This book studies the linguistic phenomenon of «Raddoppiamento sintattico» (RS), the post-lexical lengthening in Italian of word-initial consonants following certain words, e.g. a [k: ]asa 'at home'. Linguists have long sought describe exactly where and why RS occurs. Based on naturally occurring speech recorded in Siena, Tuscany, this book provides detailed phonetic information on what happens when RS occurs as well as its interactions with other phenomena in natural speech such as lenition and pausing. This study relates this phonetic detail to existing phonological models of RS, vowel length and syllable structure in Italian. The most important subject of the book is the fine-grained description of stops in RS contexts, which are shown to be optionally preaspirated - a phenomenon typically associated with only a few languages outside of Scandinavia. The book considers in detail the potential role of preaspiration in signaling consonant length in this variety of Italian and in doing so serves as a useful model for other laboratory phonology investigations into connected speech processes.

First Published in 2002. The Italian phenomenon known as raddoppiamento sintattico, or sometimes raddoppiamento fonosintattico, has received a vast amount of attention. Long recognized in Italian grammar books, the process consists of the gemination of a word-initial consonant in certain environments. The word raddoppiamento means “doubling,” and it is deemed “syntactic” or “phonosyntactic” because the process spans word boundaries. This offers a synchronic and diachronic cross-dialectical study of this phenomenon.

This volume is a collection of advanced laboratory phonology research papers concerned with the interaction between the physical and the mental aspects of speech and language. The traditional linguistic theoretic distinction between phonetics and phonology is put to the test here in a series of articles that deal with some of the fundamental issues in the field, from first and second language acquisition to segmental and supra-segmental phenomena in a range of different languages. Unique features of this volume are the development of innovative experimental methodologies, advanced techniques of data analysis, latest-generation equipment for the observation of speech, and their combined critical application to the study of the phonetics-phonology interface. The volume is therefore not only of great interest but of outstanding value and importance to anyone who wishes to be completely apprised of the latest advances in this crucial area of phonological research.

In many European languages the National Standard Variety is converging with spoken, informal, and socially marked varieties. In Italian this process is giving rise to a new standard variety called Neo-standard Italian, which partly consists of regional features. This book contributes to current research on standardization in Europe by offering a comprehensive overview of the re-standardization dynamics in Italian. Each chapter investigates a specific dynamic shaping the emergence of Neo-standard Italian and Regional Standard Varieties, such as the acceptance of previously non-standard features, the reception of Old Italian features excluded from the standard variety, the changing standard language ideology, the retention of features from Italo-Romance dialects, the standardization of patterns borrowed from English, and the developmental tendencies of standard Italian in Switzerland. The contributions investigate phonetic/phonological, prosodic, morphosyntactic, and lexical phenomena, addressed by several empirical methodologies and theoretical vantage points. This work is of interest to scholars and students working on language variation and change, especially those focusing on standard languages and standardization dynamics.

This book looks at the changes that took place in vowel length during the development of Latin into the various Romance languages and dialects. It draws on extensive data from a wide range of dialects and presents a new account of these changes, which has implications for a number of issues in Romance historical phonology.

Previous analyses of RS tend to focus on either the post-stress environment, positing a synchronic phonological account, or the lexical environment, offering a diachronic explanation related to the lost final consonant. Most accounts address only Standard Italian, or a particular dialect or group of dialects, without considering the whole picture of the entire language system. Using Optimality Theory, the present analysis proposes a single phonological account for both environments of RS, incorporating the differing patterns of the dialects. It also addresses lenition in those dialects in which it interacts with RS. In addition, a historical perspective reveals how the diachronic developments in each dialect group led to current synchronic patterns.