Have you ever stopped to think about the different ways in which Spanish is spoken in Spain? Surely you have, since it is something that usually catches our attention at the very moment we start a conversation. But, can we identify the dialects of Spanish any way? Let’s make a brief classification.
Spain’s dialectal areas
Within the Spanish spoken in Spain, it is possible to recognize two major dialectal areas: the northern and the southern.
The main difference between these two dialectal spheres lies in the pronunciation of the final /s/: while in the northern half it is pronounced as [s], in the southern half it becomes an aspirated [h] that is sometimes lost at the end of a word. However, different regional varieties are distinguished in the various regions.
Northern dialects
The northern varieties correspond to the area of origin and first expansion of Castilian (until the 11th century), as well as including the speeches of the regions gained over time to the Aragonese and Asturian languages. We could set an imprecise border that passes through Avila, Madrid, Guadalajara, Cuenca, the north of Albacete, Toledo and Ciudad Real.
In general, it is a more conservative Spanish than the one spoken in the southern area, and its main features are the following:
- Phonic differentiation between /s/ y /θ/.
- Leísmo, laísmo (characteristic especially of the central peninsular areas).
- Reinforcement of the voiceless velar fricative sound /x/ (that of the letter j in Spanish), which can sometimes be strident.
- Interdental pronunciation of the final -d (Madriz, verdaz) or loss of sound (amistá).
Traditionally, in the north of Spain, the phonological distinction y/ll was common, unlike the southern dialects, which present yeísmo (pronouncing y/ll the same). However, nowadays most speakers in northern Spain are also yeists.
Some northern subdialects of peninsular Spanish are Aragonese Spanish (not to be confused with the Aragonese language), Riojan, Churro Spanish (in some areas of Valencia) or Leonese Spanish (not to be confused with the Asturian language) or Madrilenian.
Southern dialects
The southern dialects are those that emerged as a result of the great Castilian expansion towards the south in the context of the Reconquest (13th to 15th centuries). They cover the territories of the southern half of the peninsula and the Canary Islands, and we can distinguish some well-differentiated dialects:
– Manchego: variant of Castilian used in the region of La Mancha (provinces of Albacete and Ciudad Real and south of Cuenca and Toledo). It is usually considered a transitional dialect due to the historical situation that La Mancha has experienced over the centuries, with notable influences from other dialects and languages, such as Murcian and Andalusian or Mozarabic and Aragonese, respectively.
– Andalusian: it can be considered as the most differentiated speech among the southern ones. In pronunciation, Andalusian distances itself from traditional Castilian to be governed by another norm: already in the 16th century, the Sevillian norm was spoken of as a prestigious use of a more innovative Castilian with a greater social thrust (as opposed to the Toledan norm). This new Sevillian norm was also exported to the Canary Islands and America. Some linguistic characteristics of Andalusian are:
- Etymological use of the third person atonic personal pronouns (le, lo, la) as opposed to the laísmo and leísmo of the north and center of the peninsula.
- Disappearance of the second person plural pronoun «vosotros» and replacement by «ustedes».
- Aspiration of the g or j and sometimes also the h- from the Latin initial f-.
Some also distinguish the Eastern Andalusian dialect, spoken mainly in the provinces of Almería, Granada and Jaén (although its limits are not very well defined).
– Extremaduran can be characterized as a transitional speech between Castilian, Andalusian and Leonese. After the Reconquest, the area of Extremadura was populated by inhabitants of Castilian and Leonese origin. However, within the region of Extremadura, there are marked differences between some areas and others, since the features coming from Leonese appear in the northwest of Cáceres, and are lost as one moves southwards, where the Andalusian influence gains presence. Among the characteristic linguistic features of Extremaduran, the following stand out:
- The diminutive in -ino, -ina.
- The use of the possessive with the article («my friend’s friend»), especially in the area of greater Leonese influence.
- The absence of lisps and hissing, unlike what occurs in Andalusia.
– Murcian is also a transitional speech between northern and southern Castilian, with numerous linguistic elements typical of the eastern sector of the Iberian Peninsula (given that Murcia, during the Middle Ages, was an area of expansion of the Crown of Aragon). One of the most characteristic features of Murcian is the diminutive in -ico.
– Canarian is a dialect of Spanish that shares its linguistic features with Andalusian and American Spanish. This is also due to historical reasons. Spanish arrived in the Canary Islands in the 15th century. The language spoken by the ancient aborigines of the Canary Islands, Guanche, soon disappeared, and the islands became Castilianized with people coming mainly from Andalusia. Likewise, the Canary Islands became a strategic point for the ships that made the crossing between Spain and America. In the Canary Islands there are all the typical features of the southern speeches, although we can highlight certain peculiarities:
- Intonation different from Andalusian and more similar to that of the Caribbean area in America.
- The use of «ustedes» instead of «vosotros» has become more generalized than in Andalusian.
- The ch is pronounced very close to the sonorous y (muyayo).
Thus, and without wishing to enter into too many subdivisions, we can distinguish a total of 12 dialects in the Spanish of Spain: Castilian dialect, Aragonese Castilian, Riojan Castilian, Churro Castilian, Leonese Castilian, Andalusian dialect, Eastern Andalusian, Extremaduran, Canary, Manchego, Madrilenian and Murcian. In contrast to the more conservative northern varieties, the southern dialects have more marked phonetic features, the result of the Castilian expansion towards the south of the peninsula during the Reconquest.
Carlos Sánchez Luis