Maps of Spanish Dialect Pronunciation
(Versión en español aquí.)
Links to maps:
Feature maps
Spain
Mexico
Caribbean Islands and Central America
Colombia and Venezuela
Ecuador and Peru
Bolivia
Southern Cone
Equatorial Guinea
New Mexico and Colorado
Automatic Phonemic and Phonetic Spanish Transcription
Notes on pronunciation:
Vowel reduction means that unstressed vowels between unvoiced consonants are sometimes devoiced or dropped, e.g. "oficina" may be pronounced [of isína] or [ofsína].
A word-final -/n/ may sound like the "ng" in "sing" [ŋ] when followed by a vowel or at the end of the phrase.
A /y/ or a /ll/ may sound like the "s" in "pleasure" [ʒ] or the "sh" in "shop" [ ʃ ], or similar to the "j" in "jet" [ʤ], or when next to [e] or [i] it may weaken or disappear.
A "ll" may sound similar to the "li" of "million" [ʎ].
An aspirated /s/ may sound like [h] or [x].
A syllable-final -/s/ may change to match the consonant after it, resulting in a long (geminated) consonant, e.g. "pescar" may be [pekkáɾ].
A syllable-final -/ɾ/ may change to match the consonant after it, resulting in a long (geminated) consonant, e.g. "carne" may be [kánne], or the /ɾ/ may change to a semivowel: [kájne].
Instead of a trill, a sound [ɹ̝:] about halfway between the /z/ and the /r/ of English may be used, or it may sound like the uvular "r" of French [ʀ]. The "tr" may sound like "chr".
An "s" may be pronounced with the tongue curled up, about halfway to an "sh" sound [s̺].
The [l] and [ɾ] sounds at the end of a syllable may be confused as one or the other or as a sound halfway between the two.
A "ch" may sound like "sh" in "shop" [ ʃ ].
In much of Spain, a "z" in pronounced like the "th" in "think" [θ̟ ]. The "c" is pronounced the same way when followed by an "e" or "i".
Palatalized velars are pronounced with the tongue slightly forward when followed by "e" or "i": [k, g, ɣ, x] → [c, ɟ, ʝ ç].
Spain
Canary Islands
Mexico
Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico
Colombia and Venezuela
Ecuador and Peru
Bolivia
Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay
Equatorial Guinea
New Mexico and Colorado
Disclaimer: These maps are based on information gathered from various sources. The zones are approximate and have not been confirmed by the cartographer of this webpage.
The creator of this website doesn't assume responsibility for its use.