoken

Spoken pronunciation is not always the same as sung pronunciation⁸. Double consonants are either lengthened (m, n, s, l) or stopped between the consonants when sung³. When you sing a double consonant, take a little time away from the preceding vowel³. In fatto the vowel is short before the double t².

Phrasal doubling, the doubled consonant after certain words in mid-phrase, is part of Italian practice and belongs in performance⁸. A word-final n before m, p, b, f, v or another alveolar, dental or labial consonant may be pronounced m in performance⁸. When a word ends in the vowel the next word starts with, the final vowel drops and the consonant carries over⁸. Good lyric diction and singing technique are linked³.

Perfect Italian Diction for Singers and Timothy Cheek

Perfect Italian Diction for Singers: An Authoritative Guide provides the steps and tools for singing beautifully and expressively in Italian⁵. Timothy Cheek and Anna Toccafondi wrote it, with a foreword by Lawrence Brownlee and Thomas Hampson⁵. Rowman & Littlefield published the book⁵. Cheek has also written books on Czech lyric diction and opera (Google Books)⁷. The book covers the pitfalls of non-native singers and how to overcome them, and chapters on Italian style and legato⁵.

Common mistakes for English speakers

• Gliding vowels. Letting a vowel drift to another sound. Keep one pure sound³.
• Schwa in unstressed syllables. Unaccented Italian vowels do not reduce³, and unstressed vowels are always closed⁴.
• Opening an unstressed e or o. Only the stressed vowel can be open⁴.
• The American r. It does not exist in Italian; flip or roll³.
• Singles for doubles. Sing fatto as fato and you have changed the word^2,4.
• Hard c where it should be soft. Cielo starts with [tʃ], and the i is not sounded³.
• Two open vowels in one word. Only one e or o per word is open⁸.
• Sounding the h. It is silent⁸.
• Hard English consonants. Soften them, and put d, t and n behind the upper teeth³.

Cantante and next steps

Cantante is the Italian word for singer⁶. Learn the symbols in IPA for singers, then compare Italian with the Church Latin rules in Latin pronunciation for singers. The open textbooks from Kansas State University Libraries and the European Opera Academy supply the same rules^3,4. For a full score, work through La traviata.