Spanish, Castilian Español, Castellano
Pronunciation:	/espaˈɲol/, /kasteˈʎano/ or /kasteˈʝano/
Spoken in:	Spanish speaking countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay, Venezuela, and a significant numbers of the populations of Andorra, Belize, Gibraltar, and the United States. The term Hispanophone ( hispanoparlante, hispanohablante or hispanófono, in Spanish) denotes Spanish-speakers and relation to the Spanish-speaking For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. The Republic of Bolivia (República de Bolivia) named after Simón Bolívar, is a Landlocked country in central South America. Chile, officially the Republic of Chile ( Spanish:) is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow Coastal strip wedged between the Colombia (kəˈlʌmbɪə officially the Republic of Colombia () is a country in northwestern South America. Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( Spanish: Costa Rica or República de Costa Rica,) is a Country in The Republic of Cuba (ˈkjuːbə or) consists of the island of Cuba (the largest and second-most populous island of the Greater Antilles) Isla de la The Dominican Republic ( Spanish: República Dominicana;) is a nation located in the Caribbean region and shares the island of Hispaniola with For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Ecuador topics. The Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( República de Guinea Ecuatorial,) is a country in Central Africa. El Salvador ( República de El Salvador,) is a country in Central America. Guatemala (República de Guatemala) is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west the Pacific Ocean to the southwest Honduras in Spanish, República de Honduras) is a democratic republic in Central America. The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. Nicaragua (ˌnɪkəˈrɑgwə officially the Republic of Nicaragua () is a representative democratic republic and the largest nation in Central America Panama, officially the Republic of Panama (República de Panamá) is the southernmost country of Central America. Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay ( Spanish: República del Paraguay; Guaraní: Tetã Paraguái) is one of the only Peru (Perú Piruw Piruw officially the Republic of Peru ( reˈpuβlika del peˈɾu is a country in western South America. Puerto Rico (ˌpwertoˈriko officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ("Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico" {{lang-en|"Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"}} Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Uruguay.(official full name in República Oriental del Uruguay;, Oriental Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America Venezuela (ˌvɛnəˈzweɪlə) officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish República Bolivariana de Venezuela) is a country on the Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra ( Catalan: Principat d'Andorra) is a small Landlocked country in western Belize (bəˈliːz formerly British Honduras, is a country in Central America. Gibraltar (dʒɨˈbrɒltər is a British overseas territory located near the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar The United States of America —commonly referred to as the
Total speakers:	First languagea: 322[1]– c. 400 million[2][3][4] Totala: 400–500 million[5][6][7] aAll numbers are approximate.
Ranking:	2 (native speakers)[8][9][10][11] 3 (total speakers)
Language family:	Indo-European  Italic   Romance    Italo-Western     Gallo-Iberian      Ibero-Romance       West Iberian        Spanish, Castilian
Writing system:	Latin (Spanish variant)
Official status
Official language in:	21 countries
Regulated by:	Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (Real Academia Española and 21 other national Spanish language academies)
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	es
ISO 639-2:	spa
ISO 639-3:	spa
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. This is a list of languages, ordered by the number of native-language speakers, with some data for second-language use List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family The Italic subfamily is a member of the Indo-European language family's Centum branch The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages, or Neolatin languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all Gallo-Romance languages Gallo-Italic languages Lombard Western Lombard Eastern This article is about a subdivision of the Romance language family West Iberian is a branch of the Romance languages which includes Spanish, Ladino, the Astur-Leonese group ( Asturian, Leonese A writing system is a type of Symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in Language. Spanish orthography is one of the most phonemic among those that are written with the Latin alphabet. The following is a list of the 20 countries where Spanish is an Official language: Dependent entities There are dependent entities of This is a list of bodies that regulate Standard languages Natural languages Auxiliary languages Interlingua The auxiliary language The Association of Spanish Language Academies (Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española was created in Mexico in 1951 and represents the union of all the separate The Real Academia Española (“Royal Spanish Academy” the RAE, is the official royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages ISO 639 -3 (ISO 639-32007 is an international standard for Language codes The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages In Computing, Unicode is an Industry standard allowing Computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world's

Spanish (español (help·info)) or Castilian (castellano) is a Romance language that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade. The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages, or Neolatin languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Kingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It was taken to Africa, the Americas, and Asia Pacific when the Spanish Empire was established between the 15th and 19th centuries. The Spanish Empire (Imperio Español was one of the largest Empires in history and one of the first Global empires In the 15th and 16th centuries The Spanish colonization of the Americas was Spain 's conquest settlement and rule over much of the Western hemisphere. Spanish East Indies ( Indias Orientales Españolas) was a term used to describe Spanish possessions in Asia-Pacific which lasted over three centuries
Today, between 322 and 400 million people natively speak Spanish,^[12][6] making it the world's second most-spoken language by native speakers (after Mandarin Chinese). Standard Mandarin, also known as Standard Spoken Chinese, is the official modern Chinese spoken language used in mainland China and Taiwan ^[13][14]

Contents 1 Hispanosphere 2 Naming,origin 3 Classification and related languages 3.1 Ladino 3.2 Vocabulary comparison 4 History 4.1 Characterization 5 Geographic distribution 5.1 Europe 5.2 The Americas 5.2.1 Latin America 5.2.2 United States 5.2.3 Philippines 5.3 Africa 5.4 Oceania 6 Variations 6.1 Voseo 6.2 Ustedes 7 Writing system 8 Sounds 8.1 Lexical stress 9 Grammar 10 Samples 11 See also 11.1 Local varieties 12 References 13 External links

Hispanosphere

See also: Spanish Empire

Spanish identified as the sole Official language     Spanish identified as a Co-Official language

The Countries of the Hispanic-influenced World

It is estimated that the combined total of native and non-native Spanish speakers is approximately 500 million, likely making it the third most spoken language by total number of speakers (after English and Chinese). The Spanish Empire (Imperio Español was one of the largest Empires in history and one of the first Global empires In the 15th and 16th centuries The term Hispanophone ( hispanoparlante, hispanohablante or hispanófono, in Spanish) denotes Spanish-speakers and relation to the Spanish-speaking English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States ^[12][6]
Today, Spanish is an official language of Spain, most Latin American countries, and Equatorial Guinea; 21 nations speak it as their primary language. The Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( República de Guinea Ecuatorial,) is a country in Central Africa. Spanish also is one of six official languages of the United Nations. The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security Mexico has the world's largest Spanish-speaking population, and Spanish is the second most-widely spoken language in the United States ^[15] and the most popular studied foreign language in U.S. schools and universities. The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United States of America —commonly referred to as the ^[16][17] Global internet usage statistics for 2007 show Spanish as the third most commonly used language on the internet, after English and Chinese. This article provides information relating to the number of people who use the Internet by language nationality geography etc ^[18]Spanish has been described as the third most influential language in the world (after English and French)^[19]

Naming,origin

Main article: Names given to the Spanish language

Spaniards tend to call this language español (Spanish) when contrasting it with languages of other states, such as French and English, but call it castellano (Castilian), that is, the language of the Castile region, when contrasting it with other languages spoken in Spain such as Galician (gallego; native name: galego), Basque (euskara) and Catalan (catalán; native name: català) (known as Valencian in the Valencian Community). English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people There are two Names given to the Spanish language: Spanish ( español) and Castilian ( castellano) French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States A former kingdom, Castile (Castilla kasˈt̪iʎa or) gradually merged with its neighbors to become the Crown of Castile and later the Kingdom of Spain The Languages of Spain are the languages spoken or once spoken in Spain. Basque ( native name: euskara) is the Language spoken by the Basque people who inhabit the Pyrenees in North-Central Spain Catalan ˈkætəˌlæn ( català kətəˈla or) is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official Valencian ( valencià) is the historical traditional and official name used in the Valencian Community of Spain to refer to the region's native language The Valencian Community ( Valencian and official Comunitat Valenciana; Comunidad Valenciana is an Autonomous community located in central to This reasoning also holds true for the language's preferred name in some Hispanic American countries. In this manner, the Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the official language of the whole Spanish State, as opposed to las demás lenguas españolas (lit. The Constitution of Spain is regarded as the culmination of the Spanish transition to democracy. An official language is a Language that is given a special legal status in a particular Country, State, or other territory the other Spanish languages). Article III reads as follows:

“

El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. (…) Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas… Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State. (…) The other Spanish languages shall also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities…

”

The name castellano is, however, widely used for the language as a whole in Latin America. Some Spanish speakers consider castellano a generic term with no political or ideological links, much as "Spanish" is in English. Often Latin Americans use it to differentiate their own variety of Spanish as opposed to the variety of Spanish spoken in Spain, or variety of Spanish which is considered as standard in the region.

Classification and related languages

Spanish is closely related to the other West Iberian Romance languages: Asturian (asturianu), Galician (galego), Ladino (dzhudezmo/spanyol/kasteyano), and Portuguese (português). West Iberian is a branch of the Romance languages which includes Spanish, Ladino, the Astur-Leonese group ( Asturian, Leonese Asturian (Asturian Asturianu or Bable) is a Romance language of the West Iberian group, Astur-Leonese Subgroup, spoken in the Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. Catalan, an East Iberian language which exhibits many Gallo-Romance traits, is more similar to the neighbouring Occitan language (occitan) than to Spanish, or indeed than Spanish and Portuguese are to each other. This article is about a subdivision of the Romance language family The Gallo-Romance branch of Romance languages includes French, Occitan, Arpitan, and several other languages spoken in modern France Occitan ( IPA BrE: /ˈɒksɪtn/ AmE: /ˈɑksəˌtɑn/ known also as Lenga d'òc or Langue d'oc (native name occitan

Spanish and Portuguese share similar grammars and a majority of vocabulary as well as a common history of Arabic influence while a great part of the peninsula was under Islamic rule (both languages expanded over Islamic territories). Arabic has had a great influence on other languages especially in Vocabulary. Conquest (710–756 See also Umayyad conquest of Hispania 710 - The Berber General Tariq ibn Ziyad takes Tangier. Their lexical similarity has been estimated as 89%. In Linguistics, lexical similarity is a measure of the degree to which the word sets of two given Languages are similar ^[8] See Differences between Spanish and Portuguese for further information. Portuguese and Spanish are two of the most widely spoken languages in the world today

Ladino

Further information: Ladino language

Ladino, which is essentially medieval Spanish and closer to modern Spanish than any other language, is spoken by many descendants of the Sephardi Jews who were expelled from Spain in the 15th century. Sephardi Jews ( Hebrew: ספרדי, Standard Səfardi Tiberian Səp̄arədî; plural The Alhambra Decree (also known as the Edict of Expulsion) was an edict issued on 31 March, 1492 by the joint Catholic Monarchs of Ladino speakers are currently almost exclusively Sephardi Jews, with family roots in Turkey, Greece or the Balkans: current speakers mostly live in Israel and Turkey, with a few pockets in Latin America. Sephardi Jews ( Hebrew: ספרדי, Standard Səfardi Tiberian Səp̄arədî; plural In many ways it is not a separate language but a parallel dialect of Castilian. It lacks the Native American vocabulary which was influential during the Spanish colonial period, and it retains many archaic features which have since been lost in standard Spanish. Indigenous languages of the Americas (or Amerindian Languages are spoken by indigenous peoples from the southern tip of South America to Alaska and The Spanish Empire (Imperio Español was one of the largest Empires in history and one of the first Global empires In the 15th and 16th centuries It contains, however, other vocabulary which is not found in standard Castilian, including vocabulary from Hebrew, some French, Greek and Turkish, and other languages spoken where the Sephardim settled. Turkish ( tr Türkçe IPA) is a language spoken by over 63 million people worldwide making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages.

Ladino is in serious danger of extinction because many native speakers today are elderly as well as elderly olim (immigrants to Israel) who have not transmitted the language to their children or grandchildren. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. However, it is experiencing a minor revival among Sephardi communities, especially in music. In the case of the Latin American communities, the danger of extinction is also due to the risk of assimilation by modern Castilian.

A related dialect is Haketia, the Judaeo-Spanish of northern Morocco. Haketia (also written as Hakitia or Haquitía) is a largely Extinct Jewish-Moroccan Language, also known as Djudeo Spañol This too tended to assimilate with modern Spanish, during the Spanish occupation of the region.

Vocabulary comparison

Spanish and Italian share a very similar phonological system and do not differ very much in grammar. Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. At present, the lexical similarity with Italian is estimated at 82%. In Linguistics, lexical similarity is a measure of the degree to which the word sets of two given Languages are similar ^[8] As a result, Spanish and Italian are mutually intelligible to various degrees. The lexical similarity with Portuguese is even greater, 89%, but the vagaries of Portuguese pronunciation make it less easily understood by Hispanophones than Italian. Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. Mutual intelligibility between Spanish and French or Romanian is even lower (lexical similarity being respectively 75% and 71%^[8]): comprehension of Spanish by French speakers who have not studied the language is as low as an estimated 45% - the same as of English. In Linguistics, mutual intelligibility is recognized as a relationship between Languages in which speakers of different but related languages can readily understand French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Romanian or Daco-Romanian ( dated: Rumanian or Roumanian; self designation limba română, ˈlimba roˈmɨnə is a Romance The common features of the writing systems of the Romance languages allow for a greater amount of interlingual reading comprehension than oral communication would.

Latin	Spanish	Galician	Portuguese	Catalan	Italian	French	Romanian	English
nos	nosotros	nós/nosoutros	nós¹	nosaltres	noi²	nous³	noi	we
fratrem germānum (acc. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. Catalan ˈkætəˌlæn ( català kətəˈla or) is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Romanian or Daco-Romanian ( dated: Rumanian or Roumanian; self designation limba română, ˈlimba roˈmɨnə is a Romance English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States ) (lit. "true brother", i. e. not a cousin)	hermano	irmán	irmão	germà	fratello	frère	frate	brother
dies Martis (Classical) tertia feria (Ecclesiastical)	martes	martes	terça-feira	dimarts	martedì	mardi	marți	Tuesday
cantiō (nem, acc. Classical Latin is the form of the Latin language used by the ancient Romans in what is usually regarded as "classical" Latin literature. Ecclesiastical Latin (sometimes called Church Latin) is the Latin dialect as used in documents of the Roman Catholic Church and in its Latin liturgies ), canticum	canción	canción	canção	cançó	canzone	chanson	cântec	song
magis or plus	más (archaically also plus)	máis	mais (archaically also chus)	més (archaically also pus)	più	plus	mai	more
manum sinistram (acc. )	mano izquierda also (mano siniestra)	man esquerda	mão esquerda (archaically also sẽestra)	mà esquerra	mano sinistra	main gauche	mâna stângă	left hand
nihil or nullam rem natam (acc. ) (lit. "no thing born")	nada	nada/ren	nada (archaically also rem)	res	niente/nulla	rien/nul	nimic	nothing

1. also nós outros in early modern Portuguese (e. g. The Lusiads)
2. Os Lusíadas, pron. uʃ lu'ziɐdɐʃ (usually known by the title The Lusiads in English is a Portuguese epic poem noi altri in Southern Italian dialects and languages
3. The official language of Italy is Standard Italian, a descendant of the Tuscan dialect and a direct descendant of Latin (some 75% of Italian words are of Latin origin Alternatively nous autres

History

Main article: History of the Spanish language

Spanish evolved from Vulgar Latin, with minor influences from Arabic during the Andalusian period and from Basque and Celtiberian, and some Germanic languages via the Visigoths. Vulgar Latin (in Latin sermo vulgaris, "folk speech" is a Blanket term covering the popular Dialects and Sociolects of the Latin Arabic influence on the Spanish language has been significant due to the Islamic presence in the Iberian peninsula between 711 and 1492 A Al-Andalus (الأندلس was the Arabic name given to those parts of the Iberian Peninsula governed by Muslims or Basque ( native name: euskara) is the Language spoken by the Basque people who inhabit the Pyrenees in North-Central Spain Celtiberian (also known as northeastern Hispano-Celtic) is an extinct Indo-European language of the Celtic branch spoken by the Celtiberians The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European (IE Language family. The Visigoths (Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, or Wisi were one of two main branches of the Goths, an East Spanish developed along the remote cross road strips among the Alava, Cantabria, Burgos, Soria and La Rioja provinces of Northern Spain, as a strongly innovative and differing variant from its nearest cousin, Leonese speech, with a higher degree of Basque influence in these regions (see Iberian Romance languages). Álava (Araba is a province of northern Spain in the southern part of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Cantabria is a Spanish province and Autonomous community with Santander as its capital city History Early man of Neanderthal occupied sites around Burgos as early as 800000 years ago Soria is a city in north-central Spain, the capital of the province of Soria in the autonomous community of Castile and León. La Rioja is a province and autonomous community of northern Spain. Asturian (Asturian Asturianu or Bable) is a Romance language of the West Iberian group, Astur-Leonese Subgroup, spoken in the This article is about a subdivision of the Romance language family Typical features of Spanish diachronical phonology include lenition (Latin vita, Spanish vida), palatalization (Latin annum, Spanish año, and Latin anellum, Spanish anillo) and diphthongation (stem-changing) of short e and o from Vulgar Latin (Latin terra, Spanish tierra; Latin novus, Spanish nuevo). Phonology ( Greek φωνή (phōnē voice sound + λόγος (lógos word speech subject of discussion is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning Lenition is a kind of Consonant mutation that appears in many Languages Along with assimilation, it is one of the primary sources of historical change Palatalization or palatalisation (ˌpælətəlɨˈzeɪʃən generally refers to two phenomena As a process or the result of a process In Phonetics, a diphthong (also gliding vowel) (from Greek grc δίφθογγος "diphthongos" literally "with two sounds" or "with In Linguistics, a stem (sometimes also theme) is the part of a word that is common to all its inflected variants Similar phenomena can be found in other Romance languages as well.

During the Reconquista, this northern dialect from Cantabria was carried south, and remains a minority language in the northern coastal Morocco. The Reconquista (a Spanish and Portuguese word for "Reconquest" Arabic: الاسترداد, "Recapturing" was a period Cantabria is a Spanish province and Autonomous community with Santander as its capital city A minority language is a Language spoken by a Minority of the Population of a country Morocco (المغرب "al-Maghrib" officially the Kingdom of Morocco (المملكة المغربية is a country located in North Africa

The first Latin-to-Spanish grammar (Gramática de la Lengua Castellana) was written in Salamanca, Spain, in 1492, by Elio Antonio de Nebrija. Geography The city lies on a mountain by the Tormes River which is crossed by a bridge 150 m long built on 26 arches fifteen of which are of Roman origin, while Antonio de Lebrija, also known as Antonio de Nebrija, Elio Antonio de Lebrija, Antonius Nebrissensis, and Antonio of Lebrixa When it was presented to Isabel de Castilla, she asked, "What do I want a work like this for, if I already know the language?", to which he replied, "Your highness, the language is the instrument of the Empire. "

From the 16th century onwards, the language was taken to the Americas and the Spanish East Indies via Spanish colonization, and in that epoch, Spanish became the principal language of politics and Art in most of Europe; French replaced it in the 18th century. The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World, consisting of the Continents of North America and South America Spanish East Indies ( Indias Orientales Españolas) was a term used to describe Spanish possessions in Asia-Pacific which lasted over three centuries The Spanish colonization of the Americas was Spain 's conquest settlement and rule over much of the Western hemisphere.

In the 20th century, Spanish was introduced to Equatorial Guinea and the Western Sahara, the United States, such as in Spanish Harlem, in New York City, that had not been part of the Spanish Empire. The Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( República de Guinea Ecuatorial,) is a country in Central Africa. Western Sahara ( Arabic: الصحراء الغربية; transliterated: as-Ṣaḥrā' al-Gharbīyah; Sahara Occidental is a territory Spanish Harlem, also known as El Barrio and East Harlem, is a low income neighborhood in Harlem area of New York City, The City of New York For details on borrowed words and other external influences upon Spanish, see Influences on the Spanish language. The Spanish language has a long history of borrowing words expressions and subtler features of other languages it has come in contact with

Characterization

A defining characteristic of Spanish was the diphthongization of the Latin short vowels e and o into ie and ue, respectively, when they were stressed. In Phonetics, a diphthong (also gliding vowel) (from Greek grc δίφθογγος "diphthongos" literally "with two sounds" or "with Similar sound changes are found in other Romance languages, but in Spanish they were significant. Sound change includes any processes of Language change that affect pronunciation ( phonetic change) or sound system structures ( Phonological change Some examples:

• Lat. petra > Sp. piedra, It. pietra, Fr. pierre, Port. /Gal. pedra "stone".
• Lat. moritur > Sp. muere, It. muore, Fr. meurt / muert, Rom. moare, Port. /Gal. morre "die".

Peculiar to early Spanish (as in the Gascon dialect of Occitan, and possibly due to a Basque substratum) was the mutation of Latin initial f- into h- whenever it was followed by a vowel that did not diphthongate. Gascon (Gascon; French,) is a dialect of the Occitan language. In Contact linguistics, a substratum ( lat sub: under + stratum: layer → lower layer) is a Language Compare for instance:

• Lat. filium > It. figlio, Port. filho, Gal. fillo, Fr. fils, Occitan filh (but Gascon hilh) Sp. hijo (but Ladino fijo);
• late Lat. *fabulare > Lad. favlar, Port. /Gal. falar, Sp. hablar;
• but Lat. focum > It. fuoco, Port. /Gal. fogo, Sp. /Lad. fuego.

Some consonant clusters of Latin also produced characteristically different results in these languages, for example:

• Lat. In Linguistics, a consonant cluster (or consonant blend) is a group of Consonants which have no intervening Vowel. clamare, acc. flammam, plenum > Lad. lyamar, flama, pleno; Sp. llamar, llama, lleno. However, in Spanish there are also the forms clamar, flama, pleno; Port. chamar, chama, cheio; Gal. chamar, chama, cheo.
• Lat. acc. octo, noctem, multum > Lad. ocho, noche, muncho; Sp. ocho, noche, mucho; Port. oito, noite, muito; Gal. oito, noite, moito.

Geographic distribution

Main article: Hispanophone

Spanish language
Names for the language History Pronunciation Dialects Orthography Grammar: Determiners Nouns Pronouns Adjectives Prepositions Verbs Conjugation Irregular verbs
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Spanish is one of the official languages of the European Union, the Organization of American States, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the United Nations, and the Union of South American Nations. The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in The Organization of American States ( OAS, or as it is known in the three other official languages OEA) is an International organization, headquartered The Organization of Ibero-American States (Organização dos Estados Ibero-americanos Spanish: Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos; formally The Organization The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security __FORCETOC__The Union of South American Nations (Unión de Naciones Suramericanas - UNASUR, União de Nações Sul-Americanas - UNASUL, Unie van Zuid-Amerikaanse Naties

Europe

Spanish is an official language of Spain, the country for which it is named and from which it originated. It is also spoken in Gibraltar, though English is the official language. Gibraltar (dʒɨˈbrɒltər is a British overseas territory located near the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar ^[20] Likewise, it is spoken in Andorra though Catalan is the official language. Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra ( Catalan: Principat d'Andorra) is a small Landlocked country in western Catalan ˈkætəˌlæn ( català kətəˈla or) is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official ^[21][22] It is also spoken by small communities in other European countries, such as the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. ^[23] Spanish is an official language of the European Union. The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in In Switzerland, Spanish is the mother tongue of 1. A first language (also mother tongue, native language, arterial language, or L1) is the language a human being learns from birth 7% of the population, representing the first minority after the 4 official languages of the country. ^[24]

The Americas

Latin America

Most Spanish speakers are in Latin America; of most countries with the most Spanish speakers, only Spain is outside of the Americas. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World, consisting of the Continents of North America and South America Mexico has most of the world's native speakers. The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. Nationally, Spanish is the official language of Argentina, Bolivia (co-official Quechua and Aymara), Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico , Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay (co-official Guaraní^[25]), Peru (co-official Quechua and, in some regions, Aymara), Uruguay, and Venezuela. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. The Republic of Bolivia (República de Bolivia) named after Simón Bolívar, is a Landlocked country in central South America. Quechua ( Runa Simi) is a Native American language of South America. Aymara ( Aymar aru) is an Aymaran language spoken by the Aymara people of the Andes. Chile, officially the Republic of Chile ( Spanish:) is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow Coastal strip wedged between the Colombia (kəˈlʌmbɪə officially the Republic of Colombia () is a country in northwestern South America. Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( Spanish: Costa Rica or República de Costa Rica,) is a Country in The Republic of Cuba (ˈkjuːbə or) consists of the island of Cuba (the largest and second-most populous island of the Greater Antilles) Isla de la The Dominican Republic ( Spanish: República Dominicana;) is a nation located in the Caribbean region and shares the island of Hispaniola with For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Ecuador topics. El Salvador ( República de El Salvador,) is a country in Central America. Guatemala (República de Guatemala) is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west the Pacific Ocean to the southwest Honduras in Spanish, República de Honduras) is a democratic republic in Central America. The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. Nicaragua (ˌnɪkəˈrɑgwə officially the Republic of Nicaragua () is a representative democratic republic and the largest nation in Central America Panama, officially the Republic of Panama (República de Panamá) is the southernmost country of Central America. Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay ( Spanish: República del Paraguay; Guaraní: Tetã Paraguái) is one of the only Guaraní /gwaraˈni/ (local name avañe'ẽ) is an indigenous language of South America that belongs to the Tupí-Guaraní subfamily of the Peru (Perú Piruw Piruw officially the Republic of Peru ( reˈpuβlika del peˈɾu is a country in western South America. Quechua ( Runa Simi) is a Native American language of South America. Aymara ( Aymar aru) is an Aymaran language spoken by the Aymara people of the Andes. Uruguay.(official full name in República Oriental del Uruguay;, Oriental Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America Venezuela (ˌvɛnəˈzweɪlə) officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish República Bolivariana de Venezuela) is a country on the Spanish is also the official language (co-official language English) in the U. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States S. commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico (ˌpwertoˈriko officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ("Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico" {{lang-en|"Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"}} ^[26]

Spanish has no official recognition in the former British colony of Belize; however, per the 2000 census, it is spoken by 43% of the population. The British Overseas Territories are fourteen territories that are under the Sovereignty of the United Kingdom, but which do not form part of the United Kingdom Belize (bəˈliːz formerly British Honduras, is a country in Central America. ^[27][28] Mainly, it is spoken by Hispanic descendants who remained in the region since the 17th century; however, English is the official language. ^[29]

Spain colonized Trinidad and Tobago first in 1498, leaving the Carib people the Spanish language. The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (ˈtrɪnɪdæd ən təˈbeɪgoʊ is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying northeast of the South American Cariban languages Carib, Island Carib or Kalinago people after whom the Caribbean Sea was named live in the Lesser Antilles islands Also the Cocoa Panyols, laborers from Venezuela, took their culture and language with them; they are accredited with the music of "Parang" ("Parranda") on the island. The Cocoa Panyols (or Cocoa Payols) are an ethnic group in Trinidad & Tobago. Parang is a type of music with Caribbean and Latin American cultural influences Parranda or Parranda de aguinaldo are musical sorts from the coast zone of the states Aragua and Carabobo, in Venezuela, where the tambora Because of Trinidad's location on the South American coast, the country is much influenced by its Spanish-speaking neighbors. A recent census shows that more than 1,500 inhabitants speak Spanish. In 2004, the government launched the Spanish as a First Foreign Language (SAFFL) initiative in March 2005. ^[30] Government regulations require Spanish to be taught, beginning in primary school, while thirty percent of public employees are to be linguistically competent within five years. The government also announced that Spanish will be the country's second official language by 2020, beside English. 2020 ( MMXX) will be a Leap year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar.

Spanish is important in Brazil because of its proximity to and increased trade with its Spanish-speaking neighbors; for example, as a member of the Mercosur trading bloc. |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld Role and potential Some South Americans see Mercosur as giving the capability to combine resources to balance the activities of other global economic powers especially the North ^[31] In 2005, the National Congress of Brazil approved a bill, signed into law by the President, making Spanish available as a foreign language in secondary schools. Brazil 's bicameral National Congress ( Congresso Nacional) consists of Senate of Brazil (the Upper house) and the Chamber of The President of Brazil is both the Head of state and Head of government of the Federative Republic of Brazil. ^[32] In many border towns and villages (especially on the Uruguayan-Brazilian border), a mixed language known as Portuñol is spoken. A mixed language is a Language that arises through the fusion of two source languages normally in situations of thorough Bilingualism. The Riverense Portuñol or Riverense Portunhol, also known as Fronterizo or Fronteiriço is a Mixed language ( Linguasphere language ^[33]

In Jamaica, English is the official language; however, Spanish is recognized along the western coast, where the country's neighbors reside, who are the Cubans, Costa Ricans, Panamanians and other people from Central America and Spain. Jamaica (ˈdʒəˈmeɪkə} is an Island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width situated in the Caribbean Sea. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Cubans (Cubanos are people inhabiting or originating from Cuba. Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( Spanish: Costa Rica or República de Costa Rica,) is a Country in Panama, officially the Republic of Panama (República de Panamá) is the southernmost country of Central America. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.

United States

In the 2006 census, 44. 3 million people of the U. S. population were Hispanic or Latino by origin;^[34] 34 million people, 12. Hispanic (hispano hispánico hispânico Hispānus adjective from ''Hispānia'', the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula) is a term that historically 2 percent, of the population older than 5 years speak Spanish at home. ^[35]Spanish has a long history in the United States (many south-western states were part of Mexico and Spain), and it recently has been revitalized by much immigration from Latin America. The Spanish language is the second most-common language in the United States after English. Spanish is the most widely taught foreign language in the country. ^[36] Although the United States has no formally designated "official languages," Spanish is formally recognized at the state level beside English; in the U. S. state of New Mexico, 30 per cent of the population speak it. New Mexico ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. It also has strong influence in metropolitan areas such as Chicago and New York City. Spanish is the dominant spoken language in Puerto Rico, a U. Puerto Rico (ˌpwertoˈriko officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ("Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico" {{lang-en|"Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"}} S. territory. In total, the U. S. has the world's fifth-largest Spanish-speaking population. ^[37]

Philippines

Spanish was an official language of the Philippines but was never spoken by a majority of the population. The Philippines ( Filipino: Pilipinas, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines (fil ''Republika ng Pilipinas'' RP Movements for most of the masses to learn the language were started but were stopped by the friars. Its importance fell in the first half of the 20th century following the U. S. occupation and administration of the islands. The introduction of the English language in the Philippine government system put an end to the use of Spanish as the official language. The language lost its official status in 1973 during the Ferdinand Marcos administration. Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralín Marcos ( September 11, 1917 &ndash September 28, 1989) was President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986 ^[38]

Spanish is spoken mainly by small communities of Filipino-born Spaniards, Latin Americans, and Filipino mestizos (mixed race), descendants of the early colonial Spanish settlers. Mestizo is a Spanish term that was coined during the Spanish Empire to refer to people of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry in Latin Throughout the 20th century, the Spanish language has declined in importance compared to English and Tagalog. Tagalog is one of the major languages used in the Philippines. According to the 1990 Philippine census, there were 2,658 native speakers of Spanish. ^[39] No figures were provided during the 1995 and 2000 censuses; however, figures for 2000 did specify there were over 600,000 native speakers of Chavacano, a Spanish based creole language spoken in Cavite and Zamboanga. Chavacano (as a proper noun and a derivative of the Spanish adjective " chabacano " and as it is generally accepted in literature the broadcast media A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable Language that originates seemingly as a nativized Pidgin. Cavite is a province of the Philippines located on the southern shores of Manila Bay in the Calabarzon region in Luzon, Some other sources put the number of Spanish speakers in the Philippines around two to three million; however, these sources are disputed. In Tagalog, there are 4,000 Spanish words and around 6,000 Spanish words in Visayan and other Philippine languages as well. ^[40] Today Spanish is offered as a foreign language in Philippines schools and universities.

Africa

In Africa, Spanish is official in the UN-recognised but Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara (co-official Arabic) and Equatorial Guinea (co-official French and Portuguese). Western Sahara ( Arabic: الصحراء الغربية; transliterated: as-Ṣaḥrā' al-Gharbīyah; Sahara Occidental is a territory Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language The Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( República de Guinea Ecuatorial,) is a country in Central Africa. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. Today, nearly 200,000 refugee Sahrawis are able to read and write in Spanish,^[41] and several thousands have received university education in foreign countries as part of aid packages (mainly Cuba and Spain). A university is an institution of Higher education and Research, which grants Academic degrees in a variety of subjects The Republic of Cuba (ˈkjuːbə or) consists of the island of Cuba (the largest and second-most populous island of the Greater Antilles) Isla de la Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. In Equatorial Guinea, Spanish is the predominant language when counting native and non-native speakers (around 500,000 people), while Fang is the most spoken language by a number of native speakers. Fang (pronounced /fɒŋ/ is an African language spoken by the Fang people. ^[42][43] It is also spoken in the Spanish cities in continental North Africa (Ceuta and Melilla) and in the autonomous community of Canary Islands (143,000 and 1,995,833 people, respectively). The plazas de soberanía ("places of sovereignty" formerly referred as "África Septentrional Española" (Spanish North Africa or simply "África Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain located on the Mediterranean, on the North African side of the Strait of Gibraltar, which Melilla is an autonomous city of Spain located on the Mediterranean, on the North African coast The Canary Islands ( English pronunciation kəˈnæriː ˈaɪləndz Spanish: Islas Canarias, ˈizlas kaˈnarjas are a Spanish Within Northern Morocco, a former Franco-Spanish protectorate that is also geographically close to Spain, approximately 20,000 people speak Spanish. The Capsian culture brought Morocco into the Neolithic about 8000 BC at a time when the Maghreb was less arid than it is today ^[44] It is spoken by some communities of Angola, because of the Cuban influence from the Cold War, and Nigeria by Afro-Cuban ex-slaves. Angola, officially the Republic of Angola (República de Angola Pronounced ʁɛˈpublikɐ dɨ ɐ̃ˈgɔlɐ Repubilika ya Ngola is a country in south-central Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the Nigeria, officially named the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal Constitutional republic comprising thirty-six states and one Federal The term Afro-Cuban refers to Cubans of African ancestry and to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community In Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal, Spanish can be learned as a second foreign language in the public education system. Côte d'Ivoire (ˌkoʊt divˈwɑː(r ' in English, kot diˈvwaʀ in French) or Ivory Coast, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a Senegal (le Sénégal officially the Republic of Senegal, is a country south of the Sénégal River in western Africa. ^[45] In 2008, Cervantes Institutes centers will be opened in Lagos and Johannesburg, the first one in the Sub-Saharan Africa^[46]

Oceania

Among the countries and territories in Oceania, Spanish is also spoken in Easter Island, a territorial possession of Chile. The Cervantes Institute is a worldwide non-profit organization created by the Spanish government in 1991 Lagos ( pron ˈleɪgɒs or /ˈlɑːgoʊs/ overseas is the most populous Conurbation in Nigeria with Johannesburg ( Pronounced /jō-hān'ĭs-bûrg'/ is the largest city in South Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa is a geographical term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara, or those African countries According to the 2001 census, there are approximately 95,000 speakers of Spanish in Australia, 44,000 of which live in Greater Sydney, where the older Mexican, Colombian, and Spanish populations and newer Argentine, El Salvadorian and Uruguyan communities live.

The island nations of Guam, Palau, Northern Marianas, Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia all once had Spanish speakers, since Marianas and Caroline Islands were Spanish colonial possessions until late 19th century (see Spanish-American War), but Spanish has since been forgotten. Guam ( Chamorro: cha Guåhån) officially the Territory of Guam, is an island in the western Pacific Ocean and is an organized unincorporated Palau, officially the Republic of Palau (Beluu er a Belau is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, some 500 miles (800  km) east The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI is a commonwealth in Political union with the United The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI is a Micronesian nation of islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean The Federated States of Micronesia is an Island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, north of Papua New Guinea. The Mariana Islands (also the Marianas; up to the early 20th century sometimes called Ladrones Islands, from Spanish Islas de los Ladrones meaning The Caroline Islands form a large Archipelago of widely scattered islands in the western Pacific Ocean, northeast of New Guinea. It now only exists as an influence on the local native languages and also spoken by Hispanic American resident populations. Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans of Hispanic or Latino descent, which comprises ancestry or origins in Hispanic America

Variations

Main article: Spanish dialects and varieties

There are important variations among the regions of Spain and throughout Spanish-speaking America. Spanish dialects and varieties are the regional variants of the Spanish language, some of which are quite divergent from each other especially in pronunciation and vocabulary In countries in Hispanophone America, it is preferable to use the word castellano to distinguish their version of the language from that of Spain, thus asserting their autonomy and national identity. In Spain the Castilian dialect's pronunciation is commonly regarded as the national standard, although a use of slightly different pronouns called laísmo of this dialect is deprecated. Loísmo and its feminine counterpart laísmo is a feature of certain dialects of Spanish consisting of the use of the pronouns lo or la (which More accurately, for nearly everyone in Spain, "standard Spanish" means "pronouncing everything exactly as it is written," an ideal which does not correspond to any real dialect, though the northern dialects are the closest to it. In practice, the standard way of speaking Spanish in the media is "written Spanish" for formal speech, "Madrid dialect" (one of the transitional variants between Castilian and Andalusian) for informal speech.

Voseo

Main article: Voseo

Spanish has three second-person singular pronouns: tú, usted, and in some parts of Latin America, vos (the use of this pronoun and/or its verb forms is called voseo). In Spanish, voseo is the use of the second person singular Pronoun vos instead of tú. Grammatical person, in Linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event such as the speaker the Addressee, or others In linguistics grammatical number is a Grammatical category of nouns pronouns and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one" In Linguistics and Grammar, a pronoun is a Pro-form that substitutes for a (including a noun phrase consisting of a single Noun) with or In those regions where it is used, and generally speaking, tú and vos are informal and used with friends, in other countries vos is considered an archaic form. Usted is universally regarded as the formal address (derived from vuestra merced, "your grace"), and is used as a mark of respect, as when addressing one's elders or strangers.

Vos is used extensively as the primary spoken form of the second-person singular pronoun, although with wide differences in social consideration, in many countries of Latin America, including Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, the central mountain region of Ecuador, the State of Chiapas in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Uruguay, the Paisa region of Colombia and the State of Zulia in Venezuela. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Argentina topics. Chile, officially the Republic of Chile ( Spanish:) is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow Coastal strip wedged between the Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( Spanish: Costa Rica or República de Costa Rica,) is a Country in For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Ecuador topics. Chiapas is the southernmost state of Mexico, located towards the southeast of the country The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. El Salvador ( República de El Salvador,) is a country in Central America. Guatemala (República de Guatemala) is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west the Pacific Ocean to the southwest Honduras in Spanish, República de Honduras) is a democratic republic in Central America. Nicaragua (ˌnɪkəˈrɑgwə officially the Republic of Nicaragua () is a representative democratic republic and the largest nation in Central America Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay ( Spanish: República del Paraguay; Guaraní: Tetã Paraguái) is one of the only Uruguay.(official full name in República Oriental del Uruguay;, Oriental Republic of Uruguay) is a country located in the southeastern part of South America Paisa (pl Paisas) A person from the “Paisa region” in Colombia, South America Colombia (kəˈlʌmbɪə officially the Republic of Colombia () is a country in northwestern South America. A state is a political association with effective Sovereignty over a geographic Area and representing a Population. Estado Zulia is one of Venezuela 's 23 states ''(estados''. The state capital is Maracaibo. Venezuela (ˌvɛnəˈzweɪlə) officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (Spanish República Bolivariana de Venezuela) is a country on the There are some differences in the verbal endings for vos in each country. In Argentina, Uruguay, and increasingly in Paraguay and some Central American countries, it is also the standard form used in the media, but the media in other countries with voseo generally continue to use usted or tú except in advertisements, for instance. "Popular press" redirects here note that the University of Wisconsin Press publishes under the imprint "The Popular Press" Vos may also be used regionally in other countries. Depending on country or region, usage may be considered standard or (by better educated speakers) to be unrefined. Interpersonal situations in which the use of vos is acceptable may also differ considerably between regions.

Ustedes

Spanish forms also differ regarding second-person plural pronouns. The Spanish dialects of Latin America have only one form of the second-person plural for daily use, ustedes (formal or familiar, as the case may be, though vosotros non-formal usage can sometimes appear in poetry and rhetorical or literary style). In Spain there are two forms — ustedes (formal) and vosotros (familiar). The pronoun vosotros is the plural form of tú in most of Spain, but in the Americas (and certain southern Spanish cities such as Cádiz or Seville, and in the Canary Islands) it is replaced with ustedes. Cádiz ( Spanish:) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the province of the same name, a province which is one of eight Seville ( Spanish: Sevilla, see also different names) is the artistic cultural and financial capital of southern Spain. The Canary Islands ( English pronunciation kəˈnæriː ˈaɪləndz Spanish: Islas Canarias, ˈizlas kaˈnarjas are a Spanish It is notable that the use of ustedes for the informal plural "you" in southern Spain does not follow the usual rule for pronoun-verb agreement; e. In Languages agreement is a form of cross-reference between different parts of a sentence or phrase g. , while the formal form for "you go", ustedes van, uses the third-person plural form of the verb, in Cádiz or Seville the informal form is constructed as ustedes vais, using the second-person plural of the verb. In the Canary Islands, though, the usual pronoun-verb agreement is preserved in most cases.

Some words can be different, even embarrassingly so, in different Hispanophone countries. Most Spanish speakers can recognize other Spanish forms, even in places where they are not commonly used, but Spaniards generally do not recognise specifically American usages. For example, Spanish mantequilla, aguacate and albaricoque (respectively, "butter", "avocado", "apricot") correspond to manteca, palta, and damasco, respectively, in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. The everyday Spanish words coger (to catch, get, or pick up), pisar (to step on) and concha (seashell) are considered extremely rude in parts of Latin America, where the meaning of coger and pisar is also "to have sex" and concha means "vulva". The Puerto Rican word for "bobby pin" (pinche) is an obscenity in Mexico, and in Nicaragua simply means "stingy". Nicaragua (ˌnɪkəˈrɑgwə officially the Republic of Nicaragua () is a representative democratic republic and the largest nation in Central America Other examples include taco, which means "swearword" in Spain but is known to the rest of the world as a Mexican dish. A taco ( is a traditional Mexican dish composed of a Maize or wheat Tortilla folded or rolled around a filling Pija in many countries of Latin America is an obscene slang word for "penis", while in Spain the word also signifies "posh girl" or "snobby". Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Coche, which means "car" in Spain, for the vast majority of Spanish-speakers actually means "baby-stroller", in Guatemala is means "pig", while carro means "car" in some Latin American countries and "cart" in others, as well as in Spain.

The Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy), together with the 21 other national ones (see Association of Spanish Language Academies), exercises a standardizing influence through its publication of dictionaries and widely respected grammar and style guides. The Real Academia Española (“Royal Spanish Academy” the RAE, is the official royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language The Association of Spanish Language Academies (Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española was created in Mexico in 1951 and represents the union of all the separate Due to this influence and for other sociohistorical reasons, a standardized form of the language (Standard Spanish) is widely acknowledged for use in literature, academic contexts and the media. Standard Spanish or Neutral Spanish is a linguistic variety or lect that is considered a correct educated standard for the Spanish language

Writing system

Main article: Spanish orthography

Spanish is written using the Latin alphabet, with the addition of the character ñ (eñe, representing the phoneme /ɲ/, a letter distinct from n, although typographically composed of an n with a tilde) and the digraphs ch (che, representing the phoneme /tʃ/) and ll (elle, representing the phoneme /ʎ/). Spanish orthography is one of the most phonemic among those that are written with the Latin alphabet. Ñ (lower case ñ) is a letter of the modern Roman alphabet formed by an N with a diacritical Tilde. The tilde (~ (/ˈtɪldə/ is a Grapheme with several uses The name of the character comes from Spanish, from the Latin titulus A digraph, bigraph, or digram is a pair of characters used to write one Phoneme (distinct sound or a sequence of phonemes that does not correspond However, the digraph rr (erre fuerte, "strong r", erre doble, "double r", or simply erre), which also represents a distinct phoneme /r/, is not similarly regarded as a single letter. Since 1994, the digraphs ch and ll are to be treated as letter pairs for collation purposes, though they remain a part of the alphabet. Words with ch are now alphabetically sorted between those with ce and ci, instead of following cz as they used to, and similarly for ll. ^[47][48]. Thus, as from 1994 Spanish uses the 26 letters of the International Alphabet plus the Spanish letter ñ. Ñ (lower case ñ) is a letter of the modern Roman alphabet formed by an N with a diacritical Tilde. The 2 digraphs ch and ll are currently separated from the alphabet:

• a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, ñ, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z. Ll / ll is a digraph which occurs in several natural Languages In English In English, ll represents the same sound

• ch ^[49], ll ^[50], rr, qu, gu. And South America and seseante dialects; sc, xc. In Spanish dialectology, the terms ceceo, seseo and distinción are used to describe the opposition between dialects that distinguish the Phonemes

With the exclusion of a very small number of regional terms such as México (see Toponymy of Mexico), pronunciation can be entirely determined from spelling. A typical Spanish word is stressed on the syllable before the last if it ends with a vowel (not including y) or with a vowel followed by n or s; it is stressed on the last syllable otherwise. A syllable ( Greek:) is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds Exceptions to this rule are indicated by placing an acute accent on the stressed vowel. History An early precursor of the acute accent was the apex, used in Latin inscriptions to mark long vowels. In Linguistics, stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain Syllables in a word

The acute accent is used, in addition, to distinguish between certain homophones, especially when one of them is a stressed word and the other one is a clitic: compare el ("the", masculine singular definite article) with él ("he" or "it"), or te ("you", object pronoun), de (preposition "of" or "from"), and se (reflexive pronoun) with té ("tea"), dé ("give") and sé ("I know", or imperative "be"). A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning In Linguistics, a clitic is a grammatically independent and phonologically dependent Word.

The interrogative pronouns (qué, cuál, dónde, quién, etc. ) also receive accents in direct or indirect questions, and some demonstratives (ése, éste, aquél, etc. ) can be accented when used as pronouns. The conjunction o ("or") is written with an accent between numerals so as not to be confused with a zero: e. g. , 10 ó 20 should be read as diez o veinte rather than diez mil veinte ("10,020"). Accent marks are frequently omitted in capital letters (a widespread practice in the early days of computers where only lowercase vowels were available with accents), although the RAE advises against this. The Real Academia Española (“Royal Spanish Academy” the RAE, is the official royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language

When u is written between g and a front vowel (e or i), if it should be pronounced, it is written with a diaeresis (ü) to indicate that it is not silent as it normally would be (e. Diaeresis or trema See also Diaeresis History Historically the diaeresis mark or trema is far older than the umlaut mark g. , cigüeña, "stork", is pronounced /θiˈɣweɲa/; if it were written cigueña, it would be pronounced /θiˈɣeɲa/.

Interrogative and exclamatory clauses are introduced with inverted question ( ¿ ) and exclamation marks ( ¡ ). The inverted question and exclamation marks are used to begin interrogative and exclamatory sentences respectively in written Spanish.

Sounds

Main article: Spanish phonology

The phonemic inventory listed in the following table includes phonemes that are preserved only in some dialects, other dialects having merged them (such as yeísmo); these are marked with an asterisk (*). For assistance in making phonetic transcriptions of Spanish for Wikipedia articles see HelpIPA chart for Spanish. The phoneME project is Sun Microsystems reference implementation of Java virtual machine and associated libraries of Java ME with source licensed under the GNU See also Spanish dialects and varieties Yeísmo (pronounced /ʝeˈizmo/ is a distinctive feature of many dialects of the Spanish language, Sounds in parentheses are allophones. In Phonetics, an allophone is one of several similar speech sounds ( Phones that belong to the same Phoneme.

Table of Spanish consonants^[51]

	Bilabial	Labio- dental	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m			n	ɲ
Stop	p   b		t   d		tʃ   (ɟʝ)	k   g
Fricative		f	*θ   (ð)	s   (z)		x
Approximant	(β̞)		(ð̞)		ʝ	(ɣ˕)
Trill				r
Tap				ɾ
Lateral				l	*ʎ

By the 16th century, the consonant system of Spanish underwent the following important changes that differentiated it from neighboring Romance languages such as Portuguese and Catalan:

• Initial /f/, when it had evolved into a vacillating /h/, was lost in most words (although this etymological h- is preserved in spelling and in some Andalusian dialects is still aspirated). In Phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a Consonant articulated with both Lips The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet In Phonetics, labiodentals are Consonants articulated with the lower Lip and the upper Teeth. In Linguistics, a dental consonant or dental is a Consonant that is articulated with the tongue against the upper teeth such as /t/ /d/ /n/ and Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior Alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets Palatal consonants are Consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the Hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth A nasal consonant (also called nasal stop or nasal continuant) is produced with a lowered velum in the mouth allowing air to escape freely through the A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a Consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the Vocal tract. Fricatives are Consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together Approximants are speech sounds ( Phonemes) that could be regarded as intermediate between Vowels and typical Consonants In the articulation of approximants In Phonetics, a trill is a Consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the Place of articulation. In Phonetics, a flap or tap is a type of Consonantal sound which is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator (such as the Laterals are "L"-like Consonants pronounced with an occlusion made somewhere along the axis of the tongue while air from the lungs escapes at one side or both This article is about a subdivision of the Romance language family Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. Catalan ˈkætəˌlæn ( català kətəˈla or) is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official
• The bilabial approximant /β̞/ (which was written u or v) merged with the bilabial oclusive /b/ (written b). The voiced bilabial fricative is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet There is no difference between the pronunciation of orthographic b and v in contemporary Spanish, excepting emphatic pronunciations that cannot be considered standard or natural.
• The voiced alveolar fricative /z/ which existed as a separate phoneme in medieval Spanish merged with its voiceless counterpart /s/. The voiced alveolar fricatives are Consonantal sounds The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents these sounds depends on whether a Sibilant The phoneme which resulted from this merger is currently spelled s.
• The voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/ merged with its voiceless counterpart /ʃ/, which evolved into the modern velar sound /x/ by the 17th century, now written with j, or g before e, i. The voiced palato-alveolar fricative or domed postalveolar fricative is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol Nevertheless, in most parts of Argentina and in Uruguay, y and ll have both evolved to /ʒ/ or /ʃ/.
• The voiced alveolar affricate /dz/ merged with its voiceless counterpart /ts/, which then developed into the interdental /θ/, now written z, or c before e, i. The voiced alveolar affricate is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet But in Andalusia, the Canary Islands and the Americas this sound merged with /s/ as well. Andalusia (Andalucía is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the most populous and the second largest in terms of land area The Canary Islands ( English pronunciation kəˈnæriː ˈaɪləndz Spanish: Islas Canarias, ˈizlas kaˈnarjas are a Spanish See Ceceo, for further information. In Spanish dialectology, the terms ceceo, seseo and distinción are used to describe the opposition between dialects that distinguish the Phonemes

The consonant system of Medieval Spanish has been better preserved in Ladino and in Portuguese, neither of which underwent these shifts.

Lexical stress

Spanish is a syllable-timed language, so each syllable has the same duration regardless of stress. Language timing is the rhythmic quality of a particular type of speech in particular how Syllables are distributed across time ^[52][53] Stress most often occurs on any of the last three syllables of a word, with some rare exceptions at the fourth last. The tendencies of stress assignment are as follows:^[54]

• In words ending in vowels and /s/, stress most often falls on the penultimate syllable.
• In words ending in all other consonants, the stress more often falls on the ultimate syllable.
• Preantepenultimate stress occurs rarely and only in words like guardándoselos ('saving them for him/her') where a clitic follows certain verbal forms.

In addition to the many exceptions to these tendencies, there are numerous minimal pairs which contrast solely on stress. In Phonology, minimal pairs are pairs of Words or phrases in a particular Language, which differ in only one phonological element such as a Phone For example, sabana, with penultimate stress, means 'savannah' while sábana, with antepenultimate stress, means 'sheet'; límite ('boundary'), limite ('[that] he/she limits') and limité ('I limited') also contrast solely on stress.

Phonological stress may be marked orthographically with an acute accent (ácido, distinción, etc). History An early precursor of the acute accent was the apex, used in Latin inscriptions to mark long vowels. This is done according to the mandatory stress rules of Spanish orthography which are similar to the tendencies above (differing with words like distinción) and are defined so as to unequivocally indicate where the stress lies in a given written word. Spanish orthography is one of the most phonemic among those that are written with the Latin alphabet. An acute accent may also be used to differentiate homophones (such as té for 'tea' and te

An amusing example of the significance of intonation in Spanish is the phrase ¿Cómo "cómo como"? ¡Como como como! ("What do you mean / 'how / do I eat'? / I eat / the way / I eat!").

Grammar

Main article: Spanish grammar

Spanish is a relatively inflected language, with a two-gender system and about fifty conjugated forms per verb, but limited inflection of nouns, adjectives, and determiners. Spanish' ( español castellano) is a language originating in North-Central Spain which is spoken throughout Spain most countries in the Americas the Philippines and Equatorial In Grammar, inflection or inflexion is the way language handles grammatical relations and relational categories such as tense, mood, voice In Linguistics, grammatical genders, sometimes also called Noun classes are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words every noun must belong In Linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a Verb, Noun or Adjective from its Principal parts by Inflection For English usage of verbs see the wiki article English verbs. In Grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a Noun or Pronoun, giving more information about the (For a detailed overview of verbs, see Spanish verbs and Spanish irregular verbs. Spanish verbs are one of the most complex areas of Spanish grammar. Spanish verbs are a complex area of Spanish grammar, with many combinations of tenses aspects and moods (up to fifty conjugated forms per verb )

It is right-branching, uses prepositions, and usually, though not always, places adjectives after nouns. In Linguistics, branching is the general tendency towards a given order of Words within sentences and smaller grammatical units within sentences (such as In Grammar, a preposition is a Part of speech that introduces a prepositional phrase. In Grammar, an adjective is a word whose main syntactic role is to modify a Noun or Pronoun, giving more information about the Its syntax is generally Subject Verb Object, though variations are common. In Linguistics, syntax (from Ancient Greek grc συν- syn-, "together" and grc τάξις táxis, "arrangement" is the In Linguistic typology, subject-verb-object ( SVO) is a sentence structure where the subject comes first the Verb second and the object It is a pro-drop language (allows the deletion of pronouns when pragmatically unnecessary) and verb-framed. A pro-drop language (from "pronoun-dropping" is a Language in which certain classes of Pronouns may be omitted when they are in some sense pragmatically In Linguistics, verb-framing and satellite-framing are typological descriptions of how verb phrases in different Languages describe the manner

Samples

English	Spanish	IPA phonemic transcription (abstract phonemes) 1	IPA phonetic transcription (actual sounds) 2
Spanish	español	/es. paˈɲol/	[e̞s̺. päˈɲo̞ˑl] [e̞s̻. päˈɲo̞ˑl]
(Castilian) Spanish	castellano	/kas. teˈja. no/     /kas. teˈʒa. no/ /kas. teˈʎa. no/	[käs̺. t̪e̞ˈʝäˑ. no̞] [käs̻. t̪e̞ˈʝäˑ. no̞] [kɑh. t̪ʰe̞ˈʝäˑ. no̞] [kɑh. t̪ʰe̞ˈʒäˑ. no̞] [käs̺. t̪e̞ˈʎäˑ. no̞]
English	inglés	/iNˈgles/ 3	[iŋˈgle̞ˑs̺] [iŋˈgle̞ˑs̻]
Yes	Sí	/ˈsi/	[ˈs̺iˑ] [ˈs̻iˑ]
No	No	/ˈno/	[ˈno̞ˑ]
Hello	Hola	/ˈo. la/	[ˈo̞ˑ. lä]
How are you?	¿Cómo estás (tú)? (informal) ¿Cómo está (usted)? (formal)	/ˈko. mo esˈtas/	[ˈko̞ˑ. mo̞ e̞s̺ˈt̪äˑs̺] [ˈko̞ˑ. mo̞ e̞s̻ˈt̪äˑs̻] [ˈko̞ˑ. mo̞ ɛhˈt̪ʰɑˑh]
Good morning!	Buenos días	/ˈbue. nos ˈdi. as/	[ˈbwe̞ˑ. no̞s̬̺ ˈð̞iˑ. äs̺] [ˈbwe̞ˑ. no̞s̬̻ ˈð̞iˑ. äs̻] [ˈbwe̞ˑ. nɔh ˈð̞iˑ. ɑh]
Good afternoon/evening!	Buenas tardes	/ˈbue. nas ˈtaR. des/ 3	[ˈbwe̞ˑ. näs̺ ˈt̪äˑɾ. ð̞e̞s̺] [ˈbwe̞ˑ. näs̻ ˈt̪äˑɾ. ð̞e̞s̻] [ˈbwe̞ˑ. nɑh ˈt̪ʰäˑɾ. ð̞ɛh]
Good night!	Buenas noches	/ˈbue. nas ˈno. ces/	[ˈbwe̞ˑ. näs̺ ˈno̞ˑ. ʨe̞s̺] [ˈbwe̞ˑ. näs̻ ˈno̞ˑ. ʧe̞s̻] [ˈbwe̞ˑ. nɑ nˈːo̞ˑ. ʃɛh]
Goodbye	Adiós	/aˈdios/	[äˈð̞jo̞ˑs̺] [äˈð̞jo̞ˑs̻] [äˈð̞jɔˑh]
Please	Por favor	/poR faˈboR/ 3	[po̞ɾ fäˈβ̞o̞ˑɾ]
Thank you	Gracias	/ˈgRa. θias/ 3 /ˈgRa. sias/ 3	[ˈgɾäˑ. θjäs̺] [ˈgɾäˑ. s̻jäs̻] [ˈgɾäˑ. s̻jɑh]
Excuse me	Perdón	/peRˈdoN/ 3	[pe̞ɾˈð̞o̞ˑŋ] [pe̞ɾˈð̞o̞ˑn]
I'm sorry	Lo siento	/lo ˈsieN. to/ 3	[lo̞ ˈs̺je̞ˑn̪. t̪o̞] [lo̞ ˈs̻je̞ˑn̪. t̪o̞]
Hurry! (informal)	¡Date prisa! ¡Apúrate!	/ˈda. te ˈpRi. sa/ 3	[ˈd̪äˑ. t̪e̞ ˈpɾiˑ. s̺ä] [ˈd̪äˑ. t̪e̞ ˈpɾiˑ. s̻ä]
Because	Porque	/ˈpoR. ke/ 3	[ˈpo̞ˑɾ. ke̞]
Why?	¿Por qué?	/poR ˈke/ 3	[po̞ɾ ˈke̞ˑ]
Who?	¿Quién?	/ˈkieN/ 3	[ˈkje̞ˑŋ] [ˈkje̞ˑn]
What?	¿Qué?	/ˈke/	[ˈke̞ˑ]
When?	¿Cuándo?	/ˈkuaN. do/ 3	[ˈkwäˑn̪. d̪o̞]
Where?	¿Dónde?	/ˈdoN. de/ 3	[ˈdo̞ˑn̪. d̪e̞]
How?	¿Cómo?	/ˈko. mo/	[ˈko̞ˑ. mo̞]
How much?	¿Cuánto?	/ˈkuaN. to/ 3	[ˈkwäˑn̪. t̪o̞]
I do not understand	No entiendo	/no eNˈtieN. do/ 3	[nŏ̞ e̞n̪ˈt̪je̞ˑn̪. d̪o̞]
Help me (please) (formal)   Help me! (informal)	Ayúdeme   ¡Ayúdame!	/aˈju. de. me/ /aˈʒu. de. me/ /aˈju. da. me/ /aˈʒu. de. me/	[äˈʝuˑ. ð̞e̞. me̞] [äˈʒuˑ. ð̞e̞. me̞] [äˈʝuˑ. ð̞ä. me̞] [äˈʒuˑ. ð̞ä. me̞]
Where's the bathroom?	¿Dónde está el baño?	/ˈdoN. de esˈta el ˈba. ɲo] 3	[ˈdo̞ˑn̪. d̪e̞ e̞s̺ˈt̪äˑ ĕ̞l ˈβ̞äˑ. ɲo̞] [ˈdo̞ˑn̪. d̪e̞ e̞s̻ˈt̪äˑ ĕ̞l ˈβ̞äˑ. ɲo̞] [ˈdo̞ˑn̪. d̪e̞ ɛhˈt̪ʰäˑ ĕ̞l ˈβ̞äˑ. ɲo̞]
Do you speak English? (informal)	¿Hablas inglés?	/ˈa. blas iNˈgles/ 3	[ˈäˑ. β̞läs̺ iŋˈgle̞ˑs̺] [ˈäˑ. β̞läs̻ iŋˈgle̞ˑs̻] [ˈäˑ. β̞lɑh iŋˈglɛˑh]
Cheers! (toast)	¡Salud!	/saˈlud/	[s̺aˈluˑð̞] [s̻aˈluˑð̞]
1 Phonemic representation of the abstract phonological entities (phonemes), 2 phonetic representation of the actual sounds pronounced (phones). In both cases, when several representations are given, the first one corresponds to the dialect in the recording (Castilian with yeísmo) and the rest to several other dialects not in the recording. 3 Capital /N/ and /R/ (non-standard IPA) are used here to represent the nasal and rhotic archiphonemes that neutralize the phonemic oppositions [m]-[n]-[ɲ] and [r]-[ɾ], respectively, in syllabe coda and intra-cluster positions.

See also

Local varieties

Peninsular Spanish Andalusian Spanish Canarian Spanish Castilian Spanish Castrapo (Spanish spoken in Galicia) Latin American Spanish Argentine Spanish Bolivian Spanish Caliche Central American Spanish Colombian Spanish Chilean Spanish

Cuban Spanish Dominican Spanish Mexican Spanish New Mexican Spanish Panamanian Spanish Peruvian Coast Spanish Puerto Rican Spanish Rioplatense Spanish Spanish in the United States Venezuelan Spanish Other Variants Spanish in the Philippines

References

External links

• (Spanish) Dictionary of the RAE Real Academia Española's official Spanish language dictionary
• Spanish evolution from Latin
• Spanish phrasebook on WikiTravel
• The Project Gutenberg EBook of A First Spanish Reader by Erwin W. The Diccionario de la lengua española de la Real Academia Española or DRAE is the most authoritative Dictionary of the Spanish language. The Diccionario de la lengua española de la Real Academia Española or DRAE is the most authoritative Dictionary of the Spanish language. The Real Academia Española (“Royal Spanish Academy” the RAE, is the official royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language Wikitravel is a Web -based project "to create a free, complete up-to-date and reliable worldwide travel guide. Roessler and Alfred Remy. Alfred Remy MA (1870-1927 was an American Philologist and writer on music born at Elberfeld Germany.
• Spanish - BBC Languages

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