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IPA for Spanish

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IPA for Spanish

The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Spanish language pronunciations in WorldHeritage articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to WorldHeritage articles, see and .

In general, Castilian Spanish is used in IPA transcriptions. Deviations from this may occur in words with /θ/ and /ʎ/:

  • For terms that are more relevant to regions that have undergone yeísmo (so that, for example, hoya and holla are pronounced the same), words spelled with ⟨ll⟩ can be transcribed with [ʝ]
  • For terms that are more relevant to regions with seseo, (so that, for example, caza and casa are pronounced the same), words spelled with ⟨z⟩ and with ⟨c⟩ (only when it occurs before ⟨i⟩ or ⟨e⟩) can be transcribed with [s]

See Spanish phonology for a more thorough look at the sounds of Spanish.

Consonants
Examples English approximation
b[1] bestia; embuste; vaca; envidia; fútbol best
β bebé; obtuso; vivir; curva between baby and bevy
d[1] dedo; cuando; aldaba dead
ð dádiva; arder; admirar this
f fase; café face
ɡ[1] gato; lengua; guerra got
ɣ trigo; amargo; sigue; signo like go, but without completely blocking air flow on the g
ʝ[1][2] ayuno; poyo; maracuyá you
ɟʝ[1][2] cónyuge; abyecto job
k caña; laca; quise; kilo scan
l lino; alhaja; principal lean
ʎ[1][2] llave; pollo million
m[3] madre; comer; campo; anfibio mother
n[3] nido; anillo; anhelo; sin; álbum need
ɲ[3] ñandú; cañón; enyesar canyon
ŋ[3] cinco; venga; conquista sing
p pozo; topo spouse
r[4] rumbo; carro; honra; amor; amor eterno trilled r
ɾ[4] caro; bravo; amor eterno batter (American English)
s[5] saco; espita; xenón sack
θ[5] cereal; encima; zorro; enzima; paz thing
t tamiz; átomo stand
tʃ chubasco; acechar choose
x jamón; eje; reloj; general; México[6] Scottish loch
z[7] isla; mismo; deshuesar prison
Marginal phonemes
Examples English approximation
ʃ[8] abacaxi; Shakira; show shack
tɬ tlapalería; cenzontle; Popocatépetl no English equivalent (from )
ts Ertzaintza; abertzale; Pátzcuaro cats
Vowels
Examples English approximation
a azahar father
e vehemente set
i dimitir; mío; y see
o boscoso sole
u cucurucho; dúo food
 
Semivowels[9]
Examples English approximation
j aliada; cielo; amplio; ciudad yet
w[10] cuadro; fuego; Huila arduo wine
 
Stress and syllabification
Examples English approximation
ˈ ciudad [θjuˈðað] domain
. mío [ˈmi.o] Mayan

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f /b, d, ɡ, ʝ/ are pronounced as the fricatives or approximants [β̞, ð̞, ɣ̞, ʝ̞]; represented here without the undertacks) in all places except after a pausa, after an /n/ or /m/, or—in the case of /d/ and /ʝ/—after an /l/, in which contexts they are stops [b, d, ɡ, ɟʝ], similar to English b, d, g, j, except that they are fully voiced in all positions, unlike their English counterparts. When distinct from /ʝ/, /ʎ/ is realized as an approximant [ʎ] in all positions (Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté 2003:257-8).
  2. ^ a b c Many Spanish speakers no longer distinguish /ʎ/ from /ʝ/; the actual realization depends on dialect, however. See yeísmo and Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003:258) for more information.
  3. ^ a b c d The nasal consonants /n, m, ɲ/ only contrast before vowels. Before consonants, they assimilate to the consonant's place of articulation. This is partially reflected in the orthography. The three do not contrast at the end of a word; depending on dialect, this neutralized nasal may appear as [n], [ŋ], or nasalization of the preceding vowel.
  4. ^ a b The rhotic consonants /ɾ/ and /r/ only contrast between vowels. Otherwise, they are in complementary distribution, with [r] occurring word-initially, after /l/, /n/, and /s/, and also represented here as before consonants, and word-finally (positions in which they vary); only [ɾ] is found elsewhere.
  5. ^ a b Northern and central Spain still distinguish between ⟨s⟩ (/s/) and soft ⟨c⟩ or ⟨z⟩ (/θ/). Almost all other dialects treat the two as identical (which is called seseo) and pronounce them as /s/. There is a small number of speakers, mostly in southern Spain, who pronounce the soft ⟨c⟩, ⟨z⟩ and even ⟨s⟩ as /θ/, a phenomenon called ceceo. See phonological history of Spanish coronal fricatives and Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003:258) for more information.
  6. ^ The letter ⟨x⟩ only represents /x/ in certain proper names like Ximena and some place names in current or former Mexico (Oaxaca, Texas).
  7. ^ [z] is an allophone of /s/ before voiced consonants.
  8. ^ /ʃ/ is only used in loanwords and certain proper nouns. It is non-existent in many dialects, being realized as [tʃ] or [s]; e.g. show [tʃou]~[sou].
  9. ^ The semivowels [w] and [j] can be combined with vowels to form rising diphthongs (e.g. cielo, cuadro). Falling diphthongs (e.g. aire, rey, auto) are transcribed with /i/ and /u/.
  10. ^ Some speakers may pronounce word-initial [w] with an epenthetic [ɡ]; e.g. Huila [ˈɡwila]~[ˈwila].

References

  • Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (2): 255–259 

External links

  • Animations and video demonstrations of the IPA for Spanish by The Departments of Spanish and Portuguese, German, Speech Pathology and Audiology, and Academic Technologies at the University of Iowa.
  • Spanish Phonetic Transcription Converter—Free Online Tool to convert Spanish Text to IPA Phonetic Transcription
keys
Comparisons
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