Depalatalization in Yucatan Spanish

Depalatalization is one of the features of Yucatan Spanish. It is spoken not only in the state of Yucatan but also in the states of Quintano Roo and Campeche.  In Spanish, examples of depalatalization  can be found in word pairs. It occurs in anual (annual), which is derived from año (year).

In many cases the palatal nasal is replaced with an alveolar nasal and high front vowel. The word año is pronounced [anio] by many speakers of Yucatan Spanish. This process also occurs with words such as araña (spider), cañon (cannon), mañana (tomorrow), montaña (mountain) and niño (boy).

In certain cases no high front vowel is added. This is often the case with albañil (worker), a word which already has the high front vowel following the nasal. For this reason, it is often pronounced [albanil]. Another realization is one in which the palatal nasal is maintained and the high front vowel is added. In such cases, words such as niño are pronounced with the palatal nasal and the high front vowel. In this case, redundancy occurs.

Palatalization is a more common phonological process than depalatalization. In Yucatan Spanish, many words exhibit depalatalization. This may be the result of Mayan influence.