Syntactic Gemination - Exceptions To The Basic Rules

Exceptions To The Basic Rules

Consonant gemination does not happen when:

• a pause occurs on the boundary of word in question
  • In particular, the initial gemination may be conditioned by syntax, determining the likelihood of pause. For example, in the phrase "La volpe ne aveva mangiato metà prima di addormentarsi" ("The fox had eaten half of it before falling asleep"), there is no gemination after metà if there is even a slight pause, as prima is part of the adjunct, a sentence element easily isolated phonologically from the main clause within the prosodic hierarchy of the phrase.
• the stressed final vowel is lengthened
• a sharp break or change in the pitch on the word boundary happens

There are other considerations, especially in various dialects, so that the initial gemination is in fact subject to complicated lexical, syntactic, and phonological/prosodic conditions.