Utenti:Michiluzzu Scalisi/English/Special pronunciations

Special Pronunciations

The special pronunciations in Sicilian phonetics are those letters and/or vowel and consonantal combinations that have a pronunciation different from that in the corresponding Romance languages. Certain pronunciations aren't found at all in the other Romance languages, others are found in various dialects and subdialects of these languages. The special pronunciations, described in the page above, are dd, dr, g, h, ng, nt, rr, str e tr.

Cluster	Pronunciation	Example	Significato italiano	Meaning in English	IPA
dd	a sound somewhat unique to Sicilian, found also in Sardinian and Corsican. It's the voiced retroflex plosive.	chiddu	quello	that (one)	/ɖɖ/
dr	like "dr" in the English word "dry".	drittu	diritto	direct	/dɹ/
g	a sound somewhat unique to Sicilian, like the Greek G, called the voiced velar fricative.	pagari	pagare	to pay	/ɣ/
h	a sound somewhat unique to Sicilian, like the "h" in the English word "high", called the voiced glottal fricative.	mahotu	moccio	mucus, snot	/h/
h	a sound somewhat unique to Sicilian, like the "j" in the Spanish word "ojo", called the voiceless velar fricative.	hiuri	fiore	flower	/x/
ng	like the "ng" in the English word "sing"	sangu	sangue	blood	/ŋŋ/
nt	a sound between "nt" and "nd" because the tongue touches the palate further back in the mouth	tintu	cattivo	bad, evil	/nd/
rr	a sound somewhat unique to Sicilian, at least among the Romance Languages, like the "zhe" of Russian. It is the voiced retroflex fricative.	parrari	parlare	to speak	/ʐʐ/
str	like "shr" in the English word "mushroom",	stranceri	straniero	stranger	/ʃɹ/
tr	like "tr" in the English word "try",	patri	padre	father	/tɹ/