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Leggi fonetiche · Legge 9 · Consonanti

C before E and I

C (before E, I)

Per ora le spiegazioni sono in inglese; gli esempi sono in tutte le lingue.

Spagnolo

θ (c, z); s where there is seseo

Francese

s (c, ç)

Italiano

tʃ (c)

Portoghese

s (c, ç); z [z] between vowels

Rumeno

tʃ (c)

Catalano

s (c, ç); between vowels lost, or u at the end (veí, deu)

Cosa è successo

In late spoken Latin, k before a front vowel was pulled forward toward the palate, becoming an affricate, ts in the west and tʃ in Italy and the Balkans. Italian and Romanian stopped at tʃ. French, Portuguese and Catalan simplified ts to s in the Middle Ages (voiced to z between vowels, which Catalan then often lost), and Spanish turned its ts, via a dental s, into the θ of Peninsular Spanish around the 16th–17th centuries.

Esempi

LatinoItalianoSpagnoloFrancesePortogheseRumenoCatalanoParente inglese
CAELUM‘sky’cielocielocielcéucercelcelestial
CENTUM‘hundred’centociencentcem—centcentury
CĪVITĀTEM‘city (ro cetate 'fortress')’cittàciudadcitécidadecetateciutatcity
CERVUM‘deer’cervociervocerfcervocerbcérvol
DECEM‘ten’diecidiezdixdezzecedeudecimal
VĪCĪNUM‘neighbour’vicinovecinovoisinvizinhovecinveívicinity

Chiave di decodifica

Spanish ce, ci, z [θ] = French, Portuguese and Catalan ce, ci [s] = Italian and Romanian ce, ci [tʃ]: cielo, ciel, céu, cer look alike but sound different. The letters usually match; only the sound shifts.

Eccezioni

Latin American, Canarian and much Andalusian Spanish say s, not θ (seseo). Between vowels French and Portuguese voiced the sound to z (voisin, vizinho), and Spanish wrote z at the end of a word (diez). Catalan cérvol is built on a diminutive. C before A, O, U stays hard everywhere but French (see ca-to-cha).

Guardala in azione: CĪVITĀTEM

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