Comments on Spanish Pronunciation 101: The no voiced fricatives rule

hola Zac,No estás para nada equivocado, jueves se ...

2008-04-24T09:42:00.000-03:00

hola Zac,

No estás para nada equivocado, jueves se dice /xweβes/ y vaca se dice /baka/, como vos bien escribiste usando el alfabeto fonético.

Pero fijate que cuando yo escribí las palabras, no usé el alfabeto fonético, no escribí entre barras //, escribí entre comillas "". O sea, no estaba escribiendo sonidos, estaba escribiendo letras.

En este post preferí usar un lenguaje más simple, para aquellos que no manejan el AFI (o IPA en inglés).

Y tenés razón, claro que hay dos sonidos para "b" y "v", /β/ y /b/, pero ambos son alófonos del sonido /b/ (bastante parecido al /b/ del inglés). La idea de este post era aclarar que el sonido /v/ no existe.

Las diferencias entre /β/ y /b/ son un tema complejo, próximamente voy a escribir algún post al respecto.

Hola,(trato de expresarme usando español e ingles)...

2008-04-24T03:02:00.000-03:00

Hola,

(trato de expresarme usando español e ingles)

Para empezar, gracias por tu blog, que es muy interesante. También, quiero agradecerte haber puesto mucho al respecto de lo de la fonética del español (rioplantense).

Sin embargo, no estoy muy convencido de algo que mencionaste en tu blog. Tú dijiste/afirmaste que nosotros gringos deberíamos fingir que la letra "v" se pronuncie lo mismo que la letra "b."

Por ejemplo: jueves, vaca, violín, o nieve.

Sí, al decirlas en voz alta, es lo mismo que "juebes, vaca, biolín, y niebe" pero las letras "b" y "v" tienen dos pronunciaciones...¿verdad?

jueves = /xweβes/
vaca = /baka/

¿Estoy equivocado?

Hi Martin,Thank you for the comments. You make a g...

2008-03-19T11:16:00.000-03:00

Hi Martin,

Thank you for the comments. You make a good point. I think I used the wrong words in the last sentence of my comment ("getting serious"). You are definitely right that it's a personal choice, and I am very happy to see foreign language enrolments in the U.S. go up in so many languages every year. I apologize for making that sound the way it did.

Also, I think you're doing a great service to those who want to focus on oral skills...I personally have a hard time making my Spanish "flow," so i'm trying to build my vocabulary a little more so I do not pause as much when carrying on conversations in Spanish. It was unfortunate that my Spanish teachers did not emphasize pronunciation or oral skills more in my high school, but I am enjoying learning via podcasts and blogs.

Thanks again,

Jeff

Hi Jeffrey.People from all over the world study la...

2008-03-18T20:40:00.000-03:00

Hi Jeffrey.

People from all over the world study languages, and, regardless their nationality, some do it seriously and others do not. I think that´s a personal choice, who are we to say something should be done seriously?

I´m here for those who do take their oral skills seriously, and it´s usually because either their job or their social survival depends on it. Really few people care to speak proper Spanish when all they wanna say is "¿Cuánto sale?" while pointing their finger at some handcraft.

About the "stronger muscular tension", tell your students to try it out, and listen to the results.-

Hi Martin,Do you think it's a bit harder for "grin...

2008-03-17T15:33:00.000-03:00

Hi Martin,

Do you think it's a bit harder for "gringos" to get rid of their gringo Spanish accent because the Spanish language has a "stronger muscular tension" than English, as you state in your post? I meet so many people from Spanish-speaking countries (who can speak English), and their English speaking skills are just as "native" sounding as their Spanish. Or is it because gringos are still catching up with the rest of the world in getting serious about foreign language study?