pronounciation of letter C

[konungursvia]

I can't think of any minimal pairs for that in Italian either, at the moment, but we do have the following phenomenon in French: the feminine of the word second, seconde, is now usually pronounced /zgond/ -- that's right, one syllable, with /zg/ in the beginning. At least in France it is. In Quebec, I still hear it the old way.

[Raymott]

Originally Posted by BobK

Interesting. Could you cite a minimal pair in Italian with /sk/ and /sg/ contrasted? (This isn't a challenge to your authority, just a request for information. )

b

Hmm ...
I can offer the following minimal pairs with a voiced and non-voiced letter:

scottare: v. to burn
sgottare: v. to bail

sfogliato: pp. pulled leaves off
svogliato: adj. unwilling, listless

spallata: n. a push with the shoulder
sballata: pp. unpacked

stentare: v. to have difficulty
sdentare: v. to break or lose a tooth.

[BobK]

And here's an example of this distinction not working in English:

There _____ any frogs born in the pond this year.

vs

There ______ any frogspawn in the pond this year.

They sound the same; it's the verb - weren't or wasn't - that makes the distinction (except in careful speech that stops the voicing of the [b] from assimilating to the [s]).

b

[konungursvia]

When I put on my BBC hat and say them, I still find I differentiate between the key /s/ and /z/ there.

[BobK]

Originally Posted by konungursvia

When I put on my BBC hat and say them, I still find I differentiate between the key /s/ and /z/ there.

Hence my final parenthesis.

b

[konungursvia]

Ah, right. I didn't think I'd be among the careful there.