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ArchivesSpanish pronunciation of Y and J
in reply to a message by Ivayla
In Spanish, the Y is pronounced as [y], as the Y of yes in English (vaya, maya, raya...) excepted the area of Río de la Plata (Uruguay and Argentina), where it is pronounced as [J], the French J (jour), in the most traditional form or as [S], the SH of shame in English. I don't know an English word where the J represents the sound [y]; in Basque and some other languages, J represents this sound, but not in English, I think.
The Spanish LL has its own sound, but most of speakers and dialects have assimilated it to Y (in Río de la Plata sounds, then, as English SH).
In the other hand, the J is always pronounced as [x] (KH in English), that is the general pronunciation, or in some areas of America as [h] (the English H), which is a dialectal pronunciation: mujer, jamón, Jaime...
The problem with misspellings J/G/Y in names or wrods from English origin is because the English J has a sound completely inexistent in Spanish; so many Spanish speakers try to pronounce it (and then they spell it with Y) with the most near sound in their phonological system, and that is the [y].
Lumia
http://onomastica.mailcatala.com
The Spanish LL has its own sound, but most of speakers and dialects have assimilated it to Y (in Río de la Plata sounds, then, as English SH).
In the other hand, the J is always pronounced as [x] (KH in English), that is the general pronunciation, or in some areas of America as [h] (the English H), which is a dialectal pronunciation: mujer, jamón, Jaime...
The problem with misspellings J/G/Y in names or wrods from English origin is because the English J has a sound completely inexistent in Spanish; so many Spanish speakers try to pronounce it (and then they spell it with Y) with the most near sound in their phonological system, and that is the [y].
Lumia
http://onomastica.mailcatala.com
This message was edited 9/25/2007, 3:02 AM
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Replies
Thank you, Lumia
I was hoping you'd show up for this one.
To put the pronunciation issue in layman's terms: I have some Colombian friends, and their [y] sounds to me more like 'dye' (not the English word but the sound). For example, when they say 'yo' it sounds like a mix of 'dyo' and 'jo'. It's not the exact same sound as 'j' but it's pretty close. Are we talking about the same sound?
I was hoping you'd show up for this one.
To put the pronunciation issue in layman's terms: I have some Colombian friends, and their [y] sounds to me more like 'dye' (not the English word but the sound). For example, when they say 'yo' it sounds like a mix of 'dyo' and 'jo'. It's not the exact same sound as 'j' but it's pretty close. Are we talking about the same sound?
This message was edited 9/25/2007, 2:25 PM
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Probably we are, but keep in mind that in every language a phoneme has/could have several allophones and that sounds and phonemes in different languages are not exactly identical (because of the secondary features, which are the responsibles of sounding or not as a native speaker of a language or of a specific dialect).
It could be a dialectal pronunciation (just as in Rioplatense Spanish the pronunciation of Y as French J, as English J or even as English SH/French CH), for instance in the beginning of the word, because in some dialects some sounds could have a plosive support, but I don't have information about that articulation in Colombia or in Mesoamerica -maybe Profe Esteban could help in that.
It could be a dialectal pronunciation (just as in Rioplatense Spanish the pronunciation of Y as French J, as English J or even as English SH/French CH), for instance in the beginning of the word, because in some dialects some sounds could have a plosive support, but I don't have information about that articulation in Colombia or in Mesoamerica -maybe Profe Esteban could help in that.
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