It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Spanish in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing consensus on the talk page first.
For terms that are more relevant to regions that have not undergone yeísmo (where words such as haya and halla are pronounced differently), words spelled with ⟨ll⟩ can be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ʎ⟩. This unmerged pronunciation predominates in the Andes, lowland Bolivia, Paraguay, some rural regions of Spain and some of northern Spain's urban upper class.[1]
For terms that are more relevant to regions that have seseo (where words such as caza and casa are pronounced the same), words spelled with ⟨z⟩ or ⟨c⟩ (the latter only before ⟨i⟩ or ⟨e⟩) can be transcribed in IPA with ⟨s⟩. This pronunciation is most commonly found outside mainland Spain.
In all other cases, if a local pronunciation is made, it should be labeled as "local" (e.g. {{IPA|es|...|local}}).
^ abcdef/b,d,ɡ,ɟʝ/ are pronounced as fricatives or approximants[β,ð,ɣ,ʝ] in all places except after a pause, /n/ or /m/, or in the case of /d/ and /ɟʝ/, after /l/. In the latter environments, they are stops [b,d,ɡ,ɟʝ] like English ⟨b, d, g, j⟩, but are fully voiced in all positions, unlike in English. When it is distinct from /ʝ/, /ʎ/ is realized as an approximant [ʎ] in all positions (Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté 2003:257-8).
^ abcThe distinction between /p,t,k/ and /b,d,ɡ/ is lost in word-internal syllable-final positions. The resulting realization varies from [p,t,k] to [b,d,ɡ] to [β,ð,ɣ], with the latter being the usual form in conversational style (Hualde 2005:146).
^ abcdWhen preceding a voiced consonant, /s,θ,f/ may be voiced ([z,θ̬,v]), but since this is variable (Campos-Astorkiza 2018:174), /s,θ,f/ are always transcribed with ⟨s, θ, f⟩ in this system.
^ abcdeNasals always assimilate their place of articulation to that of the following consonant. Before velars, they are [ŋ], and before labials, they are [m]. The labiodental [ɱ] appears before /f/.
^ abThe rhotic consonants, [r] and [ɾ], only contrast word-medially between vowels, where they are usually spelled ⟨rr⟩ and ⟨r⟩, respectively. Otherwise, they are in complementary distribution: Word-initially, stem-initially, and after /l,n,s/, only [r] is found; before a consonant or pause, the two are interchangeable, but [ɾ] is more common (hence so represented here). Elsewhere, only [ɾ] is found. When two rhotics occur consecutively across a word or prefix boundary they result in one long trill, which is transcribed with ⟨ɾr⟩ in this key: dar rocas[daɾˈrokas], super-rápido[supeɾˈrapiðo] (Hualde 2005:184).
^ abIn much of Hispanic America and in the southern half of Spain, /s/ in syllable-final positions is either pronounced as [h] or not pronounced at all. In transcriptions linked to this key, however, it is always represented by ⟨s⟩.
^ abcNorthern and Central Spain distinguish between ⟨s⟩ (/s/) and soft ⟨c⟩ or ⟨z⟩ (/θ/). Almost all other dialects treat the two as identical, either pronouncing them as /s/ (seseo) in Latin America and some parts of Andalusia, or as /θ/ (ceceo) in most of Andalusia. In areas with the distinction, the alveolar sibilant is typically more retracted (often perceived as closer to the sound represented by ⟨sh⟩ in ship) than in areas with seseo. Contrary to yeísmo, seseo and ceceo are not phonemic mergers but the outcome of a different evolution of sibilants in southern Spain in comparison with northern and central dialects. See phonological history of Spanish coronal fricatives and Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003:258) for more information.
^/ʃ/ is used only in loanwords and certain proper nouns. It is nonexistent in many dialects, being realized as [tʃ] or [s]; e.g. show[tʃow]~[sow].
^/x/ is pronounced as [h] in many accents such as those in the Caribbean, Central America, Colombia, Andalusia, and the Canary Islands (Hualde 2005:156). It is pronounced as [χ] in northern Peninsular Spanish (Coloma 2012:3, 17).
^The letter ⟨x⟩ represents /x/ only in certain proper names like Ximena and some placenames in current or former Mexico (e.g. Oaxaca and Texas).
^The letter ⟨h⟩ represents /x/ only in loanwords; in native words it is always silent, unless it is a part of the digraph ⟨ch⟩.
^[j,w] are allophones of /i,u/ that manifest when unstressed and adjacent to another vowel. Mid vowels /e,o/ may also be realized as semivowels, as in [ˈpo̯eta,ˈmae̯stɾo] (poeta, maestro). Semivocalic realizations of /e,o/ may in addition be raised to [j,w], as in [ˈpweta,ˈmajstɾo], which is common in Latin America, but stigmatized in Spain (Hualde, Simonet & Torreira 2008:1911). Since both these phenomena are optional and predictable, they are not reflected in transcription ([poˈeta,maˈestɾo]).
^Some speakers may pronounce word-initial [w] with an epenthetic[ɡ] (e.g. Huila[ˈɡwila]~[ˈwila]).
References
Campos-Astorkiza, Rebeka (2018), "Consonants", in Geeslin, Kimberly L. (ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Spanish Linguistics, Cambridge University Press, pp. 165–189, doi:10.1017/9781316779194.009, ISBN978-1-107-17482-5
Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), "Castilian Spanish"(PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (2): 255–259, doi:10.1017/s0025100303001373
