Dialects and Accents of Italy
The archive provides:
In a small number of cases, you will also find a narrow phonetic transcription of the sample (see Phonetic Transcriptions for a complete list).
The recordings average four minutes in length and feature both the reading of one of two standard passages, and some unscripted speech. The two passages, Comma Gets a Cure (currently our standard passage), and The Rainbow Passage (used in our earliest recordings), may be accessed from the menu bar to your right.
To access IDEA's sound files and documents, you will need an mp3 player, and Acrobat Reader, available free from Acrobat Reader.
If you are interested in specific information about Italy, please go to Yahoo's website at http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/Countries/Italy
For instructional materials or coaching in the accents and dialects represented here
please go to
Other Dialect Services
Dialect Samples
To properly play a sound sample, you may first need to save it to your own computer. To do so, right-click on the desired sample and save it. A high-speed connection to the internet may allow you to play the file simply by clicking it.| Sound Sample | Basic Information | Text Files |
|---|---|---|
| Italy One | Male, late 20's, Italian language teacher | Italy One |
| Italy Two | Male, 20's, Rimini | Italy Two |
| Italy Three | Female, 30's, Venice, slight Italian accent | Italy Three |
| Italy Four | Female, 20's, Possagno (near Venice), strong Italian accent | Italy Four |
| Italy Five | Female, 20's, Lecco, near Swiss border. Accent quite strong. Intrusive schwa clearly evident | Italy Five |
| Italy Six | Male, 20's, Milan, student | Italy Six |
| Italy Seven | White male in his sixties born in Porto Empedocle, Agrigento, Sicily | Italy Seven |
| Italy Eight | White male, born 1975, Bologna | Italy Eight |
| Italy Nine | White male, born 1975, Treviso | Italy Nine |