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)
“These equal syllables alone require,
Though oft the ear the open vowels tire;”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
“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)