Peninsular Spanish
Encyclopedia
Peninsular Spanish, also known as European Spanish, refers to the varieties of the Spanish language
spoken in the Iberian Peninsula
, as opposed to the Spanish spoken in the Americas
and in the Canary Islands
.
In phonology, the most prominent distinguishing element of Peninsular Spanish varieties, except for the southernmost ones, is the preservation of a distinction between the phonemes /s/ and /θ/, represented respectively with the letters ‹s› on one hand and ‹z›, or ‹c› before
, on the other. This is usually called distinción in Spanish, while the merger of both phonemes is called ceceo or seseo
. While in the Spanish of the Americas and in parts of southern Spain ‹z›, ‹c› before, and ‹s›, are typically read roughly like the English ‹s›, in the Peninsular dialects with distinción, ‹z›, and ‹c› before , are read aloud as the sound [θ], that is, the initial sound of the English word think. However, many Andalusian dialects and the Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands
do not use distinción as a general rule, but rather use either seseo or ceceo.
In morphology, the most notable distinguishing feature of Peninsular Spanish is the use of the pronoun vosotros (along with its oblique form os) and its corresponding verb forms for the second person plural familiar. In virtually all other varieties of Modern Spanish, for the second person plural, the familiar and the formal are merged in ustedes, with its verb forms. Again, the use of vosotros is uncommon in the Canary Islands and only partially introduced in Western Andalusia.
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
spoken in the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
, as opposed to the Spanish spoken in the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
and in the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
.
In phonology, the most prominent distinguishing element of Peninsular Spanish varieties, except for the southernmost ones, is the preservation of a distinction between the phonemes /s/ and /θ/, represented respectively with the letters ‹s› on one hand and ‹z›, or ‹c› before
Hard and soft C
In the Latin-based orthographies of many European languages , a distinction between hard and soft ⟨c⟩ occurs in which ⟨c⟩ represents two distinct phonemes...
, on the other. This is usually called distinción in Spanish, while the merger of both phonemes is called ceceo or seseo
Ceceo
In Spanish dialectology, the terms distinción, seseo and ceceo are used to describe the opposition between dialects that distinguish the phonemes and , and those that exhibit merger of the two sounds into either or .Dialects that distinguish the two sounds, and thus pronounce the words casa...
. While in the Spanish of the Americas and in parts of southern Spain ‹z›, ‹c› before
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
do not use distinción as a general rule, but rather use either seseo or ceceo.
In morphology, the most notable distinguishing feature of Peninsular Spanish is the use of the pronoun vosotros (along with its oblique form os) and its corresponding verb forms for the second person plural familiar. In virtually all other varieties of Modern Spanish, for the second person plural, the familiar and the formal are merged in ustedes, with its verb forms. Again, the use of vosotros is uncommon in the Canary Islands and only partially introduced in Western Andalusia.
Variants
- Andalusian SpanishAndalusian SpanishThe Andalusian varieties of Spanish are spoken in Andalusia, Ceuta, Melilla and Gibraltar. They include perhaps the most distinct of the southern variants of peninsular Spanish, differing in many respects from northern varieties, and also from Standard Spanish...
- Canarian SpanishCanarian SpanishCanarian Spanish is a variant of standard Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands by the Canarian people, and in the southeastern section of Louisiana in Isleño communities that emigrated to the Americas as early as the 18th century...
- CastrapoCastrapoCastrapo is the pejorative name for the form of the Spanish language spoken in the region of Galicia and which heavily uses Galician vocabulary and syntax....
(Spanish spoken in Galicia, as opposed to the Galician languageGalician languageGalician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and...
) - Murcian SpanishMurcian SpanishMurciano, more popularly known as panocho, is a variant of the Peninsular Spanish, spoken mainly in autonomous region of Murcia and the adjacent Comarca of Vega Baja del Segura in the province of Alicante on the Mediterranean coast.It is considered a southern dialect of the Spanish language,...
- Riojan Spanish
External links
- Constraint interaction in Spanish /s/-aspiration: three Peninsular varieties, Richard E. Morris
- Coda obstruents and local constraint conjunction in north-central Peninsular Spanish, Richard E. Morris
- Jergas de habla hispana Spanish dictionary specializing in slang and coloquial expressions, featuring all Spanish-speaking countries.