The previous article on differences in Spanish accents
has recently been updated. The associated audio library now contains a total of 66 voice recordings from 49 cities in 12 different countries —
Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela.
As with any language, Spanish is subject to variations across geographic areas and social strata. These variations include differences in accent, vocabulary and grammatical structures. In this article we will have a look at some of the major differences in its pronunciation. A number of audio clips of native speakers from around the Spanish-speaking world all reading the same piece of text are included for comparison.
The diagram below illustrates the major components of the human vocal apparatus. This will be useful to refer to when the production of various sounds is described below.
The general guidance given to learners of Spanish with regards to choosing between the indicative and subjunctive moods usually centres on the notion of the speaker’s model of reality: when dealing with certainties (from the speaker’s point of view), the indicative is used; whereas the subjunctive is normally used in situations involving factors such as uncertainty, denial, emotional reaction, desire, and influence.
This article looks at one particular example that appears to run counter to the above: namely the use of the subjunctive following el hecho de que where the phrase is used to state an objective fact and where no emotional reaction is involved.
Let’s start by taking a closer look at some typical descriptions of the general rules involved in the use of the subjunctive mood. We will then go on to take a look at so-called factive clauses and follow this up by examining the choice of mood in such clauses. This mentions previous investigation in this area and presents some observations based on a statistical analysis undertaken for this article.
If you are new to learning Spanish and you use a computer, then the chances are that you are wondering how to put the accent marks (or diacritics) on vowels — such as é or ü — or type the letter eñe (Ñ) or the special punctuation marks used in the language — such as « and ¿ This article reviews a few of the solutions available for this problem…
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