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Spanish pronunciation question regarding 'c' and 'z' ('s' vs 'th')

 

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Old January 15, 2013, 04:49 PM
Sir Senor Sir Senor is offline
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Spanish pronunciation question regarding 'c' and 'z' ('s' vs 'th')

Hopefully this is posted in the correct forum.

I have a question regarding the Spanish pronounciation of the 's' sound. From what I understand, in Castilian Spanish, an 's' or a 'z' that is followed by a vowel is pronounced like 'th' in English, for example Ibiza sounds like 'Ibeetha'.

Does this apply to only Castilian Spanish? What other regions of Spain would pronounce words this way?

Thank you.
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  #2  
Old January 15, 2013, 05:08 PM
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chileno chileno is offline
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Maybe in some parts of Colombia.
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Old January 15, 2013, 05:15 PM
Sir Senor Sir Senor is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chileno View Post
Maybe in some parts of Colombia.
So am I right in assuming that say, Basque people would not pronounce words this way? What about in Asturias?
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Old January 15, 2013, 05:17 PM
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I am not sure of that. As far as I know everybody in Spain pronounce like you described, I might be wrong though.
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Old January 15, 2013, 05:30 PM
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Both, the Basque people and the guys from Asturias will pronounce 'ebeetha'.

In the South of Spain and the Canary Islands, they will say "ebeesa"

The "accent" that was exported to the Americas was the one from Sevilla... (Southwest of Spain...)
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Old January 15, 2013, 05:35 PM
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The 'c', when followed by 'e' or 'i' and the 'z', no matter the vowel that follows it, are pronounced like the 'th' in the English word 'thin' (IPA: /θ/) (not like the 'th' in the English word 'the' (IPA: /ð/)). This pronunciation is only found in peninsular Spanish (the Castilian spoken in Spain).
In Latin America, these two consonants are pronounced like an 's', when followed by a vowel.

This article may help answer your question more fully.

Only two languages of Spain, Castilian and Galician, have this sound and use the same two letters to represent it.
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