The Spanish language (Castellano or Español) is a Romance language, the third or fourth most spoken language on the planet, spoken by about 352 million persons in 1999 in the seven continents, especially in The Americas (417,000,000 including second language users). The Spanish name of a language is a political debate with complicated origins. Many Spaniards speaking Spanish call their language español. Most Spaniards speaking other languages call Spanish castellano (Castilian). In Spanish schools, the official name of the language tends to be castellano rather than español, mainly because there are many regions where there are two mother tongue signatures - castellano and the regional language (Catalan, Basque, Valencian or Galician), which are, in a sense, also "Spanish" languages (they are separate languages, not dialects). On the other hand, in some Latin American countries people prefer the word castellano because español is heard more as a nationality than the name of a language. Speakers of English call the language Spanish, whereas to them, Castilian is the dialect spoken in the spanish region of Castile. Therefore, we will use Spanish in this article.

Spanish (Español or Castellano)
Spoken in:	Spain and 43 other countries.
Total speakers:	392 Million
Ranking:	4
Genetic classification:	Indo-European  Italic   Romance    Italo-Western     Western      Gallo-Iberian       Ibero-Romance        West Iber         Castilian          Spanish
Official status
Official language of:	Spain and 19 other countries
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	es
ISO 639-2:	spa
SIL:	SPN

Table of contents

1 History 2 Classification 3 Geographic distribution 4 Grammar 4.1 The verb 4.2 The noun 4.2.1 Gender 4.2.2 Number 4.3 The adjective 5 Sounds 5.4 Lexical stress 6 Writing system 7 Examples of Spanish 8 Reference 9 See also 10 External links

History

By the 19th century the consonantal system of Castilian Spanish underwent the following important changes that differentiated it from some neighbouring Romance languages, such as Portuguese and Catalan):

• The initial /f/, that had evolved into a vacillating /h/, was lost in most words (although this etymological h- has been preserved in spelling)
• The voiced labiodental fricative /v/ (that was written 'u' or 'v') merged with the bilabial oclusive /b/ (written 'b'). Contemporary Spanish written 'b,v' do not correspond to different phonemes.
• The voiced alveolar fricative /z/ (that was written 's' between vowels) merged with the voiceless /s/ (that was written 's', or 'ss' between vowels), now written 's' everywhere.
• Voiced alveolar affricate /dz/ (that was written 'z') merged with the voiceless /ts/ (that was written 'ç,ce,ci'), and then /ts/ evolved into the interdental /T/, now written 'z,ce,ci'. But in Andalucia, the Canary Islands and the Americas these sounds merged with /s/ as well. Notice that the 'ç' or 'cedilla' was in its origin a Spanish letter.
• The voiced postalveolar fricative /Z/ (that was written 'j,ge,gi') merged with the voiceless /S/ (that was written 'x', as in 'Quixote'), and then /S/ evolved by the 17th century into the modern velar sound /x/, now written 'j,ge,gi'.

The language was brought to the Americas and Philippines, by the Spanish colonization since 16th century. It was used there by the Creole and Mestizo descendants of the Spaniards. The Catholic church preached the Amerindians in local languages like Quechua, Nahuatl or Guarani rather than Spanish, to protect them from the "sinful" influence of the colonizers. After the independence processes, the new ruling elites extended Spanish to the whole population to strengthen the national unity.

In the 19th century, English was declared the official language in Philippines after the Philippine-American War, but Spanish was introduced in Equatorial Guinea and Western Sahara.

Classification

Geographic distribution

Spanish is also spoken in Andorra, Belize, Canada, Gibraltar, Israel, Morocco, Netherlands Antilles, Philippines, United States of America, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey and Western Sahara.

There are important variations in dialect among the various regions of Spain and Spanish America. In Spain the North Castilian dialect pronunciation is commonly taken as the national standard (although the characteristic weak pronouns usage or laismo of this dialect is deprecated).

In the Americas, the first Spaniards to settle brought some of their regionalisms with them. Today you can find distinct accents in different nations of Spanish speaking America. Typical of Latin America is seseo. The European Castilian phoneme /T/ (interdental voiceless fricative, SAMPA phonetic scheme used) (as in ciento, caza) does not exist in American Castilian, it fell together with /s/ (as in siento, casa).

Traditionally Spanish had a phoneme /L/, a palatal lateral, written ll. It was lost in most of the Americas (with the exception of bilingual areas of Quechua and other indigenous languages that have this sound in their inventories), but now it is also being lost in Spain (also with the exception of bilingual areas of Catalan and other languages that have preserved this sound in their inventories). In many Spanish-speaking regions, the palatal lateral /L/ has merged with the palatal fricative /j\\/ (usually written y), and this merged phoneme is pronounced in a variety of ways. This phenomenon is called yeísmo. In the area around the Río de la Plata (Argentina, Uruguay) this phoneme is pronounced as a postalveolar fricative, voiceless or weakly voiced (similar to /S/ or /Z/); in other places it is pronounced like /j/ (although this is almost universally regarded as incorrect).

The different dialects and accentss do not severly block cross-understanding among the educated. The basilects have diverged more. As an example, early sound films, were dubbed for one version for the whole Spanish market. (Disney Pictures used educated Puerto-Rican speakers). Currently, non-Spanish (usually Hollywood) productions are dubbed separately into each of the major accents, but productions from another Spanish-language country are never dubbed. The popularity of telenovelas and Latin American music familiarize the speakers with other varieties of Spanish.

Many people think that Spanish is regulated by the RAE (Real Academia Española). Actually, languages cannot be regulated, but RAE, in association with twenty-one other national language academies, exercises a conservative influence through its publication of dictionaries and widely respected grammar guides and style guides.

Grammar

The verb

Spanish verbs are conjugated in four moodss: indicative, subjunctive, conditional or potential, and imperative. Each verb has three non-finite forms: an infinitive, a gerund, and a passive participle. Verbs are divided into three declensions, which can be identified by looking at the infinitive ending, one of "-ar", "-er", "-ir".

The indicative mood is traditionally said to have seven tenses. Though it is sometimes difficult, each one can be more or less compared to one of the English tenses:

• presente (present) -- "Hablo" = "I speak, I am speaking"
• pretérito imperfecto (past progressive) -- "Hablaba" = "I used to speak, I was speaking"
• pretérito indefinido(simple past) -- "Hablé" = "I spoke"
• pretérito perfecto (present perfect) -- "He hablado" = "I have spoken"
• pretérito pluscuamperfecto (past perfect) -- "Había hablado" = "I had spoken"
• pretérito anterior (past perfect) -- "(cuando) hube hablado" = "(when) I had spoken"
• futuro (future) -- "Hablaré" = "I will speak"

Some of the above are compound tenses; they are conjugated using the passive participle and a form of the verb haber (roughly like the use of auxiliary "have" in English). The compound progressive forms, which use the gerund or active participle with a form of estar (like English "to be" + "-ing": for example "Estoy hablando" = "I am speaking") are not considered part of the paradigm, but follow the same concept.

The subjunctive mood has a separate conjugation table with fewer tenses. It is used to express the speaker's opinion or judgement, such as, doubts, possibilities, emotions, and events which may or may not occur. The future tense is found mostly in old literature or legalese and is even misused in conversations by confusing it with the past tense (often due to the similarity of its charataristic suffix, "-ere", as opposed to one of the suffixes of the past tense, "-era"). Most Spanish speakers go on without ever knowing or realizing the existence of the future subjunctive.

Spanish verbs describing motion tend to emphasize direction instead of manner of motion. According to the pertinent classification, this makes Spanish a verb-framed language. This contrasts with English, where verbs tend to emphasize manner, and leave the direction of motion to helper particles or prepositions.

The noun

The adjective

The feminine gender in adjectives is formed in a different way to that in nouns. Most adjectives ending in a consonant remain unchanged: hombre superior, mujer superior (compare with el superior/la superiora). This is also true for adjectives ending in "e": hombre verde, mujer verde (compare with el presidente, la presidenta).

Sounds

Since Spanish has many allophones it is important here to differentiate between phonemes (written here /between slashes/) and allophones [between brackets].

(SAMPA phonetic scheme used)

Plosives
/p/ bilabial, voiceless	Spelled "p" (pipa)
/b/ bilabial, voiced	Spelled "b" (burro) or "v" (vaca)	Positional allophones: [b] appears initially or after nasals (bombo, burro, envidia), [B] elsewhere (nube, la bodega) (*).
/t/ dental, voiceless	Spelled "t" (tomate)
/d/ dental, voiced	Spelled "d" (dedo)	Positional allophones: [d] appears initially or after nasals (donde), [D] elsewhere (nido, la deuda) (*). In Spain it's omitted in the endings -ado, -ada, -ados and -adas ("manadas" = /ma"na:s/), as is in Latin America in final position: "usted" = [us"te] or [us"teD].
/k/ velar, voiceless	Spelled "c" (casa), "qu" (queso), "k" (kiosko)
/g/ velar, voiced	Spelled "g" (gato), "gu" (guerra).	Positional allophones: [g] appears initially or after nasals (ganga), [G] elsewhere (lago, la garganta) (*).
Fricatives
/s/ voiceless. In Spain it is apico-alveolar, in Latin America it is alveolar or dental [s]. See also /T/ below	Spelled "s" (sapo)	Positional allophones: in many places it is [h] in final position (niños), or before another consonant (fósforo). In the Colombian Caribe produces gemination before /k/ or /f/ consonants (pescado = /pe"k:aDo/ or /pe"k:ao/, fósforo = /"fof:oro/). In Spain it also has a [z] allophone before voiced consonants (desde).
/T/ voiceless, dental.	Spelled "z" (zorro) or "c" (cielo)	This phoneme is heard only in parts of Spain, where it has the allophone /D/ before voiced consonants (juzgado = /xuD"gao/ or /xuD"gaDo/ - not the same sound as the /d/ allophone) (*). Elsewhere it merges with /s/.
/f/ voiceless, labiodental	Spelled "f" (faro)
/x/ voiceless, velar. In parts of Latin America it is [h].	Spelled "j" (jarro), "g" (general).
/j\\/ voiced, palatal. In Argentina, Uruguay and Chile it has a [Z] or [dZ] sound.	Spelled "y" (yo, yerro, yerba); See also /L/ below	Positional allophones: after /n/ it is affricate
Affricates
/tS/ is pronounced as a plosive in European Spanish, something like [t_j]. In South American Spanish, on the other hand, there are mainly [tS] or [S] pronunciations - like French /S/ that has also developed from /tS/.	Spelled "ch" (chino). In words of English origin it may be spelled "sh": show = [tSow]	Positional allophones: In final position it may be [S]. sándwich = ["sandwiS]
Nasals
/m/ bilabial	Spelled "m" (mano)	It occurs only before vowels. Before consonants the [m] sound is part of the /n/ archphoneme álbum = ["albun]; réquiem = ["rEkjen]
/n/ its principal sound is alveolar	Spelled "n" (noche)	Positional allophones: [N] before /k/ (blanco, un queso), /g/ (angustia, un gato), /x/ (enjambre, un jarro) or semiconsonant /w/ (enhuesar, un huevo, but not nuevo); [F] before /f/ (enfermo, un faro); [m] before /m/ (inmerecido, un mono), /p/ (only on separate words, like in "un perro"), /b/ ("v", like in "envolver", or "b" on separate words, like in "un burro"); [J] before /j\\/ (cónyuge, un yeso), /L/ (conllevar, un llavero).
/n^/ palatal	Spelled "ñ" (niño), the most characteristic grapheme of Spanish language.	In parts of Latin America it is pronounced like /n_j/ or /nj/ ("mañana" = /ma"njana/ or /ma"n_jana/). It occurs only before vowels. Before consonants it is part of the /n/ archphoneme.
Laterals
/l/	Spelled "l" (largo).
/L/ Palatal	Spelled "ll" (lluvia).	This phoneme is almost extinct and /j\\/, /Z/ and /dZ/ have taken its place. /L/ survives in areas of bilingualism with Catalan, Quechua, or other languages that have preserved this phoneme in their inventories (like some places of Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, etc). It also survives in isolated places such as Chiloé, in Chile.
Rhotics
/4/ (/r/) Simple alveolar flap.	Spelled "r" (loro).	Positional allophones: A trill ([r:]) in initial posotion (ratón = [r:a"ton]), after /n/ (enredo = [en"r:eDo]), /l/ (alrededor = [alr:eDe"Dor]), or /s/ (israelita = [isr:ae"lita]). In Chile in colloquial speech it produces gemination before /t/ (carta = ['kat:a]), /n/ (carne = ['kan:e]) and /l/ (perla = ['pel:a]). In the Colombian Caribe, it produces gemination before almost every consonant (barco = /'bak:o/, árbol = /'ab:ol/, arde = /'ad:e/, ...), and is replaced by /?/ in final position (saber = /sa'Be?/). In Cuba and Puerto Rico it's replaced by /l/ (puerco = /'pwelko/).
/r:/ (/rr/) Multiple alveolar trill	Spelled "rr" (cerro)	In some parts of Latin America, mainly in Ecuador, it is pronounced like /Z/ ("arriba" = /a'ZiBa/). It occurs only between vowels, in all other positions it is part of the /4/ archphoneme.
Semiconsonants
/w/	Spelled "gu" (guardia), "gü" (averigüe), "w" (whisky), "hu" (huevo).	Allophones: in many places /w/ = [Gw] or [gw]. "averiguo" = /aberiwo/ = [aBeriwo] or [aBeriGwo]; "whiski" or "güisqui" = /wiski/ = [wiski] or [gwiski]; "agua" = /"awa/ or /"aGwa/; but "argüir" = /arGu"ir/, not /ar"Gwir/ (why?). Since there is no phonemic difference between [gw], [Gw] and [w] it's arbitrary to considerer /w/ a separate phoneme. The alternative is saying that g may be mute before /w/.
Semivowels
/j/	Spelled "y" (muy), "i" (pieza, hierba, hierro)	It can be considered an allophone of /i/; "mi amigo" = [mja"miGo], "pierna" = ["pjerna]
/w/	Spelled "u" (cuatro, guardia), "ü" (agüero), but "destruir" = /destru"ir/, not /des"trwir/ (why?). This is not the same sound as semiconsonant /w/	It can be considered an allophone of /u/: "tu amigo" = [twa"miGo], "cuanto" = /"kwanto/
Vowels
/a/	Spelled "a", "á"	Positional allophones: In Andalusia final /as/ becomes [A]
/e/	Spelled "e", "é"	Positional allophones: In Andalusia final /es/ becomes [E]
/i/	Spelled "i", "í"	Positional allophones: See /j/ above. In Andalusia final /is/ becomes [I].
/o/	Spelled "o", "ó"	Positional allophones: In Andalusia final /os/ becomes [O]
/u/	Spelled "u", "ú", "ü"	Positional allophones: See semivowel /w/ above. In Andalusia final /us/ becomes [U].

(* The sounds of the intervocalic spanish g (lago), b (nube) and d (nido) are not represented by the symbols G, B, D. Those sounds are not even fricatives, but rather aproximants. See [1] - Spanish only)

Lexical stress

Writing system

Written Spanish precedes exclamatory and interrogative clauses with inverted question and exclamation marks, examples: ¿Qué dices? (What do you mean?) ¡No es verdad! (That's not true!). It is one of the few languages whose written form does so.

Written Spanish also marks unequivocally stress though a series of othographic rules. The default stress is on the final syllable when the word ends in any consonant other than /n/ or /s/ and on the penultimate (next-to-last) syllable on words that end in a vowel, /n/ or /s/. Words that don't follow the default stress have an acute accent over the stressed vowel. Words that need a diacritical accent to tell them apart from words which would otherwise be spelt identically have an acute accent too (solo, sólo; este, éste).

Spanish is nicknamed la lengua de Cervantes (the language of Cervantes, the author of the Quixote).

Examples of Spanish

• Most Commonly Spoken Languages

• Spanish Royal Academy of Language
• Spanish in the United States
• Spanish proverbs
• Spanish language poets
• Spanish Creole
• Common phrases in different languages
• Papiamento, Chavacano, Spanglish
• Rock en español