Page 496 - diccionario

494
SPANISH GRAMMAR / GRAMÁTICA ESPAÑOLA
Spanish, or Castilian, as it is often and more precisely called, is the most widely spoken of the Romance languages – the group of languages
derived from Latin which includes French, Italian and Portuguese. Outside Spain, it is the language of all of South America, except Brazil and the
Guainas; of México, Central America , and most of the West Indies; to some except, of the Philippines and Guam, as well as of some areas of the
African coast and within the USA.
Spanish has two noun forms, known as masculine and feminine. In this book we have placed the feminine from first, the masculine second. While
there is no difference between the two forms in terms of priority, language books have consistently placed the masculine first. We wanted to
counteract that preference. Ideally we´d have mixed orders, but as this would be confusing to readers new to the language we have stuck with the
feminine first throughout.
PRONUNCIATION
Pronunciation of Spanish is not difficult. There is a clear and consistent relationship between pronunciation and spelling, and English speakers will
find that many Spanish sounds are similar to their English counterparts. If you stick to the following rules you should have very few problems being
understood.
VOWELS
Unlike English, each of the vowels in Spanish has a uniform pronunciation which does not vary. For example, the Spanish a has one pronunciation
rather than the numerous pronunciations we find in English, such as the ´a´s in ´cake´, ´art´ and ´all´. Vowels are pronounced clearly, even in under
stressed positions or at the end of word.
a as the ´u´in ´nut´, or a shorter sound than the ´a´in ´art´. It represents [a], which is similar to the first vowel of mama, stressed on the first syllable.
Examples: casa, cano, ¡ah!, América. Even when not stressed, it has the same clear sound. English America has at least two neutral or schwa
sounds.
e as the ´e´ in ´met´. It represents [e], which has no exact equivalent in most English dialects. lt is higher than the /e/ of get but without the
diphthong of they. lt is more tense in articulation than either English sound. It varies slightly according to adjacent sounds. Generally is more
open in a closed syllable. Examples: mesa, hablé, pera
i similar to the ´i´ sound in ´marine´ but not so drawn out or strong; between that sound and the ´i´ in ´flip´. i as a single vowel always represents
[ i ], similar to the second vowel of police. Examples: hilo, camino, piso. As a part of a diphthong, it represents [j], much like English /y/ in yes, year.
Examples: bien [bjen], diablo [djablo], ciudad, baile, reina, boina. The first syllable of baile is much like by in English
o similar to the ´o´ in ´hot´. It represents [o], which is more like the Scotch-English sound of auld than the British or American old. It has no off-glide
or diphthongal character such as is heard in the latter. It varies slightly according to adjacent sounds: the first syllable of corro is slightly more
open than the first of coro. Sol is slightly more open than no. Examples: boto, modo, señor, oso, amó.
u as the ´oo´ in ´fool´. It represents [u], which always has the value of the sound indicated by English oo in boor, fool, never that of book, nor that of
the u in union. Examples: cura, agudo, uno.
Note: that the spelling combinations qui, que, gui, gue represent [ki], [ke], [gi], [ge].
u is used to represent the semiconsonant [w] in a diphthong: cuida, cuento, cuadro, cuota [kwída], [kwénto], [kwádro], [kwóta].
Likewise u is used to represent the semivocalic element of a diphthong: deuda, causa, [déwda], [káwsa].
PRONUNCIATION HINTS
Some of the key sound to remember are:
c which is hard, like ´k´ before a, o, u and consonants, but as the ´th´ in ´thub´ (that
lisping sound!) just about everywhere else.
ñ which is pretty easy to remember as the ´ny´ sound.
d is much softer than in English, almost a ´th´as in ´the´
and finally … remember that the vowels are short, not rounded as in British English, and not slanted as in American English.