The symbol ‹ò› is used only to indicate the sound of the stressed open ‹o›,  [ɔ]. When the letter is unstressed, its pronounciation is less markedly open. For this reason, as well as to avoid ambiguity, when unstressed this letter is simply written ‹o›, without the accent: ommetto  “ometto”, ottobre  “ottobre”, etc.

The precise pronunciation of words ending in the unstressed diphthongs -ao and -eo often varies from person to person. To avoid situations where small fluctuations in pronunciation would lead to a multiplicity of different spellings, these diphthongs are always spelled -ao and -eo, regardless of how individual speakers may pronounce them.

Besides that, traditional endings make it easier to see the connection with plural forms, which – regardless of the pronunciation of the singular form – are always pronounced -ei [ej] e -ai [aj] respectively.

Examples:

• angeo  [ˈaŋdʒɔw] ~  [ˈaŋdʒju] ~  [ˈaŋdʒew] “angel”; plural angei  [ˈaŋdʒej];
• gambao  [ˈɡaŋbɔw] ~  [ˈɡaŋbɔː] ~  [ˈɡaŋbaw] “shrimp”; plural gambai  [ˈɡaŋbaj].

In words of Greek and Latin origin, the pronunciation of the unstressed diphthong au- often varies from person to person, or depending on context. To avoid situations where small fluctuations in pronunciation would lead to a multiplicity of different spellings, these diphthongs are always spelled au-, regardless of how individual speakers may pronounce them.

Examples:

• autô  [ɔːˈtuː] ~  [ɔwˈtuː] ~  [awˈtuː] “author”;
• autoritæ  [ɔːˈturitɛː] ~  [ɔwˈturitɛː] ~  [awˈturitɛː] “authority”.

In almost every case, the pair eu represents the sound  [ø]. Rarely, for some cases of words of Greek origin, different pronunciations may occur, with variations from one speaker to the next:

• reuma  [ˈrewma] “rheum”;
• Euröpa  [ewˈrɔːpa] ~  [ɔwˈrɔːpa] “Europe”;
• euro  [ˈewru] ~  [ˈejru] “euro”;
• europeo  [ewruˈpeːu] ~  [ɔwruˈpeːu] “european”.

In these combinations, as we’ve seen, the unstressed letter ‹u› represents the semivowel sound [w].

The rare exceptions are related to forms derived from words in which the ‹u› is stressed. In these cases, the letter retains a similar character and represents the semivowel sound [ɥ] (although there can be, in certain cases, variations in how words are pronounced). For instance:

• from figua  [fiˈɡyːa] “figure” we get figuâ  [fiˈɡɥaː] “to figure” and not [fiˈɡwaː], figuativo  [fiɡɥaˈtiːvu] “figurative” and not [fiɡwaˈtiːvu], etc.;
• from seguo  [seˈɡyːu] “secure” / “sure” we get seguessa  [seˈɡɥesˑa] “security” and not [seˈɡwesˑa], etc.;
• from scuo  [ˈskyːu] “dark” we get ascuî  [asˈkɥiː] “to darken” and not [asˈkwiː], etc.

In a few cases, accents are marked on some monosyllabic words.

• By historical convention, stress is explicitly marked on the noun cà  “home” / “house”, on the weak pronoun scià , and on the adverbs scì  “yes”, sciù  “up”, ciù  “more”, là  “there”, lì  “there”.
• The grave accent is used to help distinguish the adverb chì  “qui” from the pronoun chi “who”, the verb dà  “he/she gives” from the preposition da “from”, the verb and preposition à  “he/she has”, “at” from the determiner and weak pronoun a “the”, “she”, the verb é  “he/she is” from the conjunction e “and”, the verb stà  “he/she stays” from the determiner sta “this”.

On rare occasions, it may be useful to mark stress to help resolve ambiguities, such as between càrrega  “charge” and carréga  “chair”.

Since accents make reading and writing more cumbersome, and since in almost all cases ambiguities are easily resolved by the context in which words are used, the use of optional stress markers is generally discouraged.

In the first- and third-person singular forms of the conjugation of verbs in the future tense, there is considerable variety in pronunciation when it comes to the length of the final stressed vowel. By convention, they are therefore always written with the grave accent, and no length marker: cacciò  ~  “I will throw”, caccià  ~  “he/she will throw”, travaggiò  ~  “I will work”, travaggià  ~  “he/she will work”, etc.

This convention also makes it easier to distinguish forms of the infinitive such as cacciâ  “to throw” from those of the future tense, such as caccià  ~  “he/she will throw”.

The letter ‹ñ›, which represents the sound of the velar ‹n› in front of vowels, is used in many Genoese words, such as persoña  “person” and æña  “sand”.

This letter was already in common use in the 17th century, but became even more widespread in Genoese printed texts from the 18th century onward: we find it, for example, in the Gerusalemme deliverâ, in the works of De Franchi, in the 1745 edition of Cavalli’s Çittara, in the works of Luigi Pedevilla (Lunäio do sciô Tocca, Colombiade, etc. ), in P.F.B.’s dictionary, in 19th-century strenne such as O Balilla, in the writings of Federico Gazzo (his translation of the Commedia and other works), etc.

Starting from the early 20th century, ‹ñ› was used less and less. The reason is likely to be the absence of this symbol from the keyboards of Italian typewriters, which were just beginning to spread in Italy in those years (the company Olivetti, a historic Italian maker of typewriters, was founded in 1908). Instead of ‹ñ›, alternatives such as ‹nn›, ‹nh› or even ‹nn-› were often used. A similar case, for the Italian language, is that of accented capital letters: since Italian keyboards do not have characters such as ‹È›, the combination ‹E’› used to be typed as a replacement, especially in informal settings – a habit that has survived to the present day.

Thanks to new technologies, nowadays it is again possible to use the letter ‹ñ› with ease. It is used in all of our association’s projects; in the Genoese language page of the print newspaper “Il Secolo XIX”; in the news magazines “O Zinâ” and “O Stafî”; in the Ligurian literature series Zimme de braxa, E restan forme and Biblioteca zeneise; and for many other scientific projects, many of which are carried out at an international level.