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| Names of the language | |
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Main article: Names given to the Spanish language
Geographical distribution of the preferential use of the terms castellano (Castilian), in red, vs. español (Spanish), in blue.
In Spain and in some other parts of the Spanish-speaking world, Spanish is called castellano (Castilian) as well as español (Spanish), that is, the language of the region of Castile, contrasting it with other languages spoken in Spain such as Galician, Basque, and Catalan. Speakers of these regional languages prefer the term castellano, as they consider their own languages equally "Spanish". The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the official language of the whole Spanish State, in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas (lit. the rest of the Spanish languages). Article III reads as follows:
El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. (...) Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas...
Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State. (...) The rest of the Spanish languages shall also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities...
The Spanish Royal Academy, on the other hand, uses the term español in its publications. Two etymologies for español have been suggested. The Spanish Royal Academy Dictionary derives the term from the Provençal word espaignol, and that in turn from the Medieval Latin word Hispaniolus, 'from—or pertaining to—Hispania'.[13] Other authorities[14][15] attribute it to a supposed medieval Latin *hispaniōne, with the same meaning. The Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (a language guide published by the Spanish Royal Academy) states that, although the Spanish Royal Academy prefers to use the term español in its publications when referring to the Spanish language, both terms, español and castellano, are regarded as synonymous and equally valid.[16]
The name castellano is preferred in El Salvador[17] (uniquely in Central America), as well as in all of Spanish-speaking South America except Colombia. The term español is more commonly used to refer to the language as a whole when relating to a global context.
[edit] Tags:Latin,Spain,Basque,Official Language,Castile,Languages Spoken In Spain,Galician,Catalan,Regional Languages,Spanish Constitution Of 1978,Spanish Royal Academy,Spanish Royal Academy Dictionary,Provençal,El Salvador,America, | |
| History | |
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Main article: History of the Spanish language
A page of Cantar de Mio Cid, the oldest preserved Spanish epic poem, in medieval Spanish.
Antonio de Nebrija author of the Gramática, the first Grammar of modern European languages.
Miguel de Cervantes.
Spanish emerged from its ancestral Vulgar Latin (common Latin) dialects in the ninth century. Latin had been brought to Iberia by the Romans during the Second Punic War around 210 BC, absorbing influences from the native Iberian languages such as Celtiberian, Basque and other paleohispanic languages. Later, it gained other external influences, most notably from the Arabic of the later Al-Andalus period.[18]
Local versions of Vulgar Latin evolved into Spanish in the central-north of Iberia, in an area defined by the then remote crossroad strips of Álava, Cantabria, Burgos, Soria and La Rioja, within the Kingdom of Castile (see Glosas Emilianenses). In this formative stage, Spanish (Castilian) developed a strongly differing variant from its close cousin, Leonese, and was distinguished by a heavy Basque influence (see Iberian Romance languages). This distinctive dialect progressively spread south with the advance of the Reconquista, and so gathered a sizable lexical influence from Al-Andalus Arabic, especially in the later Medieval period.
The development of the Spanish sound system from that of Vulgar Latin exhibits most of the changes that are typical of Western Romance languages, including lenition of intervocalic consonants (thus Latin vīta > Spanish vida). The diphthongization of Latin stressed short e and o—which occurred in open syllables in French and Italian, but not at all in Catalan or Portuguese—is found in both open and closed syllables in Spanish, as shown in the following table:
Latin
Spanish
Ladino
Aragonese
Asturian
Galician
Portuguese
Catalan
Occitan
French
Italian
Romanian
English
petra
piedra
piedra (or pyedra)
piedra
piedra
pedra
pedra
pedra
pedra/pèira
pi.e.rre
pi.e.tra
piatrǎ
'stone'
moritur
muere
muere
muere
muerre
morre
morre
mor
morís
meurt
muore
moare
'dies (v.)'
mortem
muerte
muerte
muerte
muerte
morte
morte
mort
mòrt
mort
morte
moarte
'death'
terra
tierra
tierra (or tyerra)
tierra
tierra
terra
terra
terra
tèrra
terre
terra
ţară
'land'
Spanish is marked by the palatalization of the Latin double consonants nn and ll (thus Latin annum > Spanish año, and Latin anellum > Spanish anillo).
The consonant written ⟨u⟩ or ⟨v⟩ in Latin and pronounced [w] in Classical Latin had probably "fortified" to a bilabial fricative /β/ in Vulgar Latin. In early Spanish (but not in Catalan or Portuguese) it merged with the consonant written ⟨b⟩ (a bilabial with plosive and fricative allophones). In modern Spanish, there is no difference between the pronunciation of orthographic ⟨b⟩ and ⟨v⟩.
Peculiar to Spanish (as well as to the neighboring Gascon dialect of Occitan, and sometimes attributed to a Basque substratum) was the mutation of Latin initial f- into h- whenever it was followed by a vowel that did not diphthongize. The h-, still preserved in spelling, is now silent in most varieties of the language, although in some Andalusian and Caribbean dialects it is still aspirated in some words.
Compare the examples in the following table:
Latin
Spanish
Ladino
Aragonese
Asturian
Galician
Portuguese
Catalan
Occitan
French
Italian
Romanian
English
filium
hijo
fijo
fillo
fíu
fillo
filho
fill
filh/hilh
fils
figlio
fiu
'son'
facere
hacer
fazer
fer
facer
facer
fazer
fer
far/faire/har (or hèr)
faire
fare
face
'to do'
ferrum
hierro/fierro
fierro
fierro
fierro
ferro
ferro
ferro
fèrre/hèr
fer
ferro
fier
'iron'
focum
fuego
fuego
fuego
fueu
fogo
fogo
foc
fuòc/fòc/huèc
feu
fuoco
foc
'fire'
Some consonant clusters of Latin also produced characteristically different results in these languages, as shown in the examples in the following table:
Latin
Spanish
Ladino
Aragonese
Asturian
Galician
Portuguese
Catalan
Occitan
French
Italian
Romanian
English
clāvem
llave
clave
clau
llave
chave
chave
clau
clau
clé
chiave
cheie
'key'
flamma
llama
flama
flama
llama
chama
chama
flama
flama
flamme
fiamma
flacără
'flame'
plēnum
lleno
pleno
plen
llenu
cheo
cheio
ple
plen
plein
pieno
plin
'full'
octō
ocho
ocho
güeito
ocho/oito
oito
oito
vuit/huit
uèch/uòch/uèit
huit
otto
opt
'eight'
multum
mucho
muy
muncho
muy
muito
mui
munchu
mui
moito
moi
muito
mui (arch.)
molt
—
moult (arch.)
molto
mult
'much'
'very'
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Spanish underwent a dramatic change in the pronunciation of its sibilant consonants, known in Spanish as the Reajuste de las sibilantes, which resulted in the distinctive velar [x] pronunciation of the letter ⟨j⟩ and—in a large part of Spain—the characteristic interdental [θ] ("th-sound") for the letter ⟨z⟩ (and for ⟨c⟩ before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩). See History of Spanish (Modern development of the Old Spanish sibilants) for details.
The Gramática de la lengua castellana, written in Salamanca in 1492 by Elio Antonio de Nebrija, was the first grammar written for a modern European language.[19] According to a popular anecdote, when Nebrija presented it to Queen Isabella I, she asked him what was the use of such a work, and he answered that language is the instrument of empire.[20] In his introduction to the grammar, dated August 18, 1492, Nebrija wrote that "... language was always the companion of empire."[21]
From the sixteenth century onwards, the language was taken to America and the Spanish East Indies via Spanish colonization of America. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, author of Don Quixote, is such a well-known reference in the world that Spanish is often called la lengua de Cervantes ("the language of Cervantes").[22]
In the twentieth century, Spanish was introduced to Equatorial Guinea and the Western Sahara, and to areas of the United States that had not been part of the Spanish Empire, such as Spanish Harlem in New York City. For details on borrowed words and other external influences upon Spanish, see Influences on the Spanish language.
[edit] Tags:Romance,Western Romance,Romance Language,Iberia,Kingdom Of Castile,Sibilant Consonants,Reajuste De Las Sibilantes,Arabic,To America,Spanish Empire,United States,Cantar De Mio Cid,Epic Poem,Antonio De Nebrija,First Grammar,Miguel De Cervantes,Vulgar Latin,Second Punic War,Celtiberian,Paleohispanic Languages,Al-andalus,Álava,Cantabria,Burgos,Soria,La Rioja,Glosas Emilianenses,Leonese,Iberian Romance Languages,Reconquista,Spanish Sound System,Western Romance Languages,Lenition,Diphthongization,Palatalization,Fortified,Gascon,Occitan,Substratum,Gramática De La Lengua Castellana,Salamanca,Elio Antonio De Nebrija,Queen Isabella I,Spanish East Indies,Spanish Colonization Of America,Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra,Don Quixote, | |
| Grammar | |
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Main article: Spanish grammar
Spanish is a relatively inflected language, with a two-gender noun system and about fifty conjugated forms per verb, but with inflection of nouns, adjectives, and determiners limited to number and gender. (For a detailed overview of verbs, see Spanish verbs and Spanish irregular verbs.)
Spanish syntax is considered right-branching, meaning that subordinate or modifying constituents tend to be placed after their head words. The language uses prepositions (rather than postpositions or inflection of nouns for case), and usually—though not always—places adjectives after nouns, as do most other Romance languages. Its sentence structure is generally subject–verb–object, although variations are common. It is a "pro-drop", or "null-subject" language—that is, it allows the deletion of subject pronouns when they are pragmatically unnecessary. Spanish is described as a "verb-framed" language, meaning that the direction of motion is expressed in the verb while the mode of locomotion is expressed adverbially (e.g. subir corriendo or salir volando; the respective English equivalents of these examples—'to run up' and 'to fly out'—show that English is, by contrast, "satellite-framed", with mode of locomotion expressed in the verb and direction in an adverbial modifier).
[edit] Tags: | |
| Segmental phonology | |
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The Spanish phonemic inventory consists of five vowel phonemes (/a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/) and 17 to 19 consonant phonemes (the exact number depending on the dialect). The main allophonic variation among vowels is the reduction of the high vowels /i/ and /u/ to glides—[j] and [w] respectively—when unstressed and adjacent to another vowel. Some instances of the mid vowels /e/ and /o/, determined lexically, alternate with the diphthongs [je] and [we] respectively when stressed, in a process that is better described as morphophonemic rather than phonological, as it is not predictable from phonology alone.
The Spanish consonant system is characterized by (1) three nasal phonemes, which in syllable-final position lose their contrast and are subject to assimilation to a following consonant; (2) three voiceless stops and the affricate /tʃ/; (3) three or four (depending on the dialect) voiceless fricatives; (4) a set of voiced obstruents—/b/, /d/, /ɡ/, and sometimes /ʝ/—which alternate between fricative and plosive allophones depending on the environment; and (5) a phonemic distinction between the "tapped" and "trilled" r-sounds (single ⟨r⟩ and double ⟨rr⟩ in orthography).
In the following table of consonant phonemes, /θ/ and /ʎ/ are marked with an asterisk (*) to indicate that they are preserved only in some dialects. In most dialects they have been merged, respectively, with /s/ and /ʝ/, in the mergers called, respectively, seseo and yeísmo. The phoneme /ʃ/ is in parentheses () to indicate that it appears only in loanwords. Each of the voiced obstruent phonemes /b/, /d/, /ʝ/, and /ɡ/ appears to the right of a pair of voiceless phonemes, to indicate that, while the voiceless phonemes maintain a phonemic contrast between plosive (or affricate) and fricative, the voiced ones alternate allophonically (i.e. without phonemic contrast) between plosive and fricative pronunciations.
Table of consonant phonemes of Spanish[23]
Labial
Dental
Alveolar
Palatal
Velar
Nasal
m
n
ɲ
Plosive
p
b
t
d
k
ɡ
Fricative
f
θ*
s
(ʃ)
ʝ
x
Affricate
tʃ
Trill
r
Tap
ɾ
Lateral
l
ʎ*
V and B
The letters ⟨v⟩ and ⟨b⟩ are both normally pronounced identically as /b/ or similar, and this is the only correct pronunciation. The Royal Spanish Academy considers the /v/ pronunciation for the letter ⟨v⟩ to be incorrect and affected. However, some Spanish speakers maintain the pronunciation of the /v/ sound as it is in other western European languages. The sound /v/ is used for the letter ⟨v⟩, in the Spanish language, by a few second-language speakers in Spain whose native language is Catalan, in the Balearic Islands, Valencian Community and southern Catalonia.[24] In the USA it is also common due to the proximity and influence of English phonology, and the /v/ is also occasionally used in Mexico. Some parts of Central America also use /v/ which the Royal Academy attributes to the interference of local indigenous languages.
Historically, the /v/ pronunciation was uncommon, but considered correct well into the twentieth century.
[edit] Tags:Native Language,Mexico,Spanish Speakers, | |
| Prosody | |
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Spanish is classified by its rhythm as a syllable-timed language, meaning that each syllable has approximately the same duration regardless of stress.[25][26]
Spanish intonation varies significantly according to dialect, but generally conforms to a pattern of falling tone for declarative sentences and wh-questions (who, what, why, etc.), and rising tone for yes/no questions.[27][28] Subject/verb inversion is not required in questions, and thus the recognition of declarative or interrogative may depend entirely on intonation.
Stress most often occurs on any of the last three syllables of a word, with some rare exceptions at the fourth last or earlier syllables. The tendencies of stress assignment are as follows:[29]
In words ending in vowels and /s/, stress most often falls on the penultimate syllable.
In words ending in all other consonants, the stress more often falls on the last syllable.
Preantepenultimate stress (stress on the syllable that comes three before the last in a word) occurs rarely and only in words like guardándoselos ('saving them for him/her/them') where clitics follow certain verbal forms.
In addition to the many exceptions to these tendencies, there are numerous minimal pairs which contrast solely on stress such as sábana ('sheet') and sabana ('savannah'), as well as límite ('boundary'), limite ('[that] he/she limits') and limité ('I limited'), or also líquido ('liquid'), liquido ('I sell off') and liquidó ('he/she sold off').
The spelling system unambiguously reflects where the stress occurs: in the absence of an accent mark, the stress falls on the last syllable unless the last letter is ⟨n⟩, ⟨s⟩, or a vowel, in which cases the stress falls on the next-to-last syllable; if and only if the absence of an accent mark would give the wrong stress information, an acute accent mark appears over the stressed syllable.
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| Geographical distribution | |
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See also: Hispanophone
Active learning of Spanish.[30]
Knowledge of Spanish language in European Union in 2006.
Native country
More than 8.99%
Between 4% and 8.99%
Between 1% and 3,99
Less than 1%
In Europe, Spanish is an official language of Spain, the country after which it is named and from which it originated. It is widely spoken in Gibraltar, although English is the official language.[31] It is also commonly spoken in Andorra, although Catalan is the official language.[32]
Spanish is the primary language of 20 countries worldwide. It is estimated that the combined total number of Spanish speakers is between 470 and 500 million, making it the second most widely spoken language in terms of native speakers Tags:European Union, | |
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