More on dental fricatives

[Eduard Selleslagh]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Larry Trask" <larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk>
Sent: Thursday, November 23, 2000 1:08 PM

[snip]

>> Most Spaniards I've met (from northern and central Spain) in the US
>> and Latin America use laminal /s/.

> I'm astonished.  In my experience, northern Spaniards invariably use
> apical /s/.  The shushy quality of this thing is quite striking
> to my ears.  A French Basque friend of mine who moved south and
> learned Spanish unhesitatingly identified the Spanish <s> with his
> own apical <s>.

[Ed]

The systematic use of laminal s (for both s and z/soft-c) is quite
characteristic for most of American Spanish, not Peninsular Spanish.
Andalusian Spanish is an exception, but a more complicated one than just a
matter of apical/laminal s. Catalan/Valencian provinces often show Catalan
accent in pronunciation, especially in the north (of this region).

>> Is this linked to social class or is it a generational thing?

> In the north, in my experience, there is no variation, and apical <s>
> is universal.  Don't know what happens elsewhere.  I had thought the
> variation was strictly geographical.  Not sure how far south the
> apical <s> runs, but the Madrileños I've met always seem to have it.

> Larry Trask

[Ed]

That is also my experience. And educated Castilian speaking people in more
southern regions tend to imitate that - often not successfully

Ed.