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The gli sound in Italian | ||
Tags: Pronunciation | Italian | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Rascheff Bilingual Tetraglot Newbie Bulgaria Joined 4970 days ago 1 posts - 1 votes Speaks: Russian*, Bulgarian*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 | Message 1 of 17 09 May 2011 at 8:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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Bonjour à tout le monde!
Recently I started to learn Italian, but I have one particular problem with the pronunciation of the gli sound. In fact, this consonant isn't used in any other language I know so far and I guess for that reason it's quite difficult for me to reproduce it. In other terms I just can't articulate it correctly as the native speakers do. My question is what should be the proper tongue movement? Any advice? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 5805 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes  Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 2 of 17 10 May 2011 at 12:30am | IP Logged | ||
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Two ways to look at it.
GL is to L what GN is to N (and French has GN) Or... GL is a palatisation of L (and Russian is full of palatisations) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tibbles Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4985 days ago 245 posts - 421 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Korean | Message 3 of 17 10 May 2011 at 8:14am | IP Logged | ||
Isn't it in English, as when you say the part between the 'mil' and 'on' in 'million'? It's just that we don't have it at the start of English words as it is in Italian. The same could be said about the Mandarin pinyin 'c' sound, yet it's right there in English at the end of the word 'cats'. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cabaire Senior Member Germany Joined 5393 days ago 725 posts - 1352 votes | Message 4 of 17 10 May 2011 at 8:49am | IP Logged | ||
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Isn't it in English, as when you say the part between the 'mil' and 'on' in 'million'?
This is a approximation, but not the real sound. In English you can divide the sound: [l-j], but in the Roman languages is is fused: [λ] I personally find the latter difficult and substitute it with the combination [lj], but this is only second choice. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 5805 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 5 of 17 10 May 2011 at 6:25pm | IP Logged | ||
It also depends on your accent. George Bush slenderises his LL even more than Italian, I barely slenderise mine at all -- to me, it's just like adding a Y after an L. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| SnowManR1 Groupie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5282 days ago 53 posts - 95 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Modern Hebrew | Message 6 of 17 10 May 2011 at 7:43pm | IP Logged | ||
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Pronounced in English as "lli" in million.
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| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6233 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 7 of 17 10 May 2011 at 9:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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Italian 'gli' is not pronounced the same way as the 'lli' in English 'million'. English does not have this sound. 'lli' is as close as English gets to it, and it's kind of understandable when someone uses this sound as a replacement in Italian, but it's a different sound.
Italian 'gl' is a palatal lateral approximant, IPA symbol ʎ.
I think this is clearer than trying to describe how the tongue is cupped and bunched up. That said, the centre of your tongue needs to be touching your hard palate; air goes over the sides of your tongue. It's the place marked '7' in the wikipedia page on places of articulation. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| SnowManR1 Groupie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5282 days ago 53 posts - 95 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Modern Hebrew | Message 8 of 17 11 May 2011 at 4:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's to no offense Volte, but as a Native English speaker I'm surprised you disagree with the "lli" in million as not being its closest equivalent in terms of how to pronounce "gli".
Also I feel I must be honest. Describing how to pronounce the sound is about as useful as a fifth leg on a cow. Rascheff is most likely not going to find the IPA symbol ʎ useful at all & showing him the method of producing the sound is the equivalent of trying to explain the color red to a blind person. I'm not an expert & am B1'ish at best, however I have just about every resource under the sun & all my college level textbooks, Assimil, etc., all use the example "lli" as in million. They are native speakers of Italian & claim there is no better comparison for English speakers. Rascheff you may decide on whatever you think is best. I speak with natives of Italian and receive complements on the pronunciation of "gli" & my resources also confirm this. Volte, again please take no offense to my defense. I was only trying to provide an example. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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