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Andalusian dialect

The Andalusian dialects (also called Andaluz) of European Spanish are spoken in Andalusia. There is not a unified dialect for all Andalusia. The dialect can change from province to province but there are a series of common features such as:

  • Seseo (pronunciation of 'c' (before e and i) and 'z' as a 's', or more formally: the phonemes /s/ and /T/ of standard have mixed into a single phoneme articulated [s]), although ceceo (pronunciation of 's' as 'th', or more formally: the phonemes /s/ and /T/ of standard have mixed into a single phoneme articulated [T]) still exists in some parts of Andalusia, mainly in rural areas.
  • Intervocalic 'd' is elided in certain sufixes, especially past participles.
  • Final 's' is usually aspirated (articulated [h]) or just omitted.
  • Syllable-final 'l' or 'r' may be confused one another, but 'r' seems to predominate, as in 'arma' instead of 'alma'.
  • Words of Latin origin starting with 'h' in writing (that is, that have kept the etymological 'H' in writing) are pronounced with an initial 'j' [h] sound. However, this characteristic is limited to rural areas and the flamenco culture.
  • Many words of Andalusi Arabic origin that have become obsolete or unknown in general Spanish

Andalusia is the most populated region of Spain and there are other regions which have very similar dialects to the Andalusian such as Extremadura, Murcia or Canary Islands.



07-14-2008 23:18:10
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