External links -
Spanish Wikibook (http://wikibooks.org/wiki/Spanish)
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Basic Spanish Words + Translator (http://members.aol.com/alvareze/spanish/frame.html)
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PDF: A history of the Spanish language (http://assets.cambridge.org/0521805872/sample/0521805872WS.pdf)
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Usage of Tenses (http://www.econ.jhu.edu/people/tchaidze/SPANGRAM/tenses.html#correspondence)
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Ethnologue report for Spanish (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=SPN)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_verbs"
Phonology
Main article: Spanish phonology
The consonantal system of Castilian Spanish, by the 16th century, underwent the following important changes that differentiated it from some nearby Romance languages, such as Portuguese, Valencian and Catalan:
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The initial /f/, that had evolved into a vacillating /h/, was lost in most words (although this etymological h- has been preserved in spelling).
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The voiced labiodental fricative /v/ (that was written 'u' or 'v') merged with the bilabial oclusive /b/ (written 'b'). Orthographically, 'b' and 'v' do not correspond to different phonemes in contemporary Spanish, excepting some areas in Spain, particularly the ones influenced by Catalan/Valencian and some Andalusia.
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The voiced alveolar fricative /z/ (that was written 's' between vowels) merged with the voiceless /s/ (that was written 's', or 'ss' between vowels), and these are now written 's' everywhere.
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The voiced alveolar affricate /dz/ (that was written 'z') merged with the voiceless /ts/ (that was written 'ç,ce,ci'), and then /ts/ evolved into the interdental /θ/, now written 'z,ce,ci'. But in Andalucia, the Canary Islands and the Americas these sounds merged with /s/ as well. Notice that the 'ç' or 'c with cedilla' was in its origin a Spanish letter, although is no longer used.
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The voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/ (that was written 'j,ge,gi') merged with the voiceless /ʃ/ (that was written 'x', as in 'Quixote'), and then /ʃ/ evolved by the 17th century into the modern velar sound /x/, now written 'j,ge,gi'.
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.
By the 16th century the consonantal system of Castilian Spanish underwent the following important changes that differentiated it from some neighbouring Romance languages, such as Portuguese and Catalan):
-
The initial [f], that had evolved into a vacillating [h], was lost in most words (although this etymological h- has been preserved in spelling)
-
The voiced bilabial fricative [v] (that was written 'u' or 'v') merged with the bilabial oclusive [b] (written 'b'). Contemporary Spanish letters 'b' and 'v' do not correspond to different phonemes, nor to medieval-Spanish ones.
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The voiced alveolar fricative [z] (that was written 's' between vowels) merged with the voiceless [s] (that was written 's', or 'ss' between vowels), now written 's' everywhere.
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Voiced alveolar affricate [ʣ] (that was written 'z') merged with the voiceless [ʦ] (that was written 'ç', 'ce', 'ci'), and then [ʦ] evolved into the interdental [θ], now written 'z', 'ce', 'ci'. But in Andalucia, the Canary Islands and the Americas these sounds merged with [s] as well. Notice that the 'ç' or 'cedilla' was in its origin a Spanish letter.
-
The voiced postalveolar fricative [ʒ] (that was written 'j', 'ge', 'gi') merged with the voiceless [ʃ] (that was written 'x', as in Quixote), and then [ʃ] evolved by the 17th century into the modern velar sound [x], now written 'j', 'ge', 'gi'.
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.
Spanish has many allophones, so it is important here to distinguish phonemes (written in slashes / /) and corresponding allophones (written in brackets [ ]).
Plosives
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Phoneme
|
Sound
|
Spelling
|
Allophones
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/p/
|
voiceless bilabial plosive
|
"p" (pipa)
|
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/b/
|
voiced bilabial plosive
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"b" (burro) or "v" (vaca)
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[b] appears initially 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.
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/t/
|
voiceless dental plosive
|
"t" (tomate)
|
|
/d/
|
voiced dental plosive
|
"d" (dedo)
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[d] appears initially or after nasals (donde), aproximant [ð̞] elsewhere (nido, la deuda). In Spain it is usually omitted in the endings -ado, -ada, -ados, and -adas (manadas: [maˈnaːs]), and less frecuently in endings -ido and -idos. In Latin America 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/.
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/k/
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voiceless velar plosive
|
"c" (casa), "qu" (queso), "k" (kiosko)
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/g/
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voiced velar plosive
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"g" (gato), "gu" (guerra).
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[g] appears initially or after nasals (ganga), aproximant [ɰ] elsewhere (lago, la garganta).
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Fricatives
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/s/
|
voiceless alveolar fricative
|
"s" (sapo)
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In Northern/Central Spain and Antioquia, Colombia it is apico-alveolar; in Southern Spain and most of Latin America it is alveolar or dental [s].
It becomes the aproximant [ɹ] before a rhotic (israelita: [iɹraeˈlita]). In many places it is [h] in final position (niños), or before another consonant (fósforo). 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 northern Spain and 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 northern and central Spain 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 an slightly voiced allophone /ð̞/ before voiced consonants (juzgado: /xuð̞ˈgao/ or /xuð̞ˈgað̞o/ - 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])
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/ʝ/
|
voiced palatal fricative
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"y" (yo, yerro, yerba); See also /ʎ/ below
|
after /n/ it is affricate.
In Argentina and Uruguay it has a [ʒ] or [ʤ] sound.
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Affricates
|
/ʧ/
|
voiceless postalveolar affricate
|
"ch" (chino). In words of English origin it may be spelled "sh": show = [ʧow]
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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
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In Latin-American Spanish there are five nasal sounds, but they have almost complementary distribution. The only case where there is a phonematic distinction (at least for three of them) is between vowels: como, cono, coño. Castilian Spanish tends to better preserve phonematic distinction, although in rapid or informal speech, it can tend toward the patterns below.
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Here the interpretation that preconsonantal /n/ has all other sounds as allophones is used.
|
/m/
|
bilabial nasal
|
"m" (mano)
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(1) It occurs only before vowels. Before consonants the [m] sound is part of the /n/ archiphoneme
álbum: [ˈalbun]; réquiem: [ˈrɛkjen]
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/n/
|
alveolar nasal
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"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 not defined the point of articulation. 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.
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Here the interpretation that /m/ and /ɲ/ are separate phonemes is used.
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/m/
|
bilabial nasal
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"m" (mano), "n" on separate words (un perro).
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See (1) above.
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/n/
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alveolar nasal
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"n" (noche, anterior).
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See (2) above.
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/ɲ/
|
palatal nasal
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"ñ" (niño), "n" (cónyuge, un llavero).
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See (3) above.
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Laterals
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/l/
|
alveolar lateral approximant
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"l" (largo).
|
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/ʎ/
|
palatal lateral approximant
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"ll" (lluvia).
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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 not bilingual regions of northern Spain.
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Rhotics
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In Spanish there are two rhotic sounds, but they have an almost complementary distribution. Cases where there is a phonematic distinction is between vowels: caro and carro, and 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 derivated words).
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Here the interpretation that /ɾ/ in initial position has an allophone [r] is used.
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/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/ archphoneme.
(6) In some parts of Latin America, mainly in Ecuador and northern Argentina, it is pronounced similar to [ʃ] (arriba: [aˈʃiβ̞a]).
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Here the interpretation that /r/ in initial position is a separate phoneme is used.
|
/ɾ/
|
alveolar flap
|
Spelled "r" (loro, abrazar).
|
See (5) above.
|
/r/
|
alveolar trill
|
"rr" (cerro), "r" (ratón, enredo, subrayar, israelita, alrededor)
|
See (6) above.
|
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's 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].
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/e/
|
close-mid front unrounded vowel
|
"e", "é"
|
In Andalucia final /es/ becomes [ɛ].
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/i/
|
close front unrounded vowel
|
"i", "í"
|
See /j/ above. In Andalucia final /is/ becomes [ɪ].
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/o/
|
close-mid back rounded vowel
|
"o", "ó"
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In Andalucia final /os/ becomes [ɔ].
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/u/
|
close back rounded vowel
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"u", "ú", "ü"
|
See semivowel /w/ above. In Andalucia final /us/ becomes [ʊ].
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Lexical stress
Spanish has a phonemic stress system — the place where stress will fall cannot be predicted by other features of the word, and two words can differ by just a change in stress. For example, the word camino (with penultimate stress) means "road" or "I walk" whereas caminó (with final stress) means "he/she/it walked". Also, since Spanish pronounces all syllables at a more or less constant tempo, it is said to be a syllable-timed language.
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