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Help[Facts] Spanish pronunciation of Y and J
in reply to a message by Ivayla
In Spanish, the Y is pronounced as [y], as the Y of yes in English (vaya, maya, raya...) excepted the area of Río de la Plata (Uruguay and Argentina), where it is pronounced as [J], the French J (jour), in the most traditional form or as [S], the SH of shame in English. I don't know an English word where the J represents the sound [y]; in Basque and some other languages, J represents this sound, but not in English, I think.
The Spanish LL has its own sound, but most of speakers and dialects have assimilated it to Y (in Río de la Plata sounds, then, as English SH).
In the other hand, the J is always pronounced as [x] (KH in English), that is the general pronunciation, or in some areas of America as [h] (the English H), which is a dialectal pronunciation: mujer, jamón, Jaime...
The problem with misspellings J/G/Y in names or wrods from English origin is because the English J has a sound completely inexistent in Spanish; so many Spanish speakers try to pronounce it (and then they spell it with Y) with the most near sound in their phonological system, and that is the [y].
Lumia
http://onomastica.mailcatala.com
The Spanish LL has its own sound, but most of speakers and dialects have assimilated it to Y (in Río de la Plata sounds, then, as English SH).
In the other hand, the J is always pronounced as [x] (KH in English), that is the general pronunciation, or in some areas of America as [h] (the English H), which is a dialectal pronunciation: mujer, jamón, Jaime...
The problem with misspellings J/G/Y in names or wrods from English origin is because the English J has a sound completely inexistent in Spanish; so many Spanish speakers try to pronounce it (and then they spell it with Y) with the most near sound in their phonological system, and that is the [y].
Lumia
http://onomastica.mailcatala.com
This message was edited 9/25/2007, 3:02 AM
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