This article is about thephonology andphonetics of theSpanish language. Unless otherwise noted, statements refer toCastilian Spanish, the standard dialect used inSpain on radio and television.[1][2][3][4] For historical development of the sound system, seeHistory of Spanish. For details of geographical variation, seeSpanish dialects and varieties.
Phonemic representations are written inside slashes (/ /), whilephonetic representations are written in brackets ([ ]).
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post-alv./ Palatal | Velar | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | |||||||
| Stop | p | b | t | d | tʃ | ʝ | k | ɡ | ||
| Continuant | f | θ* | s | (ʃ) | x | |||||
| Lateral | l | ʎ* | ||||||||
| Tap | ɾ | |||||||||
| Trill | r | |||||||||
The phonemes/b/,/d/, and/ɡ/ are pronounced as voicedstops only after a pause, after anasal consonant, or—in the case of/d/—after alateral consonant; in all other contexts, they are realized asapproximants (namely[β̞,ð̞,ɣ̞], hereafter represented without thedowntacks) orfricatives.[6][7]
The phoneme/ʎ/ is distinguished from/ʝ/ only in some areas ofSpain (mostly northern and rural) andSouth America (mostly highland). Other accents of Spanish, comprising the majority of speakers, have lost the palatal lateral as a distinct phoneme and have merged historical/ʎ/ into/ʝ/: this is calledyeísmo.
The realization of the phoneme/ʝ/ varies greatly by dialect.[8] In Castilian Spanish, its allophones in word-initial position include the palatal approximant[j], the palatal fricative[ʝ], the palatalaffricate[ɟʝ] and the palatal stop[ɟ].[8] After a pause, a nasal, or a lateral, it may be realized as an affricate ([ɟʝ]);[9][10] in other contexts, /ʝ/ is generally realized as an approximant[ʝ˕]. InRioplatense Spanish, spoken across Argentina and Uruguay, thevoiced palato-alveolar fricative[ʒ] is used in place of[ʝ] and[ʎ], a feature called "zheísmo".[11] In the last few decades, it has further become popular, particularly among younger speakers in Argentina and Uruguay, to de-voice/ʒ/ to[ʃ] ("sheísmo").[12][13]
The phone[ʃ] occurs as adeaffricated pronunciation of/tʃ/ in some other dialects (most notably, Northern Mexican Spanish, informal Chilean Spanish, and some Caribbean and Andalusian accents).[14] Otherwise,/ʃ/ is a marginal phoneme that occurs only in loanwords or certain dialects; many speakers have difficulty with this sound, tending to replace it with/tʃ/ or/s/.
Many young Argentinians have no distinct/ɲ/ phoneme and use the[nj] sequence instead, thus making no distinction betweenhuraño anduranio (both[uˈɾanjo]).[15]
Most varieties spoken in Spain, including those prevalent on radio and television, have a phonemic contrast between/s/ and/θ/. Speakers with this contrast (which is calleddistinción) use/s/ in words spelled with⟨s⟩, such ascasa 'house'[ˈkasa], and/θ/ in words spelled with⟨z⟩ or⟨c⟩ (when it occurs before⟨i⟩ or⟨e⟩), such ascaza 'hunt'[ˈkaθa].[16] However, speakers in parts of southern Spain, the Canary Islands, and all of Latin America lack this distinction, merging both consonants as/s/. The use of[s] in place of[θ] is calledseseo. Some speakers in southernmost Spain (especially coastal Andalusia) merge both consonants as[s̄]: this is calledceceo, since[s̄] sounds similar to/θ/. This "ceceo" is not entirely unknown in the Americas, especially in coastal Peru.
The exact pronunciation of/s/varies widely by dialect: it may be pronounced as [h] or omitted entirely ([∅]), especially at the end of a syllable.[17]
The phonemes/t/ and/d/ arelaminaldenti-alveolar ([t̪,d̪]).[7] The phoneme/s/ becomesdental[s̪] before denti-alveolar consonants,[9] while/θ/ remainsinterdental[θ̟] in all contexts.[9]
Before front vowels/i,e/, the velar consonants/k,ɡ,x/ (including the lenited allophone of/ɡ/) are realized as post-palatal[k̟,ɡ˖,x̟,ɣ˕˖].[18]
According to some authors,[19]/x/ ispost-velar oruvular in the Spanish of northern and central Spain.[20][21][22][23] Others[24] describe/x/ as velar in European Spanish, with auvular allophone ([χ]) appearing before/o/ and/u/ (including when/u/ is in the syllable onset as[w]).[9]
A common pronunciation of/f/ in nonstandard speech is thevoiceless bilabial fricative[ɸ], so thatfuera is pronounced[ˈɸweɾa] rather than[ˈfweɾa].[25][14][26][27][28][29][30] In some Extremaduran, western Andalusian, and American varieties, this softened realization of/f/, when it occurs before the non-syllabic allophone of/u/ ([w]), is subject to merger with/x/; in some areas the homophony offuego/juego is resolved by replacingfuego withlumbre orcandela.[31][32]
Some of thephonemic contrasts between consonants in Spanish are lost in certain phonological environments, especially at the end of a syllable. In these cases, the phonemic contrast is said to beneutralized.
At the start of a syllable, there is a contrast between threenasal consonants:/m/,/n/, and/ɲ/ (as incama 'bed',cana 'grey hair',caña 'sugar cane'), but at the end of a syllable, this contrast is generally neutralized, as nasals assimilate to theplace of articulation of the following consonant[9]—even across a word boundary.[33]
Within a morpheme, a syllable-final nasal is obligatorily pronounced with the same place of articulation as a following stop consonant, as inbanco[baŋ.ko].[34] An exception to coda nasal place assimilation is the sequence/mn/ that can be found in the middle of words such asalumno,columna,himno.[35][36]
Only one nasal consonant,/n/, can occur at the end of words in native vocabulary.[35] When followed by a pause,/n/ is pronounced by most speakers as alveolar[n] (though inCaribbean varieties, it may be pronounced instead as[ŋ], or omitted with nasalization of the preceding vowel).[37][38] When followed by another consonant, morpheme-final/n/ shows variable place assimilation depending on speech rate and style.[34]
Word-final/m/ and/ɲ/ in stand-alone loanwords or proper nouns may be adapted to[n].[39]
Similarly,/l/ assimilates to the place of articulation of a followingcoronal consonant, i.e. a consonant that is interdental, dental, alveolar, or palatal.[40][41][42] In dialects that maintain the use of/ʎ/, there is no contrast between/ʎ/ and/l/ in coda position, and syllable-final[ʎ] appears only as an allophone of/l/ in rapid speech.[43]
| nasal | lateral | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| word | IPA | gloss | word | IPA | gloss |
| invierno | [imˈbjeɾno]ⓘ | 'winter' | |||
| ánfora | [ˈaɱfoɾa]ⓘ | 'amphora' | |||
| encía | [en̟ˈθi.a]ⓘ | 'gum' | alzar | [al̟ˈθaɾ]ⓘ | 'to raise' |
| antes | [ˈan̪t̪es]ⓘ | 'before' | alto | [ˈal̪t̪o]ⓘ | 'tall' |
| ancha | [ˈanʲtʃa]ⓘ | 'wide' | colcha | [ˈkolʲtʃa]ⓘ | 'quilt' |
| cónyuge | [ˈkoɲɟʝuxe]ⓘ | 'spouse' | |||
| rincón | [riŋˈkon]ⓘ | 'corner' | |||
| enjuto | [eɴˈχut̪o]ⓘ | 'thin' | |||
Thealveolar trill[r] and thealveolar tap[ɾ] are in phonemic contrast word-internally between vowels (as incarro 'car' vs.caro 'expensive'), but are otherwise incomplementary distribution, as long as syllable division is taken into account: the tap occurs after any syllable-initial consonant, while the trill occurs after any syllable-final consonant.[44][45]
Only the trill can occur at the start of a word (e.g.elrey 'the king',lareina 'the queen') or after a syllable-final (coda) consonant (e.g.alrededor,enriquecer,desratizar).
Only the tap can occur after a word-initialobstruent consonant (e.g.tres 'three',frío 'cold').
Either a trill or a tap can occur word-medially after/b/,/d/,/t/ depending on whether the rhotic consonant is pronounced in the same syllable as the preceding obstruent (forming a complex onset cluster) or in a separate syllable (with the obstruent forming the coda of the preceding syllable). The tap is found in words where no morpheme boundary separates the obstruent from the following rhotic consonant, such assobre 'over',madre 'mother',ministro 'minister'. The trill is only found in words where the rhotic consonant is preceded by a morpheme boundary and thus a syllable boundary, such assubrayar, ciudadrealeño, postromántico;[46] compare the corresponding word-initial trills inraya 'line',CiudadReal "Ciudad Real", andromántico "Romantic".
In syllable-final position before consonants inside a word, the tap is more frequent, but the trill can also occur (especially in emphatic[47] or oratorical[48] style) with no semantic difference—thusarma ('weapon') may be either[ˈaɾma] (tap) or[ˈarma] (trill).[49]Inword-final position the rhotic is usually:
Morphologically, a word-final rhotic always corresponds to the tapped[ɾ] in related words. Thus the wordolor 'smell' is related toolores, oloroso 'smells, smelly' and not to*olorres, *olorroso.[8]
When two rhotics occur consecutively across a word or prefix boundary, they result in one trill, so thatda rocas ('they (sg.) give rocks') anddar rocas ('to give rocks') are either neutralized or distinguished by a longer trill in the latter phrase.[51]
The tap/trill alternation has prompted a number of authors to postulate a singleunderlyingrhotic; the intervocalic contrast then results fromgemination (e.g.tierra/ˈtieɾɾa/ >[ˈtjera] 'earth').[52][53][54]
The phonemes/θ/,/s/,[9] and/f/[55][56] may be voiced before voiced consonants, as injazmín ('jasmine')[xaθ̬ˈmin],rasgo ('feature')[ˈrazɣo], andAfganistán ('Afghanistan')[avɣanisˈtan]. There is a certain amount of free variation in this, sojazmín can be pronounced[xaθˈmin] or[xaθ̬ˈmin]. This[θ̬] is consistently fricative, whereas the[ð] allophone of/d/ varies between a fricative and an approximant, like[β],[ɣ] and[ʝ]. In strict IPA, they would be written as[ð] and[ð̞], respectively.[57] Such voicing may occur across word boundaries, causingfeliz navidad ('merry Christmas')/feˈliθnabiˈdad/ to be pronounced[feˈliθ̬naβiˈðað].[17] In one region of Spain, the area around Madrid, word-final/d/ is sometimes pronounced[θ], especially in a colloquial pronunciation of the city's name, which results being pronounced as[maˈðɾiθ]ⓘ.[58] More so, in some words now spelled with-z- before a voiced consonant, the phoneme/θ/ is in fact diachronically derived from original[ð] realization of the/d/ phoneme. For example,yezgo comes from Old Spanishyedgo, andjuzgar comes from Old Spanishjudgar, from Latinjūdicāre.[59]
Both in casual and formal speech, there is no phonemic contrast betweenvoiced and voiceless consonants placed in syllable-final position. The merged phoneme is typically pronounced as a relaxed, voicedfricative orapproximant,[60] although a variety of other realizations are also possible. So the clusters -bt- and -pt- in the wordsobtener andoptimista are pronounced exactly the same way:
Similarly, the spellings-dm- and-tm- are often merged in pronunciation, as well as -gd- and -cd-:
Traditionally, the palatal consonant phoneme/ʝ/ is considered to occur only as a syllable onset,[61] whereas the palatal glide[j] that can be found after an onset consonant in words likebien is analyzed as a non-syllabic version of the vowel phoneme/i/[62] (which forms part of the syllable nucleus, being pronounced with the following vowel as arising diphthong). The approximant allophone of/ʝ/, which can be transcribed as[ʝ˕], differs phonetically from[j] in the following respects:[ʝ˕] has a lowerF2 amplitude, is longer, can be replaced by apalatal fricative[ʝ] in emphatic pronunciations, and is unspecified for rounding (e.g.viuda[ˈbjuða]ⓘ 'widow' vs.ayuda[aˈʝʷuða]ⓘ 'help').[61]
After a consonant, the surface contrast between[ʝ] and[j] depends on syllabification, which in turn is largely predictable from morphology: the syllable boundary before[ʝ] corresponds to the morphological boundary after a prefix.[8] A contrast is therefore possible after any consonant that can end a syllable, as illustrated by the following minimal or near-minimal pairs: after/l/ (italiano[itaˈljano] 'Italian' vs.y talllano[italˈɟʝano] 'and such a plain'[8]), after/n/ (enyesar[eɲɟʝeˈsaɾ]ⓘ 'to plaster' vs.aniego[aˈnjeɣo]ⓘ 'flood'[10]) after/s/ (desierto/deˈsieɾto/ 'desert' vs.deshielo/desˈʝelo/ 'thawing'[8]), after/b/ (abierto/aˈbieɾto/ 'open' vs.abyecto/abˈʝeɡto/ 'abject'[8][63]).
Although there is dialectal and idiolectal variation, speakers may also exhibit a contrast in phrase-initial position.[64] In Argentine Spanish, the change of[ʝ] to a fricative realized as[ʒ~ʃ] has resulted in clear contrast between this consonant and the glide[j]; the latter occurs as a result of spelling pronunciation in words spelled with⟨hi⟩, such ashierba[ˈjeɾβa] 'grass' (which thus forms a minimal pair in Argentine Spanish with the doubletyerba[ˈʒeɾβa] 'maté leaves').[65]
There are somealternations between the two, prompting scholars likeAlarcos Llorach (1950)[66] to postulate anarchiphoneme/I/, so thatley[lej]ⓘ would be transcribed phonemically as/ˈleI/ andleyes[ˈleʝes]ⓘ as/ˈleIes/.
In a number of varieties, including some American ones, there is a similar distinction between the non-syllabic version of the vowel/u/ and a rare consonantal/w̝/.[10][67] Near-minimal pairs includedeshuesar[dez.w̝eˈsaɾ]ⓘ ('to debone') vs.desuello[deˈsweʝo]ⓘ ('skinning'),sonhuevos[ˈsoŋˈw̝eβos]ⓘ ('they are eggs') vs.son nuevos[ˈso(n)ˈnweβos]ⓘ ('they are new'),[68] andhuaca[ˈ(ɡ)w̝aka]ⓘ ('Indian grave') vs.u oca[ˈwoka]ⓘ ('or goose').[62]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Open | a |
Spanish has five vowel phonemes,/i/,/u/,/e/,/o/ and/a/ (the same asAsturian-Leonese,Aragonese, and alsoBasque). Each of the five vowels occurs in both stressed and unstressed syllables:[69]
| stressed | unstressed | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| word | gloss | word | gloss | ||
| piso | /ˈpiso/ⓘ | 'I step' | pisó | /piˈso/ⓘ | 'they (sg.) stepped' |
| pujo | /ˈpuxo/ⓘ | 'I bid' (present tense) | pujó | /puˈxo/ⓘ | 'they (sg.) bid' |
| peso | /ˈpeso/ⓘ | 'I weigh' | pesó | /peˈso/ⓘ | 'they (sg.) weighed' |
| poso | /ˈposo/ⓘ | 'I pose' | posó | /poˈso/ⓘ | 'they (sg.) posed' |
| paso | /ˈpaso/ⓘ | 'I pass' | pasó | /paˈso/ⓘ | 'they (sg.) passed' |
Nevertheless, there are some distributional gaps or rarities. For instance, theclose vowels/i,u/ are rare in unstressed word-final syllables.[70]
There is nosurface phonemic distinction between close-mid and open-mid vowels, unlike inCatalan,Galician,French,Italian andPortuguese. In the historical development of Spanish, former open-mid vowels/ɛ,ɔ/ were replaced with diphthongs/ie,ue/ in stressed syllables, and merged with the close-mid/e,o/ in unstressed syllables (Note, in word-initial position,/ʝe/ occurs instead of/ie/).[71] The diphthongs/ie,ue/ regularly correspond to open/ɛ,ɔ/ in Portuguese cognates; comparesiete/ˈsiete/ 'seven' andfuerte/ˈfueɾte/ 'strong' with the Portuguese cognatessete/ˈsɛtɨ/ andforte/ˈfɔɾtɨ/, meaning the same.[72]
There are somesynchronic alternations between the diphthongs/ie,ue/ in stressed syllables and the monophthongs/e,o/ in unstressed syllables: compareheló/eˈlo/ 'it froze' andtostó/tosˈto/ 'he toasted' withhiela/ˈʝela/ 'it freezes' andtuesto/ˈtuesto/ 'I toast'.[73] It has thus been argued that the historically open-mid vowels remain underlyingly, giving Spanish seven vowel phonemes.[74]
Because of substratalQuechua, at least some speakers from southern Colombia down through Peru can be analyzed to have only three vowel phonemes/i,u,a/, as the close[i,u] are continually confused with the mid[e,o], resulting in pronunciations such as[dolˈsoɾa] fordulzura ('sweetness').[clarification needed] When Quechua-dominant bilinguals have/e,o/ in their phonemic inventory, they realize them as[ɪ,ʊ], which are heard by outsiders as variants of/i,u/.[75] Both of those features are viewed as strongly non-standard by other speakers.
Vowels are phoneticallynasalized between nasal consonants or before a syllable-final nasal, e.g.cinco[ˈθĩŋko] ('five') andmano[ˈmãno] ('hand').[69]
Arguably, Eastern Andalusian and Murcian Spanish have ten phonemic vowels, with each of the above vowels paired by a lowered or fronted and lengthened version, e.g.la madre[laˈmaðɾe] ('the mother') vs.las madres[læːˈmæːðɾɛː] ('the mothers').[76] However, these are more commonly analyzed as allophones triggered by an underlying/s/ that is subsequently deleted.
There is no agreement among scholars on how many vowel allophones Spanish has; an often[77] postulated number is five[i,u,e̞,o̞,a̠].
Some scholars,[78] however, state that Spanish haseleven allophones: the close and mid vowels have close[i,u,e,o] and open[ɪ,ʊ,ɛ,ɔ] allophones, whereas/a/ appears in front[a], central[a̠] and back[ɑ] variants. These symbols appear only in the narrowest variant of phonetic transcription; in broader variants, only the symbols ⟨i,u,e,o,a⟩ are used,[79] and that is the convention adopted in the rest of this article.
Tomás Navarro Tomás describes the distribution of said eleven allophones as follows:[80]
According to Eugenio Martínez Celdrán, however, systematic classification of Spanish allophones is impossible since their occurrence varies from speaker to speaker and from region to region. According to him, the exact degree of openness of Spanish vowels depends not so much on the phonetic environment but rather on various external factors accompanying speech.[81]
| IPA | Example | Meaning | IPA | Example | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Falling | Rising | |||||
| a | [aj] | aire | air | [ja] | hacia | towards |
| [aw] | pausa | pause | [wa] | cuadro | picture | |
| e | [ej] | rey | king | [je] | tierra | earth |
| [ew] | neutro | neutral | [we] | fuego | fire | |
| o | [oj] | hoy | today | [jo] | radio | radio |
| [ow][82] | bou | seine fishing | [wo] | cuota | quota | |
| Falling | Rising | |||||
| i | — | [wi] | fuimos | we went | ||
| u | [uj][83] | muy | very | [ju] | viuda | widow |
Spanish has six fallingdiphthongs and eight rising diphthongs. While many diphthongs are historically the result of a recategorization of vowel sequences (hiatus) as diphthongs, there is still lexical contrast between diphthongs andhiatus.[84] Some lexical items vary by speaker or dialect between hiatus and diphthong. Words likebiólogo ('biologist') with a potential diphthong in the first syllable and words likediálogo with a stressed or pretonic sequence of/i/ and a vowel vary between a diphthong and hiatus.[85]Chițoran & Hualde (2007) hypothesize that this is caused by vocalic sequences being longer in those positions.
In addition tosynalepha across word boundaries, sequences of vowels in hiatus become diphthongs in fast speech. When this happens, one vowel becomes non-syllabic (unless they are the same vowel in which case they fuse together) as inpoeta[ˈpo̯eta] ('poet') andmaestro[ˈmae̯stɾo] ('teacher').[86] Similarly, the relatively rare diphthong/eu/ may be reduced to[u] in certain unstressed contexts, as inEufemia,[uˈfemja].[87] In the case of verbs likealiviar ('relieve'), diphthongs result from the suffixation of normal verbal morphology onto a stem-final/j/ (that is,aliviar would be |alibj| + |ar|).[88] This contrasts with verbs likeampliar ('to extend') which, by their verbal morphology, seem to have stems ending in/i/.[89]
Non-syllabic/e/ and/o/ can be reduced to[j],[w], as inbeatitud[bjatiˈtuð] ('beatitude') andpoetisa[pweˈtisa] ('poetess'), respectively; similarly, non-syllabic/a/ can be completely elided, as in (ahorita[oˈɾita] 'right away'). The frequency (though not the presence) of this phenomenon varies by dialect: in a number it rarely occurs, while others always exhibit it.[90]
Spanish also possessestriphthongs like/uei/ and, in dialects that use a second-person plural conjugation,/iai/,/iei/, and/uai/ (e.g.buey, 'ox';cambiáis, 'you change';cambiéis, '(that) you may change'; andaveriguáis, 'you ascertain').[91]
Spanish is usually considered asyllable-timed language. Even so, stressed syllables may be up to 50% longer in duration than non-stressed syllables.[92][93][94] Although pitch, duration, and loudness contribute to the perception of stress,[95] pitch is the most important in isolation.[96]
Primarystress falls on thepenultima (second-last syllable) 80% of the time. The other 20% of the time, stress falls on the ultima (last syllable) or on the antepenultima (third-last syllable).[97] There are numerousminimal pairs that contrast solely in stress, such as[ˈsaβana]sábana ('sheet') and[saˈβana]sabana ('savannah'), as well as[ˈlimite]límite ('boundary'),[liˈmite]limite ('[that] they (sg.) limit') and[limiˈte]limité ('I limited').
Nonverbs are generally stressed on the penultimate syllable if they end in a vowel, and on the final syllable if they end in a consonant. Exceptions are marked orthographically (see below), and regular words are underlyingly phonologically marked with a stress feature [+stress].[98] There are exceptions to these tendencies, particularly learned words from Greek and Latin that feature antepenultimate stress.
In writing, stress is marked in certain circumstances with anacute accent (ácido,distinción, etc.). This is done according to the mandatory stress rules ofSpanish orthography, which parallel the tendencies above (differing with words likedistinción) and are defined so as to unequivocally indicate where the stress lies in a given written word. An acute accent may also be used to differentiate homophones, such asmi ('my') andmí ('me'). In such cases, the accent is used on the homophone that normally receives greater stress when it is used in a sentence.
Lexical stress patterns are different between words carrying verbal and nominal inflection: in addition to the occurrence of verbal affixes with stress (something absent in nominal inflection), underlying stress also differs in that it falls on the last syllable of the inflectional stem in verbal words, while the stem of nominal words may have ultimate or penultimate stress.[99] In addition, in sequences of clitics suffixed to a verb, the rightmost clitic may receive secondary stress:búscalo/ˈbuskaˌlo/ ('look for it').[100]
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Spanishsyllable structure consists of an optional syllable onset, consisting of one or two consonants; an obligatory syllable nucleus, consisting of a vowel optionally preceded by and/or followed by asemivowel; and an optional syllable coda, consisting of one or two consonants.[101] This can be summarized as follows (parentheses enclose optional components):
The following restrictions apply:
Maximal onsets includetransporte/tɾansˈpoɾ.te/,flaco/ˈfla.ko/,clave/ˈkla.be/.
Maximal nuclei includebuey/buei/,Uruguay/u.ɾuˈɡuai/.
Maximal codas includeinstalar/ins.taˈlaɾ/,perspectiva/peɾs.peɡˈti.ba/.
Spanish syllable structure is phrasal, resulting in syllables consisting of phonemes from neighboring words in combination, sometimes even resulting in elision. The phenomenon is known in Spanish asenlace.[109] For a brief discussion contrasting Spanish and English syllable structure, seeWhitley (2002:32–35).
Because of the phonotactic constraints, an epenthetic/e/ is inserted before word-initial clusters beginning with/s/ (e.g.escribir 'to write') but not word-internally (transcribir 'to transcribe'),[118] thereby moving the initial/s/ to a separate syllable. Except in careful pronunciation, the epenthetic/e/ is pronounced even when it is not reflected in spelling (e.g. the surname ofCarlos Slim is pronounced/esˈlim/).[119] While Spanish words undergo word-initial epenthesis, cognates in Latin and Italian do not:
In addition, Spanish adopts foreign words starting with pre-nasalized consonants with an epenthetic/e/.Nguema, a prominent last name fromEquatorial Guinea, is pronounced as[eŋˈɡema].[120]
When adapting word-final complex codas that show rising sonority, an epenthetic/e/ is inserted between the two consonants. For example,al Sadr is typically pronounced[al.sa.ðeɾ].[121]
Occasionally Spanish speakers are faced with onset clusters containing elements of equal or near-equal sonority, such asKnoll (a German last name that is common in parts of South America). Assimilated borrowings usually delete the first element in such clusters, as in(p)sicología 'psychology'. When attempting to pronounce such words for the first time without deleting the first consonant, Spanish speakers insert a short, often devoiced, schwa-like vowel between the two consonants.[122]
Some alternations exist in Spanish that reflect diachronic changes in the language and arguably reflectmorphophonological processes rather than strictly phonological ones. For instance, some words alternate between/k/ and/θ/ or/ɡ/ and/x/, with the latter in each pair appearing before a front vowel:[123]
| word | gloss | word | gloss | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| opaco | /oˈpako/ | 'opaque' | opacidad | /opaθiˈdad/ | 'opacity' |
| sueco | /ˈsueko/ | 'Swedish' | Suecia | /ˈsueθia/ | 'Sweden' |
| belga | /ˈbelɡa/ | 'Belgian' | Bélgica | /ˈbelxika/ | 'Belgium' |
| análogo | /aˈnaloɡo/ | 'analogous' | analogía | /analoˈxi.a/ | 'analogy' |
Note that the conjugation of most verbs with a stem ending in/k/ or/ɡ/ doesnot show this alternation; these segments do not turn into/θ/ or/x/ before a front vowel:
| word | gloss | word | gloss | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| seco | /ˈseko/ | 'I dry' | seque | /ˈseke/ | '(that) I/they (sg.) dry (subjunctive)' |
| castigo | /kasˈtiɡo/ | 'I punish' | castigue | /kasˈtiɡe/ | '(that) I/they (sg.) punish (subjunctive)' |
There are also alternations between unstressed/e/ and/o/ and stressed/ie/ (or/ʝe/, when initial) and/ue/ respectively:[124]
| word | gloss | word | gloss | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| heló | /eˈlo/ | 'it froze' | hiela | /ˈʝela/ | 'it freezes' |
| tostó | /tosˈto/ | 'he toasted' | tuesto | /ˈtuesto/ | 'I toast' |
Likewise, in a very small number of words, alternations occur between the palatal sonorants/ʎɲ/ and their corresponding alveolar sonorants/ln/ (doncella/doncel 'maiden'/'youth',desdeñar/desdén 'to scorn'/'scorn'). This alternation does not appear in verbal or nominal inflection (that is, the plural ofdoncel isdonceles, not*doncelles).[125] This is the result of geminated/ll/ and/nn/ ofVulgar Latin (the origin of/ʎ/ and/ɲ/, respectively) degeminating and then depalatalizing in coda position.[126] Words without any palatal-alveolar allomorphy are the result of historical borrowings.[126]
Other alternations include/ɡs/ ~/x/ (anexo vs.anejo),[127]/ɡt/ ~/tʃ/ (nocturno vs.noche).[128] Here the forms with/ɡs/ and/ɡt/ are historical borrowings and the forms with/x/ and/tʃ/ forms are inherited from Vulgar Latin.
There are also pairs that show antepenultimate stress in nouns and adjectives but penultimate stress in synonymous verbs (vómito 'vomit' vs.vomito 'I vomit').[129]
Phonological development varies greatly by individual for both those developing regularly and those with delays. However, a general pattern of acquisition of phonemes can be inferred by the level of complexity of their features, i.e. by sound classes.[130] A hierarchy may be constructed, and if a child is capable of producing discrimination on one level, they will also be capable of making the discriminations of all prior levels.[131]
This hierarchy is based on production only and is a representation of a child's capacity to produce a sound, whether that sound is the correct target in adult speech or not. Thus, it may contain some sounds that are not included in adult phonology but are produced as a result of error.
Spanish-speaking children will accurately produce mostsegments at a relatively early age. By around three-and-a-half years, they will no longer productively use phonological processes[clarification needed] the majority of the time. Some common error patterns (found 10% or more of the time) arecluster reduction, liquid simplification, and stopping. Less common patterns (evidenced less than 10% of the time) includepalatal fronting,assimilation, and finalconsonant deletion.[132]
Typical phonological analyses of Spanish consider the consonants/b/,/d/, and/ɡ/ theunderlying phonemes and their corresponding approximants[β],[ð], and[ɣ] allophonic and derivable byphonological rules. However, approximants may be the more basic form because monolingual Spanish-learning children learn to produce the continuant contrast between[ptk] and[βðɣ] before they produce the lead voicing contrast between[ptk] and[bdɡ].[133] (In comparison, English-learning children are able to produce adult-like voicing contrasts for these stops well before age three.)[134] The allophonic distribution of[bdɡ] and[βðɣ] produced in adult speech is not learned until after age two and not fully mastered even at age four.[133]
Thealveolar trill[r] is one of the most difficult sounds to produce in Spanish and is acquired later in development.[135] Research suggests that the alveolar trill is acquired and developed between the ages of three and six years.[136] Some children acquire an adult-like trill within this period, and some fail to properly acquire the trill. The attempted trill sound of the poor trillers is often perceived as a series oftaps owing to hyperactive tongue movement during production.[137] The trill is also often very difficult for those learning Spanish as a second language, sometimes taking over a year to be produced properly.[138]
One study found that children acquire medialcodas before final codas, and stressed codas before unstressed codas.[139] Since medial codas are often stressed and must undergo place assimilation, greater importance is accorded to their acquisition.[140]Liquid andnasal codas occur word-medially and at the ends of frequently-usedfunction words and so they are often acquired first.[141]
Research suggests that children overgeneralize stress rules when they are reproducing novel Spanish words and that they have a tendency to stress the penultimate syllables of antepenultimately stressed words to avoid a violation of nonverb stress rules that they have acquired.[142] Many of the most frequent words heard by children have irregular stress patterns or are verbs, which violate nonverb stress rules.[143] This complicates stress rules until ages three to four, when stress acquisition is essentially complete, and children begin to apply these rules to novel irregular situations.
Some features, such as the pronunciation of voiceless stops/ptk/, have no dialectal variation.[144] However, there are numerous other features of pronunciation that differ from dialect to dialect.
One notable dialectal feature is the merging of thevoiced palatal approximant[ʝ] (as inayer) with thepalatal lateral approximant[ʎ] (as incalle) into one phoneme (yeísmo), with/ʎ/ losing its laterality. While the distinction between these two sounds has traditionally been a feature of Castilian Spanish, this merger has spread throughout most of Spain in recent generations, particularly outside of regions in close linguistic contact with Catalan and Basque.[145] In Spanish America, most dialects are characterized by this merger, with the distinction persisting mostly in parts of Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and northwestern Argentina.[146] In the other parts of Argentina, the phoneme resulting from the merger is realized as[ʒ],[9] and inBuenos Aires. the sound has recently been devoiced to[ʃ] for the younger population, a change that is spreading throughout Argentina.[147]
Speakers in northern and central Spain, including the variety prevalent on radio and television, have both/θ/ and/s/ (distinción, 'distinction'). However, speakers in Latin America, the Canary Islands and some parts of southern Spain have only/s/ (seseo), which in southernmost Spain is pronounced[θ], not[s] (ceceo).[9]
The phoneme/s/ has three different pronunciations depending on the dialect area:[9][41][148]
Obaid describes the apico-alveolar sound as follows:[151]
There is a Castilians, which is a voiceless, concave, apicoalveolar fricative: the tip of the tongue turned upward forms a narrow opening against the alveoli of the upper incisors. It resembles a faint/ʃ/ and is found throughout much of the northern half of Spain.
Dalbor describes the apico-dental sound as follows:[152]
[s̄] is a voiceless, corono-dentoalveolar groove fricative, the so-calleds coronal ors plana because of the relatively flat shape of the tongue body ... To this writer, the coronal[s̄], heard throughout Andalusia, should be characterized by such terms as "soft," "fuzzy," or "imprecise," which, as we shall see, brings it quite close to one variety of/θ/ ... Canfield has referred, quite correctly, in our opinion, to this[s̄] as "the lispingcoronal-dental," and Amado Alonso remarks how close it is to the post-dental[θ̦], suggesting a combined symbol ⟨θˢ̣⟩ to represent it.
In some dialects,/s/ may become the approximant[ɹ] in the syllable coda (e.g.doscientos[doɹˈθjentos] 'two hundred').[153] In southern dialects in Spain, most lowland dialects in the Americas, and in the Canary Islands, itdebuccalizes to[h] in final position (e.g.niños[ˈniɲoh] 'children'), or before another consonant (e.g.fósforo[ˈfohfoɾo] 'match') and so the change occurs in thecoda position in a syllable. In Spain, this was originally a southern feature, but is now expanding rapidly to the north.[32]
From an autosegmental point of view, the/s/ phoneme in Madrid is defined only by itsvoiceless andfricative features. Thus, the point of articulation is not defined and is determined from the sounds after it in a word or sentence. In Madrid, the following realizations are found:/pesˈkado/ >[pexˈkao][154] and/ˈfosfoɾo/ >[ˈfofːoɾo]. In parts of southern Spain, the only feature defined for/s/ appears to bevoiceless; it may lose its oral articulation entirely to become[h] or even a geminate with the following consonant ([ˈmihmo] or[ˈmimːo] from/ˈmismo/ 'same').[155] In Eastern Andalusian and Murcian Spanish, word-final/s/,/θ/ and/x/ regularly weaken, and the preceding vowel is lowered and lengthened:[156]
A subsequent process ofvowel harmony takes place and solejos ('far') is[ˈlɛxɔ],tenéis ('you [plural] have') is[tɛˈnɛj] andtréboles ('clovers') is[ˈtɾɛβɔlɛ] or[ˈtɾɛβolɛ].[157]
Southern European Spanish (Andalusian Spanish, Murcian Spanish, etc.) and several lowland dialects in Latin America (such as those from the Caribbean, Panama, and the Atlantic coast of Colombia) exhibit more extreme forms of simplification of coda consonants:
The dropped consonants appear when additional suffixation occurs (e.g.compases[komˈpase] 'beats',venían[beˈni.ã] 'they were coming',comeremos[komeˈɾemo] 'we will eat'). Similarly, a number of coda assimilations occur:
Final/d/ dropping (e.g.mitad[miˈta] 'half') is general in most dialects of Spanish, even in formal speech.[160]
The neutralization of syllable-final/p/,/t/, and/k/ is widespread in most dialects (with e.g.Pepsi being pronounced[ˈpeksi]). It does not face as much stigma as other neutralizations and may go unnoticed.[161]
The deletions and neutralizations show variability in their occurrence, even with the same speaker in the same utterance, so non-deleted forms exist in the underlying structure.[162] The dialects may not be on the path to eliminating coda consonants since deletion processes have been existing for more than four centuries.[163]Guitart (1997) argues that it is the result of speakers acquiring multiple phonological systems with uneven control like that of second language learners.
In Standard European Spanish, the voiced obstruents/b,d,ɡ/ before a pause are devoiced and laxed to[β̥˕,ð̥˕,ɣ̊˕] ([ɸ, θ, x]), as inclub[kluβ̥˕] ('[social] club'),sed[seð̥] ('thirst'),zigzag[θiɣˈθaɣ̊˕].[164] However, word-final/b/ is rare, and/ɡ/ is even more so. They are restricted mostly to loanwords and foreign names, such as the first name of the formerReal Madrid sports directorPredrag Mijatović, which is pronounced[ˈpɾeð̞ɾaɣ̊˕], and after another consonant, the voiced obstruent may even be deleted, as iniceberg, pronounced[iθeˈβeɾ].[165] In Madrid and its environs,sed is alternatively pronounced[seθ], and the aforementioned alternative pronunciation of word-final/d/ as[θ] co-exists with the standard realization,[166] but is otherwise nonstandard.[58]
The fricative/ʃ/ may also appear in borrowings from other languages, such asNahuatl[167] andEnglish.[168] In addition, the affricates/t͡s/ and/t͡ɬ/ also occur in Nahuatl borrowings.[167] That said, the onset cluster/tl/ is permitted in most of Latin America, the Canaries, and the northwest of Spain, and the fact that it is pronounced in the same amount of time as the other voiceless stop + lateral clusters/pl/ and/kl/ support an analysis of the/tl/ sequence as a cluster, rather than an affricate, in Mexican Spanish.[104][105]
This sample is an adaptation of Aesop's "El Viento del Norte y el Sol" (The North Wind and the Sun) read by a man fromNorthern Mexico born in the late 1980s. As usual inMexican Spanish,/θ/ and/ʎ/ are not present.
El Viento del Norte y el Sol discutían por saber quién era el más fuerte de los dos. Mientras discutían, se acercó un viajero cubierto en un cálido abrigo. Entonces decidieron que el más fuerte sería quien lograse despojar al viajero de su abrigo. El Viento del Norte empezó, soplando tan fuerte como podía, pero entre más fuerte soplaba, el viajero más se arropaba. Entonces, el Viento desistió. Se llegó el turno del Sol, quien comenzó a brillar con fuerza. Esto hizo que el viajero sintiera calor y por ello se quitó su abrigo. Entonces el Viento del Norte tuvo que reconocer que el Sol era el más fuerte de los dos.
/elˈbientodelˈnoɾteielˈsoldiskuˈti.anpoɾsaˈbeɾˈkienˈeɾaelˈmasˈfueɾtedelosˈdos‖mientɾasdiskuˈti.anseaseɾˈkounbiaˈxeɾokuˈbieɾtoenunˈkalidoaˈbɾiɡo|enˈtonsesdesiˈdieɾonkeelˈmasˈfueɾteseˈɾi.akienloˈɡɾasedespoˈxaɾalbiaˈxeɾodesuaˈbɾiɡo‖elˈbientodelˈnoɾteempeˈsosoˈplandotanˈfueɾtekomopoˈdi.a|peɾoentɾeˈmasˈfueɾtesoˈplabaelbiaˈxeɾoˈmassearoˈpaba|enˈtonseselˈbientodesisˈtio|seʝeˈɡoelˈtuɾnodelˈsolkienkomenˈsoabɾiˈʝaɾkonˈfueɾsa|ˈestoˈisokeelbiaˈxeɾosinˈtieɾakaˈloɾipoɾˈeʝosekiˈtosuaˈbɾiɡo‖enˈtonseselˈbientodelˈnoɾteˈtubokerekonoˈseɾkeelˈsolˈeɾaelˈmasˈfueɾtedelosˈdos/
[elˈβjentoðelˈnoɾtej‿elˈsoldiskuˈti.ampoɾsaˈβeɾˈkjeneɾa‿e̯lˈmasˈfweɾteðelozˈðos‖ˈmjentɾazðiskuˈti.anˌse̯‿aseɾˈko‿wmbjaˈxeɾokuˈβjeɾto̯‿enuŋˈkaliðo̯‿aˈβɾiɣo|enˈtonsezðesiˈðjeɾoŋk‿elˈmasˈfweɾteseˈɾi.akjenloˈɣɾaseðespoˈxaɾalβjaˈxeɾoðeswaˈβɾiɣo‖elˈβjentoðelˌnoɾt‿empeˈsosoˈplandotaɱˈfweɾteˌkomopoˈði.a|ˈpeɾo̯‿entɾeˈmasˈfweɾtesoˈplaβaelβjaˈxeɾoˈmasˌse̯‿aroˈpaβa|enˈtonseselˈβjentoðesisˈtjo|seʝeˈɣo̯‿elˈtuɾnoðelsolˌkjeŋkomenˈso̯‿aβɾiˈʝaɾkoɱˈfweɾsa|ˈesto‿jsok‿elβjaxeɾosinˈtjeɾakaˈloɾipoɾeʝosekiˈtoswaˈβɾiɣo‖enˈtonseselˈβjentoðelˈnoɾteˈtuβokerekonoˈseɾˌkelˈsolˈeɾa‿e̯lˈmasˈfweɾteðelozˈðos]
Many studies have shown that within the last 70 to 80 years, there has been a strong transition towards the voiceless [ʃ] in both Argentina and Uruguay, with Argentina having completed the change by 2004 and Uruguay following only recently [...]
The distribution of nasals, however, is somewhat deficient in Spanish. In word-final position only the alveolar nasal is present. So borrowings that end in /ɲ/ or /m/ are generally adopted into Spanish with a final n, e.g. Adam ->Adán, champagne ->champán.
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