Select languages to compare:

Use base consonants only
View positions
Labial
Coronal
Dorsal
Radical
Laryngeal
Bilabial
Labio-dental
Dental
Alveolar
Palato-alveolar
Retroflex
Palatal
Velar
Uvular
Pharyngeal
Epi-glottal
Glottal
Plosive
p     b           t̪ː     d̪ː                   k     ɡ   ɡː      
 
 
 
 
 
 
Affricates
                  tʃː     dʒː                  
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sibilant affricates
        t̪s̪   t̪s̪ː   d̪z̪   d̪z̪ː                          
 
 
 
 
 
 
Nasal
  m               n               ɲ   ɲː          
 
 
 
 
 
 
Trill
              r                
 
 
   
 
 
   
 
 
Tap, Flap
                                               
Lateral flap
 
 
 
 
                   
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
Fricative
    f     v             ʃ   ʃː                                
Sibilant fricatives
          s̪ː                            
 
 
 
 
 
 
Lateral fricative
 
 
 
 
                           
 
 
 
 
 
 
Approximant
                          j   w                
Lateral approximant
 
 
 
 
      l               ʎ   ʎː          
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Front
Near-front
Central
Near-back
Back
 
Close
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open
 
Front
Near-front
Central
Near-back
Back
 
Close
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open
Use base consonants only

      CC, onset

      CC, onset (ordered by sonority)

      CC, coda

      CC, coda (ordered by sonority)

      CCC, onset

      CCC, onset (ordered by sonority)

      CCC, coda

      CCC, coda (ordered by sonority)

      CCCC, onset

      CCCC, onset (ordered by sonority)

      CCCC, coda

      CCCC, coda (ordered by sonority)

      CCCCC, onset

      CCCCC, onset (ordered by sonority)

      CCCCC, coda

      CCCCC, coda (ordered by sonority)

Selected languages: Italian
Alternate name(s): N/A
Classification: Indo-European, Romance
The languages has 70 segments
Frequency index: N/A
Sounds:
Comments:

According to Canepari (2005) vowel sequences in words like "piú, chiedo, qua, buono" are pronounced as glide+vowel sequence, that is not as diphthongs. Canepari accepts only /ai/, /au/ ( "fai, pausa") as diphthongs. Other sequences he refers to as /Vw/, /Vj/, /wV/, /jV/. The description of Italian based on Bertinetto and Loporcaro (2005)is different with respect to treatment of diphthongs. The description here is based on the latter.

***

Jacques Koreman added geminate consonants in February 2021, because L1-L2map would not generate exercises in CALST for those if they are not defined as separate phonemes: CALST exercises are only generated for red cells. Example: Both Dutch and Italian have /p/, but Dutch does not have the geminate which Italian does have. If the geminate is not defined as a separate phoneme, Dutch learners would never get exercises for geminate sounds.
Deleted /j/ and /w/ which are considered part of a diphthong. Allowed /n l r/ in coda (con, il, per), but not /s/ which is analyzed as part of next onset (but see discussion of this in Canepari (1992) and Hall (1944) reference on wikipedia entry "Italian phonology), downloaded 13.01.2022). Geminates are marked as onset consonants under "View positions", but are of course part of coda and onset.

***

JK/PW: Geminates in Italian are marked for onset position. Italian allows geminates only across syllable boundaries, so they fill an onset position plus the previous coda position. They cannot occur at the beginning or end of a word (preceded/followed by a pause); this description does not take raddoppiamento fonosintattico into account).

Sources:

Bertinetto, Pier Marco; Loporcaro, Michele (2005): The sound pattern of Standard Italian, as compared with the varieties spoken in Florence, Milan and Rome
Journal of the International Phonetic Association (2005) 35.2
Canepari, Luciano (2005) A Handbook of Pronunciation, ch. 3: «Italian». LINCOM publishers, http://venus.unive.it/canipa/pdf/HPr_03_Italian.pdf.
Hall, Robert A. Jr. (1944). "Italian phonemes and orthography". Italica 21 (2): 72–82.