Cuban Spanish

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In Cuba, the Spanish language has some different features than in other dialects. Differences are most noted especially in the pronunciation of certain consonants, especially with relation to their syllabic position.

One of the most prominent features of Cuban Spanish is the aspiration of syllable-terminating S's, rendering the /s/ phoneme into [h]. This trait is shared with most coastal areas in America, the Canary Islands, and the southern half of Spain.

Take for example, the following sentence:

• Esos perros no tienen dueños. ("Those dogs do not have owners".)

Phonologically in Cuban Spanish, it would sound like:

• [ˈesoh ˈperroh no ˈtjenen ˈdweɲoh]

Another instance of weak consonants in Cuban speech is the intervocalic (between two vowels) /d/. The pronunciation of several prominent Spanish dialects has an approximant allophone in this position, represented by [ð] (similar to English th in the).

In Cuban Spanish however, intervocalic /d/ is often deleted altogether (elision), and the resulting vowels can form a diphthong, as in much of the Spanish-speaking world. So the pronunciation of pescado and condado ( but not, for example, nadar or madera) is :

• Standard: [pesˈka.ðo] [konˈda.ðo]
• Cuban (and other variations): [pehˈka.o] [konˈda.o]

Another characteristic of Cuban Spanish is the use of the diminutive -ico and -ica instead of the standard -ito and -ita. But this use is restricted to words with -t in the last syllable; for example:

• plato (plate) becomes platico instead of platito
• cara (face) becomes carita however, just as in standard Spanish

This form is common to the Venezuelan, Cuban, Costa Rican and Colombian dialects.

[edit] Origins of Cuban Spanish

Of all the regional variations of the Spanish language, traditional Cuban Spanish is most similar to, and originates largely from the Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands. Cuba owes much of their speech patterns to the Canarian migration, which in the 19th and early 20th century was heavy and continuous. There was also migrations of Galicians and Asturians as well, but they did not leave a mirror image of their accent on the Cuban accent like the Canarian people did. Also, Canarians emigrated to other parts of the Caribbean, such as Puerto Rico, as well as South America like Venezuela and Uruguay, and in the United States in the state of Louisiana. They lent their speech patterns to some of those countries, but none as much as Cuba.

Much of the typical Cuban replacements for standard Spanish vocabulary stems from Canarian lexicon. For example, guagua ("bus") differs from standard Spanish autobús the former originated in the Canaries and is an onomatopoeia stemming from the sound of a Klaxon horn ("wah-wah!"). An example of Canarian usage for a Spanish word is the verb fajarse^[1] ("to fight"). In standard Spanish the verb would be pelearse, while fajar exists as a non-reflexive verb related to the hemming of a skirt.

Much of the vocabulary peculiar to Cuban Spanish comes from the different historic influences on the island. Some words are of African, Indian, and French in origin, as well peninsular Spanish influence outside of the Canary Islands. American influence has lent several words such as pullover and short for clothing. The unique political situation today has lead to the development of words which are specific to modern Cuban culture. Examples of modern Cuban slang are jinetear, pinguero. The first meaning to go looking for foreigners in order to extract money. The latter a non-gay Cuban who goes looking for gay foreigners.

Other words of interesting etymology include yuma, originally taken from the movie 3:10 to Yuma but now also used to refer to any foreigner instead of gringo, gallego or extranjero.

[edit] References

Another available reference is Post-Revolutionary Cuban Spanish: A Glossary of Social, Political, and Common Terms (Glosario de términos socio-políticos y autóctonos de actualidad (español-inglés)) by Jesus Núñez Romay. This book gives a good view of modern Cuban Spanish.