🚀 go-pugleaf

At 21.11.24 03/02/97 +0200 Avi Jacobson <avi_jaco@netvision.net.il> 
wrote...

>Gian Carlo Macchi wrote:
>> Avi, I'm Italian. However I don't see any difference between the
>> pronunciation of the word credo in Latin and Italian, here in Italy.

>I could be wrong, though I distinctly remember being told this by an
>Italian diction teacher.  (Hmmm, bad nominal compound embedding: I mean
>an Italian teacher of diction.)

I think you remember correctly. Nevertheless what I said is also true (I 
hope). I'll try to explain.

Few minuets ago I checked two of most autoritative Italian dictionaries: 
Devoto-Oli's and Zingarelli's. Both say that the pronuciation of credo, 
as name and as verb (indicative, first singular person) is with open e: 
of course they consider that the Latin pronunciation you refer is also 
the only correct in Italian. Another dictionary, Sandron's, agrees with 
you (with reference to the e): in Italian the e is closed, in Latin is 
open. (I said "with reference to e"  since the final o in credo cannot be 
open in Italian: our pronunciation rules do not admit an unstressed open 
o).

Well. Despite what dictionaries say, here in northern Italy (I'm writing 
from Milan) credo is pronounced with closed e in both cases. And I'm 
inclined to think that elsewere in Italy, where Latin credo is pronounced 
with open e, also Italian credo be pronounced this way. In other words, 
probably our pronunciation of Latin mimics the way we pronounce Italian, 
that varies remarkably from region to region with respect to stressed e.

I'll try to speak asap with a friend of mine who lives in Rome (by the 
way, she feels funny my northern pronunciation with Bergamask inflession) 
in order to check the Roman way to pronounce credo.

>> Although the usual pronunciation of "h" between two identical
>> vocals (e.g. in "mihi") is considering the "h" as silent and doubling
>> the vocal, somebody pronounces "h" as "k". This pronunciation is also
>> sometimes used in religious hymns.

>Yes, I've heard this, and it's always brought a smile, since "quia fecit
>miki magnam" reminds me of Mickey Mouse.

This is exactly what happens to me.
 
Ciao.

Gian Carlo  macchi@scn.de