Chilean Spanish - Phonetics and Phonology

Phonetics and Phonology

There are a number of phonetic features common to most Chilean accents, though none of them individually are unique to Chilean Spanish. Rather, it is the particular combination of features that sets Chilean Spanish apart from other regional Spanish dialects. These features include:

• Yeísmo, the merger of the phonemes /ʎ/, spelled , with /j/, spelled . Thus, cayó ("fell") and calló ("fell silent") are homophones, both pronounced . In dialects which lack yeísmo, the two words would be pronounced respectively and . Though yeísmo is common to most of Latin America, it is not the case that this feature should be considered a Latin American one, because both in Spain and Latin America there are regions with and without "yeísmo". Even in Chile, there are some people, mostly elderly speakers in rural zones, that are not "yeístas".
• Word- and syllable-final /s/ is aspirated to or lost entirely, another feature common to much of Latin America which is also common to Canary Islands and the southern half of Spain. Whether final /s/ aspirates or is elided depends on a number of social, regional, and phonological factors, but in general aspiration is more common, especially when preceding a consonant. Complete elision is most commonly found word-finally, but is somewhat less common overall in formal or upper-class speech . Thus, los chilenos ("the Chileans") is .
• The phoneme /x/ (written as /g/ (before /e/ & /i/) and /j/) is often aspirated to glottal in in the Pacific coast, in common with the pronunciation of Latin American coasts, Spanish Caribbean, Canary Islands, and Andalusia.
• The velar consonants /k/, /ɡ/, and /x/ are fronted or palatalized before front vowels. Thus, queso ("cheese"), guía ("guide"), and jinete ("rider/horseman") are pronuounced respectively, and .
• Between vowels and word-finally, /d/ commonly elides or lenites (a process common throughout the Spanish-speaking world; the name of Valparaíso is actually derived from older Valparadiso), so that contado ("told") and ciudad ("city") are respectively and .
• The voiceless postalveolar affricate /t͡ʃ/ is pronounced as a fricative by many the lower-class speakers (thus, Chile is pronounced ). This type of pronunciation is viewed as very undesirable. Other variants are a fronted alveolar affricate, and an even more fronted dental affricate, mostly used by the upper class.
• The sequences +, +, and + (where the s are the results of /s/-aspiration) are devoiced to, respectively, and, identical to Andalusian Spanish. Thus, resbaló ("slid"), desde ('from') and rasgó ("tore") are realized, and by some speakers.
• The sequence /ɾn/ is sometimes assimilated to in lower-class speakers. Thus, jornada ("workday") may be pronouned .
• In the sequence /bl/, the /b/ may be vocalized to . Thus, inolvidable ("unforgettable") may be, in rural and lower-class urban speakers.
• Lipski also mentions the devoicing of word-final, unstressed vowels.