| Peninsular Spanish | |
| Also Known As: | Spanish of Spain Iberian Spanish European Spanish |
| Nativename: | español peninsular |
| States: | Spain |
| Region: | Peninsular Spain |
| Ethnicity: | Spaniards |
| Speakers: | 47 million |
| Date: | no date |
| Familycolor: | Indo-European |
| Fam1: | Italic |
| Fam2: | Latino-Faliscan |
| Fam3: | Romance |
| Fam4: | Italo-Western |
| Fam5: | Western Romance |
| Fam6: | Ibero-Romance |
| Fam7: | West Iberian |
| Fam8: | Castilian[1] |
| Fam9: | Spanish |
| Fam10: | Peninsular Spanish |
| Ancestor: | Proto-Indo-European |
| Ancestor2: | Proto-Italic |
| Ancestor3: | Proto-Latino-Faliscan |
| Ancestor4: | Old Latin |
| Ancestor5: | Vulgar Latin |
| Ancestor6: | ... |
| Ancestor7: | Old Spanish |
| Ancestor8: | Early Modern Spanish |
| Dia1: | Andalusian |
| Dia2: | Canarian |
| Dia3: | Murcian |
| Script: | |
| Nation: |  Spain |
| Agency: | Real Academia Española |
| Glotto: | cast1244 |
| Glottorefname: | Castilian Spanish |
| Ietf: | es-ES |
| Imagealt: | A bus in front of a bus station. |
| Map: | Lenguas y dialectos iberorromances.PNG |
Peninsular Spanish (Spanish; Castilian: español peninsular|links=no), also known as the Spanish of Spain (Spanish; Castilian: español de España|links=no), European Spanish (Spanish; Castilian: español europeo|links=no), or Iberian Spanish (Spanish; Castilian: español ibérico|links=no), is the set of varieties of the Spanish language spoken in Peninsular Spain. This construct is often framed in opposition to varieties from the Americas.
From a phonological standpoint, there is a north-south gradient contrasting conservative and innovative pronunciation patterns. The former generally retain features such as pronounced as /link/ – pronounced as /link/ distinction and realization of intervocalic /d/, whilst the latter may not. Processes of interaction and levelling between standard (a construct popularly perceived as based on northern dialects) and nonstandard varieties however involve ongoing adoption of conservative traits south and innovative ones north.[2] In line with Spanish language's rich consonant fluctuation, other internal variation within varieties of Peninsular Spanish is represented by phenomena such as weakening of coda position -/s/, the defricativization of /tʃ/, realizations of /x/ as [x] and [h] and weakening or change of liquid consonants /l/ and /r/.[3]
Morphologically, a notable feature in most varieties of Peninsular Spanish setting them apart from varieties from the Americas is the use of the pronoun vosotros (along with its oblique form os) and its corresponding verb forms for the second person plural familiar.
Language contact of Spanish with Catalan, Basque and Galician in the autonomous communities in which the latter languages are spoken notoriously involve borrowings at the lexical level, but also in the rest of the linguistic structure.[4]
Variation in Peninsular Spanish, especially phonetic, largely follows a north-south axis, often imagined or characterized as Castilian versus Andalusian in the popular imagination. That said, different isoglosses intersect and never exactly coincide with regional borders.[5] [6] The Spanish dialects of bilingual regions, such as Castrapo in Galicia or Catalan Spanish, have their own features due to language contact.
A simple, north-south division is:[6]
Another north-south division would include a central-northern, found north of Madrid and equated with Castilian Spanish, a southern or Andalusian dialect, and an intermediary zone. This division does not include the Spanish of bilingual regions.[7]
While a more narrow division includes the following dialect regions:[5]
The related term Castilian Spanish is often applied to formal varieties of Spanish as spoken in Spain.[8] [9]
According to folk tradition, the "purest" form of Peninsular Spanish is spoken in Valladolid, although the concept of "pure" languages has been rejected by modern linguists.[10] [11]
Dialectal variation in the Peninsula follows both north-south and east-west axes.
Leísmo is native to a large swath of western Castile, as well as Cantabria and neighboring parts of Leon and Extremadura.
In much of eastern Castile, as well as Navarre, Aragon and Álava, the clitic pronoun Spanish; Castilian: se can express plural number, becoming Spanish; Castilian: sen, when it follows an infinitive, gerund, or subjunctive form used to express a command, as in Spanish; Castilian: casarsen 'to get married', Spanish; Castilian: siéntensen 'sit down'.
In an area of northern Spain, centered on Burgos, La Rioja, Álava and Vizcaya and also including Guipúzcoa, Navarra, Cantabria and Palencia, the imperfect subjunctive forms tend to be replaced by conditional ones.
In rural Aragon and Navarre, the cluster pronounced as //tɾ// is often realized as a voiceless alveolar non-sibilant affricate pronounced as /[tɹ̝̊]/, not unlike the initial consonant cluster in the English word trick. Similarly, the trilled pronounced as //r// may also be assibilated to pronounced as /link/ in this region. The same pronunciations are also found in much of Latin America, especially Mexico, Central America, and the Andes.
In a chunk of northwestern Spain which includes Galicia and Bilbao and excludes Barcelona, Madrid, and Seville, the sequence pronounced as //tl// in words such as Spanish; Castilian: atleta 'athlete' and Spanish; Castilian: Atlántico 'Atlantic' is treated as an onset cluster, with both consonants being part of the same syllable. The same is true in the Canary Islands and most of Latin America, with the exception of Puerto Rico. On the other hand, in most of Peninsular Spanish, each consonant in pronounced as //tl// is considered as belonging to a separate syllable, and as a result the pronounced as //t// is subject to weakening. Thus, pronounced as /[aðˈlantiko]/, pronounced as /[aðˈleta]/ are the resulting pronunciations.[12] [13]
See also: Spanish dialects and varieties. The Spanish language is a pluricentric language. Spanish is spoken in numerous countries around the world, each with differing standards. However, the Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy), based in Madrid, Spain, is affiliated with the national language academies of 22 other hispanophone nations through the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language, and their coordinated resolutions are typically accepted in other countries, especially those related to spelling. Also, the Instituto Cervantes, an agency of the Government of Spain in charge of promoting the Spanish language abroad, has been adopted by other countries as the authority to officially recognize and certify the Spanish level of non-native Spanish speakers as their second language, as happens in Australia, South Korea or Switzerland.
The variants of Spanish spoken in Spain and its former colonies vary significantly in grammar and pronunciation, as well as in the use of idioms. Courses of Spanish as a second language commonly use Mexican Spanish in the United States and Canada, whereas European Spanish is typically preferred in Europe.
Dialects in central and northern Spain and Latin American Spanish contain several differences, the most apparent being Spanish; Castilian: [[Phonological history of Spanish coronal fricatives|Distinción]] (distinction), i.e., the pronunciation of the letter z before all vowels, and of c before e and i, as a voiceless dental fricative pronounced as //θ//, as in English th in thing. Thus, in most varieties of Spanish from Spain, Spanish; Castilian: cinco|label=none|lit=five is pronounced pronounced as //ˈθinko// as opposed to pronounced as //ˈsinko// in Latin American Spanish, and similarly for Spanish; Castilian: zapato|label=none|lit=shoe, Spanish; Castilian: cerdo|label=none|lit=pig, Spanish; Castilian: zorro|label=none|lit=fox, Spanish; Castilian: Zurbarán. A restricted form of Spanish; Castilian: distinción also occurs in the area around Cusco, Peru, where pronounced as /link/ exists in words such as the numbers Spanish; Castilian: doce|label=none|lit=twelve, and Spanish; Castilian: trece|label=none|lit=thirteen.[14]
Additionally, all Latin American dialects drop the familiar (that is, informal) Spanish; Castilian: vosotros verb forms for the second person plural, using Spanish; Castilian: ustedes in all contexts. In most of Spain, Spanish; Castilian: ustedes is used only in a formal context.
Some other minor differences are:
The meaning of certain words may differ greatly between all the dialects of the language: Spanish; Castilian: carro refers to car in some Latin American dialects but to cart in Spain and some Latin American dialects. There also appear gender differences: Spanish; Castilian: el PC ('personal computer') in Castilian Spanish and some Latin American Spanish, Spanish; Castilian: la PC in some Hispanic American Spanish, due to the widespread use of the gallicism Spanish; Castilian: ordenador (from French: ordinateur in French) for computer in Peninsular Spanish, which is masculine, instead of the Hispanic-American-preferred Spanish; Castilian: computadora, which is feminine, from the English word 'computer' (the exceptions being Colombia and Chile, where PC is known as Spanish; Castilian: computador, which is masculine).
Speakers from Latin America tend to use words and polite-set expressions that, even if recognized by the Real Academia Española, are not widely used nowadays (some of them are even deemed as anachronisms) by speakers of Castilian Spanish. For example, Spanish; Castilian: enojarse and Spanish; Castilian: enfadarse are verbs with the same meaning (to become angry), Spanish; Castilian: enojarse being used much more in the Americas than in Spain, and Spanish; Castilian: enfadarse more in Spain than in the Americas. Below are select vocabulary differences between Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries. Words in bold are unique to Spain and not used in any other country (except for perhaps Equatorial Guinea which speaks a very closely related dialect, and to a lesser extent the Philippines).
| Iberian Spanish | Latin American Spanish | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spanish; Castilian: vale | Spanish; Castilian: bien (universal), Spanish; Castilian: listo (Colombia), Spanish; Castilian: dale (Argentina) Spanish; Castilian: ya (Chile), (Peru) | okay | |
| Spanish; Castilian: gafas | Spanish; Castilian: anteojos/lentes | eyeglasses/spectacles | |
| Spanish; Castilian: '''patata''' | Spanish; Castilian: papa | potato (papa also means poppet or child) | |
| Spanish; Castilian: judía, Spanish; Castilian: alubia | Spanish; Castilian: frijol/Spanish; Castilian: frejol/Spanish; Castilian: caraota (Venezuela) / Spanish; Castilian: habichuela (Caribbean) / Spanish; Castilian: poroto | bean | |
| Spanish; Castilian: jersey/Spanish; Castilian: chaleco | Spanish; Castilian: suéter/Spanish; Castilian: saco/Spanish; Castilian: pulóver | sweater | |
| Spanish; Castilian: coche | Spanish; Castilian: auto/Spanish; Castilian: carro | car | |
| Spanish; Castilian: conducir | Spanish; Castilian: manejar | to drive | |
| Spanish; Castilian: '''aparcar''' | Spanish; Castilian: estacionar/Spanish; Castilian: parquear | to park | |
| Spanish; Castilian: '''fregona''' | Spanish; Castilian: trapeador, Spanish; Castilian: trapero, Spanish; Castilian: lampazo (Argentina, Uruguay), Spanish; Castilian: mopa, Spanish; Castilian: mapo (Puerto Rico) | mop | |
| Spanish; Castilian: tarta | Spanish; Castilian: torta/Spanish; Castilian: pastel (Mexico, El Salvador) / Spanish; Castilian: queque/Spanish; Castilian: bizcocho (Puerto Rico) | cake | |
| Spanish; Castilian: '''ordenador''' | Spanish; Castilian: computadora/Spanish; Castilian: computador | computer | |
| Spanish; Castilian: '''zumo''' | jugo | juice | |
| Spanish; Castilian: chulo/Spanish; Castilian: '''guay''' | Spanish; Castilian: chévere/Spanish; Castilian: chido/Spanish; Castilian: piola/Spanish; Castilian: copado/Spanish; Castilian: bacán/Spanish; Castilian: bacano | cool (slang) | |
| Spanish; Castilian: cabezal | Spanish; Castilian: cabeza | head (of an apparatus) |