I am so pleased to find Iberian dialect pointers! Since I am a flamenco dancer, it will add to my authenticity to be able to pronounce things in the Iberian way. Gracias!

Oh, and I love the Iberian lesson intro music

Bouks

Well, I would say there are some noticeable features:

- First of all, a huge number of words in Castilian Spanish derive from arabic (over four thousands). Many of them are used in fields in which arabs where more advanced than christians by the time of the Peninsula occupation (medicine, philosophy, astronomy, laws…). As a a quick tip, I would say that all words which start with al- come from arabic (al- is the arabic article). Examples: álgebra (algebra), algoritmo (algorithm), alcalde (mayor), azimut (azimuth).

- In second place I would say that our strong /j/ sound is an imprint of the arabic language spoken in Spain for so many years (centuries), as well as the aspiration of ‘h’ if southern Spain (which arabs held longer than the rest of the Peninsula, and, therefore, was more influenced by them).

Finally, and just as a curiosity, “ojalá” which is a very used word in Spain, and means “let’s hope so!” or “I hope that…”, comes from arabic in which literally means “if Alá wants”, “if God wants”.

Saludos,
David.

Interesting question! I’m always fascinated to learn about the different cultural influences on the development of a language. This is not my territory, though; however, I bet either Megan or David could help you out with this…

Saludos,

Joseph

Those are some really interesting points! For me, it so fascinating to learn about this kind of linguistic development, especially how the speech patterns brought to Americas are due to the ports from which the boats left! Thanks for the great insight!

Saudos,

Joseph

Not only do Madrileños pronounce the final “d” in Madrid as the “th” in thing, but they also do this in the middle of words like: vodka–>vothka, adquerir–>athquerir. It’s something that I didn’t even really notice until I had lived here for a long time. Also there are tricky words with both sounds together like piscina–>pisthina and ascender–>asthender.

This Iberian “th” sound is less forceful than it’s equivalent in English, your tongue goes between your teeth and you blow. When I pronounce the word “thing” in English, I tend to make a stronger sound by tapping my tongue on my top tooth as I blow.

A note about the seseo and ceceo that David was referring to above… Spanish in the south of Spain was further removed from the northern Castilian standard and started to evolve more quickly phonetically speaking. The difference between the /s/ and /th/ sound started to become less relevant (the same happened with the difference between /b/ and /v/ all over Spain). Parts of Andalusia opted for the /s/ sound other parts the /th/ sound (linguists call this neutralization of an opposition).

The reason that the seseo traveled to the Americsa is because many of the boats departed from parts of Spain that were already seseando (pronouncing s, ce, ci, za, zu, zo as /s/).

I had always thought that the ceceo was a much rarer phenomenon, but when we traveled around the region of Cádiz last spring we heard it all over. It is alive and well.

saludos desde Madrid (Madriz),

Megan

[Ma-dríth] you are speaking with a “madrileño”
[Ma-drít] you are speaking with a “catalán”

Saludos,
David.

Take care

Pero hombre, ¡qué tal pronunthiathión! Me provoca visitar la madre patria de nuevo para poder disfrutar de las grathias españolas.

Nunca he estado en Madrid, pero estuve cerca de Barcelona en balneario llamado Vinarós. Ahí pude disfrutar de uno de los veranos más hermosos en Europa y pues como no iba a faltar una deliciosa paella al lado del mar (parece una postal, ¿no? jeje). Pero es que los españoles sí saben vivir bien.

Me da mucho gusto siempre leer tus comentarios y escuchar tu blog de audio. ¡Espero con ansias que nos cuentes la famosa receta familiar de la paella!

Saludos desde Nueva York,

Beatriz

Wanna know something about the concrete dialect in Madrid? Final -d is pronounced like [th], but only in Madrid. So an authentic “madrileño” (from Madrid) always says [Ma-dríth].

Daviz.

PS: If you search “Madriz” in Google you will surely find articles about Madrid made by “madrileños”.

Great explanation! ¡Estás hathiendo un buenísimo trabajo! Lo thierto es que prestaré más atenthión a la pronunthiathión ibérica!

¿Qué tal, eh?

Saludos,

Joseph

Well, I think I would need some concrete examples, but Iberian pronuntiation is very very straightforward if you have the transcription or know how to write the speech:

- “Z” is always pronounced [th] in Iberian Spanish, like in English “thunder”. Examples:

zapato (shoe) [tha-pá-to]
*
zorro (fox) [thó-rro]
zumo (juice) [thú-mo]

*there are no spanish words with ze nor zi.

However, “z” is widely pronounced in Latinamerica and some areas in Spain (like Andalucía) like [s]. This different pronuntation is called “seseo” by Iberian Spanish speakers. Seseo = pronouncing “z” like [s].

- “CE”, “CI” are always pronounced [th] in Iberian, like in English “thunder”. Examples:

**
cera (wax) [thé-ra]
cima (summit) [thí-ma]
**

**”ca” is pronounced [ka], “co” is pronounced [ko], “cu” is pronounced [ku].

However, “ce” and “ci” are widely pronounced in Latinamerica and some areas in Spain (like Andalucía) like [se] and [si]. This different pronuntation is called “seseo” by Iberian Spanish speakers. Seseo = pronouncing “ce” and “ci” like [se] and [si].

- “S” is always pronounced [s] in Iberian, like in English “sea”. Examples:

casa (house) [ká-sa]
seta (mushroom) [sé-ta]
casi (almost) [ká-si]
beso (kiss) [bé-so]
sutil (subtle) [su-tíl]

However, “s” is pronounced in some areas in Spain (like Andalucía) like [th]. This different pronuntation is called “ceceo” by Iberian Spanish speakers. Ceceo = pronouncing “s” like [th].

To sum up, I think that what you have experienced is hearing more [th] which in other regional Spanish you don’t probably hear.

I hope to have helped to clarify this issue, but if you need additional info, I’ll be glad to receive your comments.

Saludos,
David.

I think I know what you’re talking about. I’m not sure if it’s really a lisp, but the “S” sound is sometimes pronounced like a “TH”; but even that doesn’t really serve as an accurate comparison. Maybe a native Iberian Spanish speaker could help us out here. To me, it sounds like more of a whistle than a lisp…

Hasta pronto,

Joseph