Phonology Comparison of Portuguese and Spanish

1 phonology

1.1 phonetic divergence

1.1.1 vowels

1.1.1.1 unstressed vowels


1.1.2 consonants
1.1.3 synaeresis


1.2 different sounds same spelling

1.2.1 sibilants
1.2.2 other pronunciation differences

phonology

although vocabularies of spanish , portuguese similar (at times identical), 2 languages differ phonologically each other, because of stronger celtic substratum in portuguese. phonetically portuguese bears similarities french , catalan while phonetics of spanish more comparable of sardinian , sicilian. portuguese has larger phonemic inventory spanish. may partially explain why not intelligible spanish speakers despite lexical similarity between 2 languages.

one of main differences between spanish , portuguese pronunciation vowel sounds. standard spanish has basic vowel phonological system, 5 phonemic vowels (/a/, /e̞/, /i/, /o̞/, /u/). phonetic nasalization occurs in spanish vowels occurring between nasal consonants or when preceding syllable-final nasal consonant (/n/ , /m/), not distinctive in portuguese. dialectally, there spanish dialects greater number of vowels, (as murcian , eastern andalusian) reaching 8 10 vowel sounds. on other hand, portuguese has 7 9 oral vowels (/a/, /ɐ/*, /e/, /ɛ/, /ɨ/*, /i/, /o/, /ɔ/, /u/) (/ɐ/ closer [ə] in portugal, while near-close near-back unrounded vowel /ɨ/—also rendered [ɯ̟] or [ʊ̜]—is found in european portuguese) plus 5 phonemic nasal vowels (/ɐ̃/, /ẽ/, /ĩ/, /õ/, /ũ/) when preceding omitted syllable-final nasal (⟨n⟩ , ⟨m⟩) or when marked tilde (~): ⟨ã⟩ , ⟨õ⟩. appears be, french, celtic phonological adaptation latin. portuguese, catalan, uses vowel height, contrasting stressed , unstressed (reduced) vowels. moreover, spanish has 2 semivowels allophones, [j, w]; while portuguese has four, 2 oral [i̯ ~ ɪ̯], [u̯ ~ ʊ̯] , 2 nasalized glides [j̃ ~ ɪ̯̃], [w̃ ~ ʊ̯̃] (non-syllabic near-close vowels, of english speech, allophones of glides in brazilian dialects near-closeds used).

the following considerations based on comparison of standard versions of spanish , portuguese. apparent divergence of information below s personal pronunciation may indicate 1 s idiolect (or dialect) diverges mentioned standards. information on portuguese phonology adapted celso pedro luft (novo manual de português, 1971), , information on spanish phonology adapted manuel seco (gramática esencial del español, 1994).

comparing phonemic inventory of 2 languages, noticeable divergence stands out. first, standard portuguese has more phonemes spanish. also, each language has phonemes not shared other.

early phonetic divergence
vowels

spanish , portuguese have been diverging on thousand years. 1 of noticeable differences between them concerned result of stressed vowels of latin:

the vowels /a/ , /ɐ/ occur largely in complementary distribution.

this diphthong has been reduced monophthong /o/ in many dialects of modern portuguese.

as vowel length ceased distinctive in transition latin romance, stressed vowels e , o became ie , ue in spanish whenever short (latin petra → spanish piedra stone ; latin moritvr → spanish muere dies ). similar diphthongizations can found in other romance languages (french pierre, italian pietra, romanian piatră; french meurt, italian muore, romanian moare), in galician-portuguese these vowels underwent qualitative change instead (portuguese/galician pedra, morre), becoming lower, happened short , short u in stressed syllables. classical latin vowels /e/-/eː/ , /o/-/oː/ correspondingly lowered in spanish , turned diphthongs /je̞/ , /we̞/. in spanish, short e , o , long ē , ō merged mid vowels, /e̞/ , /o̞/, while in portuguese these vowels stayed close-mid, /e/ , /o/ , open-mid, /ɛ/ , /ɔ/, in vulgar latin.

portuguese has 5 phonemic nasal vowels (/ɐ̃/, /ẽ/, /ĩ/, /õ/, /ũ/), which, according historical linguistics, arose assimilation of nasal consonants /m/ , /n/, @ end of syllables. syllable-final m , n still written down indicate nasalization, though no longer pronounced, is, either [ⁿ] (before obstruents) or elided completely. in other cases, nasal vowels marked tilde (ã, õ). not words containing vowel + n have nasal sound, subsequent letter must consonant occur: e.g., anel /ɐˈnɛw/ ( ring ) –oral/non-nasal– vs anca /ˈɐ̃kɐ/ ( hip ) –nasal–.

however, in brazilian dialects, vowels (including allophones present in unstressed environment) have nasal allophones before 1 of nasal consonants /m/, /n/, /ɲ/, followed vowel. in other brazilian dialects, stressed vowels can nasalized way. in european portuguese, nasalization absent in environment.

the portuguese digraph ou (pronounced diphthong [ow], monophthong [o]) corresponds final -ó of spanish -ar verbs in preterite tense; e.g., spanish descansó , portuguese descansou ( he/she rested ). spanish irregular verb forms in -oy (e.g., doy give , estoy , soy , voy go ) correspond portuguese forms in -ou (e.g., dou, estou, sou, vou). in other words, conversely, spanish o corresponds portuguese oi, e.g., spanish cosa, portuguese coisa thing ; spanish oro gold , portuguese ouro, oiro.

stressed vowel alternations may occur in portuguese, not in spanish:

unstressed vowels

the history of unstressed vowels in spanish , portuguese not known of stressed vowels, points agreed upon. spanish has 5 short vowels of classical latin, /a/, /e̞/, /i/, /o̞/, /u/. has 2 semivowels, [j] , [w], appear in diphthongs, these can considered allophones of /i/ , /u/, respectively. pronunciation of unstressed vowels not differ of stressed vowels. unstressed, non-syllabic /e̞/ /o̞/, , /a/ can reduced [ʝ], [w̝] , complete elision in dialects; e.g., poetisa [pw̝e̞ˈtisa] ( poet f.), línea [ˈlinʝa] ( line ), ahorita [o̞ˈɾita] ( ).

the system of 7 oral vowels of vulgar latin has been preserved in portuguese, in closely related galician language. in portuguese, unstressed vowels have been more unstable, both diachronically (across time) , synchronically (between dialects), producing new vowel sounds. vowels written ⟨a⟩, ⟨e⟩ , ⟨o⟩ pronounced in different ways according several factors, notably whether stressed, , whether occur in last syllable of word. basic paradigm shown in following table (it has exceptions).

nasalized in environment in dialects, is, [ɐ̃ ~ ə̃]

in northeastern brazil. in other dialects (including of northern brazil, rio de janeiro, espírito santo, minas gerais , brazilian federal district), occurs if stressed vowel open rather closed (/ɛ/ or /ɔ/, rather /e/ or /o/) due vowel harmony.

in dialects, first in area including , surrounding lisbon (not present in of northern , insular portugal, in brazil), , latter in hinterland northern portuguese accents (not present in southern , insular portugal, in brazil)

brazilian unstressed vowel allophones vary according geographical region of country. near-close [ʊ], [ɪ] , unstressed close-mid [e], [o] found in southern , western accents, postvocalic /r/ has soft allophone (a flap, coronal approximant, or rhotic vowel), , postvocalic sibilants (written ⟨s⟩, ⟨x⟩, , ⟨z⟩) in native words alveolar [s, z]. meanwhile, these close allophones not occur in northern , eastern accents, postvocalic /r/ has hard allophone (velar, uvular, or glottal) , postvocalic sibilants may be, consistently or not, post-alveolar [ʃ, ʒ, ɕ, ʑ]. in accents postvocalic sibilants post-alveolar, such of florianópolis , rio de janeiro, or in accents influenced them, unstressed /a ~ ɐ/, [e̞ ~ ɛ] , [o̞ ~ ɔ] may raised (like in portugal), [ɐ], [i] , [u], respectively. while true of colloquial bp, characteristic of latter dialects). increased vowel reduction present in accents of brazilian northeast, particularly alagoas piauí.

similar alternation patterns these exist in other romance languages such catalan , occitan. although allophonic variation, dialects have developed minimal pairs distinguish stressed variants unstressed ones. vowel /ɨ/ elided in connected speech (it not present in brazilian portuguese).

some brazilian dialects diphthongize stressed vowels [ai̯], [ɛi̯], [ei̯], etc. (except /i/), before sibilant @ end of syllable (written ⟨s⟩, ⟨x⟩, ⟨z⟩, or rarely, ⟨sh⟩). instance, jesus [ʒe̞ˈzui̯s] jesus , faz [ˈfai̯s] , dez [ˈdɛi̯s] ten . has led use of meia (meaning meia dúzia, half dozen ) seis [sei̯s] 6 when making enumerations, avoid confusion três [tɾei̯s] 3 on telephone. in lisbon , surrounding areas, stressed /e/ pronounced [ɐ] or [ɐj] when comes before alveolo-palatal /ʎ/, /ɲ/, [ɕ], [ʑ] or palato-alveolar /ʃ/, /ʒ/ consonants followed vowel.

the orthography of portuguese, partly etymological , analogical, not indicate these sound changes. makes written language deceptively similar spanish. example, although breve ( brief ) spelled same in both languages, pronounced [ˈbɾe̞βe̞] in spanish, [ˈbɾɛvi ~ ˈbɾɛv(ɨ)] in portuguese. in brazilian portuguese, in vast majority of cases, difference between final -e , -i stress, both pronounced /i/. former unstressed, , latter stressed without diacritical mark. in european portuguese, final -e not pronounced or pronounced [ɨ], unlike i, consistently [i].

consonants

some of characteristic sound changes undergone consonants latin spanish , portuguese shown in table below.

*reconstructed

peculiar spanish (as in gascon dialect of occitan, possibly due basque substratum) loss of latin initial f- whenever followed vowel did not diphthongize. thus, spanish hijo , hablar correspond portuguese filho , falar (from latin fīlium , fābulāre, son , speak respectively). nevertheless, portuguese fogo corresponds spanish fuego (from latin focum fire ).

another typical difference concerned result of latin -l- , -n- in intervocalic position:

when single, retained in spanish elided in portuguese. often, loss of consonant followed merger of 2 surrounding vowels (as in examples in table above), or insertion of epenthetic vowel between them (latin harēnam → spanish arena, portuguese arẽa, today areia sand ).
when double, developed spanish palatals ⟨ll⟩ /ʎ/ (merged /ʝ/ in contemporary spanish dialects) , ⟨ñ⟩ /ɲ/. indeed, spanish letter ⟨ñ⟩ shorthand nn. in portuguese, -ll- , -nn- became single, ⟨l⟩ /l/ , ⟨n⟩ /n/, respectively.
when followed semivowel i, l coalesced ⟨j⟩ /x/ in spanish. in portuguese, l , n followed semivowel palatalized ⟨lh⟩ /ʎ/ , ⟨nh⟩ /ɲ/, respectively.

other consonant clusters of latin took markedly different routes in 2 languages in archaic period:

learned words such pleno, ocular, no(c)turno, tremular, , on, not included in examples above, since adapted directly classical latin in later times.

the tables above represent general trends many exceptions, due to:

synaeresis

portuguese has tended eliminate hiatuses preserved in spanish, merging similar consecutive vowels 1 (often after above-mentioned loss of intervocalic -l- , -n-). results in many portuguese words being 1 syllable shorter spanish cognates:

creído, leer, mala, manzana, mañana, poner, reír, venir (spanish)
crido, ler, má, maçã, manhã, pôr, rir, vir (portuguese)

in other cases, portuguese reduces consecutive vowels diphthong, again resulting in 1 syllable fewer:

a-te-o, eu-ro-pe-o, pa-lo, ve-lo (spanish)
a-teu, eu-ro-peu, pau, véu (portuguese)

there nevertheless few words opposite happened, such spanish comprender versus portuguese compreender, latin comprehendere.

different sounds same spelling

since late middle ages, both languages have gone through sound shifts , mergers set them further apart.

sibilants

the marked phonetic divergence between spanish , portuguese in modern period concerned evolution of sibilants. in middle ages, both had rich system of 7 sibilants – paired according affrication , voicing: /s/, /ts/, /z/, /dz/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/, , /dʒ/ (the latter in free variation /ʒ/, still happens today in ladino) – , spelled virtually same in spanish , portuguese.

before vowels; in coda position, there dialectal variations within each language, not discussed here.

modern portuguese has part kept medieval spelling.

after renaissance, 2 languages reduced inventory of sibilants, in different ways:

devoicing in spanish: voiced sibilants written ⟨-s-⟩, ⟨z⟩ , ⟨j/g⟩ became voiceless, merging ⟨s-/-ss-⟩, ⟨c/ç⟩ , ⟨x⟩, respectively. in many spanish dialects, modern ⟨c/z⟩ /θ/ merged ⟨s⟩ /s/ (seseo). later, palato-alveolar fricative ⟨x⟩ /ʃ/ changed velar fricative /x/, while ⟨ch⟩ stay unchanged /tʃ/. spanish spelling has been updated according these sound changes.
deaffrication in portuguese: affricates written ⟨c/ç⟩, ⟨z⟩ , ⟨ch⟩ became plain fricatives, merging sibilants ⟨s-/-ss-⟩, ⟨-s-⟩ , ⟨x⟩ in dialects, respectively. in spite of this, modern portuguese has part kept medieval spelling.
deaffrication in portuguese: rural hinterland northern portuguese dialects mirandese language preserved medieval distinction, still indicated spelling, former affricates being voiceless laminal, voiced laminal , still voiceless post-alveolar affricate /tʃ/, respectively, , sibilants being voiceless apical, voiced apical , voiceless palato-alveolar. of brazilian portuguese, these dialects have alveolar coda sibilants, though voiceless apico-alveolar fricative has hushing-like sound, more similar /ʃ/.

other pronunciation differences

since no distinction made anymore between pronunciation of ⟨b⟩ , ⟨v⟩, spanish spelling has been reformed according classical latin. in portuguese, spelling of these letters based on pronunciation, closer latin , modern italian. leads orthographic disparities:

compare example spanish gobierno, haber, libro portuguese governo, haver, livro.
the endings of imperfect indicative tense of 1st. conjugation verbs (with infinitives ending in -ar) spelled ⟨b⟩ in spanish (cantaba, cantabas, cantábamos, , on), ⟨v⟩ in portuguese (cantava, cantavas, cantávamos, etc.)
the spanish adjectival suffix -ble, in posible (also used in english, possible ), corresponds -vel in portuguese: possível.

in spanish, plosives b, d, g lenited, realized soft approximants [β̞, ð̞, ɣ̞] (here represented without undertracks) after continuants. while similar pronunciations can heard in european portuguese, speakers of brazilian portuguese pronounce these phonemes consistently hard plosives [b, d, ɡ]. can make portuguese phrase such uma bala ( bullet ) sound una pala ( shovel ) spanish-speaker.