Spanish Question: I've been watching a Spanish TV series - Alta Mar (High Seas). It's in Spanish with closed captions. I noticed that some of the "S" sounds have the tongue going...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I've been watching a Spanish TV series - Alta Mar (High Seas). It's in Spanish with closed captions. I noticed that some of the "S" sounds have the tongue going between the teeth, as in the word "thin." What's the story with that? I haven't noticed it in Mexican Spanish, or maybe I just wasn't paying attention.

tomcat

Careful Jerry. The Admins are watching you. Your comments an be turned into a racist statement.

BrianFlaherty Loc: Wilseyville, CA

Spanish and Mexican pronunciations are different for "s" and "b" and several others. . .

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

Jerry,
My wife is from southern Spain (Andalucia) and they use that (th) sound for the letter S and Z. From the accents that I know of in Central and South America, they pronounce it more withOUT the Castellano accent.

Edit: Sorry, that last sentence was typed whilst I wasn't paying attention in my morning meeting :)

Kozan Loc: Trenton Tennessee

jerryc41 wrote:

I've been watching a Spanish TV series - Alta Mar (High Seas). It's in Spanish with closed captions. I noticed that some of the "S" sounds have the tongue going between the teeth, as in the word "thin." What's the story with that? I haven't noticed it in Mexican Spanish, or maybe I just wasn't paying attention.

That's the Castillian spanish. Only pronounced like that in the Castillian district of Spain. For instance the word cinco in Latin America is pronounced SEEN-CO. In Castille it is pronounced as theen-co.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_Spanish_coronal_fricatives

--Bob

jerryc41 wrote:

I've been watching a Spanish TV series - Alta Mar (High Seas). It's in Spanish with closed captions. I noticed that some of the "S" sounds have the tongue going between the teeth, as in the word "thin." What's the story with that? I haven't noticed it in Mexican Spanish, or maybe I just wasn't paying attention.

MSW

I worked for a fellow (when we were in El Paso) who was a dual national - Mexican and American ... wonderful fellow, and a classic entrepreneur "wheeler dealer." He owned several businesses and i ran his photo lab.

What he told me was that way back in the colonial period, some of the nobility in the Spanish Royal family had speech impediments which made their Ss south like "th"s and since they were surrounded by toady sycophants, it became fasionable to substitute 'th' for 's' thus starting the "Castilian" accent ... lisping, sort of.

not sure if this helps

my knowledge of Spanish is pretty limited, but i can easily detect a Spanish speaker from Mexico or north Central America from one who comes from Spain or Puerto Rico, even id i can't understand what they're saying. There's also a local indigenous language which has mixed in a good bit of Spanish: this sounds really odd and (according to my boss) if you can communicate in this patious, you're a cool guy for sure.

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

Spanish is a wonderful and rich language. But there are so many variants that it is not universal between everyone. I had learned Spanish for a recent photographic opportunity to Barcelona. However I had some difficulty because many people spoke Catalan. I hope that no one presumes this as being
racist. Linguistics can be quite interesting. Besides, English is a conglomeration of many languages.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

The lisp story is a myth. It is not lisp. It is just the way the z, and the c when followed by an i or an e, are pronounced in the Spanish of Northern and Central Spain. As to the pronunciation of Barcelona, in Catalan it is pronounced almost the same as in English.

MSW wrote:

I worked for a fellow (when we were in El Paso) wh... (show quote)

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

I agree with you rmalarz. Understanding each other begins a long process of tolerability. We all need to cast aside misunderstandings and try our best to welcome another person into your life. That was told to me by my son, Brian before he passed away five years ago. Even for a 20 yr old kid, he was quite observant of this world around him.

srt101fan

rmalarz wrote:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_Spanish_coronal_fricatives

--Bob

Wow, Bob! "coronal fricatives"? Do you mind if I don't add that to my already strained brain memory banks?

Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York

I can only write that this thread is very interesting.

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

Spain as a whole uses the same basic pronunciation standards, which is known as Castellano (which is also a region of Spain). This is separate from region specific dialects (Catalan, Bosque, and Andaluz to some extent).

At least that's how my wife explained it many years ago, and I've approached learning the language

Bultaco Loc: Aiken, SC

johngault007 wrote:

Jerry,
My wife is from southern Spain (Andalucia) and they use that (th) sound for the letter S and Z. From the accents that I know of in Central and South America, they pronounce it more withOUT the Castellano accent.

Edit: Sorry, that last sentence was typed whilst I wasn't paying attention in my morning meeting :)

Your correct, spent 5 years in Spain. Loved every minite.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

For further authoritative perusal, which might involve coronal fricatives:

http://www.spainisculture.com/en/propuestas_culturales/real_academia_espanola_brillo_lengua.html

--Bob