Spanish pronunciation Theory & practice

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Spanish pronunciationTheory practice

• A Final Look at Mastering the Sounds of Spanish

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• If you have a hard time pronouncing certain
  Spanish sounds properly, do you have to give up
  and do the best you can, or is there sometimes a
  viable solution?
• Is it easier for you to learn Spanish, or a
  Spanish speaker to learn English?
• How many English sounds can you name that are
  exactly the same as Spanish?
• What is the hardest Spanish sound or sound
  pattern to produce for you personally?
• What is your most common pronunciation error in
  Spanish?

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errors

• When learning a 2nd language, we must realize
  that
• Errors are predictable
• Sounds are distributed differently
• Sounds function differently

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Some sounds of the target language do NOT exist
in the native language

• Spanish the trilled alveolar r
• Doesnt exist in any N. American dialect
• (Sometimes used in British Scottish English
  for emphasis)
• Sometimes substituted with the tap ? by
  English speakers which causes confusion in
  meaning.
• carro (car) ? caro (expensive)
• perro (dog) ? pero (but)

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More Spanish Examples

• Do NOT exist in N. American English
• Voiceless velar fricative x
• (often confused with k or h)
• Light alveolar l
• (often confused with dark, velarized l)
• Voiced bilabial fricative ß
• (often confused with labio-dental v)

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Some sounds of the native language (English) do
NOT exist in the target language (Spanish)

• Aspirated word-initial stops of English p t k
• English retroflex ?
• English dark velarized l
• English mid central vowel, schwa ?
• English typically elongates all vowels and
  dipthongs before voiced consonants sat-sad,
  face-faze, buck-bug, rip-rib
• English words are often separated or marked in
  the stream of speech by a pause-like feature
  (plus juncture //, a slight pause, or glottal
  stop) de español v. des-pa-ñol (Spanish)

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Phonemes of the native language exist as
allophones in the target language

• Sounds in English that are contrastive and
  phonemic exist in Spanish but as allophones of
  one phoneme.
• English has more phonemes than Spanish
• English speakers unnecessarily distinguish sound
  varieties in Spanish
• Spanish speakers accept phonemes as the same in
  English without realizing that they may be
  different
• vowel v. bowel

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Different phonemes

• b and v are phonemic in English but belong to
  the same phoneme in Spanish
• These two sounds are unique in English but sound
  the same in Spanish thus causing problems for the
  Spanish speaker to distinguish
• berry v. very
• TV v. TB

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Free deli berry

• Free Delivery

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More Phoneme Allophone Difficulties

• The Spanish d v. ð, English
• y v. j, and z v. s cause problems with
  both Spanish English speakers
• Spanish speakers have trouble distinguishing
  between den then, yellow jello, and sue zoo
• English speakers have trouble distinguishing
  between toro todo

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Regressive Assimilation

• Does not always occur in English
• tan goat normal alveolar n at the end
  of the first syllable
• Does occur in Spanish
• tengo have velar ? at the end of en
  Granada the first syllable

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Stressed Vowels

• English has almost no words with a single
  stressed vowel in syllable-final position.
  Stressed vowels are practically always followed
  by one of the three glides or semivowels /y w
  h/, as in see, go, poor
• English speakers learning Spanish mistakenly add
  these stresses
• Sí, yo, sé, tú síi, yó?, séi, tu?

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Stress to Distinguish Meaning

• English Spanish use stress to distinguish
  meaning, but Spanish rarely puts a heavy stress
  on phrase-bound forms, such as definite articles,
  short prepositions, and object pronouns. English
  speakers follow their thinking patterns
• He didnt ask you, he asked me!
• Yet in Spanish, it is incorrect to say
• No te lo preguntó, me lo preguntó.
• In Spanish, stress is expressed by recasting the
  sentence
• No te lo preguntó a ti, me lo preguntó a mí .

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Misc. influences

• Spanish cognates are often influenced by their
  English cognates - inserting consonants or vowels
  such as an unwanted i or o in words such as
• ridículo, regular, peculiar
• because of
• ridiculous, regular, peculiar
• Stress is also frequently displaced in words such
  as
• comunica teléfono

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More Misc. Influences

• Pitch Level
• English pitch level /4/ is used for emphasis
  and contrast but sounds too emphatic in Spanish
  where the maximum pitch level is /3/.
• Rhythm
• English has an uneven stress-timed rhythm with
  long and short syllables whereas in Spanish, the
  stress-timed rhythm of syllables is the same
  length.
• Rhythm with the added English schwa ? often
  makes words difficult to understand
• calor v. color, generoso v. generosa, hablaron
  v. hablaran
• Distinction
• Confusion between /Ø/ /s/ in Spain It is
  better to not use the distinction than to use it
  improperly.
• Intonation
• Spanish generally uses a falling intonation
  with short elements that follow longer
  sentences Buenos días, Federico.
• English generally uses a rising intonation
  Mary Ellen, please.

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Classification of Errors

• Class A Critical Errors
• Highest Priority
• Demand the greatest amount of attention
• Most difficult pronunciation where pronunciation
  is essential to understanding
• Can impede communication
• Phonemic contrast is not observed
• Can be considered annoying or distracting to a
  native speaker
• Examples Substituting the English schwa ?
  for vowels such as o or a hermana or
  hermano
• Aspirated stops especially in word-initial
  position paño, toma, cosa
• Use of English flap instead of Spanish
  intervocalic cata-cara, codo-coro
• Use of English retroflex in place of Spanish
  tap and trill caro- carro,
  enterado-enterrado
• Adding semi-vowels or glides to all stressed
  vowels le-ley, pena- peina, vente-veinte

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Big Bopparu

• Vicks Vapor Rub

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Classification of Errors

• Class B Serious but not Critical
• Not natural at first but not particularly
  difficult to articulate with practice
• Failure to make sounds is noticeable but not
  annoying or distracting
• Examples Elongating stressed vowels ká-sa
• Use of English vowels that dont exist in
  Spanish æ blurs meaning distinction
  hombre hambre
• Misplacement of stress imagino, deposito
• Turning a diphthong into 2 syllables fuera
  (fu-e-ra),
• adiós (a-di-os)
• Failure to use appropriate rise fall in
  intonation
• Use of the occlusive instead of the
  fricative b v. ß, d v. ð
• Misuse of pitch

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Classification of Errors

• Class C Important but not Serious
• Mistakes are often ignored by native speakers
• Still sound relatively good, even with errors
• Frosting on the Cake
• Examples Confusion of /Ø/ /s/
• Use of s instead of z before voiced
  consonants mismo
• Use of a terminal rise after vocative
  tag phrases
• Failure to assimilate nasals with p, ch, g
  un peso, un chico, un gato

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So, why do they say Spanish is the easiest 2nd
language to learn

• Many English cognates
• Many borrowed words from Spanish
• Spanish spelling represents the spoken language
  more accurately and consistently than that of
  other languages commonly studied by North
  Americans

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Whats the best way to learn?

• Effort
• and
• Practice
• Practice
• practice

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The End
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