Dialectal variation of intonation in Italy: The case of Rome Italian

Dialectal variation in Italian intonation has represented a source of study since the first half of the 19th century. Despite the significant number of works which has been encouraged, the whole picture remains heterogeneous and unsatisfactory from various points of view. Even in the framework of many research projects, well-known varieties, such as the ones of Rome (the traditional Roman dialect and the regional Italian), have received a scarce attention. For this reason, we propose here a bibliographic review and a selection of basic properties we observed in dialectal utterances during the preliminary analysis of a sound sample about the local dialect.