Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e̞ | o̞ | |
| Open | ä |
Spanish has five vowels /i/, /e/, /a/, /o/ and /u/. Each occurs in both stressed and unstressed syllables:
| stressed | unstressed | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| piso | 'I step' | pisó | 's/he stepped' |
| peso | 'I weigh' | pesó | 's/he weighed' |
| paso | 'I pass' | pasó | 's/he passed' |
| poso | 'I pose' | posó | 's/he posed' |
| pujo | 'I bid' (present tense) | pujó | 's/he bid' |
Nevertheless, there are some distributional gaps or rarities. For instance, an unstressed high vowel in the final syllable of a word is rare.
- Allophones
Phonetic nasalization occurs for vowels occurring between nasal consonants or when preceding a syllable-final nasal, e.g. cinco ('five').
Arguably, Eastern Andalusian and Murcian Spanish have ten phonemic vowels, with each of the above vowels paired by a lowered (or fronted) and lengthened version, e.g. la madre 'the mother' vs. las madres 'the mothers'. However, these are more commonly analyzed as allophones triggered by an underlying /s/ that is subsequently deleted.
Read more about this topic: Spanish Phonology
Famous quotes containing the word vowels:
“Playing “bop” is like playing Scrabble with all the vowels missing.”
—Duke Ellington (1899–1974)
“As no one can tell what was the Roman pronunciation, each nation makes the Latin conform, for the most part, to the rules of its own language; so that with us of the vowels only A has a peculiar sound.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“These equal syllables alone require,
Though oft the ear the open vowels tire;”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)