Spanish phonology
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| Spanish language |
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| Image:Eñe on keyboard - blue.jpg |
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Names for the language |
| Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. |
- Main article: Spanish language
Spanish has many allophones, so it is important here to distinguish phonemes (written in slashes / /) and corresponding allophones (written in brackets [ ]).
| Plosives | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Phoneme | Sound | Spelling | Allophones |
| /p/ | voiceless bilabial plosive | "p" (pipa) | |
| /b/ | voiced bilabial plosive | "b" (burro) or "v" (vaca) | [b] appears initially (in some accents) and after nasals (tambor, envidia), approximant [β̞] elsewhere (nube, la bodega). In rapid speech, [β̞] can replace [b] in the initial position. After [l], there is variation among speakers. |
| /t/ | voiceless dental plosive | "t" (tomate) | |
| /d/ | voiced dental plosive | "d" (dedo) | [d] appears initially or after nasals (donde) and [l], approximant [ð̞] elsewhere (nido, la deuda). In Spain it is usually omitted in the endings -ado, -ada, -ados, and -adas (manadas: [maˈnaːs]), and less frequently in endings -ido and -idos. In Latin America it is omitted in final position: usted = [usˈte] or [usˈteð̞]. In northern Spain and Madrid this phoneme in final position suffers lenition and devoicing, merging with /θ/ in Madrid. |
| /k/ | voiceless velar plosive | "c" (casa), "qu" (queso), "k" (kiosko) | |
| /g/ | voiced velar plosive | "g" (gato), "gu" (guerra). | [g] appears initially or after nasals (ganga), approximant [ɰ] elsewhere (lago, la garganta). |
| Fricatives | |||
| /s/ | voiceless alveolar fricative | "s" (sapo) | In Northern/Central Spain and Antioquia, Colombia it is apico-alveolar; in Southern Spain and most of Latin America it is lamino-alveolar (often called "dental") [s].
It becomes the approximant [ɹ] before a rhotic (israelita: [iɹraeˈlita]). In many places it is [h] in final position (niños), or before another consonant (fósforo) - in other words, the change occurs in the coda position in a syllable. In the Colombian Caribe produces gemination before /k/ or /f/ consonants (pescado: /peˈkːað̞o/ or /peˈkːao/, fósforo: /ˈfofːoro/). In Spain is sometimes postulated a very-lightly-voiced [z] allophone before voiced consonants (desde). From an autosegmental point of view, the /s/ phoneme is defined only by its voiceless and fricative features in Madrid. This means that the point of articulation is not defined and is determined from the sounds following it in the word or sentence. In parts of southern Spain, the only feature defined for /s/ appears to be voiceless, adjusting point and mode of articulation to the surround. This explains the observed assimilations (/peskao/: [pexkao], /fosforo/: [fofforo]) in Madrid and (/estos/: [ehtoh]) in southern Spain (the [h]'s in [ehtoh] actually represent voiceless vowels). |
| /θ/ | voiceless dental fricative | "z" (zorro) or "c" (cielo) | This phoneme is heard only in central and northern Spain, where it has perhaps a slightly voiced allophone /ð/ before voiced consonants (juzgado: /xuðˈgao/ or /xuðˈgað̞o/ - not the same sound as the /d/ allophone). In other dialects it merges with /s/. |
| /f/ | voiceless labiodental fricative | "f" (faro) | |
| /x/ | voiceless velar fricative | "j" (jarro), "g" (general). | In parts of Latin America and southern Spain it is [h]. In parts of South America and Southern Spain it's not pronounced in final position (/reloj/: [relo]) |
| /ʝ/ | voiced palatal fricative | "y" (yo, yerro, yerba); See also /ʎ/ below | after /n/ it is affricate.
In Argentina and Uruguay it has a [ʒ] or [ʤ] sound. |
| Affricates | |||
| /ʧ/ | voiceless postalveolar affricate | "ch" (chino). In words of English origin it may be spelled "sh": show = [ʧow] | Pronounced as a plosive in European Spanish, something like [tʲ]. In South American Spanish, on the other hand, there are mainly [ʧ] or [ʃ] pronunciations - like French /ʃ/ that has also developed from /ʧ/. |
| Nasals | |||
| There are three nasal phonemes in most varieties of Spanish, distributed across five (or so) allophones. In general, these phonemes are distinguished only before vowels (e.g. como, cono, coño). In parts of Latin America, there are only two phonemes, as the palatal nasal /ɲ/ has dissolved into a sequence /nj/; elsewhere, these two are pronounced differently. Northern Spain Spanish tends to better preserve the phonemic distinction between nasals than Latin American Spanish, at least in careful speech. | |||
| /m/ | bilabial nasal | "m" (mano) | (1) It occurs only before vowels. Before consonants the [m] sound is part of the /n/ archiphoneme
álbum: [ˈalbun]; réquiem: [ˈrɛkjen] |
| /n/ | alveolar nasal | "n" (noche, anterior), "m" (compadre). | (2)Positional allophones: [ŋ] before /k/ (blanco, un queso), /g/ (angustia, un gato), /x/ (enjambre, un jarro) or semiconsonant /w/ (enhuesar, un huevo, but not nuevo); [ɱ] before /f/ (enfermo, un faro); [m] before /m/ (inmerecido, un mono), /p/ (only on separate words, like in un perro), /b/ ("v", like in envolver, or "b" on separate words, like in un burro); [ɲ] before /ʝ/ (cónyuge, un yeso), /ʎ/ (conllevar, un llavero).
From an autosegmental point of view, /n/, at least in Spain, has no defined point of articulation, as it assimilates to the following consonant. |
| /ɲ/ | palatal nasal | "ñ" (niño) | (3) In parts of Latin America it is pronounced like /nʲ/ or /nj/ (mañana: /maˈnjana/ or /maˈnʲana/). It occurs only before vowels. Before consonants it is part of the /n/ archiphoneme. |
| Laterals | |||
| /l/ | alveolar lateral approximant | "l" (largo). | |
| /ʎ/ | palatal lateral approximant | "ll" (lluvia). | This phoneme is almost extinct and /ʝ/, /ʒ/ and /ʤ/ have taken its place. /ʎ/ survives in areas of bilingualism with Catalan, Quechua, or other languages that have preserved this phoneme in their inventories (like some places of Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, etc). It also survives in isolated places such as Chiloé, in Chile, and in non-bilingual regions of northern Spain. |
| Rhotics | |||
| In Spanish there are two rhotic sounds, but they are in complementary distribution except between vowels (compare caro and carro, pero and perro). The apparent distinction after /b/ is not such; it becomes a trill only in the verbs subrayar and subrogar (and of course, their derived words). | |||
| /ɾ/ | alveolar flap | "r" (loro, abrazar, ratón, enredo). | (4) Positional allophones: A trill ([r]) in initial position (ratón: [raˈton]), after /n/ (enredo: [enˈreð̞o]), /l/ (alrededor: [alreð̞eˈð̞or]), or /s/ (israelita: [iɾraeˈlita], see /s/ above).
(5) In Chile in colloquial speech it produces gemination before /t/ (carta: [ˈkatːa]), /n/ (carne: [ˈkanːe]) and /l/ (perla: [ˈpelːa]). In the Colombian Caribe, it produces gemination before almost every consonant (barco: [ˈbakːo], árbol: [ˈabːol], arde: [ˈadːe], etc.), and is replaced by [ʔ] in final position (saber: [saˈβ̞eʔ]). In Cuba and Puerto Rico it is replaced by [l] (puerco: [ˈpwelko]). |
| /r/ | alveolar trill | "rr" (cerro) | It occurs only between vowels; in all other positions it is part of the /ɾ/ archiphoneme.
(6) In some parts of Latin America, mainly in Ecuador and northern Argentina, it is pronounced similar to [ʒ] (arriba: [aˈʒiβ̞a]). |
| Semivowels and/or Semiconsonants | |||
| /j/ | palatal approximant | "y" (muy), "i" (pieza, hierba, hierro) | It can be considered an allophone of /i/; mi amigo: [mjaˈmiɰo], pierna: [ˈpjerna] |
| /w/ | labio-velar approximant | "u" (cuatro, guardia), "ü" (agüero), but destruir: /destruˈir/, not /desˈtrwir/. | It can be considered an allophone of /u/; tu amigo: [twaˈmiɰo], cuanto: /ˈkwanto/.
It is not allowed in initial position, where an epenthetic /g/ develops; huevo: [gweβ̞o], and derived from it deshueve: [desɰweβ̞e]. |
| Vowels | |||
| /a/ | open front unrounded vowel | "a", "á" | In Andalucia final /as/ becomes [ɑ]. |
| /e/ | close-mid front unrounded vowel | "e", "é" | In Andalucia final /es/ becomes [ɛ]. |
| /i/ | close front unrounded vowel | "i", "í" | See /j/ above. In Andalucia final /is/ becomes [ɪ]. |
| /o/ | close-mid back rounded vowel | "o", "ó" | In Andalucia final /os/ becomes [ɔ]. |
| /u/ | close back rounded vowel | "u", "ú", "ü" | See semivowel /w/ above. In Andalucia final /us/ becomes [ʊ]. |
Historical sound changes
By the 16th century the consonantal system of "Castilian" Spanish underwent the following important changes that differentiated it from such neighbouring Romance languages as Portuguese and Catalan:
- The initial [f], which had evolved into a vacillating [h], was lost in most words (although this etymological h- has been preserved in spelling).
- The voiced bilabial fricative [β] (written u or v) merged with the bilabial occlusive [b] (written b). Contemporary Spanish letters b and v do not correspond to different phonemes, nor to medieval-Spanish ones, as the spelling has been modified to reflect the etymological distribution of b and v in Latin.
- The voiced alveolar fricative [z] (written s between vowels) merged with the voiceless [s] (written s, or ss between vowels), now written s everywhere.
- Voiced alveolar affricate [ʣ] (written z) merged with the voiceless [ʦ] (written ç, or c before e and i), and then [ʦ] evolved into the interdental [θ], now written z, or c before e and i. But in Andalucia, the Canary Islands and the Americas these sounds merged with [s] as well. Notice that the ç (c with cedilla) was in its origin a Spanish letter.
- Note that in the Andalucian merger of [s] with [θ], the resulting unitary phoneme could be either. Coastal regions preferred [θ], and are called ceceo dialects. More inland regions preferred [s], and are called seseo dialects. The seseo region included Seville, the major Spanish port at that time (actually on a river, Guadalquivir); and hence most of those who were destined to settle the new worlds stayed for a while in Seville before heading off, and nearby locals supplied many of the seamen and other hands on ship. It should not be surprising, then, that the entire Spanish-speaking new world speaks a language derived, essentially, from the language of Seville.
- The voiced postalveolar fricative [ʒ] (written j, or g before e and i) merged with the voiceless [ʃ] (written x, as in Quixote), and then [ʃ] evolved by the 17th century into the modern velar sound [x], now written j, or g before e and i.
The consonantal system of Medieval Spanish has been better preserved in Ladino, the language spoken by the descendants of the Sephardic Jews, who were expelled from Spain in the 15th century.
Later is the merger, in most dialects, of the palatal lateral and non-lateral consonants [ʎ] and (historical) [j] into a single non-lateral consonant, generally a palatal fricative (but also postalveolar and/or affricate in some dialects). This merger is called yeísmo (from the name of the letter y). (Hammond 2001)
References
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