General rules of Spanish pronunciation 1 Consonants When phonetic transcriptions of Spanish headwords are given in the dictionary, the symbol ′ precedes the syllable that carries the stress:įor information about where other words should be stressed, see section 2 Stress.
These are combinations of the above vowels and the semi-vowels /j/and/w/: The symbol /∧/, (the English u in cup), has also been used in the transcription of certain words which maintain their English pronunciation 3 Diphthongs and triphthongs Shorter than English oo in boot, longer and pronounced with more rounded lips than English oo in foot. When in a syllable which ends in a consonant, it is closer to British English o in dot. Shorter than English o in rose, and without the /℧/ sound. Shorter than English ee in seen, longer and more closed than English i in sin. Shorter than a in father, slightly more open than u in cup. the /e/ in perro is slightly more open than that in pero but it is the difference between /rr/ and /r/ that distinguishes the noun from the conjunction). they are determined by their context, but never serve to distinguish one word from another (e.g.
The slight variations that can be heard are allophonic i.e. They have the same quality as stressed vowels.
It should be noted that Spanish vowels are not noticeably weakened when in unstressed positions as they are in English. The five Spanish vowels are uniformly pronounced throughout the Spanish-speaking world but none of them corresponds exactly to an English vowel. Only found in foreign words or diphthongs and triphthongs.Įnglish s in is. Pronounced with the tongue against the front teeth rather than against the alveolar ridge.Įnglish ch in church but without the aspiration that follows it.Įnglish w. Not used in Latin American Spanish.Įnglish t in step (rather than the aspirated t in toy). Some speakers of Peninsular Spanish use a sound which tends toward /ʃ /, articulated with the tip of the tongue slightly curved back.Įnglish th in thin. Like gn in French soigné, similar to the ni in onion, pronounced with the tongue flat against the palate.Įnglish p in spin (rather than the aspirated p in pin).Ī single flap with a curved tongue against the palate, similar to the voiced pronunciation of tt in pretty, better which is common in American English.Ī rolled ′r′ as found in some Scottish accents.Įnglish s in stop. Only found in diphthongs and triphthongs.Įnglish c in cap but without the aspiration that follows it.Įnglish l in lid, without the vocalic resonance it often has in American English. For regional variants see points 7 and 14 of General Rules of Spanish Pronunciation below.Įnglish y in yet.
Very soft continuous sound produced in the throat like /g / but without the sudden release of air.Įnglish y in yet, pronounced slightly more emphatically when at the beginning of an utterance. Very soft bilabial sound, produced with the lips hardly meeting.Įnglish d in den, but articulated with the tip of the tongue against the upper teeth rather than against the alveolar ridge. 1 Consonants and semi-vowels SymbolĮnglish b in bin but without the aspiration that follows it. These approximations are intended only as a guide and should not be taken as strict phonetic equivalents. Each symbol is followed by an example and a brief description of the sound, where possible by approximating it to an English sound. The phonetic symbols used in Spanish pronunciations given in the dictionary are listed below. The pronunciation of Spanish words is directly represented by their written form and therefore phonetic transcriptions have only been supplied for loan words which retain their original spelling.