4. Recordemos las características del idioma español

Let’s review and summarize the different facts that define the Spanish language that we have studied. If any of these are unfamiliar or need review, review the previous units and see your instructor for help.

1. The Spanish language is synonymous with Castilian = castellano.
2. Until March 1994, the Spanish alphabet had 30 letters. Today the Spanish alphabet has 27 letters. After 1994, Spanish renamed the letters LL, CHE, and RR as consonant groups and the Ñ became an additional letter (Notice the ñ always has a tilde.)
3. The Spanish alphabet is divided into vowels and consonants.
4. Spanish emphasizes the vowels, which are always pronounced clearly.
5. Vowel groups (diphthongs and triphthongs) cannot be divided into syllables. Diphthongs are combinations of strong vowels (a, e, o) and soft vowels (i, u), while triphthongs are the next combinations: (iai / iei / uai / uei / uau).
6. Consonant groups (as ch, ll, rr, br, gl, tr, pl, etc…) cannot be divided into syllables.
7. Spanish has only two double consonants: NN and CC (*Since 1992).
8. Spanish words are divided into syllables. There are specific rules for the syllabic division.
9. Spanish words always have a stressed syllable = sílaba tónica. The stress is always on the vowel of the stressed syllable and there are specific rules to follow. If a word does not follow one of the rules, an orthographic stress (written accent) is required. An orthographic stress on the soft vowel breaks a diphthong or triphthong.
10. Spanish is phonetic: you write Spanish according to what you hear. There are a few silent letters such as “h” at the beginning of a word and “u” when it is used with “g” to make a soft sound with “i” and “e” as in Miguel or guitarra. “U” is also silent with “q” to make a strong sound with the “i” and “e” as qué or quién.
11. As in English, Spanish has many dialectal variations in the pronunciation of some sounds, the “el seseo” in the north of Spain and the south of Spain and Hispano-America is an example.
12. Spanish and English have cognates, words that have a common etymological origin that may look and sound the same.
13. Spanish is a language of emotions, we use our body at the same time that we speak: hands, head, arms, etc. It is passionate; we use any element that is in our power to show our feelings and emphasize the meaning of our words.
14. Spanish accentuates a negative answer:
    • ¿Estudias italiano? No, yo no estudio italiano.
    • ¿Te gusta Enrique Iglesias? No, no me gusta.
    • ¿Tienes mi libro? No, no tengo tu libro / No, yo no tengo tu libro.
15. Spanish punctuation includes opened and closed question and exclamation marks. Spanish has a tilde over some vowels to represent the orthographic stress. Spanish has double dots only on the vowel “ü” called dieresis to break the silence of the “u” with gue and gui as “vergüenza”.
16. All words have stress in a Spanish sentence. This means that unlike English, no single word stands apart from the others in terms of emphasis.
17. Spanish tone is different for each type of statement. Declarative: low, goes high, maintains, goes back, finishes lower. Exclamatory: follows the same pattern as the declarative sentences, but we start above the normal tone and quickly descend below the normal pitch. Interrogative: starts as in the exclamatory sentences, above the normal tone, from here the following syllables descend until the last syllable where the tone rises again.