How do you pronounce 'risotto' In the standard Italian pronunciation of the word 'risotto': 1. Is the 's' voiced or unvoiced? (That is, like English 'z' or like English 's'?) 2. I assume that the se

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Bill Kelly

How do you pronounce 'risotto' In the standard Italian pronunciation of the word 'risotto': 1. Is the 's' voiced or unvoiced? (That is, like English 'z' or like English 's'?) 2. I assume that the second 'o' is 'closed'. That is, I assume it sounds like the 'o' in English 'note'. 3. But what about the first 'o'? Is it also closed, or is it 'open' -- that is, like the 'o' in English 'not'? Never mind! Tano sent me a link to the RAI audio dictionary! http://www.dizionario.rai.it/poplemma.aspx?lid=21556>r=13336

Jan 29, 2017 8:18 PM

Answers · 5

Hi Bill, yes, the pronunciation according to the RAI dictionary is the standard one, with unvoiced s, but in neo-standard (modern) Italian the pronunciation of 's' between two vowels is almost always voiced. In fact, another important pronunciation dictionary (DiPI, http://www.dipionline.it/dizionario/ricerca?lemma=risotto#) recommends this pronunciation for risotto: riˈzɔtto, with voiced s.

January 29, 2017