Spanish Phonology - Phonotactics

Phonotactics

Spanish syllable structure can be summarized as follows, in which parentheses enclose optional components:

• (C₁ (C₂)) (S₁) V (S₂) (C₃ (C₄))

Spanish syllable structure consists of an optional syllable onset, consisting of one or two consonants; an obligatory syllable nucleus, consisting of a vowel optionally preceded by and/or followed by a semivowel; and an optional syllable coda, consisting of one or two consonants. The following restrictions apply:

• Onset
  • First consonant (C₁): Can be any consonant, including a liquid (/l, r/).
  • Second consonant (C₂): If and only if the first consonant is a stop /p, t, k, b, d, ɡ/ or a voiceless labiodental fricative /f/, then a second consonant — which can only be a liquid /l, r/ — is permitted. Although the onsets /tl/ and /dl/ do occur, they are not native to Spanish.
• Nucleus
  • Semivowel (S₁)
  • Vowel (V)
  • Semivowel (S₂)
• Coda
  • First consonant (C₃): Can be any consonant.
  • Second consonant (C₄): Must be /s/. A coda combination of two consonants only appears in loanwords (mainly from Classical Latin), never in words inherited from Vulgar Latin.
  • Medial codas assimilate place features of the following onsets and are often stressed.

Examples of maximal onsets: transporte /transˈpor.te/, flaco /ˈfla.ko/, clave /ˈkla.be/
Examples of maximal nuclei: buey /buei/, Uruguay /u.ɾuˈɡuai/
Examples of maximal codas: instalar /ins.taˈlar/, perspectiva /pers.pekˈti.ba/

In many dialects, a coda can only be one consonant (one of n, r, l or s) in informal speech. So, realizations like /trasˈpor.te/, /is.taˈlar/, /pes.pekˈti.ba/ are very common, and in many cases they are considered legitimate even in formal speech.

Even in formal speech, /m/ is disallowed in word-final position, so a word such as Islam is regularly rendered as /isˈlan/.

Because of these phonotactic constraints, an epenthetic /e/ is inserted before word-initial cluster beginning with /s/ (e.g. escribir 'to write') but not word-internally (transcribir 'to transcribe'), thereby moving the initial /s/ to a separate syllable. This epenthetic /e/ is pronounced even when it is not reflected in spelling (e.g. the surname of Carlos Slim is pronounced /es'lin/). While Spanish words undergo word-initial epenthesis, cognates in Latin and Italian do not:

• Lat. status /ˈsta.tus/ ('state') ~ It. stato /ˈsta.to/ ~ Sp. estado /esˈta.do/
• Lat. splendidus /ˈsplen.di.dus/ ('splendid') ~ It. splendido /ˈsplen.di.do/ ~ Sp. espléndido /esˈplen.di.do/
• Fr. slave /slav/ ('Slav') ~ It. slavo /ˈsla.vo/ ~ Sp. eslavo /esˈla.bo/

For a brief discussion contrasting Spanish and English syllable structure, see Whitley (2002:32–35).