|
 |
Regional Spanish Pronunciation | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Draemr72 Newbie Ireland Joined 5664 days ago 7 posts - 8 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 1 of 24 30 June 2009 at 5:48pm | IP Logged |
|
Hey, firstly, I'd like to mention that I can't speak Spanish.
I was recently on holiday in Mallorca (Catalan-speaking) and I learned some basic Spanish. I learned Castilian pronunciation, complete with lisp, but when I got there, I realised that, not only did none of the Mallorcans lisp, but then, listening to Spanish pop songs and watching some TV programs, I noticed that no-one was lisping. So, my question- I thought that the Castilian accent was the standard but just how common is it in European Spanish? Is it perhaps like English Recieved Pronunciation: officially the standard but rare in everyday speech? Edited by Draemr72 on 30 June 2009 at 5:49pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 Hencke Tetraglot Moderator Spain Joined 6894 days ago 2340 posts - 2444 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, Finnish, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 24 30 June 2009 at 8:41pm | IP Logged |
|
No Spanish speakers lisp, unless they have a speech impediment, just as English speakers don't lisp. But S and Z are different sounds just as S and TH are different in English.
In some regions of Spain, and virtually all of Latin America no distinction is made between S and Z and both are pronounced S. I don't think this happens on Mallorca though, except if you happened to listen to migrants from southern parts of Spain. There are quite a few of those working in the tourist industry there. If you couldn't hear any Z-sounds even on television (provided the programs were in Spanish) I guess you just need to train your ear a bit more and get better at detecting that sound. On the other hand, and just in case since you mentioned "lisping", if you were under the erroneous impression that they just have the Z sound and no S, and decided "they don't lisp" as soon as you heard the first S, then that would explain it too. You say you don't speak Spanish, which means it will be difficult for you to know where it should be S and where it should be Z, and thus difficult for you to detect if they make the distinction or not. Edited by Hencke on 30 June 2009 at 8:45pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Rmss Triglot Senior Member Spain spanish-only.coRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6564 days ago 234 posts - 248 votes 3 sounds Speaks: Dutch*, English, Spanish Studies: Portuguese | Message 3 of 24 30 June 2009 at 8:52pm | IP Logged |
|
There's no standard Spanish accent, just as there is no standard English accent. It just varies from place to place.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Hencke Tetraglot Moderator Spain Joined 6894 days ago 2340 posts - 2444 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Finnish, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 24 01 July 2009 at 12:27am | IP Logged |
|
Ah yes, about the "standard accent". There is a standard Castillian accent, as the norm for how they speak on TV and Radio for instance. And it is spoken in daily life too. It is not as rare as the so-called "Received Pronunciation" in the UK.
In "real life" situations you will of course get more colloquialisms and slang than on the TV news, and colloquial stuff, plus some minor pronunciation details, can vary from one place to another, and there is some variation between different social levels as well, but allowing for this, there are rather large segments of the population, in central and northern parts of Spain, who can reasonably be described as speaking the standard Castillian accent. In those parts where the influence of another regional language is present, they generally go for an approximation of a standard Castillian accent when speaking Spanish, but it will often be coloured by some regional particulars. There are a few typical pronunciation elements and mannerisms that you can pick up in most Catalans, such as their L sounds that resemble the English L in fact, the Galicians have some very characteristic intonation patterns that can almost sound like a foreign accent, Asturians have some characteristics of their own and so on. On the specific question of the "lisping" ie. making a difference between S and Z, as far as I am aware all of the ones I just mentioned do make that distinction. Edited by Hencke on 01 July 2009 at 12:29am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Javi Senior Member Spain Joined 5981 days ago 419 posts - 548 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 5 of 24 01 July 2009 at 11:34pm | IP Logged |
|
I don't think that Spanish newsreaders speak Castilian. They speak an artificial accent which ideally consists in pronouncing every single letter, that is, you speak as it is written. That leads sometimes to pronunciations that have never existed in any real Spanish dialect, not even Castilian. A clear example of that phenomenon is the letter X. I think that RP is quite different because it is a real accent and because pronunciation is not driven by spelling.
Other than newsreaders and reporters, people appearing on TV speak more spontaneously, closer to their real accents, but, that said, not all the accents are equally accepted. People from Madrid, old Castile and the Basque Country don't need to worry too much, but accents from outlying regions like Andalusia, Catalonia and Galicia, would never be taken seriously, not for the español vasco y mesetario. As a result, people from those regions end up softening their accents if they have to work in the media in Madrid. So, a person from, let's say Huelva, could make a perfect newsreader, indistinguishable from any other newsreader, but he would never be mistaken for a native from any place in Castile, because it's not Castilan what he speaks. Edited by Javi on 01 July 2009 at 11:42pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Rmss Triglot Senior Member Spain spanish-only.coRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6564 days ago 234 posts - 248 votes 3 sounds Speaks: Dutch*, English, Spanish Studies: Portuguese | Message 6 of 24 01 July 2009 at 11:54pm | IP Logged |
|
I had lively discussions with university professors about the subject, and even some linguists. Many agree that there is no standard accent. Well, maybe there is; the shipwreck of a 'standard accent' Javi mentions.
In castellano there are simply so many dialects and accents. Also, everyone seems to have a different view of what's standard. Some say it's the accent from Valladolid, some say it's the Spanish spoken in Salamanca, some say it's the Spanish from Madrid, etc., etc. Anyway. People with all kind of accents can understand each other. Sure, some accents are stronger than others, but does it matter? Is it really *that* important to pick out a city/region and say: "Here they speak 'real' Spanish"? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Hencke Tetraglot Moderator Spain Joined 6894 days ago 2340 posts - 2444 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Finnish, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 7 of 24 02 July 2009 at 6:17pm | IP Logged |
|
It also depends on the level of precision we apply when we classify one way of speaking as different from another. Even people from exactly the same neighborhood have smaller or larger quirks and mannerisms in their individual ways of speaking. Some typical speech patterns may exist in one family, while the family next door has other ones. But these are differences that we normally wouldn't count as different accents.
There is always something artificial about the way they speak on the TV news, anywhere in the world. They don't speak exactly the same way they would at home with their family. It's a situation where they want to be extra clear and articulate everything very carefully, just as Javi says. In addition they need to sound cool and reserved and factual, and not allow too much emotion to show in their speech, which means it can end up slightly robotic and mechanical. Another area where speech is even more artificial is in public announcements at airports and on flights. But I would describe all these as styles of speaking in specific situations, rather than accents. The way of speaking in the central Castilian areas of Spain, is homogenous enough imho to be classed as the same dialect, or accent. Educated speakers in these areas can generally not tell very easily where another such speaker is from. Well, maybe some can in some instances if they are really good at it, but I hear people telling each other where they come from all the time, when it comes up in the conversation: I am from Valladolid, I am from Salamanca, because the differences are so small it is not immediately obvious based on the accent. Is it important to establish a standard? Certainly not in the sense of establishing one dialect as superior to another. But having a standard does have its uses, not least of which is to have a norm for foreigh learners to follow, and to have some kind of common target to aim for in the media. Edited by Hencke on 02 July 2009 at 6:26pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| babelpoint Newbie United Kingdom babelpoint.org Joined 5624 days ago 26 posts - 31 votes Speaks: Russian | Message 8 of 24 03 July 2009 at 3:18am | IP Logged |
|
I would like to recommend you two pages:
If you watch this serie you will discover a lot of different accents: http://www.rtve.es/television/cuentame/ and here you can listen to many voices from Latin America and Spain and of course other languages http://www.voices.com/ 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
