202 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



LESSONS IN ITALIAN. V. 



IV. THE DIPHTHONGS. 



I HAVE now to speak of the diphthongs ; but before entering 

 into details I may remark that these letters differ materially 

 from the English, inasmuch as the two vowels forming a diph- 

 thong do not entirely merge into one sound, but are in Italian 

 more or less distinctly heard, though only pronounced by one 

 opening of the mouth, and with one emission of the air or 

 voice, which gives them the value of one sound. This broad and 

 general characteristic, however, prevails among all Italian diph- 

 thongs, that there must be a ruling sound, requiring a greater 

 stress of the voice and more distinctness of utterance, which 

 ruling sound is at one time on the first, at another on the second 

 of the two vowels. In those diphthongs where the second of the 

 two vowels is the ruling sound, the voice glides more rapidly 

 from the first vowel to the second, and is, as it were, absorbed 

 by it. The second is on that account heard with greater dis- 

 tinctness, and such diphthongs present more of a united sound ; 

 while in those diphthongs where the first of the two vowels is the 

 ruling sound, the second is somewhat more distinctly heard 

 than the first vowel of those diphthongs, which approach to a 

 united sound, though shortly and quickly trailed along, as it 

 were, by the first. 



The second kind or class may be termed, on this account, the 

 separated diphthongs; the first class the united diphthongs though 

 I must caution the reader not to understand these words in their 

 strictly literal sense ; because, as stated before, in all Italian 

 diphthongs the two vowels are more or less distinctly heard. 

 United diphthongs are, for example : 



ia, as in fiato (feeah-to), breath ; Uada (beeah-dah), corn ; 



piano (peeah-no), even, slow. 

 ie, as in lieto (leee-to), cheerful ; bieco (beee-ko), squinting; 



priego (preee-go), request, prayer. 



io, as in fiore (feed-rai), flower ; piove (pee6-vai), it rains ; 

 brioso (bree-d-so), lively; chioma (kee6-mah), head of 

 hair. 

 iu, as in piu (peedo), more ; fiume (feedo-mai), a river ; 



schiuma (skeedo-mah), foam, scum. 

 ua, as in guasto (gwah-sto), destruction ; qua (kwah), here, 



hither; quale (kwah-lai), who. 

 ue, as in guerra (gwerr-rah), war ; Guelfo (gwel-fo), a 



Guelph; questo (kwai-sto), this. 

 ui, as in guisa (gwee-zah), guise, manner ; Guido (gwee-do), 



Guy; qui (kwee), here. 

 MO, as in cuore (koo6-rai), heart ; suono (sooo-no), sound ; 



uomo (ooo-mo), man. 

 Separated diphthongs are, for example : 



ae, as in aere (ahai-rai), air, gas ; aerimante (ahai-ree-mahn- 



tai), one who predicts by the air, or by aeromancy. 

 ai, as in laido (lahee-do), ugly; maisi (mahee-see), yes, in- 

 deed. 



ao, as in Paolo (paho-lo), Paul. 



au, as in aura (ahoo-rah), a soft breeze ; lauro (lahoo-ro), 

 laurel ; fraude (frahoo-dai), deceit ; fauna (fahoo-no), 

 fawn; causa (kahoo-zah), a cause (at law), affair. 

 I have classed au as a separated diphthong where the first 

 vowel is the ruling sound. There are, however, words contain- 

 ing that diphthong, in which u, the second, is the ruling sound : 

 thus, paura (pahdo-rah), fear ; baule (bahdo-lai), portmanteau ; 

 Saulle (sahdo-lai), Saul. But even in this class of words a and 

 u must be distinctly heard ; a, as the first of the vowels, cannot 

 be glided over rapidly and absorbed by the u, as would be the 

 case if a united diphthong. The diphthong au must, therefore, 

 always be classed among the separated diphthongs. 

 eo, as" in Eolo (eo-lo), Eolus. 

 eu, as in Europa (aioo-ro-pah), Europe ; feudo (feoo-do), a 



feud or feoff ; Seleuco (sai-leoo-ko), Seleucus. 

 The vowel i before any other vowel, and the vowel u before 

 o, as they occur in the united diphthongs, make in the pronuncia- 

 tion of Italian precisely the same impression as a grave or dia- 

 tonic note in music, slightly but distinctly touched, to glide 

 over to the second ruling vowel. They are very easy transitions, 

 and carry with them a particular charm, giving to the sound a 

 certain roundness and fulness, thus contributing greatly, by 

 the frequency of the diphthongs in which they occur, to the 

 musical character of the Italian tongue. 



It must be noted that there are vowels which come together 



in words, but are, nevertheless, not diphthongs ; as, for example, 

 coagulare (ko-ah-goo-lah-rai), to coagulate ; coerente (ko-ai-ren- 

 tai), coherent ; caos (kah-os), chaos; coincidere (ko-in-tchee-dai-rai), 

 coincide ; raunare (rah-oo-nah-rai), to assemble ; aempiere (ah- 

 em-peeai-rai), to satisfy, fill; reale (rai-ah-lai), royal, real, loyal; 

 riunire (ree-oo-nee-rai), to reunite ; viola (vee-o-lah), he violates ; 

 viottolo (vee-dt-to-lo), narrow passage or way, roundabout way ; 

 Dione (dee-d-nai), Dion; Tiziano (tee-tsee-ah-no), Titian ; Teodoro 

 (tai-o-do-ro), Theodore ; riesco (ree-e-sko), I succeed ; reato (rai- 

 ah-to), guilt or sin ; paese (pah-ai-zai), country ; reina (rai-ee- 

 nah), queen ; leone (lai-d-nai), lion ; mansueto (mahn-soo-e-to), 

 tame, gentle, mild. 



The reader will have remarked that I have, in the above ex- 

 amples, separated the two vowels which come together into syl- 

 lables, thereby showing that they are not diphthongs, though 

 they may appear to be such. Indeed, if those sounds were diph- 

 thongs, it is obvious that they could not be used as separate 

 syllables, as they must in Italian spelling, though the poets, by 

 their special licence, generally use them as one syllable. 



Some grammarians are of opinion that in cases of the coali- 

 tion of three and sometimes four vowels in the Italian language, 

 those vowels form one syllable uttered with one and the same 

 emission of the voice ; and they term the coalition of three 

 vowels a triphthong, and the coalition of four a quadriphthong, if 

 I may so express it. They have been, perhaps, led into that 

 belief by the example of the poets, who in the middle of a verse 

 use the triphthongs like one syllable. It is certainly allowable 

 for Italian poets to count two or three syllables, being mere 

 vowels, as one ; but it would be strange to found grammar on 

 poetical licences, which are, strictly speaking, exceptions to 

 grammatical rule. The following examples, generally cited as 

 triphthongs, are spelt like words of two syllables, though, as I 

 have already observed, the poets use them in the middle of a 

 verse like words of one syllable ; and this is reason enough why 

 they should not be considered triphthongs, i.e., coalitions of 

 three vowels forming one sound and one syllable ; as, miei 

 (meee-ee), my (pi.) ; tuoi (tooo-ee), thy (pi.) ; suoi (soo6-ee), his 

 (pi.); 3wai(gwah-ee), waitings; bwoi(booo-ee),oxen; imoi(vooo-ee), 

 thou wilt ; puoi (poo6-ee), thou canst ; appiuolo (ahp-pee-oo6-lo), 

 a kind of apple tree; cedriuolo (tchai-ciree-ooo-lo), a cucumber; 

 mariuolo (mah-ree-ooo-lo), a sharper ; vetriulo (vai-tree-oo6-lo), 

 vitriol. 



Examples of the so-called quadriphthongs will be given and 

 commented on as they occur. 



THIRD PRONOUNCING TABLE. 



Showing Words with Towels in Coalition. 

 1. Words the same with regard to their letters, but different 

 with regard to their syllables : 



English. 

 Nurse. 



Power, dominion. 

 A tutor, foster-father. 

 Bailiff, steward, president. 

 A kiss, I kiss. 

 A northern aspect. 

 He bores a hole, he lies. 

 A lie. 

 Impious. 

 He filled. 

 A polished stone. 

 Smooth, sleek. 

 Violet. 

 He violates. 



Italian. Pronounced 



Balta bah-leeah 



Balia bah-lde-ah 



Balio bah-leeo 



Balio bah-lde-o 



.Bacio bah-tcho* 



Bacio bah-tchde-o 



Bugia, boo-jah 



Bugia boo-jde-ah 



Empia dm-peeah 

 Empia (for emptva) em-pde-ab. 



Liscia lee-shde-ah 



.Liscia Ide-shah 



Fiola veeo-lah 



Fiola vde-o-lah 



2. Words nearly the same as respects letters, but different 

 with regard to syllables : 



Soffia sof-feeah He blows. 



Sofia so-fde-ah, Sophia, a woman's name. 



Malvagfo mahl-vah-jo Wicked. 



Mal-oagia mahl-vah-gde-ah Malmsey wine. 



Primizia pree-mde-tsee-ah Firstlings of fruit or 



animals in sacrifice. 



Pn'mazia pree-nmh-tsde-ah Primacy. 



Erbaria er-bah-rde-ah Vegetable market. 



Erbario er-bah-reeo Herbal. 



* For the sake of adhering to system, I am obliged here to antici- 

 pate the use of some combinations I have not yet explained, but which. 

 will be fully explained in the next lesson ; as, for example, cio, gia, 

 scia, etc. 



