Spanish phonology

Spanish phonology

:"For assistance in making phonetic transcriptions of Spanish for Wikipedia articles, see ."This article is about the phonology of the Spanish language. It deals with current phonology and phonetics as well as with historical developments thereof, including geographical variants (for details, see the articles on History of the Spanish language and Spanish dialects and varieties).

Spanish has many allophones, so it is important here to distinguish phonemes (written in slashes / /) and corresponding allophones (written in brackets [ ] ).

Consonants

Spanish has five vowels IPA|/i/ /e/ /a/ /o/ /u/. Each occurs in both stressed and unstressed syllables: [Harvcoltxt|Martínez-Celdrán|Fernández-Planas|Carrera-Sabaté|2003|p=256]

There are also alternations between unstressed IPA|/e/ and IPA|/o/ and stressed IPA|/je/ and IPA|/we/ respectively: [Harvcoltxt|Harris|1969|p=26-27]

Likewise, the alveolar trill (IPA| [r] ) and alveolar tap (IPA| [ɾ] ) contrast intervocalically but are otherwise in complementary distribution: IPA| [r] is found after IPA|/l/, IPA|/n/, and IPA|/s/, before consonants, and utterance finally; IPA| [ɾ] is found elsewhere. [Harvcoltxt|Martínez-Celdrán|Fernández-Planas|Carrera-Sabaté|2003|p=258] [Harvcoltxt|Harris|1969|p=56] Alternations exist when a rhotic appears word-finally. With words like "amor", the rhotic manifests as the trill when said before a pause or a consonant-initial word as in "amor paterno" IPA| [ãˈmo̞r paˈte̞rno̞] ('paternal love') but as the tap when preceding a vowel-initial word as in "amor eterno" IPA| [ãˈmo̞ɾ e̞ˈte̞rno̞] . [Harvcoltxt|Harris|1969|p=56] There are also alternations occurring with suffixation, such as when nouns are pluralized: "amor" IPA| [ãˈmo̞r] vs. "amores" IPA| [ ãˈmo̞ɾe̞s] . [Harvcoltxt|Harris|1969|p=56]

In more casual speech, a preconsonantal rhotic is the tap rather than the trill thus "arma" ('gun') may be IPA| [ˈarma] or IPA| [ˈaɾma] . [Harvcoltxt|Harris|1969|p=56]

Other alternations include IPA|/ks/ ~ IPA|/x/ ("anexar" vs "anejo"), [Harvcoltxt|Harris|1969|p=188] IPA|/kt/ ~ IPA|/tʃ/ ("nocturno" vs "noche"), [Harvcoltxt|Harris|1969|p=189] as well as pairs that show antepenultimate stress in nouns and adjectives but penultimate stress in synonymous verbs ("vómito" 'vomit' vs "vomito" 'I vomit'). [Harvcoltxt|Harris|1969|p=97]

Phonotactics

Spanish syllable structure is (C)(L|R)V(C)(S) with a maximal example being the first syllable of "transporte".

Dialectal variation

One notable dialectal feature is the merging of IPA|/ʝ/ and IPA|/ʎ/ into one phoneme (yeísmo); in metropolitan areas of the Iberian Peninsula, IPA|/ʎ/ simply loses its laterality and in some South American countries, they are both realized as IPA| [ʒ] . [Harvcoltxt|Martínez-Celdrán|Fernández-Planas|Carrera-Sabaté|2003|p=258] Other dialectal variations include IPA|/x/ → IPA| [h] and the merging of IPA|/θ/ and IPA|/s/ in areas of Andalusia, Canary Islands, and Latin America (see ceceo for more information). [Harvcoltxt|Martínez-Celdrán|Fernández-Planas|Carrera-Sabaté|2003|p=258]

IPA|/s/ is also the subject of some variation; in most of Spain, it is apicoalveolar while it is laminal in Andalusia, Canary Islands, and Latin America. [Harvcoltxt|Martínez-Celdrán|Fernández-Planas|Carrera-Sabaté|2003|p=258] In some dialects, IPA|/s/ may become the approximant IPA| [ɹ] in the syllable coda ("doscientos": IPA| [do̞ɹˈθje̞nto̞s] 'two hundred'). [Harvcoltxt|Recasens|2004|p=436 citing Harvcoltxt|Fougeron|1999 and Harvcoltxt|Browman|Goldstein|1995] In many places it debuccalizes to IPA| [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, gemination may occur before IPA|/k/ or IPA|/f/ consonants ("pescado": IPA| [pe̞ˈkːaðo̞] or IPA| [pe̞ˈkːao̞] , "fósforo": IPA| [ˈfo̞fːo̞ro̞] ).Fact|date=January 2008

From an autosegmental point of view, the IPA|/s/ phoneme in Madrid is defined only by its "voiceless" and "fricative" features. This means that the point of articulation is not defined and is determined from the sounds following it in the word or sentence. Thus in Madrid the following realizations are found: IPA|/peskado/ → IPA| [pe̞xkao̞] and IPA|/fosforo/ → IPA| [fo̞fːo̞ro̞] ). In parts of southern Spain, the only feature defined for IPA|/s/ appears to be "voiceless"; [ [http://jotamartin.byethost33.com/alpi_aspira_e.php Isogloss map for "s aspiration" in the Iberian Peninsula] ] it may lose its oral articulation entirely to become IPA| [h] ) or even a geminate with the following consonant (IPA| [ˈmihmo̞] or IPA| [ˈmĩmmo̞] from IPA|/ˈmismo/ 'same'). [Harvcoltxt|Obaid|1973|p=62] In Eastern Andalusian Spanish, word-final IPA|/s/ and IPA|/x/ (phonetically IPA| [h] ) regularly weaken and the preceding vowel is lowered:: IPA|/is/ → IPA| [i̞] e.g. "mis" IPA| [mi̞] ('my' pl): IPA|/es/ → IPA| [ɛ] e.g. "mes" IPA| [mɛ] ('month'): IPA|/as/ → IPA| [æ̞] e.g. "más" IPA| [mæ̞] ('plus'): IPA|/os/ → IPA| [ɔ] e.g. "tos" IPA| [tɔ] ('cough'): IPA|/us/ → IPA| [u̞] e.g. "tus" IPA| [tu̞] ('your' pl)

A subsequent process of vowel harmony takes place so that "lejos" ('far') is IPA| [ˈlɛhɔ] , "tenéis" ('you all have') is IPA| [tɛˈnɛi] and "tréboles" ('clovers') is IPA| [ˈtɾɛβɔlɛ] or IPA| [ˈtɾɛβo̞lɛ] . [Harvcoltxt|Lloret|2007|p=24-25]

In Standard Castilian, voiced obstruents are devoiced before a pause as in IPA| [se̞ð̥] ('thirst'). [Harvcoltxt|Wetsels|Mascaró|2001|p=224 citing Harvcoltxt|Navarro Tomás|1961]

ee also

*History of the Spanish language
*List of phonetics topics
*Spanish dialects and varieties
*Spanish vocabulary

Notes

References

*citation
last = Abercrombie
first= David
year= 1967
title=Elements of General Phonetics
place=Edinburgh
publisher=Edinburgh University Press
*citation
last=Alarcos Llorach
first=Emilio
year=1950
title=Fonología Española
place=Madrid
publisher=Gredos
*citation
last=Bowen
first=J. Donald
last2=Stockwell
first2=Robert P.
year=1955
title=The Phonemic Interpretation of Semivowels in Spanish
journal=Language
volume=31
issue=2
pages=236-240
*citation
last=Browman
first=C.P.
last2=Goldstein
first=L.
editor-last=Bell-Berti
editor-first=F.
editor-last2=Raphael
editor-first2=L.J.
year=1995
chapter=Gestural syllable position in American English
title=Producing Speech: Contemporary issues for K Harris
place=New York
publisher=AIP
pages=9-33
*citation
last = Cressey
first= William Whitney
year= 1978
title=Spanish Phonology and Morphology: A Generative View
publisher=Georgetown University Press
ISBN=0878400451
*citation
last = Eddington
first= David
year= 2000
title=Spanish Stress Assignment within the Analogical Modeling of Language
journal=Language
volume=76
issue=1
pages=92-109
url= http://linguistics.byu.edu/faculty/eddingtond/STRESS.pdf
*citation
last=Fougeron
first=C
year=1999
chapter=Prosodically conditioned articulatory variation: A Review
title=UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics
volume=97
pages=1-73
*citation
last=Harris
first=James
year=1969
title=Spanish phonology
place=Cambridge
publisher=MIT Press
*citation
last=Lipski
first=J.M.
year=1994
title=Latin American Spanish
place=London
publisher=Longman
*citation
last=Lloret
first=Maria-Rosa
editor-last=Bisetto
editor-first=Antonietta
editor2-last=Barbieri
editor2-first=Francesco
year=2007
chapter=On the Nature of Vowel Harmony: Spreading with a Purpose
title=Proceedings of the XXXIII Incontro di Grammatica Generativa
pages=15-35
*citation
last=MacDonald
first=Marguerite
editor-last=Bjarkman
editor-first=Peter
editor2-last=Hammond
editor2-first=Robert
year=1989
chapter=The influence of Spanish phonology on the English spoken by United States Hispanics
title= [http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=BdW6Y5qPwSgC&oi=fnd& American Spanish pronunciation: Theoretical and applied perspectives] |place=Washington, DC
publisher=Georgetown University Press
pages=215–236
*citation
last = Martínez-Celdrán
first= Eugenio
last2 = Fernández-Planas
first2= Ana Ma.
last3 = Carrera-Sabaté
first3 = Josefina
year= 2003
title=Castilian Spanish
journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association
volume=33
issue=2
pages=255-259
*citation
last = Martínez-Celdrán
first= Eugenio
year= 2004
title=Problems in the Classification of Approximants
journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association
volume=34
issue=2
pages=201-210
*citation
last=Navarro Tomás
first=Tomás
year=1961
title=Manual de pronunciación española
edition=10th
place=Madrid
publisher=CSIC
*citation
last= Obaid
first= Antonio H.
year= 1973
title= The Vagaries of the Spanish 'S'
journal= Hispania
volume= 56
pages= 60–67
doi= 10.2307/339038
*citation
last=Ohala
first=John
last2=Lorentz
first2=James
editor-last=Whistler
editor-first=Kenneth
editor-last2=van Vahn
editor-first2=Robert Jr.
editor-last3=Chiarelloet
editor-first3=Chris
chapter=The story of [w] : An exercise in the phonetic explanation for sound patterns
title=Proceedings of the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society
place=Berkeley
publisher=Berkeley Linguistic Society
pages=577-599
*citation
last=Recasens
first=Daniel
year=2004
title=The effect of syllable position on consonant reduction (evidence fromCatalan consonant clusters)
journal=Journal of Phonetics
volume=32
pages=435-453
*citation
last = Saporta
first= Sol
year= 1956
title=A Note on Spanish Semivowels
journal=Language
volume=32
issue=2
pages=287-290
*citation
last=Trager
first=George
year=1942
title=The Phonemic Treatment of Semivowels
journal=Language
volume=18
issue=3
pages=220-223
*citation
last=Wetzels
first=W. Leo
last2=Mascaró
first2=Joan
year=2001
title=The Typology of Voicing and Devoicing
journal=Language
volume=77
issue=2
pages=207-244

Further reading

* cite book
last=Hammond
first=Robert M.
title=The Sounds of Spanish: Analysis and Application
location=Somerville, Massachusetts
publisher=Cascadilla Press
year=2001
ISBN=1-57473-018-5


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