History of the Spanish language

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Modern SpanishOld SpanishLatin

The language known today as

Aragón for the rest of the middle ages, owing to the political prestige achieved by the Kingdom of Castile in the peninsular context and to the lesser literary development of their vernacular norms.[4] From the 1560s onward the standard written form followed Madrid's.[5]

The Spanish language expanded overseas in the

.

Main distinguishing features

The development of Spanish phonology is distinguished from those of other nearby Romance languages (e.g. Portuguese, Catalan) by several features:

  • closed syllables
    as well as open (tiempo, puerta vs. Portuguese tempo, porta)
  • sibilants, producing (1) the velar fricative [x] in words such as caja, hijo, gente, and (2)—in many dialects of Spain, including the prestige varieties of Madrid, Toledo, etc.—the interdental
    [θ] in words such as cinco, hacer, and lazo
  • debuccalization and eventual loss of Latin initial /f/ in most contexts, marked in modern spelling by the silent ⟨h⟩ of words such as hablar, hilo, hoja (from Latin fabulare, filum, and folia respectively. Also in Gascon: hilh, huelha)
  • early fricativization of palatal /ʎ/ (from Vulgar Latin -LJ-, -CL-, -GL-), first into palatal /ʒ/ and ultimately into velar /x/, e.g., filiushijo, *oc'luojo, *coag'larecuajar; cf. Portuguese filho, olho, coalhar)
  • development of initial PL-, CL-, FL- into palatal /ʎ/ in many words, e.g., plorarellorar, clamarellamar, flammallama; cf. Portuguese chorar, chamar, chama, Catalan plorar, clamar, flama)
  • Vulgar Latin initial /j/ (from J-, DJ-, G(E)-, G(I)-) remains before /a/, /e/ and /i/, subsequently disappearing in an unstressed syllable (iaceōyace, gypsumyeso, ienuāriusenero, *iectāreechar, gelārehelar, *genuclumhinojo vs. Portuguese jaz, gesso, janeiro, jeitar, gelar, joelho)

The following features are characteristic of Spanish phonology and also of some other

Ibero-Romance languages
, but not the Romance languages as a whole:

The Latin system of four verb conjugations (form classes) is reduced to three in Spanish. The Latin infinitives with the endings -ĀRE, -ĒRE, and -ĪRE become Spanish infinitives in -ar, -er, and -ir respectively. The Latin third conjugation—infinitives ending in -ĔRE—are redistributed between the Spanish -er and -ir classes (e.g. facerehacer, diceredecir). Spanish verbal morphology continues the use of some Latin synthetic forms that were replaced by analytic ones in spoken French and (partly) Italian (cf. Sp. lavó, Fr. il a lavé), and the Spanish subjunctive mood maintains separate present and past-tense forms.

Spanish syntax provides overt marking for some direct objects (the so-called "personal a", see differential object marking for the general phenomenon), and uses clitic doubling with indirect objects, in which a "redundant" pronoun (le, les) appears even in the presence of an explicit noun phrase. (Neither feature occurs in other Western Romance languages,[citation needed] but both are features of Romanian, with pe < PER corresponding to Spanish a.) With regard to subject pronouns, Spanish is a pro-drop language, meaning that the verb phrase can often stand alone without the use of a subject pronoun (or a subject noun phrase). In some cases, such as with impersonal verbs referring to meteorological (llover, to rain; nevar, to snow) or other natural phenomena (amanecer, to get light out; anochecer, to get dark out), it is ungrammatical to include a subject. Compared to other Romance languages, Spanish has a somewhat freer syntax with relatively fewer restrictions on subject-verb-object word order.

Due to prolonged

.

Accents—used in Modern Spanish to mark the vowel of the stressed syllable in words where stress is not predictable from rules—came into use sporadically in the 15th century, and massively in the 16th century. Their use began to be standardized with the advent of the

Spanish Royal Academy in the 18th century. See also Spanish orthography
.

External history

With the Reconquista in Iberia, various Vulgar Latin language groups ended up mixing (along with Basques). The largest such group was the Castilians, whose language became Spanish.

The standard Spanish language is also called

Old Spanish. From approximately the 16th century on, it is called Modern Spanish. Spanish of the 16th and 17th centuries is sometimes called "classical" Spanish, referring to the literary accomplishments of that period. Unlike English and French
, it is not customary to speak of a "middle" stage in the development of Spanish.

Origins

Castilian Spanish originated (after the decline of the

Mozarabic (the Romance speech of Christians living in Moorish territory) and medieval Judaeo-Spanish (Ladino). These languages had vanished in the Iberian Peninsula by the late 16th century.[9][10]

The prestige of Castile and its language was propagated partly by the exploits of Castilian heroes in the battles of the Reconquista—among them Fernán González and Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (El Cid)—and by the narrative poems about them that were recited in Castilian even outside the original territory of that dialect.[11]

The "first written Spanish" was traditionally considered to have appeared in the

Navarro-Aragonese language than to Spanish proper. Estimates of their date vary from the late 10th to the early 11th century.[12]

The first steps toward standardization of written Castilian were taken in the 13th century by King Alfonso X of Castile, known as Alfonso el Sabio (Alfonso the Wise), in his court in Toledo. He assembled scribes at his court and supervised their writing, in Castilian, of extensive works on history, astronomy, law, and other fields of knowledge.[13][14]

Antonio de Nebrija wrote the first grammar of Spanish, Gramática de la lengua castellana, and presented it, in 1492, to Queen Isabella, who is said to have had an early appreciation of the usefulness of the language as a tool of hegemony, as if anticipating the empire that was about to be founded with the voyages of Columbus.[15]

Because Old Spanish resembles the modern written language to a relatively high degree, a reader of Modern Spanish can learn to read medieval documents without much difficulty.

The

Association of Spanish Language Academies
was created in 1951.

America

Beginning in the late fifteenth century, the discovery and colonization of the Americas by Spanish colonizers brought the language across the Atlantic and to Mexico, Central America, and western and southern South America.[17] Under the Spanish Crown, the language was used as a tool for colonization by Spanish soldiers, missionaries, conquistadors, and entrepreneurs. In the coming centuries, their descendants continued to spread the language.[18]

Use of the language in the

Mestizos. After the wars of independence fought by these colonies in the 19th century, the new ruling elites extended their Spanish to the whole population, including the Amerindian majority, to strengthen national unity, and nowadays it is the first and official language of the resulting republics, except in very isolated parts of the former Spanish colonies.[19]

In the late 19th century, the still-Spanish colonies of

European
immigration, Spanish and non-Spanish, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There, the countries' large (or sizable minority) population groups of second- and third-generation descendants adopted the Spanish language as part of their governments' official assimilation policies to include Europeans. In some countries, they had to be Catholics and agreed to take an oath of allegiance to their chosen nation's government.

When

Puerto Ricans in the United States
).

A similar situation occurred in the American Southwest, including

Miami, Florida, beginning with the Cuban Revolution in 1959, and followed by other Latin American groups; the local majority is now Spanish-speaking). Spanish is now treated as the country's "second language," and over 5 percent of the U.S. population are Spanish-speaking, but most Latino/Hispanic
Americans are bilingual or also regularly speak English.

Africa

The presence of Spanish in Equatorial Guinea dates from the late 18th century, and it was adopted as the official language when independence was granted in 1968.

Spanish is widely spoken in Western Sahara, which was a protectorate/colony of Spain from the 1880s to the 1970s.

Judaeo-Spanish

In 1492 Spain expelled its Jewish population. Their Judaeo-Spanish language, called Ladino, developed along its own lines and continues to be spoken by a dwindling number of speakers, mainly in Israel, Turkey, and Greece.[20][21]

In the Pacific

In the Marianas, the Spanish language was retained until the Pacific War, but is no longer spoken there by any significant number of people. As part of Chile since 1888, Spanish is spoken by most people in Easter Island along with Rapa Nui language.

Spain

Language politics in Francoist Spain declared Spanish as the only official language in Spain, and to this day it is the most widely used language in government, business, public education, the workplace, cultural arts, and the media. But in the 1960s and 1970s,[citation needed] the Spanish parliament agreed to allow provinces to use, speak, and print official documents in three other languages: Catalan for Catalonia, Balearic Islands and Valencia; Basque
for the
Aranese (an Occitan language of northwestern Catalonia), Basque, Catalan/Valencian, and Galician—have gained co-official status in their respective geographical areas. Others—such as Aragonese, Asturian and Leonese
—have been recognized by regional governments.

International projection

When the

Arabic
, was added in 1973).

The list of Nobel laureates in Literature includes eleven authors who wrote in Spanish (José Echegaray, Jacinto Benavente, Gabriela Mistral, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Miguel Ángel Asturias, Pablo Neruda, Vicente Aleixandre, Gabriel García Márquez, Camilo José Cela, Octavio Paz, and Mario Vargas Llosa).

Influences

The mention of "influences" on the Spanish language refers primarily to

Arabic, from neighboring Romance languages, from Native American languages[citation needed], and from English
.

The most frequently used word that entered Spanish from (or through

Basque lineage. Iberian and Celtiberian likewise are thought to have contributed place names to Spain. Words of everyday use that are attributed to Celtic sources include camino "road", carro "cart", colmena "hive", and cerveza "beer".[24]
Suffixes such as -iego: mujeriego "womanizer" and -ego: gallego "Galician" are also attributed to Celtic sources.

Influence of Basque phonology is credited by some researchers[who?] with softening the Spanish labiodentals: turning labiodental [v] to bilabial [β], and ultimately deleting labiodental [f]. Others negate or downplay Basque phonological influence, claiming that these changes occurred in the affected dialects wholly as a result of factors internal to the language, not outside influence.[25] It is also possible that the two forces, internal and external, worked in concert and reinforced each other.

Some words of Greek origin were already present in the spoken Latin that became Spanish. Additionally, many Greek words formed part of the language of the Church. Spanish also borrowed Ancient Greek vocabulary in the areas of medical, technical, and scientific language, beginning as early as the 13th century.[26]

The influence of

cardinal directions (norte, este, sur, oeste), for example, are all taken from Germanic words (compare north, east, south and west in Modern English), after the contact with Atlantic sailors. These words did not exist in Spanish prior to the 15th century. Instead, "north" and "south" were septentrion and meridion[citation needed
] respectively (both virtually obsolete in Modern Spanish as nouns, unlike their not uncommon adjectival counterparts septentrional and meridional), while "east" was oriente (or levante), and "west" was occidente (or poniente). These older words for "east" and "west" continue to have some use in Modern Spanish.

In 711 the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by

Arabic language. For about eight hundred years, until the fall of the Emirate of Granada (1492), Spanish borrowed thousands of words from Andalusi Arabic, such as alcalde "mayor", álgebra "algebra", aceite "oil", zanahoria "carrot", alquiler "rent", achacar "to blame", adelfa "oleander", barrio "neighbourhood", chaleco "vest", to name just a few; making up 8% of the Spanish dictionary—the second largest lexical influence on Spanish after Latin.[27][28][29] It is thought that the bilingualism of the Mozarabs facilitated the large transfer of vocabulary from Arabic to Castilian.[30]

The neighboring Romance languages—such as

Galician/Portuguese, Catalan, French, and Occitan—contributed greatly to the Spanish lexicon throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era.[31] Borrowing from Italian occurred most frequently in the 16th and 17th centuries, due largely to the influence of the Italian Renaissance.[32]

The creation of the Spanish Empire in the New World led to lexical borrowing from indigenous languages of the Americas, especially vocabulary dealing with flora, fauna, and cultural concepts unique to the Americas.[33]

Borrowing from English has become especially strong, beginning in the 20th century, with words borrowed from many fields of activity, including sports, technology, and commerce.[34]

The incorporation into Spanish of learned, or "bookish" words from its own ancestor language,

Latin, is arguably another form of lexical borrowing through the influence of written language and the liturgical language of the Church. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the early modern period, most literate Spanish-speakers were also literate in Latin; and thus they easily adopted Latin words into their writing—and eventually speech—in Spanish. The form of Latin that Spaniards spoke and the loanwords came from was Classical Latin, but also Renaissance Latin
, the form of Latin used in original works of the time.

Internal history

Spanish shares with other Romance languages most of the phonological and grammatical changes that characterized Vulgar Latin, such as the abandonment of distinctive vowel length, the loss of the case system for nouns, and the loss of deponent verbs.

Syncope

Syncope in the history of Spanish refers to the loss of an unstressed vowel from the syllable immediately preceding or following the stressed syllable. Early in its history, Spanish lost such vowels where they preceded or followed R or L, and between S and T.[35][36][37]

Early
syncope
in Spanish
Environment Latin words Spanish words
_r aperīre, humerum, litteram,[38] operam, honorāre abrir, hombro, letra, obra, honrar
r_ eremum, viridem yermo, verde
_l acūculam, fabulam, insulam, populum aguja, habla, isla, pueblo
l_ sōlitārium soltero
s_t positum, consūtūram puesto, costura

*Solitario, which is derived from sōlitārium, is a learned word; cf. the alternate form soltero. As also "fábula" from "fabulam", although this last one has a different meaning in Spanish.

Later, after the time of intervocalic voicing, unstressed vowels were lost between other combinations of consonants:

Later
syncope
in Spanish
Environment Latin words Spanish words
b_t cubitum, dēbitam, dūbitam codo, deuda, duda
c_m, c_p, c_t decimum, acceptōre, recitāre diezmo, azor, rezar
d_c undecim, vindicāre once, vengar
f_c advērificāre averiguar
m_c, m_n, m_t hāmiceolum, hominem, comitem anzuelo, hombre, conde
n_c, n_t dominicum, bonitāte, cuminitiāre domingo, bondad, comenzar
p_t capitālem, computāre, hospitālem caudal, contar, hostal
s_c, s_n quassicāre, rassicāre, asinum, fraxinum cascar, rascar, asno, fresno
t_c, t_n masticāre, portaticum, trīticum, retinam mascar/masticar, portazgo, trigo, rienda

Words capital, computar, hospital, recitar and vindicar are learned words; cf. capitālem, computāre, hospitālem, recitāre, and vindicāre and alternate forms caudal, contar, hostal, rezar, and vengar.

Elision

While voiceless intervocalic consonants regularly became voiced, many voiced intervocalic stops (d, g, and occasionally b) were dropped from words altogether through a process called elision.[39][40] Latin /b/ between vowels usually changed to /v/ in Old Spanish (e.g. habēre > aver), while Latin /p/ became /b/ (sapere > saber). In modern times the two phonemes merged into /b/ (haber, saber), realized as [β] between vowels (see Betacism). Latin voiced stops—/b/, /d/, and /ɡ/, which are represented orthographically as B, D, and G respectively—and also occurred in intervocalic positions also underwent lenition: [β], [ð], and [ɣ], but appeared in Spanish also through learned words from Classical Latin.

Examples of elision in Spanish
Consonant Latin word Spanish word
b → ∅ vendēbat vendía
d → ∅ comedere, vidēre, hodie, cadēre, pede, quō modō comer, ver, hoy, caer, pie, cómo
g → ∅ gitāre, digitum, legere, ligāre, lēgāle cuidar, dedo, leer, liar, leal

Many forms with d and g preserved, e.g. ligar, legal, dígito, crudo, are learned words (Latinisms); cf. the alternate forms liar, leal, dedo and Old Spanish cruo and its Latin origin crūdus.

An exemption to the rule: The retention of the d and g is due to the invalidity of the -ao, -aa, -oo, and -oa hiatuses in Old Spanish that would result from dropping it.

Consonant Latin word Spanish word
d[ð] gradus, vadum, modus grado, vado, modo
g → [ɣ] sparagus, agustus, plāga, magus espárrago, agosto, llaga, mago

Voicing and spirantization

In virtually all the

fricatives: [β], [ð], and [ɣ], respectively.[41][42] Although it was once speculated that this change came about as a transfer of phonological features from substrate Celtic and Basque languages, which were in geographical proximity to Iberian Vulgar Latin (see Sprachbund), it is now widely recognized that such change is a natural internal development.[43][44] Intervocalic /p/, /t/, and /k/ reappeared in Spanish through learned words from Classical Latin and also appeared in Spanish through consonant cluster simplification from Vulgar Latin (see below), and Latin voiced stops—/b/, /d/, and /ɡ/, which are represented orthographically as B, D, and G respectively—and also occurred in intervocalic positions also underwent lenition: [β], [ð], and [ɣ
], but appeared in Spanish also through learned words from Classical Latin and also appeared in Spanish through consonant cluster simplification from Vulgar Latin.

The phonological environment of these changes is not only between vowels but also after a vowel and before a

sonorant consonant
such as /r/ (Latin patrem > Spanish padre)—but not the reverse (Latin partem > Spanish parte, not *parde).

Examples of
voicing and spirantization
in Spanish
Consonants Latin word Spanish word
pb [β] aperīre, cooperīre, lupum,
operam, populum, capram, superāre1
abrir [aˈβɾir], cubrir [kuˈβɾir], lobo [ˈloβo],
obra [ˈoβɾa], pueblo [ˈpweβlo], cabra [ˈkaβɾa], sobrar [soβˈɾar]
td [ð] cīvitātem, cubitum, latum, mūtāre,
scūtum, stātus, petram
ciudad [θjuˈðað], codo [ˈkoðo], lado [ˈlaðo], mudar [muˈðar],
escudo [esˈkuðo], estado [esˈtaðo], piedra [ˈpjeðra]
cg [ɣ] focum, lacum, locum,
pacāre, sacrātum, aqua, lucrum2
fuego [ˈfweɣo], lago [ˈlaɣo], luego [ˈlweɣo],
pagar [paˈɣar], sagrado [saˈɣɾaðo], agua [ˈaɣwa], logro [ˈloɣɾo]

1Latin superāre produced both sobrar and its learned doublet superar.

2Latin lucrum produced both logro and its learned doublet lucro.

The verb decir, in its various conjugated forms, exemplifies different phonetic changes, depending on whether the letter <c> (Latin /k/) was followed by a front vowel or not. The Latin /k/ changes ultimately to Spanish /θ/ when followed by the front vowels (/i/ or /e/—thus dice, decimos, etc.), but in other forms, before a back vowel, /k/ is voiced to /ɡ/ and, in the modern language, realized as a spirant [ɣ] (as in digo, diga). This also is the pattern of a few other Spanish verbs ending in -cer or -cir, as in the table below:

Forms with /k//θ/,/s/ (before front vowels) Forms with /k//ɡ/ (before back vowels)
English Latin Spanish English Latin Spanish
To say, to tell
It says, it tells
dīcere /ˈdiːkere/
dīcit /ˈdiːkit/
decir /deˈθiɾ/,/deˈsiɾ/
dice /ˈdiθe/,/ˈdise/
I say, I tell
May it tell
dīcō /ˈdiːkoː/
dīcat /ˈdiːkat/
digo /ˈdiɡo/
diga /ˈdiɡa/
To do, to make
It does, it makes
facere /ˈfakere/
facit /ˈfakit/
hacer /aˈθeɾ/,/aˈseɾ/
hace /ˈaθe/,/ˈase/
I do, I make
May it make
faciō > *facō /ˈfakoː/
faciat > *facat /ˈfakat/
hago /ˈaɡo/
haga /ˈaɡa/

Diphthongization in open and closed syllables

It is commonly thought that the reflexes of stressed short E and O of Latin were realised, after the loss of phonemic quantity, as the low-mid vowels /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ respectively in the Western Romance languages, contrasting with close-mid /e/ and /o/, which would have originated from the mergers between long E and short I and between long O and short U, respectively; this change would explain the similarity of the vowel systems in modern Romance languages such as Portuguese, Catalan and Italian. These low-mid vowels subsequently would have undergone

diphthongization does not occur at all. As a result, Spanish phonology exhibits a five-vowel system, not the seven-vowel system that is typical of many other Western Romance languages.[45][46][47]
The stressed short [e] and [o] reappeared in Spanish through learned words from Classical Latin and also evolved from short vowels /i/ and /u/ from Vulgar Latin, and was retained from long vowels [eː] and [oː] from Vulgar Latin.

Spanish
diphthongization in open and closed syllables
Syllable shape Latin Spanish French Italian Portuguese Catalan
Open petram, focus piedra, fuego pierre, feu pietra, fuoco pedra, fogo pedra, foc
Closed festa, porta fiesta, puerta fête, porte festa, porta festa, porta festa, porta

Learned words and consonant cluster simplification

Learned words—that is, "bookish" words transmitted partly through writing and thus affected by their Latin form—became increasingly frequent with the works of

academic, words, especially when the words extended into popular usage in the Old Spanish period. Some of the consonant clusters affected were -ct-, -ct[i]-, -pt-, -gn-, -mn-, -mpt-, and -nct-. Most of the simplified forms have since reverted to the learned forms or are now considered to be uneducated.[48]

Reduction of consonant clusters
Consonant cluster Latin form Learned form
Old Spanish form
Modern Spanish form
ctt effectum, perfectum, respectum, aspectum, dīstrīctus, sectam efecto, perfecto, respecto, aspecto, districto, secta efeto, perfeto, respeto, aspeto, distrito, seta efecto, perfecto, respeto/respecto, aspecto, distrito, secta
ct[i] → cc[i] → c[i] affectiōnem, lectiōnem, perfectiōnem affección, lección, perfección afición, lición, perfeción afición/afección, lección, perfección
ptt acceptāre, baptismum,
conceptum, raptus
aceptar, baptismo,
concepto, rapto
acetar, bautismo,
conceto, rato
aceptar, bautismo,
concepto, rato
gnn gnum, magnīficum, signīficāre digno, magnífico,
significar
dino, manífigo,
sinifigar
digno, magnífico,
significar
mnn columnam, solemnitātem, alūmnus columna, solemnidad, alumno coluna, solenidad, aluno columna, solemnidad, alumno
mptnt promptum, exemptum prompto, exempto pronto, exento pronto, exento
nctnt sanctus, distīnctum sancto, distincto santo, distinto santo, distinto

Most of these words have modern forms which more closely resemble

Real Academia Española, with their demand that all consonants of a word be pronounced, steadily drove most simplified forms from existence. Many of the simplified forms were used in literary works in the Middle Ages and Renaissance (sometimes intentionally as an archaism), but have since been relegated mostly to popular and uneducated speech. Occasionally, both forms exist in Modern Spanish with different meanings or in idiomatic
usage: for example afición is a 'fondness (of)' or 'taste (for)', while afección is 'illness'; Modern Spanish respeto is '(attitude of) respect', while con respecto a means 'with regard to'.

Most words with consonant clusters in syllable-final position are loanwords from Classical Latin, examples are: transporte [tɾansˈpor.te], transmitir [tɾanz.miˈtir], instalar [ins.taˈlar], constante [konsˈtante], obstante [oβsˈtante], obstruir [oβsˈtɾwir], perspectiva [pers.pekˈti.βa], istmo [ˈist.mo]. A syllable-final position cannot be more than one consonant (one of n, r, l, s or z) in most (or all) dialects in colloquial speech, reflecting Vulgar Latin background. Realizations like [trasˈpor.te], [tɾaz.miˈtir], [is.taˈlar], [kosˈtante], [osˈtante], [osˈtɾwir], and [ˈiz.mo] are very common, and in many cases, they are considered acceptable even in formal speech.

Another type of consonant cluster simplification involves

fricatives: [β], [ð], and [ɣ
], respectively.

Simplification of double plosives in Spanish
Consonant Latin word Spanish word
bb [bː]b [β] ABBĀTEM abad
dd [dː]d [ð] IN + ADDERE, ADDICTUS, ADDICTIŌNEM añadir, adicto, adicción
gg [gː]g [ɣ] AGGRAVARE agravar
pp [pː]p [p] CUPPAM, CIPPUS, VAPPA, SUPPORTĀRE, SUPPŌNĒRE copa, cepo, guapo, soportar, suponer
tt [tː]t [t] CATTUM, GUTTAM, QUATTUOR, LITTERAM, ATTENDĒRE, ATTRAHERE, ATTRIBUERE, RATTUS gato, gota, cuatro, letra, atender, atraer, atrever, rata
cc [kː]c [k] VACCAM, PECCĀRE, SICCUS, ACCŪSĀRE, OCCURRERE, BUCCAM vaca, pecar, seco, acusar, ocurrir, boca

Vocalization

The term "vocalization" refers to the change from a consonant to the vowel-like sound of a glide. Some syllable-final consonants, regardless of whether they were already syllable-final in Latin or brought into that position by

affricate). (The forms debda, cobdo, and dubdar are documented in Old Spanish; but the hypothetical forms *oito and *noite had already given way to ocho and noche by the time Castilian became a written language.)[49][50][51]

Syllable-final vocalization
Change Latin word
Intermediate form
Spanish word
pw baptistam, capitālem (none for baptistam), cabdal bautista, caudal
bw bitam debda deuda
(u)bw → Ø cubitum, dubitāre cobdo, dubdar codo, dudar
vw vitātem cibdad ciudad
ctch octō, nōctem *oito, *noite ocho, noche

Betacism

Most Romance languages have maintained the distinction between a phoneme /b/ and a phoneme /v/: a

Balearic dialect, as well as in Algherese
.

In Modern Spanish, from the 16th century onward, the choice of orthographic ⟨b⟩ or ⟨v⟩ depends mainly on the etymology of the word. The orthography attempts to mimic the Latin spelling, rather than to keep the pronunciation-based spelling of Old Spanish.[8] Thus, Old Spanish bever "to drink", bivir/vivir "to live" become beber, vivir, respectively, following the Latin spelling bibere, vīvere. The Spanish placename Córdoba, often spelled Cordova in Old Spanish (the spelling that prevailed in English until the 20th century), now reflects the spelling used by the city's Roman founders, "Corduba".

Latin f- to Spanish h- to null

F was almost always initial in Latin words, and in Spanish most phonemes /f/ followed by a simple vowel passed through a stage in which the consonant eventually developed to [h] and then was lost phonologically. Spelling conventions have

loanwords
from Classical Latin). Then, it became necessary to distinguish both phonemes in spelling.

The change from /f/ to /h/ occurred in the Romance speech of Old Castile, eastern Asturian, and Gascon, but nowhere else nearby.[54] Since much of this area was historically bilingual with Basque, and Basque once had [h] but no [f], it is often suggested that the change was caused by Basque influence. However, this is contested by many linguists.

Most current instances of /f/ are either learned words (those influenced by their written Latin form, such as forma, falso, fama, feria), loanwords of Arabic and Greek origin, or words whose initial ⟨f⟩ in Old Spanish is followed by a non-vowel (⟨r⟩, ⟨l⟩, or the glide element of a diphthong), as in frente, flor, fiesta, fuerte.[55][56][57] That, along with the effect of preservation of /f/ regionally (Asturian fumu 'smoke', formiga 'ant', fégadu 'liver'), accounts for modern doublets such as Fernando (learned) and Hernando (inherited) (both Spanish for "Ferdinand"), fierro (regional) and hierro (both "iron"), fastidio and hastío (both Spanish for "boredom"), and fondo and hondo (fondo means "bottom" and hondo means "deep"). Also, hacer ("to make") is the root word of satisfacer ("to satisfy"), and hecho ("made") is the root word of satisfecho ("satisfied") (cf. malhechor and fechorías).

As mentioned above, /h/ was not lost in all varieties. As of the late 20th century, word-initial ⟨h⟩ was pronounced as an /h/ in lower-class, predominantly rural speech in a number of western regions of Spain, specifically western Andalusia and Extremadura, the Canary Islands, part of western Salamanca, part of Cantabria, a northeastern area in León, and in the Asturian language as spoken in eastern Asturias,[54] as well as in much of Latin America, where it similarly tends to be confined to lower-class and rural speech.[58] The distribution of this pronunciation throughout so much of western Spain suggests that its spread was due in large part to the role of eastern Asturians in the reconquest of these zones.[54] At least in Latin America, the Canaries, Andalusia, and Extremadura, this /h/ is merged with the phoneme /x~h/, which comes from medieval /ʃ/ and /ʒ/.[59]

Examples of Latin 'f-' to Spanish 'h-'
Consonants Latin word
Old Spanish form
Modern Spanish word
f-h- fabulāri, facere, faciendam, factum, faminem,
farīnam, fēminam, fīcatum, fīlium, folia,
fōrmōsum, fūmum, fungum, furcam
fablar, fazer, fazienda, feito, fambre,
farina, fembra, fígado, fijo, foja,
formoso, fumo, fongo, forca
hablar, hacer, hacienda, hecho, hambre,
harina, hembra, hígado, hijo, hoja,
hermoso, humo, hongo, horca

Fabulāri is translated as "make stories", opposed to its Spanish derivative hablar which means "speak" or "to talk".

Silent Latin h-

'H' is originally pronounced in Classical Latin, but became silent in Vulgar Latin. Thus, words were spelled without any such consonant in Old Spanish; in Modern Spanish, from the 16th century onward, it attempts to mimic the Latin spelling rather than continue Old Spanish orthography.

Examples
Consonants Latin word
Old Spanish form
Modern Spanish word
h- → ∅ → h- habēbat, habēre, habuī, hodiē, hominem, honorāre, hospitālem, humerum avié; aver; ove; oy; omne, omre, ombre; onrar; ostal; ombro había, haber, hube, hoy, hombre, honrar, hostal/hospital, hombro

Modern development of the Old Spanish sibilants

During the 16th century, the three voiced

voiceless counterparts: /t͡s/, /s/, and /ʃ/ (as in caçar, passar, and baxar respectively). The character ⟨ç⟩, called ⟨c⟩ cedilla, originated in Old Spanish[60]
but has been replaced by ⟨z⟩ in the modern language.

Additionally, the

merged
both sounds.

The dissimilation in the northern and central dialects occurred with the

ceceo
).

During the colonization of the Americas, most settlers came from the south of Spain; that is the cause, according to almost all scholars, for nearly all Spanish speakers in the New World still speaking a language variety derived mainly from the Western Andalusian and Canarian dialects.

Meanwhile, the alveopalatal fricative /ʃ/, the result of the merger of voiceless /ʃ/ (spelled ⟨x⟩ in Old Spanish) with voiced /ʒ/ (spelled with ⟨j⟩ in some words and in others with ⟨g⟩ before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩), was moved backward in all dialects, to become (depending on geographical variety) velar [x], uvular [χ] (in parts of Spain) or glottal [h] (in Andalusia, Canary Islands, and parts of the Americas, especially the Caribbean region).[62][63]

Interchange of the liquids /l/ and /r/

One unusual feature of Spanish etymology is the way in which the

liquids
/r/ and /l/ have sometimes replaced each other in words derived from Latin, French and other sources. For example, Spanish milagro, "miracle", is derived from Latin miraculum. More rarely, this process has involved consonants like /d/ and /n/ (as in alma, from Latin anima). Here is an incomplete list of such words:

  • ancla, "
    Latin
    ancora
  • albedrío, "will, whim, fancy", Latin arbitrium, "judgment, decision, will" (arbitrio is a learned form, i.e.: loanword from Classical Latin)
  • algalia, "
    Ancient Greek
    : ἐργαλεία ergaleía, "tools"
  • alimaña, "pest", almaje "livestock", Latin animalĭa, "animals"
  • alma, "soul", Latin anima
  • alondra, "lark", Latin alaudula
  • altramuz, "
    lupin", Hispanic Arabic at-tarmūs
  • árbol, "tree", Latin arbor
  • Argelia, "Algeria (nation)"
  • azufre, sulfur, Latin sulphur
  • azul, "
    Arabic: لازورد lāzaward "lapis lazuli
    " (cf. medieval Latin azura, French azure)
  • blandir, "to brandish", French brandir
  • bolsa, "bag, purse", Latin bursa
  • cárcel, "prison", Latin carcer (cf. English "incarcerate")
  • calambre, "
    electric shock
    ", French crampe
  • Catalina, Latin Catharina (
    proper name
    ; Catarina is a learned form; i.e. loanword from Classical Latin)
  • chaflán, "chamfer", French chanfrein.
  • cilantro, "coriander", Latin coriandrum
  • cimbrar, "shake (a stick), sway, swish", Latin cymula, "sprout, shoot (of plant)"
  • corcel, "steed, fast horse", French corsier
  • coronel, "colonel", French colonel, from Italian colonnello
  • Cristóbal, Germanic Christoffer, from Latin Christopherus (
    proper name
    )
  • cuartel, "quarter", French quartier
  • dintel, "lintel", Old French lintel
  • escolta, "escort", Italian scorta
  • espuela, "
    Gothic
    *spaúra (cf. French éperon)
  • estiércol, "dung", Latin, stercus (stem stercor-)
  • estrella, "star", from Latin stella (cf. Italian stella, French étoile)
  • flete, "freight, cargo", French fret
  • fraile, "friar", Provençal fraire, from Latin frater, "brother"
  • franela, "flannel", French flanelle
  • frasco, "flask", Germanic flasko
  • guirnalda, "garland", older Spanish guirlanda, cf. French guirlande
  • golondrina, "swallow (bird)", Latin hirundo
  • lirio, "
    lily
    , iris", Latin lilium
  • mármol, "marble", Latin marmor
  • miércoles, "Wednesday", Latin Mercuri [dies], "Mercury's [day]"
  • milagro, "miracle", Latin miraculum
  • nivel, "level", Latin libellum, "little balance", from libra, "balance"
  • olor, "smell, scent", Latin odor
  • papel, "paper", Catalan paper, Latin papyrus
  • palabra, "word", Latin parabola
  • peligro, "danger", Latin periculum (cf. English "peril")
  • plática, "chat, conversation", Latin practica
  • quemar, "to burn", Latin cremare (cf. English "cremation")
  • quilate, "
    Ancient Greek: κεράτιον "carob seed
    " (cf. Italian carato)
  • recluta, "recruit", French recrute
  • regaliz(a), "liquorice", Late Latin liquiritia
  • roble, "oak", Latin robur, "strong"
  • sable, "sabre", France sabre
  • silo, "silo", Latin sirus from Greek siros, "pit for storing grain"
  • surco, "groove, furrow", Latin sulcus
  • taladro, "drill", Latin tarātrum < Celtic tarātron
  • temblar, "tremble", Latin tremulāre
  • templar, "temper, warm up", Latin temperō"
  • tiniebla(s), "darkness", Latin tenebrae

Yeísmo

Documents from as early as the 15th century show occasional evidence of sporadic confusion between the phoneme /

phonemic merger is called yeísmo, based on one name for the letter ⟨y⟩.[64][65][66]

Yeismo is a trait of the

Astur-Leonese, Basque, Aragonese, Occitan and Catalan, usually do not feature yeísmo in their Spanish since those languages retain the /ʎ
/ phoneme.

A related trait that has also been documented sporadically for several hundred years is rehilamiento (literally "whizzing"), the pronunciation of /ʝ/ as a sibilant fricative [ʒ] or even an affricate [], which is common among non-native Spanish speakers as well. The current pronunciation varies greatly depending on the geographical dialect and sociolect (with [], especially, stigmatized except at the beginning of a word). Rioplatense Spanish (of Argentina and Uruguay) is particularly known for the pronunciation [ʒ] of both /ʝ/ and original /ʎ/. A further development, the unvoiced pronunciation [ʃ], during the second half of the twentieth century came to characterize the speech of "most younger residents of Buenos Aires" and continues to spread throughout Argentina.[70]

See also

References

  1. ^ "History of Spanish language". Language Throne. Retrieved 2023-03-19.
  2. ^ Penny (2002:17–290)
  3. ^ Penny (2002:19–22)
  4. ^ Penny (2002:19–20)
  5. ^ Penny (2002:20–21)
  6. ^ Penny (2002:22–26)
  7. ^ Penny (2002:23)
  8. ^ a b Navarro Tomás (1982), §§90-91.
  9. ^ Penny (2002:11–15)
  10. ^ Ostler (2005:331–334)
  11. ^ Penny (2002:15)
  12. ^ Lapesa (1981:162)
  13. ^ Penny (2002:15–16)
  14. ^ Lapesa (1981:235–248)
  15. ^ Lapesa (1981:288–290)
  16. ^ Lapesa (1981:419–420)
  17. ^ "The Spanish Language | Rosetta Stone®". Rosetta Stone. 10 October 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  18. . Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  19. ^ Ostler (2005:335–347)
  20. ^ Penny (2002:21–24)
  21. ^ Lapesa (1981:524–534)
  22. ^ Corominas (1973:340)
  23. ^ Erichsen (2018)
  24. ^ Penny (2002:256)
  25. ^ Penny (2002:91–92)
  26. ^ Penny (2002:260–262)
  27. .
  28. ^ Hussain, Hamid. "(DOC) Impact of Arabic on Spanish | Hamid Hussain - Academia.edu".
  29. ^ Quintana, Lucía; Mora, Juan Pablo (2002). "Enseñanza del acervo léxico árabe de la lengua española" (PDF). ASELE. Actas XIII: 705.: "El léxico español de procedencia árabe es muy abundante: se ha señalado que constituye, aproximadamente, un 8% del vocabulario total"
  30. ^ Penny (2002:271)
  31. ^ Penny (2002:272–275, 279–281)
  32. ^ Penny (2002:281–284)
  33. ^ Penny (2002:275–277)
  34. ^ Penny (2002:277–279)
  35. ^ Lathrop (2003:10)
  36. ^ Lloyd (1987:113)
  37. ^ Penny (2002:50–51)
  38. ^ Most Spanish nouns and adjectives are thought to have evolved from the accusative-case forms of their Latin source words; thus words that appear in dictionaries in their nominative forms (humerus, littera, etc.) are shown here with the accusative final -m (humerum, litteram, etc.)
  39. ^ Lathrop (2003:85–87)
  40. ^ Lloyd (1987:232–237)
  41. ^ Lathrop (2003:82–85)
  42. ^ Penny (2002:67–71)
  43. ^ Walsh (1991)
  44. ^ Cravens (2002:17–27)
  45. ^ Lathrop (2003:61–63)
  46. ^ Lloyd (1987:122)
  47. ^ Penny (2002:44)
  48. ^ Lapesa (1981:390)
  49. ^ Lathrop (2003:85 and 94)
  50. ^ Lloyd (1987:253 and 347)
  51. ^ Penny (2002:61 and 78)
  52. ^ The confusion of Latin /b/ and /v/ in Spain is demonstrated by an often-cited pun in Latin, "Beati Hispani quibus vivere bibere est" [Blessed (are the) Spaniards, for whom to live is to drink], with variants such as "Beati Hispani, dum bibere dicunt vivere". The saying seems to be not really from Roman times but from the Middle Ages or even the Renaissance. See Nihil Novum sub Sole.
  53. ^ Lloyd (1987:239)
  54. ^
    ISSN 0212-0534. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 22 June 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  55. ^ Lathrop (2003:78–79)
  56. ^ Lloyd (1987:212–223)
  57. ^ Penny (2002:90)
  58. ^ Penny (2000), pp. 162–163.
  59. ^ Penny (2000), pp. 121–122, 130, 162–163.
  60. ^ Lapesa (1981:163)
  61. ^ Penny (2002:86)
  62. ^ Lloyd (1987:328–344)
  63. ^ Penny (2002:86–90)
  64. ^ Hammond (2001)
  65. ^ Lloyd (1987:344–347)
  66. ^ Penny (2002:93)
  67. ^ Boyd-Bowman (1964)
  68. ^ Penny (2002:25–26)
  69. ^ Lapesa (1981:565–566)
  70. ^ Lipski (1994:170)

Sources

External links