Pronunciation of the Spanish language

The pronunciation of the Spanish language , fonología del español , differs considerably from that of the German language . So z. B. in Spanish many rubbing and dental sounds , consonantes fricativas y dentales, which are foreign to German. Many Spanish consonants have to be pronounced differently than in German in order to be understood or to prevent misunderstandings.

Relationship between pronunciation and spelling

With a few exceptions, the spelling of a Spanish word means that its pronunciation is precisely defined. Conversely, by hearing a word, one can largely infer the spelling.

Accordingly, foreign words in Spanish are usually adapted to the Spanish spelling very quickly if they are not replaced by purely Spanish words. So it goes without saying to use English expressions like “whiskey” or “standard”, “güisqui” or “estándar”. Even abbreviations like “CD-ROM” can transform into “cederrón” as it is spoken.

Due to rules that assign different sound values to a letter depending on the environment, the spelling of a sound can change if the environment of the sound in the word changes, just to signal the same pronunciation:

c → z: vencer (siegen) - ven z o
g → j: dirigir (to steer) - diri j o
g → gu: pagar (numbers) - pa gu é
gu → g: distinguir (distinguish) - distin g o
gu → gü: aguar (to water) - a gü é
z → c: cruzar (to cross) - cru c e
c → qu: empacar (pack up) - empaque

With diphthongs in the infinitive, the emphasis in the presente can be different:

evacuar (evacuate): ev a cuo
acentuar (accentuate): acent ú o

A y is often inserted between u and o:

construír (build): constru y o

In the verb oler (smell), when it diphthongs into -ue- , put an h at the beginning of the word:

oler: hue lo

Emphasis

Spanish words are usually stressed on the penultimate syllable when they end in a vowel or the letter n or s . They are stressed on the last syllable when they end in a consonant (except n and s). In all other cases, the emphasis is indicated by an accent ( acute ).

Vowels

Vowels are divided into posterior or velar and anterior or palatal vowels . In the simple vowel system like Latin , the ancestral language of Spanish, / u /, / o / and / a / were the back, / e / and / i / were the front vowels.

In terms of articulation, the vowels are described according to the point of articulation, the position of the tongue, altura de la lengua , the position of the mouth, abertura de las mandíbulas , the position of the lips, posición de la lengua and the passage of the airflow depending on the position of the soft palate, posición del velo del paladar . With only five vowel phonemes: / i / / u / / e / / o / / a /, the Spanish phoneme system shows a much smaller variety than the German with sixteen vowel phonemes: / i / / y / / I / / Y / / e / / ø / / ε / / ε: / / u / / U / etc.

In Spanish, unlike in German, there is no distinction between short and long vowels. The vowels are always spoken halfway. In the case of a vowel initial sound, the cracking sound typical of German does not apply .

Measurements of the first formants of the Spanish vowels (Bradlow, 1995); in assignment to the frequencies ( Hz ) ( articulation )

Formants of the vowels F1 and F2
vocal	Formant F1	Formant F2
u	320 Hz	800 Hz
O	500 Hz	1000 Hz
å	700 Hz	1150 Hz
a	1000 Hz	1400 Hz
ö	500 Hz	1500 Hz
ü	320 Hz	1650 Hz
Ä	700 Hz	1800 Hz
e	500 Hz	2300 Hz
i	320 Hz	3200 Hz

Vowel formants
vocal	Main area of the formants
/ u /	200 to 400 Hz
/O/	400 to 600 Hz
/ a /	800 to 1200 Hz
/ e /	400 a 600 y 2200 a 2600 Hz
/ i /	200 a 400 y 3000 a 3500 Hz

The a-sound is similar to the German short (open) a, while the i-sound and u-sound are similar to the long (closed) vowels in German. The e-sound and the o-sound of Spanish have a medium height and therefore no exact counterpart in standard German.

Monophthongs

Spanish has five monophthongs .

Monophthongs of Spanish
	front	central	back
closed	i		u
medium	e̞		O
open		Ä

Pronunciation aid for German speakers:

a ([ä]), spoken as in the German word Fass
e ([e̞]), spoken slightly more closed than in the word bed
i ([i]), spoken half as long as in the German word Lied
o ([o̞]), spoken slightly more closed than in the word God
u ([u]), spoken half as long as in the German word courage

Diphthongs

**Diphthongs of the Spanish language**
IPA	example	meaning	Pronunciation aid for German speakers
Falling
egg	r ey	king	like ai in the English word pain
äi̯	ai re	air	like ei in the German word klein
o̞i̯	h oy	today	like eu in the German word today
ui̯	m uy	very	like ui in the German word pfui
e̞u̯	n eu tro	neutral	like eu one after the other, but not like the german eu
äu̯	p au sa	Break	like au in the German word house
o̞u̯	b ou		like o in the English word home ( American English !)
Increasing
je̞	t ie rra	earth	as ever
yes	hac ia	towards (up)	like yes
jo̞	rad io	radio	like yo
ju	v iu there	widow	like ju
wi	f ui mos	we went	like English w + i (exceptions: gui → gi ; qui → ki )
we̞	f ue go	Fire	like English w + e (exceptions: gue → ge ; que → ke )
wä	c ua dro	image	like English w + a
Where	c uo ta	Quota	like English w + o

In some cases in which a syllable begins with Gue or Gui, a trema (dieresis) is used to clearly identify the pronunciation : guey is pronounced like [ gei̯ ], güey is pronounced like [ gwei̯ ].

Triphthongs

Triphthongs in Spanish are: uei ( uey ) [we̞j], as it occurs in the word buey ("ox") and uai ( uay ) [wäj], as in the word Uruguay .

Consonants

The Spanish language has 24 consonants . The fricatives [β ð ɣ] are allophones of / bdg / .

Spanish consonants (Castilian)
	bilabial	labio- dental	dental	alveolar	post- alveolar	palatal	velar
Plosives	p b		t̪ d̪				k g
Affricates					tʃ	ɟ͡ʝ
Nasals	m			n		ɲ	ŋ
Flaps / Vibrants				ɾ r
Fricatives		f	θ	s̺		( ʝ )	x
Approximants	β̞		ð̞			j	w ɰ
Lateral approx.				l		( ʎ )

Source: SAMPA for Spanish

A distinction between the sounds / ʎ / and / ʝ / or / j / is not made in the entire Spanish-speaking area, see the article on Yeísmo .

Consonant (grapheme, notation)	IPA (loud)	approximate equivalent	description	comment
B, b	b	German b [b]	voiced bilabially explosive	at the beginning of the word and after m / n ( m )
B, b	β̞	Mean between v [v] and b [b] with reduced friction	voiced bilabial approximant	at all other positions
C, c	k	unaspirated German k [kʰ]	unvoiced velar explosive	before a [ä], o [o̞], u [u]
C, c	θ	engl. th [θ]	unvoiced dental fricative	C, c (before e [e̞], i [i]) is spoken in Latin America and southern Spain [s̻], which is also understood in Spain and can serve as a substitute pronunciation.
Ch, ch	ʧ	entlabialisiertes dt. lish [ʧʷ]	unvoiced palato-alveolar affricate
D, d	d̪	dental dt. d [d]	voiced dental explosive	at the beginning of the word and after l [l] and n [n] It is omitted between vowels in some dialects.
D, d	ð̞	engl. th [ð] with reduced friction	voiced dental approximant	at all other positions
F, f	f	German f	unvoiced labiodental fricative
G, g	G	German g [g]	voiced velar explosive	at the beginning of the word and after n ([ŋ])
	ɰ	Voiced German ch [x] with reduced friction	voiced velar approximant	before a [ä], o [o̞], u [u] and after consonants (except n [ŋ])
	x	German ch [x]	voiceless velar fricative	in Latin America and southern Spain [h]
H, h				the h is not spoken in Spanish
J, j	x	German ch [x]	unvoiced velar fricative	in Latin America and southern Spain [h]
K, k	k	unaspirated German k [kʰ]	unvoiced velar explosive	only in foreign words
L, l	l	German l [l]	voiced lateral alveolar approximate	at all other positions
L, l	l̪	dental German l [l]	voiced lateral dental approximant	before d and t
Ll, ll	ʎ ( [⁠ j ⁠] )	dt. j [j]	voiced, lateral, palatal, approximate (voiced, palatal, approximate)
M, m	m	German m [m]	voiced bilabial nasal
N, n	n	German n [n]	voiced alveolar nasal	at all other positions
	[⁠ m ⁠]	German m [m]	voiced bilabial nasal	before bilabials ([m], [b], [p])
	[⁠ ŋ ⁠]	German ng [ŋ]	voiced velar nasal	in front of velars ([g], [k])
Ñ, ñ	ɲ	Mean between ng [ŋ] and j [j]	voiced palatal nasal
P, p	p	unaspirated German p [pʰ]	unvoiced bilabial explosive
Qu, qu	k	unaspirated German k [kʰ]	unvoiced velar explosive	qu corresponds to the Spanish k and c (before [ä], o [o̞], u [u])
R, r	ɾ		voiced alveolar flap	at all other positions
R, r	[⁠ r ⁠]		voiced alveolar vibrant	at the beginning of the word and after n [n], l [l] and s [s̺]
rr	r		voiced alveolar vibrant
S, s	s̺	apical German s [s]	unvoiced apical alveolar fricative
T, t	[ t̪ ]	unaspirated dental German t [t]	unvoiced dental explosive
V, v	b	dt. b	voiced bilabial explosive	at the beginning of the word and after m / n ( m )
V, v	β̞	Mean between v [v] and b [b] with reduced friction	voiced bilabial approximant	at all other positions
W, w	b	dt. b	voiced bilabial explosive	w occurs only in foreign words and is mostly pronounced like the Spanish v or gu (or gü before e and i )
W, w	β̞	Mean between v [v] and b [b] with reduced friction	voiced bilabial approximant	at all other positions
X, x	ks̺	unaspirated German [k] and apical German [s] as x		x is usually pronounced like ks ([ks̺]), rarely also [s̺] or hist. [x], e.g. B. México
Y	j	dt. j	voiced palatal approximant
Z	θ	engl. th	unvoiced dental fricative	Z, z is spoken in Latin America and southern Spain [s̻], which is also understood in Spain and can serve as a substitute pronunciation.

Historical developments

The Spanish consonant system has seen numerous changes since the 16th century ( Middle Spanish ):

the Latin / ⁠ f ⁠ / extending to anlautendem [⁠ h ⁠] had changed, stopped (however, was preserved in the spelling).
the voiced fricative bilabiale / ⁠ .beta. ⁠ / (generally written with u or v ) coincided with the bilabial voiced plosive / ⁠ b ⁠ / together. The letters v and b nowadays neither stand for different sounds, nor for sounds of medieval Spanish. It is an etymological distinction with roots in Latin .
the voiced alveolar fricative [⁠ for ⁠] (posing as s writes between vowels or wrote) coincided with the voiceless [⁠ s ⁠] together (originally between vowels ss written).
the voiced fricative alveolar [⁠ ʣ ⁠] (written z ) coincided with [⁠ ʦ ⁠] together (written with cedillas ç , or c before the vowels e and i ). [⁠ ʦ ⁠] is then shifted to [⁠ thetav ⁠] , which is for writing, or c when e or i precedes. In America , Andalusia and the Canary Islands this was also sound with [⁠ s ⁠] together ( seseo ).
[⁠ ʒ ⁠] (written j or g before e or i ) was voiced fricative postalveolar , but fell with the unvoiced / ⁠ ʃ ⁠ / together (written x , z. B. at Quixote ), and was in the 17th century to the present velar sound [⁠ x ⁠] . In many countries of Latin America , these letters stand for the sound [⁠ h ⁠] .

Not too long ago, both in parts of Spain and America , a collapse of the palatal lateral and lateral consonants not take (it originally had [⁠ ʎ ⁠] and [⁠ j ⁠] , now only [⁠ j ⁠] ). This coincidence is called yeísmo , after the letter y.

Audio sample

Adiós, hasta mañana. ^{? / i} (27 kB) - "Goodbye, see you tomorrow."
¿Qué hay de nuevo? ^{? / i} (24 kB) - "What's new?"
Yo estoy bien, gracias, ¿y tú? ^{? / i} (29 kB) - "Thank you, I'm fine, and you?"

Spoken by a resident of Madrid .

Examples: The Little Prince in Spanish

Spain

(Barcelona, Spain)

Mexico

(Sinaloa, Mexico)

literature

Antonio Quilis, Joseph A. Fernández: Curso de fonética y fonología españolas. Madrid 1996.
Emilio Alarcos Llorach : Fonología española. Gredos, Madrid 1950
A. Hidalgo Navarro, M. Quilis Marín: Fonética y fonología españolas. (2nd edición), Tirant lo Blanch, Valencia 2004
José Ignacio Hualde : The sounds of Spanish. Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Eugenio Martínez Celdrán : Fonología general y española. Teide, Barcelona 1989
Eugenio Martínez Celdrán: Fonología funcional del español (chap. 7) In M. Alvar (ed.): Introducción a la lingüística española. Ariel, Barcelona 2000, pp. 139-153.
Ralph Penny : Gramática histórica del español Ariel, Barcelon from 1993, ISBN 84-344-8265-7 .
Daniel Reimann : Language description Spanish. December 2016 ( PDF 20, 6 MB; 32 pages on uni-due.de)

Individual evidence

↑ Manuel Alvar (ed.): Manual de dialectología hispánica: el español de España. Ariel, Barcelona 1996, ISBN 84-344-8217-7
↑ Reinhard Meyer-Herman: Spanish. In: Thorsten Roelcke (Hrsg.): Variation Typologie / Variation Typology. A Typological Handbook of European Languages Past an Present. De Gruyter, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-11-016083-8 , pp. 449–479, excerpt, online (PDF)
↑ Christianlehmann.eu
↑ Ursula Hirschfeld: Spanish. University of Leipzig, pp. 4–5 [1]
↑ ^a ^b Spanish ( English ) University College London. March 18, 1996. Retrieved January 22, 2019.

[1] Manuel Alvar (ed.): Manual de dialectología hispánica: el español de España. Ariel, Barcelona 1996, ISBN 84-344-8217-7

[2] Reinhard Meyer-Herman: Spanish. In: Thorsten Roelcke (Hrsg.): Variation Typologie / Variation Typology. A Typological Handbook of European Languages Past an Present. De Gruyter, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-11-016083-8 , pp. 449–479, excerpt, online (PDF)

[3] Christianlehmann.eu

[4] Ursula Hirschfeld: Spanish. University of Leipzig, pp. 4–5 [1]

[sampa-5] Spanish ( English ) University College London. March 18, 1996. Retrieved January 22, 2019.