Spanish Word with Seven Pronunciations

Spanish is a language of many dialects. They can be divided into two, Peninsular and Latin American. However, there are many more.  Let us illustrate with seven pronunciations of the word español.

1) alveolar fricative

2) apicodental fricative

3) apicodental fricative and velarized lateral

4) glottal fricative instead of alveolar fricative

5) glottal fricative instead of alveolar fricative and also aspirated plosive

5) lengthened initial vowel and deleted fricative

6) lengthened initial vowel, deleted fricative and also aspirated plosive

The first pronunciation occurs in many countries. However, the second one is very common in northern and central Spain. The velarized lateral is common in northeastern Spain.

Many speakers in southern Spain and the Caribbean use the glottal fricative instead of the alveolar fricative. However, the aspirated plosive is especially common in southern Spain. Another pronunciation is the deletion of the alveolar fricative with compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel.

The Spanish language has many dialects. This can be illustrated with the word español. It can be pronounced in seven different ways.