Spanish

Spanish Language is a Romance language (indo-european family) belonging to the 'Ibero-Romance group' which evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia during the 9th century. Spanish is also referred as Español or Castellano or Castilian. The term ‘Español’ is used mostly by the Spanish Royal Academy in its publications, due to the fact that the term derives from the ‘Provenzal’ word ‘Espaignol’, which in turn derives from the Medieval Latin word ‘Hispaniolus’, which means 'from - or pertaining to - Hispania’. The term ‘Castellano’ or ‘Castilian’ is used to differentiate the language from the other languages of Spain viz. Galician, Catalan and Euskara. The term is also used to distinguish the north-central standard of Spanish from regional variations such as Andalusian (used in southern Spain). Sometimes it is used, not altogether accurately, to distinguish the Spanish of Spain from that of Latin America. Spanish is the official language of Spain and is one of the world's most phonetic languages. It is a mother tongue to more than 72% of the Spanish population. Spanish is the second most natively spoken language in the world, after Mandarin Chinese. It is estimated that the combined total number of Spanish speakers is between 470 and 500 million, making it the 3rd most spoken language by total number of speakers, after Chinese and English. Global internet usage statistics (latin union + FUNREDES) for 2007 show Spanish as the 3rd  most commonly used language on the Internet, after English and Chinese. Mexico contains the largest population of Spanish speakers. It is recognised as one of the official languages of the United Nations, the European Union, the Organization of American States, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the African Union, the Union of South American Nations, the Latin Union, and the Caricom and has legal status in the North American Free Trade Agreement. Spanish is one of the 6 official languages of the United Nations and used as an official language of the European Union, and Mercosur. Spanish is spoken by more than 358 million people in Spain, the Americas, Australia, and Africa. The Association of Spanish Language Academies (Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española or ASALE) is the entity which regulates the Spanish language. The Instituto Cervantes (Cervantes Institute) is a worldwide non-profit organization created by the Spanish government in 1991. It’s objectives are - to promote the education, the study and the use of Spanish universally as a second language, to support the methods and activities that would help the process of Spanish language education, and to contribute to the advancement of the Spanish and Hispanic American cultures throughout non-Spanish-speaking countries. It comprises the academies of 22 countries, ordered by date of Academy foundation: Spain (1713), Colombia (1871), Ecuador (1874), Mexico (1875), El Salvador (1876), Venezuela (1883), Chile (1885), Peru (1887), Guatemala (1887), Costa Rica (1923), Philippines (1924), Panama (1926), Cuba (1926), Paraguay (1927), Dominican Republic (1927), Bolivia (1927), Nicaragua (1928), Argentina (1931), Uruguay (1943), Honduras (1949), Puerto Rico (1955) and United States (1973).

List of Sovereign States whose Official Language is Spanish by Law

Spanish is ‘de facto official language’ of Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Uruguay, Argentine Antarctica and Chilean Antártica.

Spanish Dialects

Spanish is not a homogeneous language. Almost all Spanish-speaking country have their own dialects which are the result of centuries of evolution across the world. Since Spanish is spoken in so many countries and it is the official and national language of so many countries that there are immense variations in the way it is spoken. Not to forget that Spain itself has several distinct language groups.

European Spanish and American Spanish

Although there are minor differences in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation between the Spanish of Spain and the Spanish of Latin America, the differences are not so great as to prevent easy communication. Latin American Spanish has a number of regional dialects; all are derived from Castilian but differ in several points of phonology from European Spanish. Typical of Latin American Spanish is the use of the /s/ sound where Castilian has the lisplike /th/ sound (for words spelled with a z or c before e or i) and replacement of the Castilian /ly/ sound (spelled ll) with a /y/ sound or even with the /zh/ sound of the z in English azure or the j in French jour. The difference is similar to English as it is spoken in England vs. the U.S.; U.S. English speakers can understand each other with little effort even though someone from the Midwest speaks very differently than a person from the North-east or a person from the South-east.

History of Spanish Language

While still in its infancy, Spanish language was known as Castilian which is actually a Dialect from which the modern standard Spanish developed. Castilian evolved from local versions of Vulgar Latin during the 9th century in the regions within the Kingdom of Castile in the central-north of Iberia (Iberian Peninsula) especially Alava, Cantabria, Burgos, Soria and La Rioja. With a heavy Basque (north-eastern spain and south-western France) influence, Castilian developed as a strong variant from its predecessor and other related languages during that time. The Latin dialect that eventually became Spanish was highly influenced by the invasion of the Arabic-speaking Moors in 711. Latin and Greek itself had roots in Arabic and as such thousands of Arabic words became part of Spanish language. ‘Reconquista’, a period during the Middle Ages was one of the major contributing factor in spreading the language in southern regions . Reconquista was period when Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula succeeded in retaking the Muslim (moors) controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as ‘Al-Andalus’. The earliest written materials in Spanish, in the form of glosses on Latin texts, date from the 10th century, and works of literature in Spanish first appeared about 1150. In the 13th century, King Alfonso supported efforts such as the translation of historic documents helped Castilian become the standard for educated use of the language. He also made it the official language for government administration.

It was during the 15th century that Castilian underwent a dramatic change. Readjustment of the Consonants (Reajuste de las sibilantes) adopted foreign words from different languages of the world and developed new Spanish words as well. Typical features of Spanish diachronic phonology include lenition (Latin vita, Spanish vida), palatalisation (Latin annum, Spanish año, and Latin anellum, Spanish anillo) and diphthongisation (stem-changing) of stressed short e and o from Vulgar Latin (Latin terra, Spanish tierra; Latin novus, Spanish nuevo).

Further enhancements were made by Antonio de Nebrija in 1492, a Spanish scholar. He wrote a book titled ‘Gramática de la lengua castellana’ (Grammar of the Castilian language) which was the ‘First grammar of the Spanish language’ or Linguistic Rules of Spanish. In the late 15th century the kingdoms of Castile and Leon merged with that of Aragon, and Castilian became the official language of all of Spain.

Spanish language touched foreign shores - Americas and the Spanish East Indies, during the 16th century via Spanish colonization. ‘Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra’, a Spanish Poet, novelist and writer influenced the Spanish language from the 17th century onwards. His literary works were first of their kind and brought new development in the language. His influence on the language was so emphatic that Spanish is often called ‘la lengua de Cervantes’ - The language of Cervantes. In the 20th century, Spanish was introduced to Equatorial Guinea and the Western Sahara and to areas of the United States that had not been part of the Spanish Empire, such as Spanish Harlem in New York City. It became the most important language for government and trade in the colonies.

Some Basic Grammar Rules

1. Spanish has nouns of 2 Genders - Masculine and Feminine.
2. Determiners are used just like they are used in English. The main difference is that they ‘Agree’ with what they refer to in terms of both number (singular/plural) and gender (masculine/feminine).
3. Adjectives usually go after the Noun they modify. Adjectives also agree with what they refer to in terms of both number (singular/plural) and gender (masculine/feminine). It is normal to use an Adjective stand in for a Noun or Pronoun.
4. The Spanish conjunctions Y ('and') and O ('or') alter their form in both spoken and written language to E and U respectively when followed by an identical vowel sound.
5. Every Spanish Verb belongs to one of 3 Form Classes, characterized by the infinitive ending: -ar, -er, or –ir - sometimes called the first, second, and third conjugations, respectively.
6. There are some Pronouns which in some ways work quite differently from English ones. They include: yo, tú, usted (vos), él, ella, ello, nosotros, vosotros, ustedes, ellos, ellas, esto, eso, aquello etc.
7. A Spanish verb has 7 Indicative Tenses with more-or-less direct English equivalents: the present tense ('I walk'), the preterite ('I walked'), the imperfect ('I was walking' or 'I used to walk'), the present perfect ('I have walked'), the past perfect ('I had walked'), the future ('I will walk'), and the conditional ('I would walk').
8. Each Tense has 6 Forms, varying for first, second, or third person and for singular or plural number. The second-person formal pronouns (usted, ustedes) take third-person verb forms.
9. To form Gerunds in An-Ar Verb, replace the -Ar in the infinitive with –Ando - i.e.: Jugar, Hablar, Caminar => Jugando, Hablando, Caminando.

Spanish Vocabulary

Spanish Vocabulary has been derived from Arabic, English and Latin. Arabic is probably the biggest contributor of words to the Spanish language. Most Spanish nouns beginning with the letters al- (from the Arabic definite article) have their origin in Arabic. Spanish and English share much of their vocabulary through Cognates (similar ancestor), as both languages derive many of their words from Latin and Arabic. The biggest differences in the grammar of the two languages include Spanish's use of gender, a more extensive verb conjugation and the widespread use of subjunctive verb moods.

Spanish Words of Arabic Origin

• Álgebra – Algebra.
• Alfalfa – Alfalfa.
• Alcoba – Alcove.
• Alá – Allah.
• Álcali – Alkali.
• Alquimia – Alchemy.
• Café – Coffee.
• Azúcar – Sugar.
• Cero – Zero.
• Macabro – Macabre.
• Marfil - Marble, Ivory.
• Masacre – Massacre.
• Masaje – Massage.
• Máscara – Mask.
• Mazapán – Marzipan.
• Mezquita – Mosque.

Some Common Spanish Words

• Adiós - Good-bye.
• ¡hola! – Hello
• Gracias - Thank you.
• Si – Yes.
• Hoy – Today.
• Buenos diás - Good day
• Buenos tardes - Good evening
• Buenos noches - Good night
• The - El / La.
• And – Y.

Phonology

Spanish is a Syllable-Timed Language, so each syllable has roughly the same duration regardless of stress. Although pitch, duration, and loudness contribute to the perception of stress, pitch is the most important in isolation.
Spanish has five vowels /i/ /e/ /a/ /o/ /u/. Each occurs in both stressed and unstressed syllables.

Spanish has 6 Falling Diphthongs and 8 Rising Diphthongs.

Spanish Numerical Pronunciation

Orthography

Spanish is written in the Latin alphabet, with the addition of the character ‹ñ›. Since 1994 ‹ch› and ‹ll› have been treated as letter pairs for collation purposes, though they remain a part of the alphabet.
the Spanish alphabet has the following 27 letters and 2 digraphs:

a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, ñ, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z. 2 digraphs - ch, ll.

The letters "k" and "w" are used only in words and names coming from foreign languages (kilo, folklore, whiskey, William, etc.).