Are there some Spanish dialects that are slower than others
Item
issuer
Quora
Language
English
Date Accepted
11/29/19
Title
Are there some Spanish dialects that are slower than others
list of contributors
Jose Pineda
content
There’s no single “Colombian Spanish” just as there’s no single “Mexican Spanish”. In fact, Colombia is the Latin American country with the highest dialectal diversity, 2nd only to Spain in both the number and diversity of Spanish dialects spoken in the country. Bogota’s usually considered the prestige accent, though it fights for that mantle with that from Medellin. Both are indeed spoken slow, but people from Medellin and surrounding areas have some features in their pronunciation that make them sound like Northerner Spaniards some times.
Southern Spaniards speak darn fast - and they tend to drop a lot of their consonants in final positions, like Caribbean speakers, which makes them difficult to understand even for us Latin American speakers. Northern Spaniards speak more slowly and pronounce all consonants fully, although their vowels get a bit obscured at times (sounds like they really need to clear their throats).
Central Mexican dialects are spoken much more slowlier than Northern Mexican ones. We also tend to give all syllables the same tempo - as opposed to Northerners, who tend to use the rhythmic patterns of English/German (i.e. syllables that receive the tonic accent get a bit lengthened and those that don’t have the accent are shortened in speech). The problem is we Central Mexicans tend to over-emphasize (to the point of near exageration) the consonants’ pronunciation, especially the “s” sound. On the other hand, we tend to blurr our vowels when speaking coloquially, sometimes either dropping or converting them into schwas (“pesos” may become “pes’s” and “pues” becomes “ps”), some linguists believe both features are a left over from when Nahuatl (the language of the Aztecs) was the most widespread language in Central Mexico before Spanish got imposed, as Nahuatl was consonant and consontant-cluster rich.
Caribbean Spanish is spoken really, really, REALLY fast. In Mexico you’ll listen that dialect in the Mexico’s Gulf coast as well as on the southern Pacific coast (but not in the areas between both coasts, which speak Central Mexican Spanish - also not in the Yucatan peninsula, where local Spanish dialects are heavily influenced by the Mayan language). And it’s the dialect people from Caracas, Venezuela speak, as well as Pacific coast from Colombia, and (obviously) people from the Caribbean islands. It tends to drop “s” sound when it’s at the end of a word or the end of a syllable - sometimes it converts it to a soft “h” sound. Tends to drop intervocalic “d”, especially at the last syllables “amado” becomes “ama’o” (this feature appears in Southern Spanish dialects as well). People from Puerto Rico also tend to interchange their “I” and “r” in some positions, like when they say “Puelto Rico” - again some people from Spain’s South do this as well, e.g. “er caballo” and not “el caballo”.
Central American Spanish uses “vos” instead of “tu” (like the dialects of Argentina, Uruguay and Chile) but is spoken slow - it has some features of Caribbean dialects as well.
Dialects from the Southern cone use “vos” as well, sometimes drop the final “s” sound (not as noticeable as with Caribbean speakers) are slightly up-tempo (say, andatto leggero, whereas N. Spain’s would be “lungo”) but are spoken with a rhythmic and melodic pattern very similar to that of Italian - reflecting the origin of most people in Uruguay and Argentina.
Southern Spaniards speak darn fast - and they tend to drop a lot of their consonants in final positions, like Caribbean speakers, which makes them difficult to understand even for us Latin American speakers. Northern Spaniards speak more slowly and pronounce all consonants fully, although their vowels get a bit obscured at times (sounds like they really need to clear their throats).
Central Mexican dialects are spoken much more slowlier than Northern Mexican ones. We also tend to give all syllables the same tempo - as opposed to Northerners, who tend to use the rhythmic patterns of English/German (i.e. syllables that receive the tonic accent get a bit lengthened and those that don’t have the accent are shortened in speech). The problem is we Central Mexicans tend to over-emphasize (to the point of near exageration) the consonants’ pronunciation, especially the “s” sound. On the other hand, we tend to blurr our vowels when speaking coloquially, sometimes either dropping or converting them into schwas (“pesos” may become “pes’s” and “pues” becomes “ps”), some linguists believe both features are a left over from when Nahuatl (the language of the Aztecs) was the most widespread language in Central Mexico before Spanish got imposed, as Nahuatl was consonant and consontant-cluster rich.
Caribbean Spanish is spoken really, really, REALLY fast. In Mexico you’ll listen that dialect in the Mexico’s Gulf coast as well as on the southern Pacific coast (but not in the areas between both coasts, which speak Central Mexican Spanish - also not in the Yucatan peninsula, where local Spanish dialects are heavily influenced by the Mayan language). And it’s the dialect people from Caracas, Venezuela speak, as well as Pacific coast from Colombia, and (obviously) people from the Caribbean islands. It tends to drop “s” sound when it’s at the end of a word or the end of a syllable - sometimes it converts it to a soft “h” sound. Tends to drop intervocalic “d”, especially at the last syllables “amado” becomes “ama’o” (this feature appears in Southern Spanish dialects as well). People from Puerto Rico also tend to interchange their “I” and “r” in some positions, like when they say “Puelto Rico” - again some people from Spain’s South do this as well, e.g. “er caballo” and not “el caballo”.
Central American Spanish uses “vos” instead of “tu” (like the dialects of Argentina, Uruguay and Chile) but is spoken slow - it has some features of Caribbean dialects as well.
Dialects from the Southern cone use “vos” as well, sometimes drop the final “s” sound (not as noticeable as with Caribbean speakers) are slightly up-tempo (say, andatto leggero, whereas N. Spain’s would be “lungo”) but are spoken with a rhythmic and melodic pattern very similar to that of Italian - reflecting the origin of most people in Uruguay and Argentina.