Help:IPA/Neapolitan

This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Neapolitan on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Neapolitan in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing consensus on the talk page first.

For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

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The charts below show how the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Neapolitan language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

Consonants^[1]
IPA		Examples	English approximation
b		banca, campagna, abbrile^[2]^[3]	bike
d		dint’â casa, verde^[3]	done
dz		pensiero, canzone, cazetta^[3]^[4]^[5]	dads
dʒ		maggìa, Francia^[2]^[3]	jab
f		fatto, fernuto	fast
ɡ^[6]		gatto, negro, manco^[3]	gas
ɡj^[6]	ɟ^[7]	agghiaià, banchiero^[3]	ague
ʝ	ɟ^[7]	famiglia, guaglione^[2]	roughly like yes, but stronger, or ague
k		puorco, quanno	scar
kj	c^[7]	chiesa, muschià	masculine
l		auciello, luglio^[8]	lip or feel
m		maggìa, ammore^[9]	mother
ɱ		infierno^[9]	symphony
n		monte, pensiero^[9]	nest
ŋ		songo, cinco^[9]	singing
ɲ		cugnato, ogne^[2]	roughly like canyon
p		primmo, coppia	spin
r		grotta, sciore, camorra	trilled r
s		sano, presenza, stato^[5]	sorry
ʃ		rascia, pesce, scarparo^[2]^[5]	ship
t		tanto, rete, fatto	star
ts		zùccaro, miezzo, pazienza^[4]	cats
tʃ		auciello, cerasa, faccia	somewhat between watch and wash^[10]
v		vufero, spavetto, vraccio	vent
z		snodo, sdignata^[5]	zipper
ʒ		sbagliato, sveglia^[5]	vision

Semivowels^[11]
IPA		Examples	English approximation
j		iennaro/jennaro, auciello, cchiù, paisano	you
w		fuoco, guaglione, caulo	wine

Vowels
IPA		Examples	English approximation
Short vowels
a	æ^[7]	sciaurato, campagna	manner
e		viento, pecché	roughly like pay, but shorter
ɛ		spavetto, dente^[12]	bed
ə		nùmmero, coppia, pecché^[13]	again
i		primmo, insieme	see, but shorter
o		compongo, coppia	story, but shorter
ɔ		còmmodo, Maronna^[12]	off
u		urdemo, nùmmero, Napule	tool, but shorter
Long vowels^[14]
ɑː	ɐː æː^[7]	sciaurato, Napule	father or bad
eː	ej ɛj æɨ^[7]	insieme, peso	late
ɛː	ej ɛj æɨ^[7]	scena, vero	bear (RP) or late
iː		tipo, zie	see
oː	ow ɔw əʉ^[7]	ammore, dint’ô sciore	story or goal
ɔː	ow ɔw əʉ^[7]	soje, cose	story or goal
uː		ajute, fernuto	tool
Other vowels
ɨ^[7]		^{[examples needed]}	roses

Suprasegmentals
IPA		Examples	Explanation
ˈ		cozze [ˈkɔttsə]	primary stress
ˌ		lievemente [ˌljevəˈmɛndə]	secondary stress
.		diamante [di.aˈmandə]	syllable break

^ If a consonant is doubled after a vowel, it is geminated; all consonants can be geminated except for /z/ and /ʒ/. In IPA, gemination can be represented either by doubling the consonant (fatto [ˈfattə], miezzo [ˈmjettsə]) or by the length marker ⟨ː⟩. Neapolitan, like standard Italian, also has a sandhi phenomenon called syntactic gemination, usually represented graphically: e.g. è ssoje [ˌɛ sˈsɔːjə].
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e /b/, /dʒ/, /ʝ/, /ɲ/ and /ʃ/ are always geminated after a vowel.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f After a nasal, /c/, /p/, /t/, /tʃ/, /k/ and /ts/ are replaced by their voiced counterparts [ɟ], [b], [d], [dʒ], [ɡ], [dz].
^ ^a ^b When not preceded by ⟨n⟩, ⟨z⟩ can represent either /dz/ or /ts/, according to the cases.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e
⟨s⟩ is pronounced:
- /s/ when geminated or when not preceded by ⟨n⟩ and followed by ⟨t⟩, a vowel or a semivowel;
- /ʃ/ when followed by any voiceless consonant except ⟨t⟩;
- /z/ when followed by ⟨n⟩, ⟨d⟩, ⟨r⟩ or ⟨l⟩;
- /ʒ/ when followed by any voiced consonant except ⟨n⟩, ⟨d⟩, ⟨r⟩ or ⟨l⟩;
- /dz/ when preceded by ⟨n⟩.
^ ^a ^b If the two characters ⟨ɡ⟩ and ⟨⟩ do not match and if the first looks like a ⟨γ⟩, then you have an issue with your default font. See Help:IPA § Rendering issues.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Chiefly occurring in Apulian dialects.
^ Might be slightly velarized [ɫ].
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Nasals always assimilate their place of articulation to that of the following consonant. Thus, the n in /nɡ/ is a velar [ŋ] and the one in /nf/~/nv/ is a labiodental [ɱ]. A nasal before /b/ and /m/ is always the labial [m].
^ When not geminated nor following another consonant, /tʃ/ tends to be pronounced [ʃ].
^ Two diphthongs, uo /wo(ː)/ and ie /je(ː)/, are always stressed, unless they are at the very end of a word.
^ ^a ^b Open-mid vowels /ɛ ɔ/ can only appear when the syllable is stressed.
^ After the stressed syllable, /a e o/ change to [ə]. This sound is sometimes also found before the stressed syllable and spelled ⟨e⟩, as is fernì [fərˈni].
^ Vowels are long when stressed in non-final open syllables: casa [ˈkɑːsə] ~ cassa [ˈkassə], or when compounds of preposition a and an article: a + ’o = ô.

[1] If a consonant is doubled after a vowel, it is geminated; all consonants can be geminated except for /z/ and /ʒ/. In IPA, gemination can be represented either by doubling the consonant (fatto [ˈfattə], miezzo [ˈmjettsə]) or by the length marker ⟨ː⟩. Neapolitan, like standard Italian, also has a sandhi phenomenon called syntactic gemination, usually represented graphically: e.g. è ssoje [ˌɛ sˈsɔːjə].

[geminated-2] /b/, /dʒ/, /ʝ/, /ɲ/ and /ʃ/ are always geminated after a vowel.

[voiced-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f After a nasal, /c/, /p/, /t/, /tʃ/, /k/ and /ts/ are replaced by their voiced counterparts [ɟ], [b], [d], [dʒ], [ɡ], [dz].

[z-4] When not preceded by ⟨n⟩, ⟨z⟩ can represent either /dz/ or /ts/, according to the cases.

[s-5] ⟨s⟩ is pronounced:
/s/ when geminated or when not preceded by ⟨n⟩ and followed by ⟨t⟩, a vowel or a semivowel;

/ʃ/ when followed by any voiceless consonant except ⟨t⟩;

/z/ when followed by ⟨n⟩, ⟨d⟩, ⟨r⟩ or ⟨l⟩;

/ʒ/ when followed by any voiced consonant except ⟨n⟩, ⟨d⟩, ⟨r⟩ or ⟨l⟩;

/dz/ when preceded by ⟨n⟩.

[6] /s/ when geminated or when not preceded by ⟨n⟩ and followed by ⟨t⟩, a vowel or a semivowel;

[7] /ʃ/ when followed by any voiceless consonant except ⟨t⟩;

[8] /z/ when followed by ⟨n⟩, ⟨d⟩, ⟨r⟩ or ⟨l⟩;

[9] /ʒ/ when followed by any voiced consonant except ⟨n⟩, ⟨d⟩, ⟨r⟩ or ⟨l⟩;

[10] /dz/ when preceded by ⟨n⟩.

[rendering-6] If the two characters ⟨ɡ⟩ and ⟨⟩ do not match and if the first looks like a ⟨γ⟩, then you have an issue with your default font. See Help:IPA § Rendering issues.

[Apulia-7] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Chiefly occurring in Apulian dialects.

[8] Might be slightly velarized [ɫ].

[nasal-9] Nasals always assimilate their place of articulation to that of the following consonant. Thus, the n in /nɡ/ is a velar [ŋ] and the one in /nf/~/nv/ is a labiodental [ɱ]. A nasal before /b/ and /m/ is always the labial [m].

[10] When not geminated nor following another consonant, /tʃ/ tends to be pronounced [ʃ].

[11] Two diphthongs, uo /wo(ː)/ and ie /je(ː)/, are always stressed, unless they are at the very end of a word.

[open-12] Open-mid vowels /ɛ ɔ/ can only appear when the syllable is stressed.

[13] After the stressed syllable, /a e o/ change to [ə]. This sound is sometimes also found before the stressed syllable and spelled ⟨e⟩, as is fernì [fərˈni].

[14] Vowels are long when stressed in non-final open syllables: casa [ˈkɑːsə] ~ cassa [ˈkassə], or when compounds of preposition a and an article: a + ’o = ô.

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