It is said Friuli or Friuli? Aedile or èdile? Some words generate real doubts unrelated to grammar or spelling. This is the case oftonic accentthat is, the syllable on which the intonation of the voice falls when we pronounce a word. Unlike thegraphic accentwhich in Italian is written only in some cases, the tonic accent is almost always implicit. This means that many words simply have to be learned out of habit. And this is where the uncertainties begin, given that alongside standard Italian there has always coexisted a linguistic layer made up of regional pronunciations, scholastic influences, foreign borrowings and historical developments that make some words particularly ambiguous.
The 5 accents we get wrong most often
1. Friùli or Frìuli?
The correct pronunciation in standard Italian is Friuliwith the tonic accent on uNot Friuli.
The form derives from the Latin Forum Iulii, (Fòrum Iùli) from which the toponym historian of the region, ancient name of Cividale. The Italian lexicographic and geographical tradition also records the form Friuli like the correct one.
Nonetheless, the incorrect variant is often heard, especially in rapid speech or in less supervised contexts. But why does this happen? Partly by analogy with other trisyllabic Italian words which tend to accent the first part of the word, partly also because many speakers no longer perceive the historical origin of the name and interpret it according to more familiar phonetic patterns. A case where a word moves out of conscious use and becomes automatic, the stress can slip.
2. Aedile or èdile?
The correct form is buildingwith emphasis on thewhen talking about the construction sector or anything related to construction. But many say èdileprobably due to the influence of scholastic Latin or by analogy with words perceived as more “cultured”. In this case, the incorrect form does not arise from ignorance, but from linguistic excess zeal.
3. To persuade or to persuade?
The standard form is persuadewith emphasis on And final of the verbal theme, but in speech it is not uncommon to hear someone say persuadeby analogy with other more common verbs. Verbs, in fact, are among the most unstable terrains for the accent: their frequent use and their continuous inflection make them particularly exposed to slippage.
4. Sapphire or sapphire?
The correct form is sapphire. Even here, however, “sàffiro” circulates a lot and in fact, although “zaffiro” is the most widespread form today, Italian also allows “sàffiro”.
5. Salùbre or salubrious?
The standard form is healthy. Since it is an infrequent word in common speech, it is more susceptible to changes over time. When a term is rare or more literary, speakers tend to “reconstruct” its pronunciation by analogy, that is, by applying more regular phonetic rules, often making mistakes. In this case, although most words have the stress on the penultimate syllable (flat words), many tend to make it a slippery word (stress on the antepenultimate).
