The phonology of Italian describes the sound system—the phonology and phonetics—of Standard Italian and its geographical variants. Consonants Notes: Between two vowels, or between a vowel and an approximant () or a liquid (), consonants can be both singleton or geminated. Geminated consonants shorten the preceding vowel (or block phonetic lengthening) and the first geminated element is unreleased. For example, compare ('fate') with ('fact'). However, , , , , are always geminated intervocalically. Similarly, nasals, liquids, and sibilants are pronounced slightly longer in medial consonant clusters. , , and are the only consonants that cannot be geminated. are laminal denti-alveolar , commonly called "dental" for simplicity. are pre-velar before . have two variants: Dentalized laminal alveolar (commonly called "dental" for simplicity), pronounced with the blade of the tongue very close to the upper front teeth, with the tip of the tongue resting behind lower front teeth. Non-retracted apical alveolar . The stop component of the "apical" affricates is actually laminal denti-alveolar. are apical alveolar in most environments. are laminal denti-alveolar before and palatalized laminal postalveolar before . is velar before . and do not contrast before and , where they are pronounced and , respectively. and are alveolo-palatal. In a large number of accents, is a fricative . Intervocalically, single is realised as a trill with one or two contacts. Some literature treats the single-contact trill as a tap . Single-contact trills can also occur elsewhere, particularly in unstressed syllables. Geminate manifests as a trill with three to seven contacts. The phonetic distinction between and is neutralized before consonants and at the beginning of words: the former is used before voiceless consonants and before vowels at the beginning of words; the latter is used before voiced consonants. The two can contrast only between vowels within a word, e.g. [ˈfuːzo] 'melted' vs. [ˈfuːso] 'spindle'. According to Canepari, though, the traditional standard has been replaced by a modern neutral pronunciation which always prefers when intervocalic, except when the intervocalic s is the initial sound of a word, if the compound is still felt as such: for example, presento ('I foresee', with pre meaning 'before' and sento meaning 'I perceive') vs presento ('I present'). There are many words for which dictionaries now indicate that both pronunciations, either or , are acceptable. Word-internally between vowels, both phonemes have merged in many regional varieties of Italian, as either (Northern-Central) or (Southern-Central). Vowels In Italian there