Pronunciation of "Yo"

[wafflestomp]

I've always pronounced it as "yo" like the American colloquial greeting or the first syllable of "yolk", Rosetta Stone (my Castillian version) and Andrea Bocelli pronounces it like that.. lately I've been listening to some Latin American music though and I've been hearing it more like "joe". I'm curious, is this what I think it is? Since Bocelli's Spanish songs are all more Castillian than American, and I have the Spain Rosetta Stone, is it that it's with more of a "joe" sound in Latin America but a first syllable of "yolk" in Spain?

[poli]

The joe sound is most frequently heard among people from Argentina, but
can be heard in other Latin American countries. In other Latin American countries it sometimes be used for emphasis-- example: ¿Que piensas que voy a hacer yo? That yo is a joe no just in Buenos Aires but the Bronx too and anywhere in between. Also that joe has got a little "ch' sound in it.

[ookami]

Again, some idiot sound recording, even I've ate some words :lol: (or "I've even ate some words"?)

Buenas noches; yo pronuncio yo de la misma forma en la que pronuncio yerba, lluvia, llaves, Yamila, yuyo, etcéter*a. Por ejemplo:
-Hola, soy la llama que llama y estoy re loca (please, don't ask me what accent is that, I don't have the slightest idea, but it isn't common:lol:)
-Equivocado querido, por favor no molestés más.

*I clearly ate the R as some foreigners do... for you to practice, of course:rolleyes:

[poli]

Lavalle oí dicho en varios modos en Argentina. Un modo melódico (labajay)otro modo feo como labadju.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Post No. 32 here: http://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?p=48134#post48134
might also help with pronunciation of "y". :)

[ookami]

Lavalle is a surname. I only know one pronunciation of it, I can't imagine how do you pronunce labadju

[JPablo]

Well, I agree with all the above, but just to give you an example, I remember my old Spanish professor in high school mentioned that the "yo" in Castilian is pronounced pretty much the way Angélica shows at her thread. However, while in Spain the pronunciation is very close to the way Andrea Boccelli sings it, there is one EMPHATIC pronunciation in Spain which is close to the Argentinian ways Ookami is demonstrating.
I include the song here, because, while Raphael was (is still) a Spanish singer from Linares (Granada, South of Spain) his audience was the whole of Spain.
You can hear him almost saying "cho" (or as in the "joe" you mention above)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioPxkSgRvto