Allophones of Spanish

Allophones are variants of a phoneme. They occur in a specific environment. Let us examine a few examples of allophones in Spanish.

Many Spanish words end with the voiced interdental fricative. It occurs in words such as ciudad (city), edad (age) and verdad (truth). However, the word-final interdental fricative can also be deleted. The deleted formal is considered less formal and is an allophone of the voiced interdental fricative.

Words such as amor (love), regular (regular) and sabor (flavour) can be pronounced with a word-final alveolar flap or alveolar trill. The alveolar trill sounds emphatic. In varieties such as Paraguayan Spanish, the final consonant can be an alveolar approximant. The alveolar flap is the phoneme.

In the words esmeralda (emerald), isla (island) and cisne (swan), the fricative can be pronounced /s/ or /z/. The /z/ occurs as a result of regressive assimilation. The assimilation can also occur across word boundaries such as in dos rosas (two roses). In isolation, however, dos is always pronounced with a voiceless fricative. The voiceless fricative is the phoneme.

The dental fricative in words such as esmeralda (emerald), isla (island) and cisne (swan) can also be pronounced as a glottal fricative or deleted. This is common in varieties of Spanish such as the Spanish of southern Spain, Panama, Cuba and Chile. Deletion of the fricative is considered more casual than the realization of the glottal fricative. These two realizations are allophones of the voiceless fricative.

The pronunciation of Spanish consonants can vary. However, the allophones create no change in meaning. This is different from phonemes that create a difference in meaning.