Vocabulary

1. Tercera Lista de Vocabulario (Third vocabulary list)

Syllables in red represents the strongest syllable in the words pronunciation.

Reino Alimento Obrero Himno Eterno Cadena Invasor Pueblo Fiesta

Letra Lineas Cambio Escudo Soldado Idioma Aristocracia Trigo Puerto

Libro Premio Descubrimiento Temporada Nacimiento Siglo Dorado Mapa Norte

lesson 3

1.Las sílabas - Parte uno (The syllables - Part one)

1.1 Introduction

We call syllable to each one of the fonetic entities that conform a word. Syllables are the most elemental phonetical group which can be compossed by several sounds, The syllable is an emission of voice, in spanish language syllables must have at less one vowel (V), and can be surrounded of consonants (C), or vowels depending on the word which is going to be built, not all combinations are suposed to be syllables.

1.2 Syllabic structure

Syllables has structure, this structure is compossed of 3 elements, called Cabeza (head), Núcleo (core), and Coda, the presence of cabeza and coda in the syllabic structure is optional. Pronuntiation of a syllable is divided in 3 phases:

1. Explosión: comprised from the close of the articulatory organs to the highest opening.
2. Núcleo: the central phase also called Núcleo Silábico that is the axis and the support of the syllable.
3. Implosión: the phase comprised from the opening to the close of the organs.

This give place to the next definition

Núcleo Silábico (Syllabic core): Is the most audible, perceptible and opened element from all whose comprise the syllable, in most of cases the vowel or group of vowels in the middle of the syllable.

This example explains how it work, in the syllable "trans" from word "transporte", the structure is divided like this:

Cabeza	Núcleo	Coda
tr	a	ns

Then its structure has this form ccvcc, syllabic core should be vowel a, spanish syllables has a prefered structure that is cv-cv-... like in words "ca-sa", "co-me-ta", "fe-rro-ca-rri-le-ro". Other combinations for structures are:

• CCV pla-to
• CVCC trans-mi-tir
• V a -gua
• VC ac-ción
• VCC ins-crip-ción
• CV-V mí-o
• V a-mo
• VV hue-co
• CV la-na
• CVV lue-go
• CCV pla-za
• CCVV true-no
• CVC tan-to
• CVVC tuer-ce
• CCVC tran-ví-a
• CCVVC trein-ta
• CCVCC trans-por-tar

1.3 Clasification of the syllable

By final phonema:

1. Abierta: Ends with a vowel, the núcleo silábico, example: me-sa, ca-sa, po-lo-nia, gue-rra.
2. Cerrada: Ends with one or more consonant, example: doc-tor, sar-ten, cor-tar.

By its intensity:

1. Tónica: The núcleo silábico supports the intensity of the word, example: Po-lo-nia , Eu-ro-pa, co-mi-da.
2. Átona: Shows a less intensity level than tónica, example: Po-lo-nia, Eu-ro-pa, co-mi-da.

By the number of letters:

1. Monoliteras: comprised by just one letter.
2. Poliliteras: comprised by 2 or more letters.

By number of vowels:

1. Simples: Just have one vowel.
2. Compuestas: Contains more than one vowel.

Now you could start thinking why all this inecesary rules, and yes you are right. You don't need to learn all this rules to speak spanish, not all of this rules are going to be usefull by the moment, but it's for sure you gonna use them in any moment of your life's spanish speech.

Regla Ortográfica (Ortographic Rule): In the end of a syllable is gonna be writen B and never V by exception of terms like ovni and some others, example sub-ma-ri-no, ab-ne-ga-do, .

 

Entre Paréntesis (in parenthesis)

Linguistic is cthe scientific study of human languaje, the study of the syllables is concerned to several areas of this science, the phonetic and the fonology are 2 disciplines of le linguistic in charge to study the sounds of the languaje, in the last lessons we have been learning about spanish languaje using elements of both disciplines, we used the phonetic to study the articulation to produce the sound of each phoneme, the structure of the sillables and some other definitions, in other cases used the phonology in the study of the phonemas, the basic entities of sound and its categories like vowels and its clasifications.

Yet explained this we can proceed to study and specific case in the usage of syllables, in some cases we'll find syllables that with the structure cvv vvc vv, as you can see this structures involves the union of two vowels, when this vowels combination consists of one abierta and one cerrada, not i'm porting the order we can say we have a diptongo (diphthong), to understand its concept here is its definition.

Diptongo: Set of two vowels pronunciated on the same syllable, diptongos happens when an abierta(a e o) vowel and a cerrada(i u) vowel are preceded by each other and only if the núcleo silábico is not the cerrada, example: ai-re, cua.der-no, hue-vo, eu-ro-pa, au-to-bus. A diptongo can be also made by the combination of 2 closed vowels, example: cui-cha-pa, diur-no, ciu-dad. In the table below you can consult the list of 14 possible diptongos.

ai	bai-le
au	au-to
ei	pei-ne
eu	deu-da
oi	oi-go
ou	es-ta-dou-ni-den-se
ia	pia-no
ua	a-gua
ie	piel
ue	fuerza
io	lim-pio
uo	ar-duo
iu	ciu-dad
ui	cui-da-do

Diptongos are clasified in 3 groups Crecientes(crescent)and Descendientes(descendant), the crecientes are those which cerrada vowel is positioned before the abierta, descendientes has an abierta before a cerrada, and for our curious, nerds, questioning readers that cannot live without molesting with their acurated questions, that made us, the humble writters that spend lots of hours preparing this long long explanations, yes the group of diptongos comprised by 2 cerradas is called Homogeneos, nex link is gonna be useful to have a clear idea about what is a diptongo. Hint: select spanish languaje.

http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/

when you find a combination of 2 vowels but the condition in the diptongo definition is not acomplished, then we are talking about the Hiato(hiatus).

Hiato: An hiato happens when in a word, there is a secuence of 2 vowels not located in same syllable, ortographic rules explain that there are 3 kinds of hiatos discarding the order of the vowels involved on it::

1. Secuence of equal vowels, example: Saavedra.
2. Abierta + abierta , example: caer.
3. Abierta(átona) + cerrada(tónica), example: día.

Regla Ortográfica: for the hiato obeys to diferent principles than usuals, the 3rd kind of hiato must use graphic accent like in the example, the table below shows the possible combinations to obtain an hiato.

aí	pa-ís
aú	ba-úl
eí	re-í
eú	re-ú-ne
ía	fi-lo-so-fí-a
ío	rí-o
íe	rí-e
oí	o-í
oú	No-ú-me-no
úa	Pú-a
úe	con-ti-nú-es
úo	a-cen-tú-o
ae	a-é-re-o
eo	gas-ó-le-o
ea	te-a-tro
oa	co-ar-ta-da
ao	a-ho-go
oe	hé-ro-e
aa	Sa-a-ve-dra
ee	Re-en-viar
ii	chi-i-ta
oo	Co-o-pe-rar
uu	??

finally and for closing the parenthesis we have the triptongo.

Triptongo: Its the union of 3 vowels on a syllable, when the 2 vowels at the extreme are cerradas and the one of the middle is abierta, and only if no one of the cerradas is tónica.

Triptongos has a wide usage on the spain conjugation, example sa-bí-ais, co-mí-ais, su-bí-ais, sa-lí-ais, ca-í-ais, these examples are conjugated verbs on european spanish, this conjugation is not used on latin american spanish which is simpler, but in this course we are trying to show importan aspects of the spanish from 2 worlds, the table below shows the possible combinations for triptongos.

iai	en-vi-diáis
iei	a-pre-ciéis
iau	??
ioi	hioi-des
uai, uay	a-ve-ri-guáis, U-ru-guay
uei, uey	a-ve-ri-guéis, buey
uau	??

Excerisces: Make a list of 10 words(in spanish obviously), get a syllable of every one and obtain the Cabeza, Núcleo and Coda. explain its estructura silábica, explain its clasification, and explain if you implemented an ortographic rule.

Vocabulary list: each word marked in boldface on this artice, find its meaning and quote its sílaba tónica.

Rewards: find any kind of errors on the article and win discounts on excersices, a considerable amount of errors detected and you will make me to do the excersices and explain to you on a special lesson instead you do them.

Vocabulary

1. Primera Lista de Vocabulario (First vocabulary list)

Syllables in red represents the strongest syllable in the words pronunciation.

Español English Polonia Poland Europa Europe Rey King Castillo Castle Tierra Land Gobierno Government Frontera Frontier Montaña Mountain Lago Lake

Español English Bosque Forest Polaco(a) Polish Iglesia Church Ciudad City Varsovia Warsaw Comida Food Cultura Culture Industria Industry Turista Tourist

Español English Guerra War Agricultura Agriculture Mina Mine Parque Park Historia History Sociedad Society Bandera Flag Ciencia Science Arte Art

Investigar las siguientes palabras (investigate the next words): Capital, Central, Turismo, Diccionario, Naturaleza, Nacional, Palacio, Humanidad, Monumento, Zona.

Lesson 2

1.Uso Basico (Basic Usage)

 

B

The "B" letter is used the same as in english languaje try to pronunciate this:

ba be bi bo bu https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/b.wav

 

C

The "C" letter has a bit more complex usage, in combination with letters "A", "O" an "U" shall have a sound similar to the "K", when is placed before "E" and "I" its sound is similar to "Z", try to pronunciate this:

ca ce ci co cu https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/c.wav

 

CH

The "CH" is not properly a letter in spanish, is called a digrafo, the "CH" pronuntiation shall be like polish "CZ", try to pronunciate this:

cha che chi cho chu https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/ch.wav

 

D

The "D" is gonna be used the same as in english languaje, try to pronunciate this:

da de di do du https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/d.wav

 

F

The "F" is gonna be used the same as in english languaje, try to pronunciate this:

fa fe fi fo fu https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/f.wav

 

G

The "G" is gonna have 2 diferent sounds. Sounds "GA", "GO", "GU" shall have sound like in this words "galaxy", "Gordon", "goo" respectively, in the cases "GE", "GI" will sound like english "Henderson" and "he" respectively, try to pronuntiate this:

ga ge gi go gu https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/g1.wav

Another sound could be produced if we add letter "U" next to g, with letters "A", "O" and "U" would have sound similar to "W", example: "water" "woman" "wu". Letters "E" and "i" could have a sound similar to "guess" "guitar", try to pronunciate this:

gua gue gui guo guu https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/g2.wav

Finally we use the letter "ü" to get sounds similar like used in words "well", "penguin", similar to the sound used in "W" , try to pronunciate this:

güe güi https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/g3.wav

 

H

In spanish when "H" is used at the start of a word will be have mute sound, also have mute sound after any vowel and consonant by exception of "C" and "S", try to pronunciate this:

ha he hi ho hu https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/h.wav

 

J

The "J" will have the same pronuntiation for each vowel, check the next examples corresponding to each vowel, "hat", " hell", "hit", "hot", "hulk" , try to pronunciate this:

ja je ji jo ju https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/j.wav

 

K

Letter "K" will have sound like in german or english, try to pronunciate this:

ka ke ki ko ku https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/k.wav

 

L

Letter "L" will have sound like in english, try to pronunciate this:

la le li lo lu https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/l.wav

 

LL

The digrafo "LL" has same sound like english "Y", try to pronunciate this:

lla lle lli llo llu https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/ll.wav

 

M

Letter "M" will have sound like in english, try to pronunciate this:

ma me mi mo mu https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/m.wav

 

N

Letter "N" will have sound like in english, try to pronunciate this:

na ne ni no nu https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/n.wav

 

Ñ

Letter "Ñ" is a consonant that requires the usage of the nose and the palat, and using the sound "NI", with a fast pronuntiation of "i", like in señor, try to pronunciate this:

ña ñe ñi ño ñu https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/n1.wav

 

P

Letter "P" will have sound like in english, try to pronunciate this:

pa pe pi po pu https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/p.wav

 

Q

Letter "Q" is always used with letter "U" and it has a sound like "KU", in the pronuntiation below could sound "kua", "kue", "kui", "kuo", "kuu", try to pronunciate this:

qua que qui quo quu https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/q.wav

 

R

The letter "R" has a soft sound when it is not at the begining of a word like in "karate", "cabarete", "marine", "marlboro" and "guru", but when is at first position in the word will have strong sound like in the following words "rambo", "ready", "ritch", "rock", "rule" , try to pronunciate this:

ra re ri ro ru https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/r.wav

but if what we want is to have strong sound when we are not at the begining of the word, we shall use:

rra rre rri rro rru https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/rr.wav

 

S

Letter "S" will have sound like in english, try to pronunciate this:

sa se si so su https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/s.wav

 

T

Letter M will have sound like in english, try to pronunciate this:

ta te ti to tu https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/t.wav

 

V

The letter "V" also called Ve labiodental what means that is pronuntiated with lips and tooth in diference with "B" that only uses lips for its pronuntiation, the correct pronuntiation of "V" is obtanied by touching the inferior lip with the incisors of superior part, try to pronunciate this:.

va ve vi vo vu https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/v.wav

 

W

Letter "W" will have sound like in english, try to pronunciate this:

wa we wi wo wu https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/w.wav

 

X

Letter "X" has diferent sounds depending on its position, is its used between 2 vowels or in the end of the word its gona sound "ks", when is written at the begining of the word it uses to get soind similar to "S". You must watchout on the regional usage of this letter, in some parts of latin america it can take also "J" sound, by example "Mexico", "Oaxaca", "Texas", try to pronunciate this:

xa xe xi xo xu https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/x1.wav

ax ex ix ox ux https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/x2.wav

 

Y

Letter "Y" has a sound similar to english pronunciation like in "yamaha", "yet", "ying yang" ... try to pronunciate this:

ya ye yi yo yu https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/y.wav

 

Z

Letter "Z" can be pronunciated by placing the front part of the tongue between incisors making a sound similar to "S" but not the same, try to pronunciate this:

za ze zi zo zu https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/z.wav

Lesson 1

There are several things to be known before start pretending learn spanish, so lets get relax and try to understand at first able whith the most natural way to understand the languaje... the spanish phonetics.

1. Las vocales (The vowels)

Vowels
a	a
e	e
i	i
o	o
u	u

The table above shows the vowels for spanish languaje and their sounds, try to imitate it and repeat untill you consider you are doing it successful.

 

In spanish languaje, letters are divided in 2 groups, vowels and consonants, but we are studing vowels so lets get started with them. The group of vowels is formed by 5 elements these vowels are also divided in 3 groups (since you practiced their sounds, i don't have to remember you start thinking at them by their spanish pronunciation):

1. Vocales cerradas (Closed vowels): I, U.
2. Vocales medias (Medium vowels): E, O.
3. Vocales abiertas (Opened vowels): A.

But, what does this means?

Well, the diference of this 3 group radicates in the usage of the components of mouth, in this way:

1. Vocales cerradas: The tongue is close to the hard and soft part of the palat.
2. Vocales medias: The tongue is positioned right in the center of the mouth, not near to the palat.
3. Vocales abiertas: The tongue is totally separated from the palat.

With the information given here try to pronuntiate again the vowels given in the samples of the table avobe, do you find any diference to the pronuntiation done in your first try?

2. Las consonantes (The consonants)

The consonants are sound produced by the action of closing the bucal articulations, in diference to the vowels can or cannot hace a certain sound in the spanish alphabet the consonants are B C D F G H J K L M N Ñ P Q R S T V W X Y Z. There are 3 goups of consonants sonoras, sordas y palatales.

The sonoras has a fixed sound that we can keep by moments with the correct confugration of phonetyc organs like D, F, J and L, and this means that they have their own sounds.

The sordas, doesn't have own sound and depends on a vowel to make a sound, this is the case of T, P, Q and C, the consecuences of them are to affect the sound made by a vowel when you pronounce it.

The palatales are a special kind of consonants and their main characteristic is that they depend on the palat to have any effect in the spanish aphabet we only have the Ñ and the CH but this last one is just an aproximation. So palatales can be interesting because in spanish we just have the Ñ, but there are other languajes that contain lots of them like C S in polish languaje that represents a palatal C and palatal S.

So lets stop getting bored and with the info given, lets practice a bit the sound of the consonants, download the sound file given in the link below this pharagraph and practice the pronuntiation untill you consider you are doing it successfull.

https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/consonantes.wav

3.El alfabeto (The alphabet)

In the next table is the complete alphabet for spanish languaje, as you can see there are new special characters added, this are special characters

a

b

c

ch

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

ll

m

a

be

ce

che

de

e

efe

ge

hache

i

jota

ka

ele

elle

eme

n

ñ

o

p

q

r

rr

s

t

u

v

w

x

y

z

ene

eñe

o

pe

cu

erre

doble r

ese

te

u

uve

doble v

equis

i griega

zeta

 

this special characters has special usage in the case of the CH is hardly ever seen followed by a consonant, in most of cases is followed by vowel that doesnt change its sound. in the case if ll note that has the same sound than Y and as with ch is followed by vowel getting its sound, the case of RR is auxiliar usage, the sound of letter r depends on the position in the word if letter r is positioned and the begining of the word its gonna have a strong sound but if is positioned in ohter position its gonna have a soft sound, RR helps to make a strong sound when r is not in first position. in future we will study mode deeply the rules for the usage of each letter of the alfabeto, in the link below is the pronuntiation of the alfabeto, repeat the same done with the other files, do special focus in how the pronuntiation is written to interpretating what are you saying.

https://www.angelfire.com/droid/foxbat/alfabeto.wav

Excersice 1: Write an small composition about v and z letters, find the diference of z in Spain and Mexico.