Elision in Italian - Italian Elision

Elision in Italian - Italian Elision In Italian linguistics, elision is the omission of a unaccented final vowel before a word beginning with a vowel or the (since the letter â€Å"h† is silent). Normally, in spoken Italian, many elisions take place unconsciously, but only a portion of them are accepted forms in written Italian where they are marked with an apostrophe. A phenomenon similar to elision is called vocalic apocopation. It differs from elision, though, since an apostrophe is never used. The Spoken Elision and the Written Elision In theory, elisions are possible whenever two vowels are adjacent at the beginning or end of adjoining words- especially when those vowels are the same. In practice though, elisions have become less frequent in contemporary Italian, which is ironic since the so-called d eufonica has become increasingly common. Certain elisions seem automatic, like how â€Å"lamico - (male) friend† and â€Å"lamica - (female) friend† sound much better than â€Å"lo amico† and â€Å"la amica.† However, others may appear superfluous, like â€Å"una idea  » unidea.† And certain joined elisions result in awkward spellings with more apostrophes than necessary, like â€Å"dunaltra casa - of another home.† Here are the primary words that can be elided in Italian: Lo, la (as articles or pronouns), una and compounds, questo, questa, quello, quella Lalbero - TreeL’uomo - ManLho vista - I saw her / itUnantica via - an old streetNient’altro - Nothing elseNessunaltra- Nothing elseQuestorso - This bearQuestalunna - This student The preposition â€Å"di† and other grammatical morphemes ending in -i, like the pronouns mi, ti, si, vi Dandare - About goingDItalia - Of ItalyDell’altro - OtherD’accordo - Of agreement (e.g Sono d’accordo - I agree)D’oro - Of goldMha parlato - He talked to meMascolti? - Are you listening to me?Talzi presto? - Did you get up early?Savvià ² - He proceededSudirono - (They) were heardVilludono - They are deceiving you The preposition da is usually not elided, except in a few fixed phrases Daltronde - MoreoverD’altra parte - Somewhere elseDora in poi - From now on For ci and gli (and also as an article), there must be continuity with the usual spelling of the sounds: ci, ce, cia, cio, ciu; gli, glie, glia, glio, gliu. That is to say, ci is elided before e- or i-, while gli elides only before another i-. Accordingly cindicà ² la strada - he / she showed us the roadCà ¨ - there isc’era(no) - there was / there areCeravamo - There wasglItaliani - ItaliansGlimpedironoT’acchiappo - I catch you Some exceptions are: ci andà ² - he / she went thereci obbligarono - they forced usgli alberi - treesgli ultimi - the last The particle (particella) : se nandà ² - he / she left. Many other words such as santo, santa, senza, bello, bella, buono, buona, grande: SantAngelo - Saint AngelSantAnna - Saint AnnaSenzaltro - Certainly, definitelyBellaffare - Good businessBellamica - Good friendBuon’anima - Good soulGranduomo - Great man Others: Mezz’ora - Half hourA quattr’occhi - Face to faceArdo d’amore - I’m burning with love for you