What you need to know to improve pronunciation of Spanish
D. Eric Holt
University of South Carolina
[email protected]
Introduction:
• Pronunciation is part of the (unconscious, intuitive) knowledge that a native speaker
has about his/her language.
•
Three brief examples:
1. Possible sequences of sounds:
English
Arabic
Spanish
strid
√
*
*
bnid
*
√
*
cf. Polish zloty (currency)
* And how to fix bad sequences: estrid, nid / benid
1. An example from English: Plurals of words. How many are there? How is the plural
formed?
truck[s]
rug[z]
crash[Iz]
This is true even of invented words: snick[s]
shub[z]
flish[Iz]
3. Myth: “Spanish is pronounced as it's written”. False! (But the native speaker knows
this.)
Examples: un perro
un cerro
un ñandú
un gato
•
n = [m]
n = [n1] (nθ, as in English tenth)
n = [ñ]
n = [N] (like English bank)
Consequently, when I talk about "improvement of pronunciation of Spanish", I mean
"How to make the sounds I make more like those a native speaker uses intuitively".
Three areas for today:
1. Vowels
1. Consonants
1. Syllabification
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How to improve pronunciation of Spanish
1999 SCFLTA Meeting
Dr. D. Eric Holt
Page 2 of 6
Vowels:
•
There are only five vowel sounds (and letters) in Spanish: / i e a o u /
•
In English there are at least 12 vowels, which presented in visual form are:
iy
uw
I
U
ey ∧ ´ ow
E
ç
æ a
beat
bit
bait
bet
bat
putt
boot
but
boat, no
bought
cot, father
•
The ‘long vowels’ of English are really diphthongs (two vowel sounds
pronounced as a unit): [iy, ey, uw, ow]
•
In English, all unstressed vowels lose their unique personality and come out as
‘schwa’ [´]:
atom [æ]
•
vs.
atomic [´]
invite [ay]
invitation [´]
clone [ow]
etc.
clonation [´]
Schwa does not exist in Spanish!
• Problems:
(i)
Pronouncing all vowels as schwa destroys the contrast between various
words (besides sounding really bad):
amigo
diría
meses
cantaron
(ii)
amiga
daría
mesas
cantaran
'friend' masc., fem.
'I/she would say', 'I/she would give'
'months', 'tables'
'they sang', '(that) they sing (subj.)'
Spanish vowels should be 'pure', shorter, with more muscular tension.
Otherwise, it doesn't sound native(-like).
/i/ is pronounced more like the first part of the vowel in
/u/
/o/
/e/
beat.
boot.
boat.
bate
freight
/a/ is very similar to the first vowel of father, but is shorter, tenser.
[iy]
[uw]
[ow]
[ey]
si
su
no
se
mis
sus
lo
le
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How to improve pronunciation of Spanish
1999 SCFLTA Meeting
Dr. D. Eric Holt
Page 3 of 6
•
Extra danger for / e /:
If it's pronounced as in English, confusion of meaning can result:
le
reno
ves
•
ley
'to him/her' 'law'
reino 'reindeer'
'kingdom'
veis 'you (sg.) see' 'you (pl.) see'
¡OJO!: [ey] does indeed exist in Spanish, BUT ONLY WHEN IT IS
WRITTEN THAT WAY (either as ey, as in ley, rey, or as ei, as in reino, seis).
Exercises:
Dalbor 146-148 (/a e o/): A, B, C, D
154-156 (/i/): A, B, C, D
162-165 (/u/): A, B, C, D
Consonants:
1. English: aspiration de / p t k / ph
* an extra puff of air
th
kh
pit
tack
car
vs.
p
t
k
spit
stack
scar
Exercises:
Barrutia 325
Teschner 143
2. / t d / are not pronounced identically in Spanish and English:
English: tip of tongue in contact with the alveolar ridge, the protuberance
behind the upper front teeth.
Spanish: tip of tongue in contact with the back of the front teeth.
3. The letters b, v represent the exact same sound, / b /.
4. / b d g / are pronounced two slightly different ways, depending on the phonetic context:
[ β δ γ ] ‘soft' (fricative, spirant)
[ b d g ] ‘hard' (stop, occlusive)
b
m _____
n _____
|| _____
ambos
enviudar
Vamos
β
Any other context
V ____ V
abierto, ella baila bien
-br-, -blabrir, cable
_____ #
club
d
n _____
l _____
|| _____
viendo, un dado
falda
Dámelo
δ
Any other context
V _____ V todo, una dama
-drPedro
_____ #
red, ciudad
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How to improve pronunciation of Spanish
1999 SCFLTA Meeting
Dr. D. Eric Holt
Page 4 of 6
g
n _____
|| _____
γ
manga
Goya vive allá
Any other context
V _____ V haga
-gr-, -glagradecer, la gloria
Exercises:
Dalbor 212-214: A, B, C, D, F
Syllabification:
1.
Spanish is pronounced as if all words were pronounced as a single word, with
no boundary between them. (‘enlace’, ‘linking’)
English:
Night rate
Why choose
Spanish:
las aves 'the birds'
la sabes 'you know it'
•
vs.
nitrate
white shoes
[ la-sa-βes ]
[ la-sa-βes ]
Affects the pronunciation of /n/ when it ends a word -- /n/ ASSIMILATES
to a following consonant. (Cf. the "myth" above.)
Exercises:
Dalbor 133-134: A, B
2.
‘ambisillabicity’ in English of a medial consonant after an stressed vowel.
* ¡No en español!
Very
Eric
Writer
Apple
Hello
ver-ry
Er-ric
writ-ter
ap-ple
hel-lo
List of common errors in the pronunciation of Spanish: (From Camino oral, ch. 7.)
Vowels and Dipthongs:
El monoptongo nunca se convierte en diptongo
No hay reducción vocálica a schwa
ex. sí = [si], not [siy]
ex. casa = [ka-sa], not [ka-s´]
Vowels across syllables and words:
No hay golpes de glotis ('glottal stops')
El diptongo nunca se divide en dos sílabas
ex. el árbol = [e-lar-bol], not [el-/ar-bol]
ex. bien = [bjen], not [bi-yen]
Dr. D. Eric Holt
Page 5 of 6
Consonants:
No se aspiren las consonantes [p t k]
Consérvese la dentalidad de [t d]
Pronúnciese [β δ γ] como fricativas
No se emplee el alófono sonoro [z] excepto
ante consonantes sonoras
Evítase la palatalización [š] o [č] de los grafemas
"ci", "si" y "ti" en las combinaciones
"-ción", "-sión" y "-tión"
El grafema "u" nunca se pronuncia [ju]
(con deslizada inicial)
El grafema "h" nunca tiene sonido
El fonema / l / no tiene alófonos velares
como en inglés [i.e., no 'dark l']
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How to improve pronunciation of Spanish
1999 SCFLTA Meeting
ex. petaca = [pe-ta-ka], not [phe-tha-kha]
ex. Tomás, David
ex. ave, Adán, haga
ex. mismo, not casa
ex. fusión, acción, cuestión
ex. humor, mula, Hugo
ex. hola, hablar
ex. alma, lagarto, sol
Sources of pronunciation errors:
(From Spanish Pronunciation: Theory and Practice, ch. 32.)
The sounds of the target language do not exist in the native language.
• [r#]
• [l] (not [ł])
• [x]
• [β]
The sounds of the native language do not exist in the target language.
• [ph, th, kh]
• English bunched (retroflex) [r]
• English 'dark l' ([ł])
• Open o ([ç]) (hombre, hambre can end up homophonous)
• Schwa [´] (about)
• Glottal stop [/] (button)
The phonemes of the native language exist in the target language as allophones.
• [b] and [v] (berry and very different for us; tuvo, tubo not in Spanish)
• [d] and [δ] (ladder, lather; Sp. un dado)
• [s] and [z] (fussy, fuzzy; Sp. mismo)
Allophones in the native language are phonemes in the target language.
• "flap" [D] (moro--moto--modo may end up pronounced identically.)
Some phonemes and allophones in both languages have different distributions.
• [s, z]; pronunciation of /n/ + C (tan goat, tango, ingrown); etc.
Miscellaneous influences of the native language on the target language.
• pronunciation of cognate words influenced by English (gracias, cordial, hospital)
• stress levels
• rhythm
Dr. D. Eric Holt
Page 6 of 6
How to improve pronunciation of Spanish6
1999 SCFLTA Meeting
Class A errors -- Critical
• schwa
• 'dark l'
• observing word boundaries: pauses, glottal stops, lack of linking, assimilation
• ph, th, kh
• using flap [D] instead of Sp. /t d/
• making stressed vowels diphthongs (sí, me, tú, yo)
Class B errors -- Serious, but non-critical
Class C errors -- Important but not serious
Recommended Reading:
Dalbor, John B. 1997. Spanish Pronunciation: Theory and Practice. 3rd ed. Holt, Rinehart
and Winston. (Comes with tapes.)
Teschner, Richard V. 1996. Camino oral: Fonética, fonología y práctica de los sonidos
del español. McGraw Hill. (Comes with tapes.)
Barrutia, Richard and Armin Schwegler. 1994. Fonética y fonología españolas: teoría y
práctica. New York: Wiley.
Whitley, M. Stanley. 1989. Spanish-English Contrasts. Washington, DC: GU Press.
Also recommended:
• Pronunciation software like Spanish Phonix; Phonix Tool Kit; Spanish Pronunciation
Tutor.