Murcian Spanish

Murcian Spanish vowel chart[3]

		Front	Central	Back
Close		i		u
Close-mid		e		o
Open-mid		(ɛ)		(ɔ)
Open		(æ)	a

As Eastern Andalusian and Southern Manchego Peninsular dialects, Murcian has 5 tense vowels (roughly the same as standard Spanish): [a], [e], [i], [o], [u], plus 3 lax vowels (not present in standard Spanish): [æ], [ɛ], [ɔ]. Vowels are lowered when in contact with an omitted coda: fricative (/s/, /θ/ and /x/) or liquid (/l/, /r/); additionally a vowel harmony process may take place; e.g. la casa [la ˈkasa] ("the house") vs las casas [læ ˈkːæsæ] ("the houses"). Notes about the Murcian vowels:

• In some cases [ɛ] approaches [æ]: seis [ˈsæj] 'six'.
• Some accents use two additional allophones: [ɪ] and [ʊ].
• Vowels are often phonetically nasalized when in contact with a nasal consonant. Nasalization is particularly strong when in contact with palatal consonants and velar consonants: munchos [ˈmũn̠ʲtɕɔ ~ ˈmũn̠ʲdʑɔ ~ ˈmũn̠ʲɟʝɔ] ('much, a lot').

The consonant system of Murcian is mostly the same as Castilian.

Notable features, several shared with other southern dialects of Spanish:

• The spirant consonants [β ð ɣ] are pronounced as fricative consonants or close fricatives more frequently than in Standard Spanish.
  • [β ð ɣ] can occur word initially and can be geminated and/or devoiced in certain environments.
  • Pronunciation of [β] (and [ɸ]) may alternate with [v] (and [f]).
  • [ð] elision is very common: prenná [pɾeˈɲa], mercao [meɾˈka̯o].
• Palatalization of initial /l/ (/l/ to /ʎ/): llengua [ˈʎẽŋgwa] ('tongue').
• Final /l/ is pronounced [ɾ] before consonants (sal blanca [ˈsæɾ ˈblaŋka] 'white salt'), [l] before vowels (sal azul [ˈsæl aˈθu] 'blue salt'), and it is silent at the end of an utterance: sal [ˈsæ] ('salt').
• Final /ɾ/ is elided: El Palmar [ɛɾ paɾˈmæ].
• Some speakers have a residual /ʃ/ (or [ɕ]).

There are linguistic phenomena that are (or were) usual in other linguistic varieties (Aragonese, Mozarabic, Catalan, Andalusian, etc.):

• The frequent preservation of voiceless intervocalic consonants or other voiceless consonants that used to be voiced or are voiced in standard Spanish: cocote (cogote in Spanish), cocotazo, cancro (cangrejo in Spanish), parata (parada), sermonata (sermonada), atoba (adobe), acachar, alcayata, engangrenar, cangrena, pescatero, pinato (pino joven), gayato (cayado), falluto (huero), capolar, Caputa (a place in Mula), caparra (garrapata), capítulo (cabildo), súpito (súbito), molata, La Mulata, escorrata, pescatero, Ficaria (a place in Blanca), poyata (Lorca), volandero, etc.
• The frequent voicing of voiceless consonants: gambusino (campesino), morga (morca), alhábega (albahaca), chiguito (chiquito), regüestar (recostar), bambulla (lat. ampulla), etc.
• The frequent preservation of Latin group cl: clamar, 'llamar' and also "pl" (plantaje, El Plan).
• The frequent preservation of Latin group fl: flama (llama, calor), flamante (llameante), flamar, suflama/soflama, inflar, infleta, botinflar, botinflao, etc.
• The frequent maintenance of Latin /f/ in its original form (fenazar, fenás, vafada, fito a fito, manifacero, ferrija, Ficaria, figue, etc.) or aspirated (it is always aspirated before /u/ like in huerte, huerza, huente, humar, humo, conhundir, etc.; it is maintained in certain cases before /o/ like in hormar, hondo, hongo, hopo, etc. and before /a/ in haldar, hambre, etc.
• The presence of the intervocalic consonant cluster ns: ansa, nansa, pansa, pansir, pansío, suspensar, ansín, ansina, etc.
• A consonantal alternation between voiceless /k/ and /t/: La Rápita or La Rápica, tavacote (cavacote), tápena (caparis), friolenco, cantamusa, a tatas (a catas < a gatas), chito (chico, in Cieza), etc.
• Change from b to m: mandurria, Menjú (Abenhud, from Arabic Ibn Hud), meneno, comenencia, moñiga, camota (cabota), etc.

• /bd/ > [dː] (Abdón > Addón)
• /bg/ > [ɡː] (Novgorod > Noggorod)
• /bs/ > [sː] or [s] (absorver > assorver / asorver)
• /bt/ > [tː] (obtener > ottener)
• /bx/ > [xː] or [x] (objetivo > ojjetivo / ojetivo)
• /kn/ > [nː](tecnología > tennología)
• /ks/ > [s] (examen > esamen)
• /ksk/ > [kː] (excursión > eccursión)
• /ksf/ > [ɸː] (Oxford > Offor)
• /ksp/ > [pː] (explicar > epplicar)
• /kst/ > [tː] (extra > ettra)
• /kt/ > [tː] or [t] (exacto > esatto; doctrina > dottrina > dotrina)
• /kθ/ > [θː] or [θ] (lección> lición; producción > predución)
• /db/ > [βː] (adverbio > avverbio)
• /dk/ > [kː] (adquirir > acquirir)
• /df/ > [ɸː] (adfirmar > affirmar)
• /dm/ > [ɡm] > [mː] (admirar > agmirar > ammirar)
• /dx/ > [xː] or [x] (adjetivo > ajjetivo; adjuntar > ajuntar)
• /ft/ > [tː] (difteria > ditteria)
• /ɡd/ > [dː] > [d/ð] (Magdalena > Maddalena > Madalena)
• /ɡl/ > [l] (iglesia > ilesia)
• /ɡm/ > [mː] (magma > mamma)
• /ɡn/ > [nː](indigno > indinno)
• /lr/ > [rː] (alrededor > arreor)
• /mb/ > [mβ] or [mɸ] (enviscar > enfiscar; enblanquecío > enflanquecío)
• /mn/ > [nː] (columna > colunna)
• /ngl/ > [nl] (Inglaterra > Inlaterra)
• /nm/ > [mː] (inmenso > immenso)
• /pn/ > [ɡn] > [nː] (apnea > annea)
• /ps/ > [sː] (epsilón > essilón; epilepsia > epilessia)
• /pt/ > [tː] (septenil > settenil; aptitud > attitú)
• /pθ/ > [θː] (Leipzig > Leizzi)
• /rl/ > [lː] (Carlos > Callos)
• /rn/ > [nː] (carne > canne)
• /rm/ > [mː] (hermano > hemmano)
• /rs/ > [sː] (comerse > comesse)
• /sb/ > [βː] or [ɸː] (desbordar > evvordar / effordar; esvarar > evvarar / effarar)
• /sd/ > [ðː] or [θː] (desde > dezze)
• /sf/ > [ɸː] (esfera > effera)
• /sɡ/ > [ɣː] or [xː] (desgarrar > ejjarrar; desgargolar > ejjargolar)
• /sk/ > [kː] (escapar > eccapar)
• /sl/ > [lː] (eslomar > ellomar; isla > illa)
• /sm/ > [mː] (mesmo > memmo; golisma > golimma)
• /sn/ > [nː] (fresno > frenno)
• /sp/ > [pː] (asperar > apperar)
• /sr/ > [rː] (desroñar > erroñar; Israel > Irrael)
• /st/ > [tː] (castaña > cattaña)
• /tl/ > [lː] (Atlántico > Allántico)
• /tn/ > [ɡn/ > [nː] (etnología > ennología)
• /θɡ/ > [ɣː] or [xː] (mayorazgo > mayorajjo)
• /θk/ > [kː] (bizcocho > biccocho)
• /θl/ > [lː] (hazlo > hallo)
• /θn/ > [nː] (biznaga > binnaga)