Castilian Spanish

Map of languages and dialects in Spain.

The term Castilian Spanish is used in English for the specific varieties of Spanish spoken in north and central Spain. Typically, it is more loosely used to denote the Spanish spoken in all of Spain as compared to Spanish spoken in Latin America. In Spain itself, Spanish is not a uniform language and there exist several different varieties of Spanish; in addition, there are other official and unofficial languages in the country; Spanish is official throughout Spain.

Castellano septentrional ("Northern Castilian") is the Spanish term for the dialects from the Northern half of Spain, including those from Aragón or Navarre, which were never part of Castile. Español castellano, the literal translation of Castilian Spanish, is not a common expression; it could refer to varieties found in the region of Castile; however, those varieties are not uniform either.

Spain has several regional variations of the Spanish language, which can be roughly divided into four major dialectal areas:

• Northern Spanish (northern coast, Ebro and Duero basins, upper Tajo and upper Júcar basins). The dialects spoken in this area are referred to as Castilian Spanish (only in English). A large area of the historical region of Castile is excluded.
• Transitional area between North and South (Extremadura, Murcia, Madrid, La Mancha). The dialects spoken in this area contain traits which are associated with Andalusia, such as implosive s-aspiration (systematic or conditioned by context). Extremadura and Murcia are often grouped together into a Southern variety with Andalusia.
• Andalusian Spanish
• Canarian Spanish

The Spanish language is a pluricentric language. Spanish is spoken in numerous countries around the world, each with differing standards. No single authority can speak for the global community of Spanish speakers. However, regional authorities of the Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy) define the linguistic standards for Spanish in Spain, and its authority is typically accepted in the Americas.

The variants of Spanish spoken in Spain and its former colonies vary significantly in grammar and pronunciation, as well as in the use of idioms. Courses of Spanish as a second language, commonly use Mexican Spanish in the United States and Canada, whereas European Spanish is preferred in Europe.

Dialects in central and northern Spain and Latin American Spanish contain several differences, the most apparent being Distinción (distinction), i.e., the pronunciation of the letter z before all vowels, and of c before e and i, as a voiceless dental fricative /θ/, as in English th in thing. Thus, in most variations of Spanish from Spain, cinco (five) is pronounced /ˈθinko/ as opposed to /ˈsinko/ in Latin American Spanish, and similarly for zapato, cerdo, zorro, Zurbarán. A restricted form of distinción also occurs in the area around Cusco, Peru, where [θ] exists in words such as the numbers doce, trece and with the use of the verb decir.

Additionally, all Latin-American dialects drop the familiar (that is, informal) vosotros verb forms for the second person plural, using ustedes in all contexts. In most of Spain, ustedes is used only in a formal context.

Some other minor differences are:

• The widespread use of le instead of lo as the masculine direct object pronoun, especially referring to people. This morphological variation, known as leísmo, is typical of a strip of land in central Spain which includes Madrid, and recently it has spread to other regions.
• In the past, the sounds for "y" and "ll" were phonologically different in most European Spanish subvarieties, compared with only a few dialects in Latin America, but that difference is now beginning to disappear (yeísmo) in all Peninsular Spanish dialects, including the standard (that is, Castilian Spanish based on the Madrid dialect). A distinct phoneme for "ll" is still heard in the speech of older speakers in rural areas throughout Spain, however, most Spanish-speaking adults and youngsters merge "ll" and "y". In Latin America, "ll" remains different from "y" in traditional dialects along the Andes range, especially in the Peruvian highlands, all of Bolivia and also in Paraguay. In the Philippines, speakers of Spanish and Filipino employ the distinction between "ll" /ʎ/ and "y" /ʝ/.
• In most of Latin America, usted is more common than in Spain; however, in Latin America, this difference is less noticeable among young people, especially in Caribbean dialects.
• In Castilian Spanish, the letter j as well as the letter g before the letters i and e are pronounced as a stronger velar fricative /x/ and very often the friction is uvular [χ], while in Latin America they are generally guttural as well, but not as strong and the uvular realizations of European Spanish are not reported. In the Caribbean, Colombia, Venezuela, other parts of Latin America, the Canary Islands, Extremadura and most of western Andalusia, as well as in the Philippines, it is pronounced as [h].
• Characteristic of Spanish from Spain (except from Andalusia and the Canary Islands) is the voiceless alveolar retracted sibilant [s̺], also called apico-alveolar or grave, which is often perceived as intermediate between a laminal/dental [s] and [ʃ]. This sound is also prevalent in Colombian Paisa region, and Andean Spanish dialects.
• Debuccalization of syllable-final /s/ to [x], [h], or dropping it entirely, so that está [esˈta] ("s/he is") sounds like [ehˈta] or [eˈta], occurs in both Spain and the Americas. In Spain, this is most common in southern Spain: Andalusia, Extremadura, Murcia, Community of Madrid, La Mancha, etc., as well as in the Canary Islands; in the Americas it is the general pronunciation in most coastal and lowland regions.
• Words containing the three letters together -atl- , are pronounced in a different way in Castilian Spanish as compared to Mexican Spanish. In Spain, words like Atlántico and atleta are pronounced according to the syllabication At-lán-ti-co and at-le-ta. Instead, in Mexico, the pronunciation follows the syllabication A-tlán-ti-co and a-tle-ta.

• Andalusian Spanish
• Canarian Spanish
• Murcian Spanish
• Castúo
• Standard Spanish – the standard form that is very different from the medieval Spanish language-base

• WordNet 3.0. Princeton University