text:
Romance language
[espaˈɲol]
[kasteˈʎano], [kasteˈʝano]
Native: 496 million (2022) [1]
Total: 595 million [1]
99 million speakers with limited capacity (24 million students) [1]
Language family
Latino-Faliscan
Italo-Western
Ibero-Romance
West Iberian
Castilian [2] [3]
Early forms
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Italic
Old Latin
Vulgar Latin
Proto-Romance
Old Spanish
Early Modern Spanish
Latin ( Spanish alphabet)
Spanish Braille
Signed forms
Signed Spanish (Mexico, Spain and presumably elsewhere)
Official status
Official language in
Dependent territory
Significant minority
Association of Caribbean States
Caribbean Community
Latin American Parliament
Union of South American Nations
Organization of Ibero-American States
Association of Spanish Language Academies
( Real Academia Española and 22 other national Spanish language academies)
Language codes
stan1288
Linguasphere
51-AAA-b
Co-official language
Culturally important or secondary language (> 20% of the population)
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
Spanish is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in the Americas and Spain. Spanish is the official language of 20 countries. It is the world's second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese; [4] [5] the world's fourth-most spoken language overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu); and the world's most widely spoken Romance language. The largest population of native speakers is in Mexico. [6]
Spanish is part of the Ibero-Romance group of languages, which evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. The oldest Latin texts with traces of Spanish come from mid-northern Iberia in the 9th century, [7] and the first systematic written use of the language happened in Toledo, a prominent city of the Kingdom of Castile, in the 13th century. Spanish colonialism in the early modern period spurred on the introduction of the language to overseas locations, most notably to the Americas. [8]
As a Romance language, Spanish is a descendant of Latin, and has one of the smaller degrees of difference from it (about 20%) alongside Sardinian and Italian. [9] Around 75% of modern Spanish vocabulary is derived from Latin, including Latin borrowings from Ancient Greek. [10] [11] Alongside English and French, it is also one of the most taught foreign languages throughout the world. [12] Spanish does not feature prominently as a scientific language; however, it is better represented in areas like humanities and social sciences. [13] Spanish is also the third most used language on internet websites after English and Chinese. [14]
Spanish is one of the six official languages of the United Nations, and it is also used as an official language by the European Union, Organization of American States, Union of South American Nations, Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, African Union and many other international organizations. [15]
Name of the language and etymology
Main article: Names given to the Spanish language
Map indicating places where the language is called castellano (in red) or español (in blue)
Name of the language
In Spain and in some other parts of the Spanish-speaking world, Spanish is called not only español but also castellano (Castilian), the language from the Kingdom of Castile, contrasting it with other languages spoken in Spain such as Galician, Basque, Asturian, Catalan, Aragonese and Occitan.
The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the official language of the whole Spanish State, in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas (lit. "the other Spanish languages"). Article III reads as follows:
El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. ... Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas...
Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State. ... The other Spanish languages shall also be official in their respective Autonomous Communities...
The Royal Spanish Academy (Real Academia Española), on the other hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. However, from 1713 to 1923, it called the language castellano.
The Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (a language guide published by the Royal Spanish Academy) states that, although the Royal Spanish Academy prefers to use the term español in its publications when referring to the Spanish language, both terms—español and castellano—are regarded as synonymous and equally valid. [16]
The term castellano is related to Castile (Castilla or archaically Castiella), the kingdom where the language was originally spoken. The name of Castile, in turn, is usually assumed to be derived from castillo ('castle').
In the Middle Ages, the language spoken in Castile was generically referred to as Romance and later also as Lengua vulgar. [17] Later in the period, it gained geographical specification as Romance castellano ("romanz castellano", "romanz de Castiella"), "lenguaje de Castiella", and ultimately simply as castellano (noun). [17]
Different etymologies have been suggested for the term español (Spanish). According to the Royal Spanish Academy, español derives from the Occitan word espaignolcode: oci promoted to code: oc and that, in turn, derives from the Vulgar Latin *hispaniolus ('from Hispania'). [18] Hispania was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula.
There are other hypotheses apart from the one suggested by the Royal Spanish Academy. Spanish philologist Ramón Menéndez Pidal suggested that the classic hispanus or hispanicus took the suffix -one from Vulgar Latin, as it happened with other words such as bretón (Breton) or sajón (Saxon). The word *hispanione evolved into the Old Spanish españón, eventually becoming español.[ citation needed]
Main article: History of the Spanish language
The Visigothic Cartularies of Valpuesta, written in a late form of Latin, were declared in 2010 by the Royal Spanish Academy as the record of the earliest words written in Castilian, predating those of the Glosas Emilianenses. [19]
Like the other Romance languages, the Spanish language evolved from Vulgar Latin, which here was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans during the Second Punic War, beginning in 210 BC. Several pre-Roman languages (also called Paleohispanic languages)—some distantly related to Latin as Indo-European languages, and some that are not related at all—were previously spoken in the Iberian Peninsula. These languages included Proto-Basque, Iberian, Lusitanian, Celtiberian and Gallaecian.
The first documents to show traces of what is today regarded as the precursor of modern Spanish are from the 9th century. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era, the most important influences on the Spanish lexicon came from neighboring Romance languages— Mozarabic ( Andalusi Romance), Navarro-Aragonese, Leonese, Catalan, Portuguese, Galician, Occitan, and later, French and Italian. Spanish also borrowed a considerable number of words from Arabic, as well as a minor influence from the Germanic Gothic language through the migration of tribes and a period of Visigoth rule in Iberia. In addition, many more words were borrowed from Latin through the influence of written language and the liturgical language of the Church. The loanwords were taken from both Classical Latin and Renaissance Latin, the form of Latin in use at that time.
According to the theories of Ramón Menéndez Pidal, local sociolects of Vulgar Latin evolved into Spanish, in the north of Iberia, in an area centered in the city of Burgos, and this dialect was later brought to the city of Toledo, where the written standard of Spanish was first developed, in the 13th century. [20] In this formative stage, Spanish developed a strongly differing variant from its close cousin, Leonese, and, according to some authors, was distinguished by a heavy Basque influence (see Iberian Romance languages). This distinctive dialect spread to southern Spain with the advance of the Reconquista, and meanwhile gathered a sizable lexical influence from the Arabic of Al-Andalus, much of it indirectly, through the Romance Mozarabic dialects (some 4,000 Arabic-derived words, make up around 8% of the language today). [21] The written standard for this new language was developed in the cities of Toledo, in the 13th to 16th centuries, and Madrid, from the 1570s. [20]
The development of the Spanish sound system from that of Vulgar Latin exhibits most of the changes that are typical of Western Romance languages, including lenition of intervocalic consonants (thus Latin vīta > Spanish vida). The diphthongization of Latin stressed short e and o—which occurred in open syllables in French and Italian, but not at all in Catalan or Portuguese—is found in both open and closed syllables in Spanish, as shown in the following table:
Gascon / Occitan
petra piedra pedra pedra, pèira pierre pedra, perda pietra piatrǎ 'stone'
terra tierra terra tèrra terre terra țară 'land'
moritur muere muerre morre mor morís meurt mòrit muore moare 'dies (v.)'
mortem muerte morte mort mòrt mort morte, morti morte moarte 'death'
Chronological map showing linguistic evolution in southwest Europe
Spanish is marked by palatalization of the Latin double consonants ( geminates) nn and ll (thus Latin annum > Spanish año, and Latin anellum > Spanish anillo).
The consonant written u or v in Latin and pronounced [w] in Classical Latin had probably " fortified" to a bilabial fricative /β/ in Vulgar Latin. In early Spanish (but not in Catalan or Portuguese) it merged with the consonant written b (a bilabial with plosive and fricative allophones). In modern Spanish, there is no difference between the pronunciation of orthographic b and v.
Typical of Spanish (as also of neighboring Gascon extending as far north as the Gironde estuary, and found in a small area of Calabria), attributed by some scholars to a Basque substratum was the mutation of Latin initial f into h- whenever it was followed by a vowel that did not diphthongize. The h-, still preserved in spelling, is now silent in most varieties of the language, although in some Andalusian and Caribbean dialects it is still aspirated in some words. Because of borrowings from Latin and from neighboring Romance languages, there are many f-/h- doublets in modern Spanish: Fernando and Hernando (both Spanish for "Ferdinand"), ferrero and herrero (both Spanish for "smith"), fierro and hierro (both Spanish for "iron"), and fondo and hondo (both Spanish for "deep", but fondo means "bottom" while hondo means "deep"); hacer (Spanish for "to make") is cognate to the root word of satisfacer ("to satisfy"), and hecho ("made") is similarly cognate to the root word of satisfecho ("satisfied").
Compare the examples in the following table:
filium hijo fijo (or hijo) fillo fíu fillo filho fill filh, hilh fils fizu, fìgiu, fillu figlio fiu 'son'
facere hacer fazer fer facer fazer fer far, faire, har (or hèr) faire fàghere, fàere, fàiri fare a face 'to do'
febrem fiebre (calentura) febre fèbre, frèbe, hrèbe (or
herèbe) fièvre calentura febbre febră 'fever'
focum fuego fueu fogo foc fuòc, fòc, huèc feu fogu fuoco foc 'fire'
Some consonant clusters of Latin also produced characteristically different results in these languages, as shown in the examples in the following table:
clāvem llave clave clau llave chave chave clau clé giae, crae, crai chiave cheie 'key'
flamma llama flama chama chama, flama flama flamme framma fiamma flamă 'flame'
plēnum lleno pleno plen llenu cheo cheio, pleno ple plen plein prenu pieno plin 'plenty, full'
octō ocho güeito ocho, oito oito oito (oito) vuit, huit uèch, uòch, uèit huit oto otto opt 'eight'
multum mucho
muy muncho
muy muito
mui munchu
mui moito
moi muito molt molt (arch.) très,
beaucoup, moult
meda molto mult 'much,
very,
many'
Antonio de Nebrija, author of Gramática de la lengua castellana, the first grammar of a modern European language [22]
In the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish underwent a dramatic change in the pronunciation of its sibilant consonants, known in Spanish as the reajuste de las sibilantes, which resulted in the distinctive velar [x] pronunciation of the letter ⟨j⟩ and—in a large part of Spain—the characteristic interdental [θ] ("th-sound") for the letter ⟨z⟩ (and for ⟨c⟩ before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩). See History of Spanish (Modern development of the Old Spanish sibilants) for details.
The Gramática de la lengua castellana, written in Salamanca in 1492 by Elio Antonio de Nebrija, was the first grammar written for a modern European language. [23] According to a popular anecdote, when Nebrija presented it to Queen Isabella I, she asked him what was the use of such a work, and he answered that language is the instrument of empire. [24] In his introduction to the grammar, dated 18 August 1492, Nebrija wrote that "... language was always the companion of empire." [25]
From the 16th century onwards, the language was taken to the Spanish-discovered America and the Spanish East Indies via Spanish colonization of America. Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, is such a well-known reference in the world that Spanish is often called la lengua de Cervantes ("the language of Cervantes"). [26]
In the 20th century, Spanish was introduced to Equatorial Guinea and the Western Sahara, and to areas of the United States that had not been part of the Spanish Empire, such as Spanish Harlem in New York City. For details on borrowed words and other external influences upon Spanish, see Influences on the Spanish language.
See also: Hispanophone
Geographical distribution of the Spanish language
Official or co-official language
Active learning of Spanish [27]
Spanish is the primary language in 20 countries worldwide. As of 2020, it is estimated that about 463 million people speak Spanish as a native language, making it the second most spoken language by number of native speakers. An additional 75 million speak Spanish as a second or foreign language, making it the fourth most spoken language in the world overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindi with a total number of 538 million speakers. [28] Spanish is also the third most used language on the Internet, after English and Chinese. [29]
Main article: Peninsular Spanish
Percentage of people who self reportedly know enough Spanish to hold a conversation, in the EU, 2005
Native country
More than 8.99%
Between 4% and 8.99%
Spanish is the official language of Spain, the country after which it is named and from which it originated. Other European territories in which it is also widely spoken include Gibraltar and Andorra. [30]
Spanish is also spoken by immigrant communities in other European countries, such as the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany. [31] Spanish is an official language of the European Union.
Main article: Spanish language in the Americas
Today, the majority of the Spanish speakers live in Hispanic America. Nationally, Spanish is the official language—either de facto or de jure—of Argentina, Bolivia (co-official with 36 indigenous languages), Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico (co-official with 63 indigenous languages), Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay (co-official with Guaraní), [32] Peru (co-official with Quechua, Aymara, and "the other indigenous languages" [33]), Puerto Rico (co-official with English), [34] Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Main article: Spanish language in the United States
See also: New Mexican Spanish and Isleño Spanish
Percentage of the U.S. population aged 5 and over who speaks Spanish at home in 2019, by states
According to the 2020 census, over 60 million people of the U.S. population were of Hispanic or Hispanic American by origin. [35] In turn, 41.8 million people in the United States aged five or older speak Spanish at home, or about 13% of the population. [36] The Spanish language has a long history of presence in the United States due to early Spanish and, later, Mexican administration over territories now forming the southwestern states, also Louisiana ruled by Spain from 1762 to 1802, as well as Florida, which was Spanish territory until 1821, and Puerto Rico which was Spanish until 1898.
Spanish is by far the most common second language in the country, with over 50 million total speakers if non-native or second-language speakers are included. [37] While English is the de facto national language of the country, Spanish is often used in public services and notices at the federal and state levels. Spanish is also used in administration in the state of New Mexico. [38] The language has a strong influence in major metropolitan areas such as those of Los Angeles, Miami, San Antonio, New York, San Francisco, Dallas, Tucson and Phoenix of the Arizona Sun Corridor, as well as more recently, Chicago, Las Vegas, Boston, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Nashville, Orlando, Tampa, Raleigh and Baltimore-Washington, D.C. due to 20th- and 21st-century immigration.
Rest of the Americas
Although Spanish has no official recognition in the former British colony of Belize (known until 1973 as British Honduras) where English is the sole official language, according to the 2010 census it was then spoken natively by 45% of the population and 56.6% of the total population were able to speak the language. [39]
Due to their proximity to Spanish-speaking countries and small existing native Spanish speaking minority, Trinidad and Tobago has implemented Spanish language teaching into its education system. The Trinidad government launched the Spanish as a First Foreign Language (SAFFL) initiative in March 2005. [40]
In addition to sharing most of its borders with Spanish-speaking countries, the creation of Mercosur in the early 1990s induced a favorable situation for the promotion of Spanish language teaching in Brazil. [41] [42] In 2005, the National Congress of Brazil approved a bill, signed into law by the President, making it mandatory for schools to offer Spanish as an alternative foreign language course in both public and private secondary schools in Brazil. [43] In September 2016 this law was revoked by Michel Temer after impeachment of Dilma Rousseff. [44] In many border towns and villages along Paraguay and Uruguay, a mixed language known as Portuñol is spoken. [45]
See also: Equatoguinean Spanish
Spanish language signage in Malabo, capital city of Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish-speaking country located entirely in Africa, with the language introduced during the Spanish colonial period. [46] Enshrined in the constitution as an official language (alongside French and Portuguese), Spanish features prominently in the Equatoguinean education system and is the primary language used in government and business. [47] Whereas it is not the mother tongue of virtually any of its speakers, the vast majority of the population is proficient in Spanish. [48] The Instituto Cervantes estimates that 87.7% of the population is fluent in Spanish. [49] This figure highlights Equatorial Guinea as having a higher proportion of proficient speakers of a colonial language relative to the respective metropolitan languages in other West and Central African nations. [50]
Spanish is spoken by very small communities in Angola due to Cuban influence from the Cold War and in South Sudan among South Sudanese natives that relocated to Cuba during the Sudanese wars and returned for their country's independence. [51]
North Africa and Macaronesia
See also: Canarian Spanish and Saharan Spanish
Spanish is also spoken in the integral territories of Spain in Africa, namely the cities of Ceuta and Melilla and the Canary Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean some 100 km (62 mi) off the northwest of the African mainland. The Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands, traces its origins back to the Castilian conquest in the 15th century, and, in addition to a resemblance to Western Andalusian speech patterns, it also features strong influence from the Spanish varieties spoken in the Americas, [52] which in turn have also been influenced historically by Canarian Spanish. [53]
While far from the heyday of the Spanish protectorate in Morocco, there are some presence of the Spanish language in the north of Morocco, stemming for example from the availability of certain Spanish-language media. [54] Many northern Moroccans have rudimentary knowledge of Spanish. [54] Spanish has also presence in the education system of the country (either by means of selected education centres running the Spain's education system, primarily located in the North, and the availability of Spanish as foreign language subject in secondary education). [54]
In Western Sahara, formerly Spanish Sahara, a primarily Hassaniya Arabic-speaking territory, Spanish was officially spoken as the language of the colonial administration during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Today, Spanish is present in the partially-recognized Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Tindouf ( Algeria), where the Spanish-language teaching is largely preserved by Cuban educators. [55] The number of Spanish speakers is unknown.[ failed verification] [56] [57]
Spanish is also an official language of the African Union.
See also: Chavacano and Spanish language in the Philippines
Spanish language newspaper in the Philippines from 1892
Spanish was an official language of the Philippines from the beginning of Spanish administration in 1565 to a constitutional change in 1973. During Spanish colonization, it was the language of government, trade, and education, and was spoken as a first language by Spaniards and educated Filipinos ( Ilustrados). Despite a public education system set up by the colonial government, by the end of Spanish rule in 1898, only about 10% of the population had knowledge of Spanish, mostly those of Spanish descent or elite standing. [58]
Spanish continued to be official and used in Philippine literature and press during the early years of American administration after the Spanish–American War but was eventually replaced by English as the primary language of administration and education by the 1920s. [59] Nevertheless, despite a significant decrease in influence and speakers, Spanish remained an official language of the Philippines upon independence in 1946, alongside English and Filipino, a standardized version of Tagalog.
Spanish was briefly removed from official status in 1973 but reimplemented under the administration of Ferdinand Marcos two months later. [60] It remained an official language until the ratification of the present constitution in 1987, in which it was re-designated as a voluntary and optional auxiliary language. [61] Despite an effort to reintroduce the language into the Philippine education system in 2010, the initiative failed to gain any traction, with the number of secondary schools at which the language is offered either as a compulsory subject or an elective remaining very limited. [62] [63] Today, the actual number of proficient Spanish speakers is around 400,000, or under 0.5% of the population. [64] [65]
Aside from standard Spanish, a Spanish-based creole language called Chavacano developed in the southern Philippines. However, it is not mutually intelligible with Spanish. [66] The number of Chavacano-speakers was estimated at 1.2 million in 1996. [67] The local languages of the Philippines also retain significant Spanish influence, with many words derived from Mexican Spanish, owing to the administration of the islands by Spain through New Spain until 1821, until direct governance from Madrid afterwards to 1898. [68] [69]
Announcement in Spanish on Easter Island, welcoming visitors to Rapa Nui National Park
Spanish is the official and most spoken language on Easter Island, which is geographically part of Polynesia in Oceania and politically part of Chile. However, Easter Island's traditional language is Rapa Nui, an Eastern Polynesian language.
As a legacy of comprising the former Spanish East Indies, Spanish loan words are present in the local languages of Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Marshall Islands and Micronesia. [70] [71]
In addition, in Australia and New Zealand, there are native Spanish communities, resulting from emigration from Spanish-speaking countries (mainly from the Southern Cone). [72]
Spanish speakers by country
The following table shows the number of Spanish speakers in some 79 countries.
Worldwide Spanish fluency (grey and * signifies official language)
Population [73]
Spanish as a native language speakers [74]
Native speakers and proficient speakers as a second language [75]
Total number of Spanish speakers (including limited competence speakers) [75] [76]
Mexico* 130 118 356 [77] 122,051,018 (93.8%) [78] 125,954,569 (96,8%) [1] 129,077,409 (99.2%) [78]
United States 331 893 745 [79] 41 254 941 (13.2%) [80] 41,254,941 (82% of U.S. Hispanics speak Spanish very well (according to a 2011 survey). [81] There are 60.5 million Hispanics in the U.S. as of 2019 [82] + 2.8 mill. non Hispanic Spanish speakers [83]) 56,254,941 [1] (41.25 million as a first language + 15 million as a second language. To avoid double counting, the number does not include 8 million Spanish students and some of the 7.7 million undocumented Hispanics not accounted by the Census
Colombia* 51 609 474 [84] 50 759 474 (850,000 with other mother tongue) [85] 51 196 598 (99.2%) [1]
Spain* 47 353 590 [86] 43,565,303 (92%) [1] 46,406,518 (98%) [87]
Argentina* 46 234 830 [88] [90] 44 709 081 (96.7%) [91] 45 356 368 (98,1%) [1] 45,957,421 (99.4%) [76]
Venezuela* 32 605 423 [92] 31,507,179 (1,098,244 with other mother tongue) [93] 31,725,077 (97.3%) [1] 32,214,158 (98.8%) [76]
Peru* 33 470 569 [94] 27,747,102 (82.9%) [95] [96] 30,123,512 (86.6%) [1]
Chile* 19 828 563 [97] 19 015 592 (281,600 with other mother tongue) [98] 19,015,592 (95.9%) [1] 19,689,763 (99.3%) [76]
Ecuador* 17 424 000 [99] 16 625 145 (93%) [100] 17,125,687 (95.8%) [1] 17,536,847 (98.1%) [76]
Guatemala* 17 357 886 [101] 12,133,162 (69.9%) [102] 13,591,225 (78.3%) [1] 14,997,214 (86.4%) [76]
Cuba* 11 181 595 [103] 11 159 232 (99.8%) [1] 11,159,232 (99.8%) [1]
Bolivia* 12 006 031 [104] 7,287,661 (60.7%) [105] 9,965,006 (83%) [1] 10,553,301 (87.9%) [76]
Dominican Republic* 10 621 938 [106] 10 367 011 (97.6%) [1] 10 367 011 (97.6%) [1] 10,473,231 (99.6%) [76]
Honduras* 9 526 440 [107] 9 318 690 (207,750 with other mother tongue) [108] 9,402,596 (98.7%) [1]
France 67 407 241 [109] 477,564 (1% [110] of 47,756,439 [111]) 1,910,258 (4% [87] of 47,756,439 [111]) 6,685,901 (14% [112] of 47,756,439 [111])
Paraguay* 7 453 695 [113] 5 083 420 (61.5%) [114] 6,596,520 (68,2%) [1] 6 484 714 (87%) [115] [116]
Nicaragua* 6 595 674 [117] 6 285 677 (490,124 with other mother tongue) [118] 6,404,399 (97.1%) [1]
El Salvador* 6 330 947 [119] 6 316 847 (14,100 with other mother tongue) [120] 6,311,954 (99.7%) [1]
Brazil 214 100 000 [121] 460,018 [1] 460,018 6,056,018 (460,018 immigrants native speakers + 96,000 descendants of Spanish immigrants + 5,500,000 can hold a conversation) [122] [76]
Italy 60 542 215 [123] 255,459 [124] 1,037,248 (2% [87] of 51,862,391 [111]) 5,704,863 (11% [112] of 51,862,391 [111])
Costa Rica* 5 262 374 [125] 5 176 956 (84,310 with other mother tongue) [126] 5,225,537 (99.3%) [1]
Panama* 4 278 500 [127] 3 777 457 (501,043 with other mother tongue) [128] 3,931,942 (91.9%) [1]
Uruguay* 3 543 026 [129] 3 392 826 (150,200 with other mother tongue) [130] 3,486,338 (98.4%) [1]
Puerto Rico* 3 285 874 [131] 3,095,293 (94.2%) [132] 3,253,015 (99%) [1]
United Kingdom 67 081 000 [133] 120,000 [134] 518,480 (1% [87] of 51,848,010 [111]) 3,110,880 (6% [112] of 51,848,010 [111])
Philippines 101,562,305 [135] 438,882 [136] 3,016,773 [137] [138] [139] [140] [141] [142] [143]
Germany 83 190 556 [144] 375,207 [145] 644,091 (1% [87] of 64,409,146 [111]) 2,576,366 (4% [112] of 64,409,146 [111])
Morocco 35 601 000 [146] 6,586 [147] 6,586 1,664,823 [1] [148] (10%) [149]
Equatorial Guinea* 1 505 588 [150] 1 114 135 (74%) [1] 1 320 401 (87.7%) [151]
Canada 34,605,346 [152] 553,495 [153] 553,495 939,348 (293,000 limited competence speakers + 93,853 students) [1]
Romania 21,355,849 [154] 182,467 (1% [87] of 18,246,731 [111]) 912,337 (5% [112] of 18,246,731 [111])
Portugal 10,636,888 [155] 323,237 (4% [87] of 8,080,915 [111]) 808,091 (10% [112] of 8,080,915 [111])
Netherlands 16,665,900 [156] 133,719 (1% [87] of 13,371,980 [111]) 668,599 (5% [112] of 13,371,980 [111] )
Ivory Coast 21,359,000 [157] 566,178 (students) [1]
Australia 21,507,717 [158] 117,498 [1] 117,498 547,397 (117,498 native speakers + 374,571 limited competence speakers + 55,328 students) [1]
Sweden 9,555,893 [159] 77,912 (1% [110] of 7,791,240 [111]) 77,912 (1% of 7,791,240) 467,474 (6% [112] of 7,791,240 [111])
Belgium 10,918,405 [160] 89,395 (1% [87] of 8,939,546 [111]) 446,977 (5% [112] of 8,939,546 [111])
Benin 10,008,749 [161] 412,515 (students) [1]
Senegal 12,853,259 356,000 (students) [1]
Poland 38,092,000 324,137 (1% [87] of 32,413,735 [111]) 324,137 (1% of 32,413,735)
Austria 8,205,533 70,098 (1% [87] of 7,009,827 [111]) 280,393 (4% [112] of 7,009,827 [111])
Belize 430,191 [162] 224,130 (52.1%) [163] 224,130 (52.1%) 270,160 (62,8 %) [163]
Algeria 33,769,669 175,000 [1] 223,000 [1]
Switzerland 8,570,146 [164] 197,113 (2.3%) [165] [166] 197,113 211,533 (14,420 students) [167]
Cameroon 21,599,100 [168] 193,018 (students) [1]
Denmark 5,484,723 45,613 (1% [87] of 4,561,264 [111]) 182,450 (4% [112] of 4,561,264 [111])
Israel 7,112,359 130,000 [1] 175,000 [1]
Japan 127,288,419 108,000 [1] 108,000 168,000 (60,000 students) [169]
Gabon 1,545,255 [170] 167,410 (students) [171]
Bonaire and Curaçao 223,652 10,006 [1] 10,006 150,678 [1]
Ireland 4,581,269 [172] 35,220 (1% [87] of 3,522,000 [111]) 140,880 (4% [112] of 3,522,000 [111])
Finland 5,244,749 133,200 (3% [112] of 4,440,004 [111])
Bulgaria 7,262,675 130,750 (2% [87] of 6,537,510 [111]) 130,750 (2% [112] of 6,537,510 [111])
Norway 5,165,800 13,000 [1] 13,000 129,168 (92,168 students) [1]
Czech Republic 10,513,209 [173] 90,124 (1% [112] of 9,012,443 [111])
Russia 146 171 015 [174] 3 000 [1] 3 000 87 313 (84,313 students) [1]
Hungary 9,957,731 [175] 83,206 (1% [112] of 8,320,614 [111])
Aruba 101,484 [176] 13,710 [1] 75,402 [147] 83,064 [1]
Trinidad and Tobago 1,317,714 [177] 4,000 [1] 4,000 70,401 [1]
Guam 1,201 [1] 1,201 60,582 [1]
China 1 411 778 724 [178] 5 000 [1] 5 000 59 499 (54,499 students) [1]
New Zealand 22,000 [1] 22,000 58,373 (36,373 students) [1]
Slovenia 35,194 (2% [87] of 1,759,701 [111]) 52,791 (3% [112] of 1,759,701 [111])
India 1 386 745 000 [179] 1 000 [1] 1 000 50 264 (49,264 students) [1]
Andorra 84,484 30,414 [1] 30,414 47,271 [1]
Slovakia 5,455,407 45,500 (1% [112] of 4,549,955 [111])
Gibraltar 29,441 [180] 22,758 (77.3% [181])
Lithuania 2,972,949 [182] 28,297 (1% [112] of 2,829,740 [111])
Luxembourg 524,853 4,049 (1% [110] of 404,907 [111]) 8,098 (2% [87] of 404,907 [111]) 24,294 (6% [112] of 404,907 [111])
Western Sahara 513,000 [183] n.a. [184] 22,000 [1]
Turkey 83 614 362 1,000 [1] 1,000 20,346 [1] (4,346 students) [185]
US Virgin Islands 16,788 [1] 16,788 16,788
Latvia 2,209,000 [186] 13,943 (1% [112] of 1,447,866 [111])
Cyprus 2% [112] of 660,400 [111]
Estonia 9,457 (1% [112] of 945,733 [111])
Jamaica 2,711,476 [187] 8,000 [1] 8,000 8,000
Namibia 666 3,866 [188] 3,866
Egypt 3,500 (students) [189]
Malta 3,354 (1% [112] of 335,476 [111])
Total 7,626,000,000 (Total World Population) [190] 484,017,576 [191] [192] (6.2 %) [193] 505,873,106 [1] (6.5 % ) 566,462,956 [1] (7.2 %) [194]
Main article: Spanish grammar
Miguel de Cervantes, considered by many the greatest author of Spanish literature, and author of Don Quixote, widely considered the first modern European novel
Most of the grammatical and typological features of Spanish are shared with the other Romance languages. Spanish is a fusional language. The noun and adjective systems exhibit two genders and two numbers. In addition, articles and some pronouns and determiners have a neuter gender in their singular form. There are about fifty conjugated forms per verb, with 3 tenses: past, present, future; 2 aspects for past: perfective, imperfective; 4 moods: indicative, subjunctive, conditional, imperative; 3 persons: first, second, third; 2 numbers: singular, plural; 3 verboid forms: infinitive, gerund, and past participle. The indicative mood is the unmarked one, while the subjunctive mood expresses uncertainty or indetermination, and is commonly paired with the conditional, which is a mood used to express "would" (as in, "I would eat if I had food); the imperative is a mood to express a command, commonly a one word phrase – "¡Di!", "¡Talk!".
Verbs express T-V distinction by using different persons for formal and informal addresses. (For a detailed overview of verbs, see Spanish verbs and Spanish irregular verbs.)
Spanish syntax is considered right-branching, meaning that subordinate or modifying constituents tend to be placed after head words. The language uses prepositions (rather than postpositions or inflection of nouns for case), and usually—though not always—places adjectives after nouns, as do most other Romance languages.
Spanish is classified as a subject–verb–object language; however, as in most Romance languages, constituent order is highly variable and governed mainly by topicalization and focus rather than by syntax. It is a " pro-drop", or " null-subject" language—that is, it allows the deletion of subject pronouns when they are pragmatically unnecessary. Spanish is described as a " verb-framed" language, meaning that the direction of motion is expressed in the verb while the mode of locomotion is expressed adverbially (e.g. subir corriendo or salir volando; the respective English equivalents of these examples—'to run up' and 'to fly out'—show that English is, by contrast, "satellite-framed", with mode of locomotion expressed in the verb and direction in an adverbial modifier).
Spanish spoken in Spain
Main article: Spanish phonology
The Spanish phonological system evolved from that of Vulgar Latin. Its development exhibits some traits in common with other Western Romance languages, others with the neighboring Hispanic varieties—especially Leonese and Aragonese—as well as other features unique to Spanish. Spanish is alone among its immediate neighbors in having undergone frequent aspiration and eventual loss of the Latin initial /f/ sound (e.g. Cast. harina vs. Leon. and Arag. farina). [195] The Latin initial consonant sequences pl-, cl-, and fl- in Spanish typically merge as ll- (originally pronounced [ʎ]), while in Aragonese they are preserved in most dialects, and in Leonese they present a variety of outcomes, including [tʃ], [ʃ], and [ʎ]. Where Latin had -li- before a vowel (e.g. filius) or the ending -iculus, -icula (e.g. auricula), Old Spanish produced [ʒ], that in Modern Spanish became the velar fricative [x] (hijo, oreja), whereas neighboring languages have the palatal lateral [ʎ] (e.g. Portuguese filho, orelha; Catalan fill, orella).
Segmental phonology
Spanish vowel chart, from Ladefoged & Johnson (2010:227)
The Spanish phonemic inventory consists of five vowel phonemes (/a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/) and 17 to 19 consonant phonemes (the exact number depending on the dialect [196]). The main allophonic variation among vowels is the reduction of the high vowels /i/ and /u/ to glides—[j] and [w] respectively—when unstressed and adjacent to another vowel. Some instances of the mid vowels /e/ and /o/, determined lexically, alternate with the diphthongs /je/ and /we/ respectively when stressed, in a process that is better described as morphophonemic rather than phonological, as it is not predictable from phonology alone.
The Spanish consonant system is characterized by (1) three nasal phonemes, and one or two (depending on the dialect) lateral phoneme(s), which in syllable-final position lose their contrast and are subject to assimilation to a following consonant; (2) three voiceless stops and the affricate /tʃ/; (3) three or four (depending on the dialect) voiceless fricatives; (4) a set of voiced obstruents—/b/, /d/, /ɡ/, and sometimes /ʝ/—which alternate between approximant and plosive allophones depending on the environment; and (5) a phonemic distinction between the " tapped" and " trilled" r-sounds (single ⟨r⟩ and double ⟨rr⟩ in orthography).
In the following table of consonant phonemes, /ʎ/ is marked with an asterisk (*) to indicate that it is preserved only in some dialects. In most dialects it has been merged with /ʝ/ in the merger called yeísmo. Similarly, /θ/ is also marked with an asterisk to indicate that most dialects do not distinguish it from /s/ (see seseo), although this is not a true merger but an outcome of different evolution of sibilants in Southern Spain.
The phoneme /ʃ/ is in parentheses () to indicate that it appears only in loanwords. Each of the voiced obstruent phonemes /b/, /d/, /ʝ/, and /ɡ/ appears to the right of a pair of voiceless phonemes, to indicate that, while the voiceless phonemes maintain a phonemic contrast between plosive (or affricate) and fricative, the voiced ones alternate allophonically (i.e. without phonemic contrast) between plosive and approximant pronunciations.
Consonant phonemes [197]
Palatal
m n ɲ
p b t d tʃ ʝ k ɡ
f θ* s ( ʃ) x
l ʎ*
ɾ
Spanish is classified by its rhythm as a syllable-timed language: each syllable has approximately the same duration regardless of stress. [198] [199]
Spanish intonation varies significantly according to dialect but generally conforms to a pattern of falling tone for declarative sentences and wh-questions (who, what, why, etc.) and rising tone for yes/no questions. [200] [201] There are no syntactic markers to distinguish between questions and statements and thus, the recognition of declarative or interrogative depends entirely on intonation.
Stress most often occurs on any of the last three syllables of a word, with some rare exceptions at the fourth-to-last or earlier syllables. Stress tends to occur as follows: [202][ better source needed]
in words that end with a monophthong, on the penultimate syllable
when the word ends in a diphthong, on the final syllable.
in words that end with a consonant, on the last syllable, with the exception of two grammatical endings: -n, for third-person-plural of verbs, and -s, for plural of nouns and adjectives or for second-person-singular of verbs. However, even though a significant number of nouns and adjectives ending with -n are also stressed on the penult (joven, virgen, mitin), the great majority of nouns and adjectives ending with -n are stressed on their last syllable (capitán, almacén, jardín, corazón).
Preantepenultimate stress (stress on the fourth-to-last syllable) occurs rarely, only on verbs with clitic pronouns attached (e.g. guardándoselos 'saving them for him/her/them/you').
In addition to the many exceptions to these tendencies, there are numerous minimal pairs that contrast solely on stress such as sábana ('sheet') and sabana ('savannah'); límite ('boundary'), limite ('he/she limits') and limité ('I limited'); líquido ('liquid'), liquido ('I sell off') and liquidó ('he/she sold off').
The orthographic system unambiguously reflects where the stress occurs: in the absence of an accent mark, the stress falls on the last syllable unless the last letter is ⟨n⟩, ⟨s⟩, or a vowel, in which cases the stress falls on the next-to-last (penultimate) syllable. Exceptions to those rules are indicated by an acute accent mark over the vowel of the stressed syllable. (See Spanish orthography.)
Speaker population
Spanish is the official, or national language in 18 countries and one territory in the Americas, Spain, and Equatorial Guinea. With a population of over 410 million, Hispanophone America accounts for the vast majority of Spanish speakers, of which Mexico is the most populous Spanish-speaking country. In the European Union, Spanish is the mother tongue of 8% of the population, with an additional 7% speaking it as a second language. [203] Additionally, Spanish is the second most spoken language in the United States and is by far the most popular foreign language among students. [204] In 2015, it was estimated that over 50 million Americans spoke Spanish, about 41 million of whom were native speakers. [205] With continued immigration and increased use of the language domestically in public spheres and media, the number of Spanish speakers in the United States is expected to continue growing over the forthcoming decades. [206]
Dialectal variation
A world map attempting to identify the main dialects of Spanish
Main article: Spanish dialects and varieties
While being mutually intelligible, there are important variations ( phonological, grammatical, and lexical) in the spoken Spanish of the various regions of Spain and throughout the Spanish-speaking areas of the Americas.
The variety with the most speakers is Mexican Spanish. It is spoken by more than twenty percent of the world's Spanish speakers (more than 112 million of the total of more than 500 million, according to the table above). One of its main features is the reduction or loss of unstressed vowels, mainly when they are in contact with the sound /s/. [207] [208]
In Spain, northern dialects are popularly thought of as closer to the standard, although positive attitudes toward southern dialects have increased significantly in the last 50 years. The speech from the educated classes of Madrid is the standard variety for use on radio and television in Spain and it is indicated by many as the one that has most influenced the written standard for Spanish. [209] Central (European) Spanish speech patterns have been noted to be in the process of merging with more innovative southern varieties (including Eastern Andalusian and Murcian), as an emerging interdialectal levelled koine buffered between the Madrid's traditional national standard and the Seville speech trends. [210]
See also: Phonetic change "f → h" in Spanish
The four main phonological divisions are based respectively on (1) the phoneme /θ/ ("theta"), (2) the debuccalization of syllable-final /s/, (3) the sound of the spelled ⟨s⟩, (4) and the phoneme /ʎ/ ("turned y"), [211]
The phoneme /θ/ (spelled c before e or i and spelled ⟨z⟩ elsewhere), a voiceless dental fricative as in English thing, is maintained by a majority of Spain's population, especially in the northern and central parts of the country. In other areas (some parts of southern Spain, the Canary Islands, and the Americas), /θ/ does not exist and /s/ occurs instead. The maintenance of phonemic contrast is called distinción in Spanish, while the merger is generally called seseo (in reference to the usual realization of the merged phoneme as [s]) or, occasionally, ceceo (referring to its interdental realization, [θ], in some parts of southern Spain). In most of Hispanic America, the spelled ⟨c⟩ before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and spelled ⟨z⟩ is always pronounced as a voiceless dental sibilant.
The debuccalization (pronunciation as [h], or loss) of syllable-final /s/ is associated with the southern half of Spain and lowland Americas: Central America (except central Costa Rica and Guatemala), the Caribbean, coastal areas of southern Mexico, and South America except Andean highlands. Debuccalization is frequently called "aspiration" in English, and aspiración in Spanish. When there is no debuccalization, the syllable-final /s/ is pronounced as voiceless "apico-alveolar" sibilant or as a voiceless dental sibilant in the same fashion as in the next paragraph.
The sound that corresponds to the letter ⟨s⟩ is pronounced in northern and central Spain as a voiceless "apico-alveolar" sibilant [s̺] (also described acoustically as " grave" and articulatorily as "retracted"), with a weak "hushing" sound reminiscent of retroflex fricatives. In Andalusia, Canary Islands and most of Hispanic America (except in the Paisa region of Colombia) it is pronounced as a voiceless dental sibilant [s], much like the most frequent pronunciation of the /s/ of English. Because /s/ is one of the most frequent phonemes in Spanish, the difference of pronunciation is one of the first to be noted by a Spanish-speaking person to differentiate Spaniards from Spanish-speakers of the Americas.[ citation needed]
The phoneme /ʎ/, spelled ⟨ll⟩, a palatal lateral consonant that can be approximated by the sound of the ⟨lli⟩ of English million, tends to be maintained in less-urbanized areas of northern Spain and in highland areas of South America. Meanwhile, in the speech of most other Spanish-speakers, it is merged with /ʝ/ ("curly-tail j"), a non-lateral, usually voiced, usually fricative, palatal consonant, sometimes compared to English /j/ (yod) as in yacht and spelled ⟨y⟩ in Spanish. As with other forms of allophony across world languages, the small difference of the spelled ⟨ll⟩ and the spelled ⟨y⟩ is usually not perceived (the difference is not heard) by people who do not produce them as different phonemes. Such a phonemic merger is called yeísmo in Spanish. In Rioplatense Spanish, the merged phoneme is generally pronounced as a postalveolar fricative, either voiced [ʒ] (as in English measure or the French ⟨j⟩) in the central and western parts of the dialectal region (zheísmo), or voiceless [ʃ] (as in the French ⟨ch⟩ or Portuguese ⟨x⟩) in and around Buenos Aires and Montevideo (sheísmo). [212]
The main morphological variations between dialects of Spanish involve differing uses of pronouns, especially those of the second person and, to a lesser extent, the object pronouns of the third person.
Voseo
Main article: Voseo
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2012) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)
An examination of the dominance and stress of the voseo feature in Hispanic America. Data generated as illustrated by the Association of Spanish Language Academies. The darker the area, the stronger its dominance.
Virtually all dialects of Spanish make the distinction between a formal and a familiar register in the second-person singular and thus have two different pronouns meaning "you": usted in the formal and either tú or vos in the familiar (and each of these three pronouns has its associated verb forms), with the choice of tú or vos varying from one dialect to another. The use of vos (and/or its verb forms) is called voseo. In a few dialects, all three pronouns are used, with usted, tú, and vos denoting respectively formality, familiarity, and intimacy. [213]
In voseo, vos is the subject form (vos decís, "you say") and the form for the object of a preposition (voy con vos, "I am going with you"), while the direct and indirect object forms, and the possessives, are the same as those associated with tú: Vos sabés que tus amigos te respetan ("You know your friends respect you").
The verb forms of general voseo are the same as those used with tú except in the present tense ( indicative and imperative) verbs. The forms for vos generally can be derived from those of vosotros (the traditional second-person familiar plural) by deleting the glide [i̯], or /d/, where it appears in the ending: vosotros pensáis > vos pensás; vosotros volvéis > vos volvés, pensad! (vosotros) > pensá! (vos), volved! (vosotros) > volvé! (vos). [214]
General voseo ( River Plate Spanish)
Imperfect past
pensás pensaste pensabas pensarás pensarías pienses pensaras
pensases pensá
volvés volviste volvías volverás volverías vuelvas volvieras
volvieses volvé
dormís dormiste dormías dormirás dormirías duermas durmieras
durmieses dormí
The forms in bold coincide with standard tú-conjugation.
In Chilean voseo on the other hand, almost all verb forms are distinct from their standard tú-forms.
Chilean voseo
Future [215]
pensái(s) pensaste pensabais pensarí(s)
pensaráis pensaríai(s) pensí(s) pensarai(s)
pensases piensa
volví(s) volviste volvíai(s) volverí(s)
volveráis volveríai(s) volvái(s) volvierai(s)
volvieses vuelve
dormís dormiste dormíais dormirís
dormiráis dormiríais durmáis durmierais
durmieses duerme
The use of the pronoun vos with the verb forms of tú (vos piensas) is called "pronominal voseo". Conversely, the use of the verb forms of vos with the pronoun tú (tú pensás or tú pensái) is called "verbal voseo".
In Chile, for example, verbal voseo is much more common than the actual use of the pronoun vos, which is usually reserved for highly informal situations.
And in Central American voseo, one can see even further distinction.
Central American voseo
pensás pensaste pensabas pensarás pensarías pensés pensaras
volvés volviste volvías volverás volverías volvás volvieras
dormís dormiste dormías dormirás dormirías durmás durmieras
Distribution in Spanish-speaking regions of the Americas
Although vos is not used in Spain, it occurs in many Spanish-speaking regions of the Americas as the primary spoken form of the second-person singular familiar pronoun, with wide differences in social consideration. [216][ better source needed] Generally, it can be said that there are zones of exclusive use of tuteo (the use of tú) in the following areas: almost all of Mexico, the West Indies, Panama, most of Colombia, Peru, Venezuela and coastal Ecuador.
Tuteo as a cultured form alternates with voseo as a popular or rural form in Bolivia, in the north and south of Peru, in Andean Ecuador, in small zones of the Venezuelan Andes (and most notably in the Venezuelan state of Zulia), and in a large part of Colombia. Some researchers maintain that voseo can be heard in some parts of eastern Cuba, and others assert that it is absent from the island. [217]
Tuteo exists as the second-person usage with an intermediate degree of formality alongside the more familiar voseo in Chile, in the Venezuelan state of Zulia, on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, in the Azuero Peninsula in Panama, in the Mexican state of Chiapas, and in parts of Guatemala.
Areas of generalized voseo include Argentina, Nicaragua, eastern Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Uruguay and the Colombian departments of Antioquia, Caldas, Risaralda, Quindio and Valle del Cauca. [213]
Ustedes
Ustedes functions as formal and informal second-person plural in all of Hispanic America, the Canary Islands, and parts of Andalusia. It agrees with verbs in the 3rd person plural. Most of Spain maintains the formal/familiar distinction with ustedes and vosotros respectively. The use of ustedes with the second person plural is sometimes heard in Andalusia, but it's non-standard.
Usted is the usual second-person singular pronoun in a formal context, but it is used jointly with the third-person singular voice of the verb. It is used to convey respect toward someone who is a generation older or is of higher authority ("you, sir"/"you, ma'am"). It is also used in a familiar context by many speakers in Colombia and Costa Rica and in parts of Ecuador and Panama, to the exclusion of tú or vos. This usage is sometimes called ustedeo in Spanish.
In Central America, especially in Honduras, usted is often used as a formal pronoun to convey respect between the members of a romantic couple. Usted is also used that way between parents and children in the Andean regions of Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela.
Third-person object pronouns
Most speakers use (and the Real Academia Española prefers) the pronouns lo and la for direct objects (masculine and feminine respectively, regardless of animacy, meaning "him", "her", or "it"), and le for indirect objects (regardless of gender or animacy, meaning "to him", "to her", or "to it"). The usage is sometimes called "etymological", as these direct and indirect object pronouns are a continuation, respectively, of the accusative and dative pronouns of Latin, the ancestor language of Spanish.
Deviations from this norm (more common in Spain than in the Americas) are called " leísmo", " loísmo", or " laísmo", according to which respective pronoun, le, lo, or la, has expanded beyond the etymological usage (le as a direct object, or lo or la as an indirect object).
Some words can be significantly different in different Hispanophone countries. Most Spanish speakers can recognize other Spanish forms even in places where they are not commonly used, but Spaniards generally do not recognize specifically American usages. For example, Spanish mantequilla, aguacate and albaricoque (respectively, 'butter', 'avocado', 'apricot') correspond to manteca (word used for lard in Peninsular Spanish), palta, and damasco, respectively, in Argentina, Chile (except manteca), Paraguay, Peru (except manteca and damasco), and Uruguay.
Relation to other languages
Further information: Comparison of Portuguese and Spanish
Spanish is closely related to the other West Iberian Romance languages, including Asturian, Aragonese, Galician, Ladino, Leonese, Mirandese and Portuguese.
It is generally acknowledged that Portuguese and Spanish speakers can communicate in written form, with varying degrees of mutual intelligibility. [218] [219] [220] [221] Mutual intelligibility of the written Spanish and Portuguese languages is remarkably high, and the difficulties of the spoken forms are based more on phonology than on grammatical and lexical dissimilarities. Ethnologue gives estimates of the lexical similarity between related languages in terms of precise percentages. For Spanish and Portuguese, that figure is 89%. Italian, on the other hand is phonologically similar to Spanish, but has a lower lexical similarity of 82%. Mutual intelligibility between Spanish and French or between Spanish and Romanian is lower still, given lexical similarity ratings of 75% and 71% respectively. [222] [223] Comprehension of Spanish by French speakers who have not studied the language is much lower, at an estimated 45%. In general, thanks to the common features of the writing systems of the Romance languages, interlingual comprehension of the written word is greater than that of oral communication.
The Spanish vocabulary has been influenced by several languages: As in other European languages, Classical Greek words (Hellenisms) are abundant in several fields, mainly in Art, Science, Politics, Nature, etc. [224] Its vocabulary has also been influenced by Arabic, having developed during the Al-Andalus era in the Iberian Peninsula, with around 8% of its vocabulary having Arabic lexical roots. [225] [226] [227] [228] It has also been influenced by Basque, Iberian, Celtiberian, Visigothic, and other neighboring Ibero-Romance languages. [229] [228] Additionally, it has absorbed vocabulary from other languages, particularly other Romance languages such as French, Italian, Mozarabic, Portuguese, Galician, Catalan, Occitan, and Sardinian, as well as from Quechua, Nahuatl, and other indigenous languages of the Americas. [230]
The following table compares the forms of some common words in several Romance languages:
Astur-Leonese
nōs (alterōs)1,2
"we (others)" nosotros nós, nosoutros3 nós3 nós, nosotros nusatros nosaltres
(arch. nós) nous4 noi, noialtri5 noi 'we'
frātre(m) germānu(m)
"true brother" hermano irmán irmão hermanu chirmán germà
(arch. frare)6 frère fratello frate 'brother'
die(m) mārtis ( Classical)
"day of Mars"
tertia(m) fēria(m) ( Late Latin)
"third (holi)day" Martes Martes, Terza Feira Terça-Feira Martes Martes Dimarts Mardi Martedì Marți 'Tuesday'
cantiōne(m)
canticu(m) canción7
(arch. cançón) canción, cançom8 canção canción
(also canciu) canta cançó chanson canzone cântec 'song'
plūs más
(arch. plus) máis mais
(arch. chus or plus) más más
(also més) més
(arch. pus or plus) plus più mai 'more'
manu(m) sinistra(m) mano izquierda9
(arch. mano siniestra) man esquerda9 mão esquerda9
(arch. mão sẽestra) manu izquierda9
(or esquierda;
also manzorga) man cucha mà esquerra9
(arch. mà sinistra) main gauche mano sinistra mâna stângă 'left hand'
rēs, rĕm "thing"
nūlla(m) rem nāta(m)
"no born thing"
mīca(m) "crumb" nada nada
(also ren and res) nada
(neca and nula rés
in some expressions; arch. rem) nada
(also un res) cosa res rien, nul niente, nulla
mica (negative particle) nimic, nul 'nothing'
cāseu(m) fōrmāticu(m)
"form-cheese" queso queixo queijo quesu queso formatge fromage formaggio/cacio caș10 'cheese'
1. In Romance etymology, Latin terms are given in the Accusative since most forms derive from this case.
2. As in "us very selves", an emphatic expression.
3. Also nós outros in early modern Portuguese (e.g. The Lusiads), and nosoutros in Galician.
4. Alternatively nous autres in French.
5. noialtri in many Southern Italian dialects and languages.
6. Medieval Catalan (e.g. Llibre dels fets).
7. Modified with the learned suffix -ción.
8. Depending on the written norm used (see Reintegrationism).
9. From Basque esku, "hand" + erdi, "half, incomplete". Notice that this negative meaning also applies for Latin sinistra(m) ("dark, unfortunate").
10. Romanian caș (from Latin cāsevs) means a type of cheese. The universal term for cheese in Romanian is brânză (from unknown etymology). [231]
Judaeo-Spanish
Further information: Judaeo-Spanish
The Rashi script, originally used to print Judaeo-Spanish
An original letter in Haketia, written in 1832
Judaeo-Spanish, also known as Ladino, [232] is a variety of Spanish which preserves many features of medieval Spanish and Portuguese and is spoken by descendants of the Sephardi Jews who were expelled from Spain in the 15th century. [232] Conversely, in Portugal the vast majority of the Portuguese Jews converted and became 'New Christians'. Therefore, its relationship to Spanish is comparable with that of the Yiddish language to German. Ladino speakers today are almost exclusively Sephardi Jews, with family roots in Turkey, Greece, or the Balkans, and living mostly in Israel, Turkey, and the United States, with a few communities in Hispanic America. [232] Judaeo-Spanish lacks the Native American vocabulary which was acquired by standard Spanish during the Spanish colonial period, and it retains many archaic features which have since been lost in standard Spanish. It contains, however, other vocabulary which is not found in standard Spanish, including vocabulary from Hebrew, French, Greek and Turkish, and other languages spoken where the Sephardim settled.
Judaeo-Spanish is in serious danger of extinction because many native speakers today are elderly as well as elderly olim (immigrants to Israel) who have not transmitted the language to their children or grandchildren. However, it is experiencing a minor revival among Sephardi communities, especially in music. In Latin American communities, the danger of extinction is also due to assimilation by modern Spanish.
A related dialect is Haketia, the Judaeo-Spanish of northern Morocco. This too tended to assimilate with modern Spanish, during the Spanish occupation of the region.
Main article: Spanish orthography
A manuscript of the Cantar de mio Cid, 13th century
Determiners
Canarian
Equatoguinean
Murcian
Peninsular
Saharan
seseo
yeísmo
leísmo
loísmo
Interlanguages
Belgranodeutsch
Llanito
Jopara
Portuñol
Castrapo
Creoles
Roquetas Pidgin
Chavacano or Chabacano
Palenquero or Palenque
Hispanism
Spanish is written in the Latin script, with the addition of the character ⟨ ñ⟩ (eñe, representing the phoneme / ɲ/, a letter distinct from ⟨n⟩, although typographically composed of an ⟨n⟩ with a tilde). Formerly the digraphs ⟨ch⟩ (che, representing the phoneme /t͡ʃ/) and ⟨ll⟩ (elle, representing the phoneme / ʎ/ or /ʝ/), were also considered single letters. However, the digraph ⟨rr⟩ (erre fuerte, 'strong r', erre doble, 'double r', or simply erre), which also represents a distinct phoneme /r/, was not similarly regarded as a single letter. Since 1994 ⟨ch⟩ and ⟨ll⟩ have been treated as letter pairs for collation purposes, though they remained a part of the alphabet until 2010. Words with ⟨ch⟩ are now alphabetically sorted between those with ⟨cg⟩ and ⟨ci⟩, instead of following ⟨cz⟩ as they used to. The situation is similar for ⟨ll⟩. [233] [234]
Thus, the Spanish alphabet has the following 27 letters:
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, Ñ, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z.
Since 2010, none of the digraphs (ch, ll, rr, gu, qu) are considered letters by the Royal Spanish Academy. [235]
The letters k and w are used only in words and names coming from foreign languages (kilo, folklore, whisky, kiwi, etc.).
With the exclusion of a very small number of regional terms such as México (see Toponymy of Mexico), pronunciation can be entirely determined from spelling. Under the orthographic conventions, a typical Spanish word is stressed on the syllable before the last if it ends with a vowel (not including ⟨y⟩) or with a vowel followed by ⟨n⟩ or an ⟨s⟩; it is stressed on the last syllable otherwise. Exceptions to this rule are indicated by placing an acute accent on the stressed vowel.
The acute accent is used, in addition, to distinguish between certain homophones, especially when one of them is a stressed word and the other one is a clitic: compare el ('the', masculine singular definite article) with él ('he' or 'it'), or te ('you', object pronoun) with té ('tea'), de (preposition 'of') versus dé ('give' [formal imperative/third-person present subjunctive]), and se (reflexive pronoun) versus sé ('I know' or imperative 'be').
The interrogative pronouns (qué, cuál, dónde, quién, etc.) also receive accents in direct or indirect questions, and some demonstratives (ése, éste, aquél, etc.) can be accented when used as pronouns. Accent marks used to be omitted on capital letters (a widespread practice in the days of typewriters and the early days of computers when only lowercase vowels were available with accents), although the Real Academia Española advises against this and the orthographic conventions taught at schools enforce the use of the accent.
When u is written between g and a front vowel e or i, it indicates a " hard g" pronunciation. A diaeresis ü indicates that it is not silent as it normally would be (e.g., cigüeña, 'stork', is pronounced [θiˈɣweɲa]; if it were written *cigueña, it would be pronounced *[θiˈɣeɲa]).
Interrogative and exclamatory clauses are introduced with inverted question and exclamation marks (¿ and ¡, respectively) and closed by the usual question and exclamation marks.
Arms of the Royal Spanish Academy
The Royal Spanish Academy Headquarters in Madrid, Spain
Royal Spanish Academy
Main article: Royal Spanish Academy
The Royal Spanish Academy ( Spanish: Real Academia Española), founded in 1713, [236] together with the 21 other national ones (see Association of Spanish Language Academies), exercises a standardizing influence through its publication of dictionaries and widely respected grammar and style guides. [237] Because of influence and for other sociohistorical reasons, a standardized form of the language ( Standard Spanish) is widely acknowledged for use in literature, academic contexts and the media.
Main article: Association of Spanish Language Academies
Countries members of the ASALE [238]
The Association of Spanish Language Academies (Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española, or ASALE) is the entity which regulates the Spanish language. It was created in Mexico in 1951 and represents the union of all the separate academies in the Spanish-speaking world. It comprises the academies of 23 countries, ordered by date of academy foundation: Spain (1713), [239] Colombia (1871), [240] Ecuador (1874), [241] Mexico (1875), [242] El Salvador (1876), [243] Venezuela (1883), [244] Chile (1885), [245] Peru (1887), [246] Guatemala (1887), [247] Costa Rica (1923), [248] Philippines (1924), [249] Panama (1926), [250] Cuba (1926), [251] Paraguay (1927), [252] Dominican Republic (1927), [253] Bolivia (1927), [254] Nicaragua (1928), [255] Argentina (1931), [256] Uruguay (1943), [257] Honduras (1949), [258] Puerto Rico (1955), [259] United States (1973) [260] and Equatorial Guinea (2016). [261]
Cervantes Institute
Main article: Instituto Cervantes
Cervantes Institute headquarters, Madrid
The Instituto Cervantes (Cervantes Institute) is a worldwide nonprofit organization created by the Spanish government in 1991. This organization has branches in 45 countries, with 88 centers devoted to the Spanish and Hispanic American cultures and Spanish language. [262] The goals of the Institute are to promote universally the education, the study, and the use of Spanish as a second language, to support methods and activities that help the process of Spanish-language education, and to contribute to the advancement of the Spanish and Hispanic American cultures in non-Spanish-speaking countries. The institute's 2015 report "El español, una lengua viva" (Spanish, a living language) estimated that there were 559 million Spanish speakers worldwide. Its latest annual report " El español en el mundo 2018" (Spanish in the world 2018) counts 577 million Spanish speakers worldwide. Among the sources cited in the report is the U.S. Census Bureau, which estimates that the U.S. will have 138 million Spanish speakers by 2050, making it the biggest Spanish-speaking nation on earth, with Spanish the mother tongue of almost a third of its citizens. [263]
Official use by international organizations
For a more comprehensive list, see List of countries where Spanish is an official language § International organizations where Spanish is official.
Spanish is one of the official languages of the United Nations, the European Union, the World Trade Organization, the Organization of American States, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the African Union, the Union of South American Nations, the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat, the Latin Union, the Caricom, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Inter-American Development Bank, and numerous other international organizations.
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Spanish:
Todos los seres humanos nacen libres e iguales en dignidad y derechos y, dotados como están de razón y conciencia, deben comportarse fraternalmente los unos con los otros. [264]
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English:
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. [265]
Language portal
Fundéu BBVA
List of Spanish-language poets
Spanish as a second or foreign language
Spanish-language literature
Spanish-language music
Spanish words and phrases
List of English–Spanish interlingual homographs
Longest word in Spanish
Most common words in Spanish
Spanish profanity
Spanish-speaking world
Countries where Spanish is an official language
Hispanicization
Panhispanism
Influences on the Spanish language
Arabic influence on the Spanish language
List of Spanish words of Germanic origin
List of Spanish words of Philippine origin
Dialects and languages influenced by Spanish
Caló
Frespañol
Palenquero
Philippine languages
Media Lengua
List of English words of Spanish origin
Spanish dialects and varieties
European Spanish
Andalusian Spanish
Andalusian language movement
Canarian Spanish
Castrapo (Galician Spanish)
Castúo (Extremaduran Spanish)
Murcian Spanish
Spanish in the Americas
North American Spanish
Central American Spanish
Caribbean Spanish
South American Spanish
Spanish in the United States
Spanish in Africa
Equatoguinean Spanish
Saharan Spanish
Spanish in Asia
Spanish in the Philippines
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bn bo bp El español: una lengua viva – Informe 2021 (PDF) (Report). Instituto Cervantes. 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 February 2020.
^ Eberhard, Simons & Fennig (2020)
^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2022). "Castilic". Glottolog 4.6. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Archived from the original on 28 May 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
^ Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D. (2019). "Summary by language size". Ethnologue. SIL International. Archived from the original on 6 August 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
^ Salvador, Yolanda Mancebo (2002). "Hacia una historia de la puesta en escena de La vida es sueño". Calderón en Europa (in Spanish). Vervuert Verlagsgesellschaft. pp. 91–100. doi: 10.31819/9783964565013-007. ISBN 978-3-96456-501-3. Archived from the original on 3 March 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
^ "Countries with most Spanish speakers 2021". Statista. Archived from the original on 17 May 2022. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
^ Vergaz, Miguel A. (7 November 2010), La RAE avala que Burgos acoge las primeras palabras escritas en castellano (in Spanish), ES: El Mundo, archived from the original on 24 November 2010, retrieved 24 November 2010
^ Rice, John (2010). "sejours linguistiques en Espagne". sejours-linguistiques-en-espagne.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
^ Mario A. Pei (1949) A New Methodology for Romance Classification, WORD, 5:2, 135-146, doi: 10.1080/00437956.1949.11659494
^ Robles, Heriberto Camacho Becerra, Juan José Comparán Rizo, Felipe Castillo (1998). Manual de etimologías grecolatinas (3. ed.). México: Limusa. p. 19. ISBN 968-18-5542-6. Archived from the original on 24 January 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
^ Comparán Rizo, Juan José. Raices Griegas y latinas (in Spanish). Ediciones Umbral. p. 17. ISBN 978-968-5430-01-2. Archived from the original on 23 April 2017. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
^ Spanish in the World Archived 6 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Language Magazine, 18 November 2019.
^ "El español se atasca como lengua científica". Servicio de Información y Noticias Científicas (in Spanish). 5 March 2014. Archived from the original on 22 February 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
^ Devlin, Thomas Moore (30 January 2019). "What Are The Most-Used Languages On The Internet?". +Babbel Magazine. Archived from the original on 6 December 2021. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
^ "Official Languages | United Nations". United Nations. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
^ Diccionario panhispánico de dudas, 2005, p. 271–272.
^ a b Cano Aguilar, Rafael (2013). "De nuevo sobre los nombres medievales de la lengua de Castilla". E-Spania (15). doi: 10.4000/e-spania.22518. Archived from the original on 7 July 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
^ "español, la". Diccionario de la lengua española. Real Academia Espańola. Archived from the original on 24 April 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
^ "cartularioshistoria". www.euskonews.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
^ a b Penny (2000:16)
^ "Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language". Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 25 September 2008. Retrieved 24 July 2008.
^ "Harold Bloom on Don Quixote, the first modern novel | Books | The Guardian". London: Books.guardian.co.uk. 12 December 2003. Archived from the original on 14 June 2008. Retrieved 18 July 2009.
^ "Spanish Language Facts". Encyclopedia.com. Archived from the original on 22 May 2011. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
^ Crow, John A. (2005). Spain: the root and the flower. University of California Press. p. 151. ISBN 978-0-520-24496-2. Archived from the original on 17 August 2021. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
^ Thomas, Hugh (2005). Rivers of Gold: the rise of the Spanish empire, from Columbus to Magellan. Random House Inc. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-8129-7055-5. Archived from the original on 16 August 2021. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
^ "La lengua de Cervantes" (PDF) (in Spanish). Ministerio de la Presidencia de España. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 October 2008. Retrieved 24 August 2008. {{ cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= ( help)
^ "Instituto Cervantes 06-07" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 January 2012. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
^ "Summary by language size". Ethnologue. 3 October 2018. Archived from the original on 26 December 2018. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
^ "Internet World Users by Language". Miniwatts Marketing Group. 2008. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 20 November 2007.
^ "Background Note: Andorra". U.S. Department of State: Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. January 2007. Archived from the original on 22 January 2017. Retrieved 20 August 2007.
^ "BBC Education — Languages Across Europe — Spanish". Bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 29 September 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
^ Constitución de la República del Paraguay Archived 8 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Article 140
^ Constitución Política del Perú Archived 17 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Article 48
^ "Puerto Rico Elevates English". the New York Times. 29 January 1993. Archived from the original on 22 January 2008. Retrieved 6 October 2007.
^ "Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the United States: 2010 Census and 2020 Census". U.S. Census Bureau. 12 August 2021. Archived from the original on 15 August 2021. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
^ "American Community Survey Explore Census Data". Archived from the original on 17 October 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
^ "Más 'speak spanish' que en España". Archived from the original on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2007. (in Spanish)
^ Crawford, John (1992). Language loyalties: a source book on the official English controversy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 62.
^ Statistical Institute of Belize (2013). Belize Population and Housing Census 2010: Country Report (PDF) (Report). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
^ "FAQ". The Secretariat for The Implementation of Spanish. Trinidad and Tobago: Government of the Republic. Archived from the original on 3 November 2010. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
^ Valle & Villa 2006, p. 376.
^ Valle, José del; Villa, Laura (2006). "Spanish in Brazil: Language Policy, Business, and Cultural Propaganda". Language Policy. 5 (4): 376–377. doi: 10.1007/s10993-006-9035-2. S2CID 144373408. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
^ "Brazilian Law 11.161". Presidência da República. 5 August 2005. Archived from the original on 31 October 2013. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
^ "Novo ensino médio terá currículo flexível e mais horas de aula". O Globo. 23 September 2016. Archived from the original on 23 September 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
^ Lipski, John M (2006). Face, Timothy L; Klee, Carol A (eds.). "Too close for comfort? the genesis of "portuñol/portunhol"" (PDF). Selected Proceedings of the 8th Hispanic Linguistics Symposium. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project: 1–22. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 December 2008. Retrieved 29 December 2008.
^ Lipski, John M. (2014). "¿Existe un dialecto "ecuatoguineano" del español?". Revista Iberoamericana. 80 (248–249): 865–882. doi: 10.5195/REVIBEROAMER.2014.7202. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
^ Bituga-Nchama, Pedro Bayeme; Nvé-Ndumu, Cruz Otu (2021). "The decline of the indigenous languages of Equatorial Guinea: a manifestation of the loss of cultural identity". Revista Cátedra. 4 (3): 41. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
^ Quilis and Casado-Fresnillo, 1995, pp. 27-35; cfr Bituga-Nchama & Nvé-Ndumu 2021, p. 41
^ "Gloria Nistal Rosique: El caso del español en Guinea ecuatorial, Instituto Cervantes" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 October 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
^ Lipski, John M. (2004). "The Spanish language of Equatorial Guinea" (PDF). Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies. 8: 117. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 January 2022. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
^ Los cubanos, la élite de Sudán del Sur (in Spanish), FR: Radio France International, 6 July 2011, archived from the original on 12 January 2012, retrieved 20 December 2011
^ Medina López, Javier (1992–1993). "Estandarización lingüística en las hablas canarias". Universitas Tarraconensis. Revista de Filologia. Publicacions Universitat Rovira i Virgili (14): 175–176. ISSN 2604-3432. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
^ Lipski, John (1994). Latin American Spanish (1st ed.). Longman. p. 55: An indisputable influence in the formation of Latin American Spanish, often overshadowed by discussion of the 'Andalusian' contribution, is the Canary Islands.
^ a b c Vicente 2011, p. 67. sfn error: no target: CITEREFVicente2011 ( help)
^ Carrión, Francisco (20 October 2021). "España se desentiende de la preservación del castellano en los campamentos saharauis". El Independiente. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
^ "Como saharauis queremos conservar el español" (in Spanish). 3 March 2008. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
^ "Historia de un país" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
^ "Por qué Filipinas no es un país hispanoparlante si fue una colonia de España durante 300 años (y qué huellas quedan de la lengua de Cervantes)". BBC News Mundo (in Spanish). 30 January 2021. Archived from the original on 30 January 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
^ Ocampo, Ambeth (4 December 2007). "The loss of Spanish". Makati City, Philippines: Philippine Daily Inquirer (INQUIRER.net). Opinion. Archived from the original on 11 March 2012. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
^ "Presidential Decree No. 155 : PHILIPPINE LAWS, STATUTES and CODES : CHAN ROBLES VIRTUAL LAW LIBRARY". Chanrobles.com. Archived from the original on 3 October 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
^ Article XIV, Sec 7: "For purposes of communication and instruction, the official languages of the Philippines are Filipino and, until otherwise provided by law, English. The regional languages are the auxiliary official languages in the regions and shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein. Spanish and Arabic shall be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis."
^ Rodríguez-Ponga, Rafael. "New Prospects for the Spanish Language in the Philippines". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
^ Legaspi, Amita O. (3 July 2012). "PNoy (President Benigno Aquino III) and Spain's Queen Sofia welcome return of Spanish language in Philippine schools". GMA News. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
^ Mojarro, Jorge (6 October 2020). "Spanish is an endangered Filipino language". The Manila Times. Archived from the original on 18 January 2022. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
^ Weedon, Alan (9 August 2019). "The Philippines is fronting up to its Spanish heritage, and for some it's paying off". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
^ Spanish creole: Quilis, Antonio (1996), La lengua española en Filipinas (PDF), Cervantes virtual, p. 54 and 55, archived (PDF) from the original on 6 August 2009, retrieved 1 December 2009
^ Rubino (2008:279)
^ 1973 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, The corpus juris, Article XV, Section 3(3), archived from the original on 17 April 2008, retrieved 6 April 2008
^ "Spanish Influence on Language, Culture, and Philippine History". Archived from the original on 5 March 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
^ Engelberg, Stefan. "The Influence of German on the Lexicon of Palauan and Kosraean (Dissertation)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 December 2012. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
^ "Spanish language in Philippines". Archived from the original on 18 March 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
^ "cvc.cervantes (Spanish in Australia and New Zealand)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 June 2022. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
^ "UN 2011 to 2100 estimate" (MS Excel PDF). UN Population data. Archived from the original on 10 May 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2018. {{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: others ( link)
^ Ethnologue, 18th Ed.: es:Anexo:Hablantes de español según Ethnologue (edición 18).
^ a b
World Population Prospects, EU, archived from the original on 10 May 2015
Eurobarometer (PDF), 2012, archived (PDF) from the original on 29 April 2013, retrieved 12 April 2013, Page TS2: Population older than 15 years old of each country. page T74: Speakers who speak Spanish very well. Page T46: Speakers who speak well enough in order to be able to have a conversation.
^ a b c d e f g h i Demografía de la lengua española (PDF) (in Spanish), ES, p. 10, archived (PDF) from the original on 23 September 2010, retrieved 23 February 2010 , to countries with official Spanish status.
^ 2022 population estimate (in Spanish), MX: CONAPO estimate, archived from the original on 10 February 2018, retrieved 30 January 2018
^ a b "MX", The World Factbook, USA: CIA, archived from the original on 26 January 2021, retrieved 1 May 2011 : Spanish only 92.7%
^ (1 July, 2021), US: Census Bureau, archived from the original on 4 March 2021, retrieved 4 November 2020
^ Spanish speakers older than 5 years old ( Table, US: Census Bureau, 2021, archived from the original on 4 March 2021, retrieved 4 November 2022 )
^ Taylor, Paul (4 April 2012). "(2011)". pewhispanic.org. Archived from the original on 9 April 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
^ "Census Bureau (01/July/2019)". Census.gov. Archived from the original on 4 March 2021. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
^ Gonzalez, Ana (13 August 2013). "(2011)". pewresearch.org. Archived from the original on 27 March 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
^ "PROYECCIONES DE POBLACIÓN" (in Spanish). CO: DANE. 2022. Archived from the original on 22 March 2019.
^ "educacionbogota.edu.co". Archived from the original on 13 January 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
^ "Census INE estimate for 2022". Archived from the original on 13 January 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Eurobarometr 2012 Archived 29 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine (page T74): Non native people who speak Spanish very well.
^ "Argentinian census INDEC estimate for 2022". Archived from the original on 26 February 2014. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
^ a b Estimaciones y proyecciones de población 2010–2040: Total del país, INDEC, 2013, archived from the original on 1 October 2018, retrieved 22 February 2015
^ 40,872,286 people is the census population result for 2010 [89]
^ According to Ethnologue (see "Argentina". Ethnologue ), there were 40,3 million speakers Spanish as mother tongue in 2013. The Argentinian population in 2013 was projected to be 42,2 million. [89]
^ "Proyecciones de Población". ine.gov.ve. Archived from the original on 13 November 2015. Retrieved 12 October 2014. (2020)
^ "Languages", VE, Ethnologue, archived from the original on 10 March 2013, retrieved 30 May 2013, There are 1,098,244 people who speak other language as their mother tongue (main languages: Chinese 400,000, Portuguese 254,000, Wayuu 199,000, Arabic 110,000)
^ Quispe Fernández, Ezio (2022). "Cifras" [Numbers] (PDF) (in Spanish). PE: INEI. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 October 2017.
^ "Census", The World factbook, US: CIA, 2007, archived from the original on 19 November 2021, retrieved 4 October 2011, Spanish (official) 84.1%, Quechua (official) 13%, Aymara 1.7%, Ashaninka 0.3%, other native languages (includes a large number of minor Amazonian languages) 0.7%, other 0.2%
^ "PE", Country, Ethnologue, archived from the original on 2 December 2011, retrieved 21 September 2011, There are 5,782,260 people who speak other language as mother tongue (main languages: Quechua (among 32 Quechua's varieties) 4,773,900, Aymara (2 varieties) 661 000, Chinese 100,000).
^ "Informes" [Reports]. Census estimate for 2022 (in Spanish). CL: INE. 2022. Archived from the original on 13 January 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
^ "CL", Country, Ethnologue, archived from the original on 3 February 2013, retrieved 12 October 2011, There are 281,600 people who speak another language, mainly Mapudungun (250.000)
^ "Estimate", Pop. clock ( SWF), EC: INEC, archived from the original on 5 December 2015, retrieved 5 January 2016
^ CIA Factbook (19 February 1999). "(2019)". CIA Factbook. Archived from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
^ "Guatemala: Estimaciones y proyecciones de población a largo plazo 1950-2050". www.oj.gob.gt (in Spanish). Instituto Nacional de Estadística. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 July 2018.
^ "GT", The World factbook, CIA, archived from the original on 15 April 2021, retrieved 27 January 2021, Spanish (official) 69.9%, Amerindian languages 40%
^ "31 December 2020 estimation". ONEI. Archived from the original on 14 March 2020.
^ "Census INE estimate for 2022". INE. Archived from the original on 11 October 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
^ "South America :: Bolivia — The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency". www.cia.gov. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
^ "Census ONE estimate for 2022" (in Spanish). Oficina Nacional de Estadística. Archived from the original on 14 November 2019. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
^ "INE (Pop clock)". Archived from the original on 19 May 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
^ There are 207,750 people who speak another language, mainly Garifuna (98,000).: Ethnologue Archived 13 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
^ "INSEE estimate to 2021". Insee.fr. Archived from the original on 5 November 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
^ a b c Eurobarometr 2012 Archived 29 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine (page T40): Native speakers.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap Eurobarometr 2012 Archived 29 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine (page TS2): Population older than 15. (age scale used for the Eurobarometer survey)
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Eurobarometr 2012 Archived 29 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine (page T64): Non native people who speak Spanish well enough in order to be able to have a conversation.
^ "Census estimate for 2022". Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 April 2020. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
^ "South America :: Paraguay — The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency". www.cia.gov. Archived from the original on 31 December 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
^ "es.ripleybelieves.com". Archived from the original on 15 January 2022. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
^ www.abc.com.py Archived 13 January 2022 at the Wayback Machine According to DGEEC Census 2012, 7.93% is monolingual of Guarani.
^ "Census estimate for 2020" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 November 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
^ There are 490,124 people who speak another language, mainly Mískito (154,000).: Ethnologue Archived 15 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Census estimate for 2022". Archived from the original on 2 January 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
^ There are 14,100 people who speak other language as their mother tongue (main language, Kekchí with 12,300 speakers): Ethnologue Archived 7 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine.
^ IBGE population estimation [IBGE publishes the populational estimates for municipalities in 2 011] (in Portuguese), BR, 2022, archived from the original on 16 November 2015, retrieved 7 January 2016
^ "El español: una lengua viva. Informe 2021 (Pág. 11 y 13)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 October 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
^ "Census 2021 estimate". Istat.it. Archived from the original on 7 August 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
^ Languages of Italy
^ "INEC estimate for 2022". INEC. Archived from the original on 27 March 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
^ "Costa Rica". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 25 March 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
^ Census INEC estimate for 2020 Archived 7 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine (véase "Proyección de Población por municipio 2008–2020")
^ There are 501,043 people who speak another language as mother tongue: PA, Ethnologue, archived from the original on 21 October 2011, retrieved 17 October 2011
^ "2016 INE estimate for 2022". 2022. Archived from the original on 22 March 2019.
^ There are 150,200 people who speak another language as mother tongue, UY, Ethnologue, archived from the original on 16 November 2011, retrieved 17 October 2011
^ "2020 US. census Bureau". Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 December 2015.
^ ( US. Census Bureau 2017 Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine)
^ "Annual Mid year Population Estimates: 2020". U.K. Gov. Census. 2020. Archived from the original on 15 May 2016.
^ Languages of the United Kingdom
^ Medium projection, PH: National Statistics Office, 2015, archived from the original on 3 April 2019, retrieved 8 June 2013
^ "native knowledge speakers" (in Spanish). Realinstitutoelcano.org. 18 February 2009. Archived from the original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
^ 1,816,773 Spanish + 1,200,000 Spanish creole: Quilis, Antonio (1996), La lengua española en Filipinas (PDF), Cervantes virtual, p. 54 and 55, archived (PDF) from the original on 6 August 2009, retrieved 1 December 2009
^ Ten Reasons (PDF), ES: Mepsyd, p. 23, archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2017
^ Philippines, Spanish differences, archived from the original on 21 December 2012
^ Spanish in the world 2012 (Instituto Cervantes): 3,017,265 Spanish speakers. 439,000 with native knowledge, 2,557,773 with limited knowledge (page 6), and 20,492 Spanish students (page 10).
^ Nestor Diaz: More than 2 million Spanish speakers and around 3 million with Chavacano speakers (24 April 2010). "FILIPINAS / Vigoroso regreso del español". Aresprensa.com. Archived from the original on 23 December 2008. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
^ The figure of 2 900 000 Spanish speakers is in Thompson, RW, Pluricentric languages: differing norms in different nations, p. 45
^ World wide Spanish language, Sispain, archived from the original on 4 March 2016, retrieved 11 October 2012
^ German census, DE: Destatis, 2020, archived from the original on 28 June 2016
^ Native command group (GDL): 266,955 non-nationalized Spanish-speaking immigrants, 63,752 nationalized Spanish-speaking immigrants, 44,500 Spanish speakers of children of immigrants (second generation). 375,207 total native speakers, but there are another 37,047 non mother tongue speakers with native skills. Anuario del Instituto Cervantes 2020 (page 325). "Germany and their Spanish speakers" Archived 18 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Census estimate for 2020". HCP. Archived from the original on 20 March 2014.
^ a b El español en el mundo [Spanish in the world] (PDF), ES: Instituto Cervantes, 2012, p. 6, archived from the original (PDF) on 17 October 2012
^ El español en el contexto Sociolingüístico marroquí: Evolución y perspectivas (page 39): Between 4 and 7 million people have Spanish knowledge (M. Ammadi, 2002) Archived 6 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Euromonitor, 2012" (PDF). exteriores.gob.es. p. 32. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 April 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
^ "Equatorial Guinea census estimate". Population statistics. 2021. Archived from the original on 6 August 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
^ cvc.cervantes.es Archived 27 December 2021 at the Wayback Machine. There are 13,7% proficient Spanish speakers and 74% as a second language
^ Statcan, CA: GC, February 1995, archived from the original on 4 July 2016, retrieved 7 August 2012
^ "An increasingly diverse linguistic profile: Corrected data from the 2016 Census". Statistics Canada. 17 August 2017. Archived from the original on 4 May 2018. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
^ "Eurostat (1/1/2012 estimate)". Epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu. 17 October 2013. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
^ Eurostat 1 January 2010
^ "Netherland Census ClockPop". Cbs.nl. Archived from the original on 17 June 2009. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
^ "ins.ci Census, 2009". Archived from the original on 13 January 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
^ "2011 Census". Censusdata.abs.gov.au. Archived from the original on 3 April 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
^ 2012 census Archived 5 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Eurostat estimate to 1/1/2011". Epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu. 2 April 2012. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
^ "Accueil – INSAE". www.insae-bj.org. Archived from the original on 17 December 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
^ Spanish in belize (Report) (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 4 December 2015. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
^ a b Spanish in Belize. 52.1% speak Spanish with very well level. 10.7% speak Spanish with intermediate level (PDF) (Report) (in Spanish). 2000. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 February 2022. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
^ "bfs.admin.ch". 19 September 2019. Archived from the original on 20 September 2019. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
^ Statistik, Bundesamt für. "Bevölkerung". www.bfs.admin.ch. Archived from the original on 14 January 2016.
^ exteriores.gob.es Archived 24 January 2022 at the Wayback Machine. 2.3% Spanish speakers as a native language according to 2018 census.
^ "cvc.cervantes.es (annuary 2006–07)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 January 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
^ Evolution de la population par sexe de 1976 à 2012 Archived 15 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine en: Annuaire Statistique du Cameroun 2010. Consultado el 23 August 2012.
^ "El español: Una lengua Viva. Informe 2020" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 February 2020. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
^ www.state.gov Archived 4 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine. 2015 estimate
^ "Cifras" (PDF), El español: una lengua viva (in Spanish), ES: Instituto Cervantes, p. 10, archived (PDF) from the original on 24 February 2016, retrieved 14 February 2016 Students across the World.
^ [1] Archived 30 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine
^ "czso.cz" (in Czech). czso.cz. 31 December 2013. Archived from the original on 31 March 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
^ "Census estimate for 2021". rosstat.gov.ru. 1 January 2021. Archived from the original on 14 January 2022. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
^ "(2012)". ksh.hu. Archived from the original on 16 November 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
^ "Resultado 2010 – Persona". Censo2010.aw. 6 October 2010. Archived from the original on 17 January 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
^ [2] Archived 7 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Census estimate for 2020". Stats.gov.cn. Archived from the original on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
^ "Census of India, 2022". Archived from the original on 19 June 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
^ "Statistics – FAQ's". Gibraltar.gov.gi. 12 November 2012. Archived from the original on 5 January 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
^ www.um.es Archived 26 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine (5.2. Datos descriptivos de los usos de español e inglés, Gráfico 2). 77.3% of the Gibraltar population speak Spanish with their mother more, or equal than English.
^ "(2013)". db1.stat.gov.lt. Archived from the original on 19 August 2010. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
^ "2009 estimate" (PDF). UN. 2008. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 March 2009. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
^ The Spanish 1970 census claims 16.648 Spanish speakers in Western Sahara ( [3] Archived 17 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine) but probably most of them were people born in Spain who left after the Moroccan annexation
^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 July 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2022. {{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title ( link)
^ "Population – Key Indicators | Latvijas statistika". Csb.gov.lv. Archived from the original on 28 June 2013. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
^ "Jamaican Population". Statinja.gov.jm. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
^ El español en Namibia, 2005. Archived 2 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine Instituto Cervantes.
^ "cvc.cervantes.es" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 January 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
^ "International Programs – People and Households – U.S. Census Bureau". Census.gov. 5 January 2016. Archived from the original on 19 August 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
^ Spanish at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ Cervantes.es Archived 21 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine – Instituto Cervantes (2017)
^ 426,515,910 speakers L1 in 2012 ( ethnologue "Spanish". Archived from the original on 28 October 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2013. {{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown ( link)) of 7,097,500,000 people in the World in 2012 ( [4] Archived 5 February 2022 at the Wayback Machine): 6%.
^ 517,824,310 speakers L1 and L2 in 2012 ( ethnologue "Spanish". Archived from the original on 28 October 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2013. {{ cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown ( link)) of 7,097,500,000 people in the World in 2012 ( [5] Archived 5 February 2022 at the Wayback Machine): 7.3%.
^ Zamora Vicente (1967:117 and 222)
^ Hualde (2014:39)
^ Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003:255)
^ Cressey (1978:152)
^ Abercrombie (1967:98)
^ John B. Dabor, Spanish Pronunciation: Theory and Practice (3rd ed.: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1997), Ch. 7
^ "John B. Dalbor's Voice Files to Accompany Spanish Pronunciation". Auburn.edu. Archived from the original on 8 March 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
^ Eddington (2000:96)
^ "Europeans and their Languages" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 January 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
^ "Most Studied Foreign Languages in the U.S". Infoplease.com. Archived from the original on 14 August 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
^ "US now has more Spanish speakers than Spain – only Mexico has more". The Guardian. 29 June 2015. Archived from the original on 23 November 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
^ Bureau, US Census. "Language Projections: 2010 to 2020". The United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
^ Eleanor Greet Cotton, John M. Sharp (1988) Spanish in the Americas, Volume 2, pp.154–155, URL Archived 15 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine
^ Lope Blanch, Juan M. (1972) En torno a las vocales caedizas del español mexicano, pp.53 a 73, Estudios sobre el español de México, editorial Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México URL Archived 5 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
^ Penny 2000, p. 199: whatever might be claimed by other centres, such as Valladolid, it was educated varieties of Madrid Spanish that were mostly regularly reflected in the written standard.
^ Hernández Campoy, Juan Manuel; Villena Ponsoda, Juan Andrés (2009). "Standardness and nonstandardness in Spain: dialect attrition and revitalization of regional dialects of Spanish". International Journal of the Sociology of Language. 196–197 (196–197): 185–186. doi: 10.1515/IJSL.2009.021. S2CID 145000590. Archived from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
^ The IPA symbol "turned y" (ʎ), with its "tail" leaning to the right, resembles, but is technically different from, the Greek letter lambda (λ), whose tail leans to the left.
^ Charles B. Chang, "Variation in palatal production in Buenos Aires Spanish" Archived 4 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Selected Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics, ed. Maurice Westmoreland and Juan Antonio Thomas, 54–63. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project, 2008.
^ a b "Real Academia Española" (in Spanish). Buscon.rae.es. Archived from the original on 5 March 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
^ "Voseo según DPD" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
^ Baquero Velásquez, Julia M.; Westphal Montt, Germán F. (2014). "UN ANÁLISIS SINCRÓNICO DEL VOSEO VERBAL CHILENO Y RIOPLATENSE". Forma y Función (in Spanish). 27 (2): 11–40. doi: 10.15446/fyf.v27n2.47558. Archived from the original on 27 January 2022. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
^ Andrew (10 April 2018). "A Brief Guide to Regional Variation of the Forms of Address (Tú, Vos, Usted) in Spanish". Learn Spanish with Andrew. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
^ Katia Salamanca de Abreu, review of Humberto López Morales, Estudios sobre el español de Cuba Archived 21 December 2012 at the Wayback Machine (New York: Editorial Las Américas, 1970), in Thesaurus, 28 (1973), 138–146.
^ Jensen (1989)
^ Penny (2000:14)
^ Dalby (1998:501)
^ Ginsburgh & Weber (2011:90)
^ "Spanish". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2005.
^ "Similar languages to Spanish". EZGlot. Archived from the original on 21 June 2017. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
^ Bergua Cavero, J., Los helenismos del español, Madrid (Gredos) 2004
^ Versteegh, Kees (2003). The Arabic language (Repr. ed.). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 228. ISBN 0-7486-1436-2. Archived from the original on 26 June 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
^ Lapesa, Raphael (1960). Historia de la lengua española. Madrid. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-520-05469-1. Archived from the original on 23 December 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
^ Quintana, Lucía; Mora, Juan Pablo (2002). "Enseñanza del acervo léxico árabe de la lengua española" (PDF). ASELE. Actas XIII: 705. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 May 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2016. : "El léxico español de procedencia árabe es muy abundante: se ha señalado que constituye, aproximadamente, un 8% del vocabulario total"
^ a b Dworkin, Steven N. (2012). A History of the Spanish Lexicon: A Linguistic Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-19-954114-0. Archived from the original on 15 September 2015. Retrieved 17 June 2015. , Macpherson, I. R. (1980). Spanish phonology. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 93. ISBN 0-7190-0788-7. Archived from the original on 23 December 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2016. , Martínez Egido, José Joaquín (2007). Constitución del léxico español. p. 15. ISBN 978-84-9822-653-9. Archived from the original on 26 June 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
^ Cervantes, Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de. "La época visigoda / Susana Rodríguez Rosique | Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes". www.cervantesvirtual.com (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 8 February 2017. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
^ Penny (1991:224–236)
^ Often considered to be a substratum word. Other theories suggest, on the basis of what is used to make cheese, a derivation from Latin brandeum (originally meaning a linen covering, later a thin cloth for relic storage) through an intermediate root *brandea. For the development of the meaning, cf. Spanish manteca, Portuguese manteiga, probably from Latin mantica ('sack'), Italian formaggio and French fromage from formaticus. Romanian Explanatory Dictionary Archived 18 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine
^ a b c Alfassa, Shelomo (December 1999). "Ladinokomunita". Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture. Archived from the original on 2 April 2010. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
^ Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas Archived 16 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine, 1st ed.
^ Real Academia Española Archived 11 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Explanation Archived 6 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine at Spanish Pronto Archived 14 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish and English)
^ "Exclusión de ch y ll del abecedario | Real Academia Española". www.rae.es. Archived from the original on 28 April 2020. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
^ "Scholarly Societies Project". Lib.uwaterloo.ca. Archived from the original on 23 September 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
^ Batchelor, Ronald Ernest (1992). Using Spanish: a guide to contemporary usage. Cambridge University Press. p. 318. ISBN 0-521-26987-3. Archived from the original on 15 August 2021. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
^ "Association of Spanish Language Academies" (in Spanish). Asale. Archived from the original on 23 September 2010. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
^ "Real Academia Española". Spain: RAE. Archived from the original on 29 September 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
^ "Academia Colombiana de la Lengua" (in Spanish). Colombia. Archived from the original on 19 February 2008. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
^ "Academia Ecuatoriana de la Lengua" (in Spanish). Ecuador. Archived from the original on 27 May 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
^ "Academia Mexicana de la Lengua". Mexico. 22 September 2010. Archived from the original on 15 September 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
^ "Academia Salvadoreña de la Lengua". El Salvador. Archived from the original on 4 September 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
^ "Academia Venezolana de la Lengua" (in Spanish). Venezuela. Archived from the original on 27 May 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
^ "Academia Chilena de la Lengua". Chile. Archived from the original on 5 September 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
^ "Academia Peruana de la Lengua". Peru. Archived from the original on 12 October 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
^ "Academia Guatemalteca de la Lengua" (in Spanish). Guatemala. Archived from the original on 4 August 2008. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
^ "Academia Costarricense de la Lengua". Costa Rica. Archived from the original on 23 March 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
^ "Academia Filipina de la Lengua Española" (in Spanish). Philippines. Archived from the original on 27 May 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
^ "Academia Panameña de la Lengua". Panama. Archived from the original on 29 November 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
^ "Academia Cubana de la Lengua". Cuba. Archived from the original on 19 December 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
^ "Academia Paraguaya de la Lengua Española". Paraguay. Archived from the original on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
^ "Academia Dominicana de la Lengua". República Dominicana. Archived from the original on 22 December 2010. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
^ "Academia Boliviana de la Lengua". Bolivia. Archived from the original on 29 November 2010. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
^ "Academia Nicaragüense de la Lengua" (in Spanish). Nicaragua. Archived from the original on 27 May 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
^ "Academia Argentina de Letras". Argentina. 25 March 2010. Archived from the original on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
^ "Academia Nacional de Letras del Uruguay". Uruguay. Archived from the original on 19 March 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
^ "Academia Hondureña de la Lengua" (in Spanish). Honduras. Archived from the original on 27 May 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
^ "Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española". Puerto Rico. Archived from the original on 24 August 2010. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
^ "Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española". United States. Archived from the original on 12 February 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
^ "Academia Ecuatoguineana de la Lengua Española". Equatorial Guinea. Archived from the original on 31 March 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
^ "Información sobre el Instituto Cervantes. Quiénes somos: qué es el Instituto Cervantes". www.cervantes.es. Archived from the original on 10 April 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
^ Stephen Burgen, US now has more Spanish speakers than Spain – only Mexico has more Archived 23 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine, US News, 29 June 2015.
^ "Universal Declaration of Human Rights". ohchr.org. Archived from the original on 8 January 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
^ "Universal Declaration of Human Rights". United Nations. Archived from the original on 16 March 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
Abercrombie, David (1967). Elements of General Phonetics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-85224-451-7.
Eberhard, David M.; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D. (2020). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (23rd ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Archived from the original on 6 April 2006. Retrieved 22 June 2002.
Butt, John; Benjamin, Carmen (2011). A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish (5th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1-4441-3769-9.
Cressey, William Whitney (1978). Spanish Phonology and Morphology: A Generative View. Georgetown University Press. ISBN 0-87840-045-1.
Dalby, Andrew (1998). Dictionary of Languages: The Definitive Reference to More Than 400 Languages. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-11568-7. Archived from the original on 17 August 2021. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
Eddington, David (2000). "Spanish Stress Assignment within the Analogical Modeling of Language" (PDF). Language. 76 (1): 92–109. doi: 10.2307/417394. JSTOR 417394. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 July 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
Ginsburgh, Victor; Weber, Shlomo (2011). How Many Languages Do We Need?: The Economics of Linguistic Diversity. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-13689-9. Archived from the original on 16 August 2021. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
Harris, James (1967). "Sound Change in Spanish and the Theory of Markedness". Language. 45 (3): 538–52. doi: 10.2307/411438. JSTOR 411438.
Hualde, José Ignacio (2014). Los sonidos del español. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-16823-6. Archived from the original on 10 December 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
Jensen, John B. (1989). "On the Mutual Intelligibility of Spanish and Portuguese". Hispania. 72 (4): 848–852. doi: 10.2307/343562. JSTOR 343562.
Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003). "Castilian Spanish". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 33 (2): 255–59. doi: 10.1017/S0025100303001373.
Ladefoged, Peter; Johnson, Keith (2010), A Course in Phonetics (6th ed.), Boston, Massachusetts: Wadsworth Publishing, ISBN 978-1-4282-3126-9, archived from the original on 24 March 2019, retrieved 17 June 2015
Moreno Fernández, Francisco; Otero, Jaime (2008), Atlas de la lengua española en el mundo, Barcelona: Ariel
Penny, Ralph (1991). A History of the Spanish Language. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-39784-7. Archived from the original on 14 August 2021. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
Penny, Ralph (2000). Variation and Change in Spanish. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-78045-4.
Population by age, both sexes, annual; estimate for 2012, UN, archived from the original (XLS) on 15 January 2013, retrieved 11 March 2012
Rubino, Carl (2008), "Zamboangueño Chavacano and the Potentive Mode.", in Michaelis, Susanne (ed.), Roots of Creole Structures: Weighing the Contribution of Substrates and Superstrates, Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 279–299, ISBN 978-90-272-5255-5, archived from the original on 19 December 2020, retrieved 28 October 2020
Zamora Vicente, Alonso (1967), Dialectología española, Madrid: Gredos
Real Academia Española (RAE), Royal Spanish Academy. Spain's official institution, with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language
Instituto Cervantes, Cervantes Institute. A Spanish government agency, responsible for promoting the study and the teaching of the Spanish language and culture.
FundéuRAE, Foundation of Emerging Spanish. A non-profit organization with collaboration of the RAE which mission is to clarify doubts and ambiguities of Spanish.
ProfeDeEle, Exercises targeted toward Spanish language teachers (ELE)
AprenderEspanol, Spanish activities and material
Spanish language at Wikipedia's sister projects:
Phrasebook from Wikivoyage
Spanish Edition from Wikipedia
Varieties of Spanish by continent
( Pan-American)
Trinidadian
Caló (Chicano)
Isleño
Sabine River
Amazonic
Chilote
Chiloé Archipelago
Cordobés
Central Argentina
Cuyano
Central western Argentina
Coastal Ecuador
Llanero
Los Llanos Colombia/Venezuela
Maracucho
Zulia State
Paisa Region
Paraguayan
Pastuso
Colombia-Ecuador border
Ribereño
Coastal Peru
Coastal Argentina
( Peninsular)
Castrapo (Galicia)
Castúo (Extremadura)
spoken by Catalan speakers
Caló ( Para-Romani)
Portuñol (mixed language)
Palenquero (creole)
Chavacano (creole)
Media Lengua (mixed language)
Papiamento (Portuguese-based creole with Spanish influence)
Cocoliche and Lunfardo
Coastal Argentina, Uruguay
Malespín
Bozal
Romance languages ( classification)
Major branches
Italo-Dalmatian
Gallurese
Istriot
Judaeo-Italian
Galician-Portuguese
Barranquenho
Estremenho
Fala
Galician-Asturian/Eonavian
Judaeo-Portuguese
Minderico
Cantabrian
Extremaduran
Castúo
Peruvian Ribereño
Amazonic Spanish
Pyrenean-Mozarabic
Navarro-Aragonese
Judaeo-Aragonese
Mozarabic
Occitano-Romance
Algherese
Balearic
North-Western
Judaeo-Catalan
Auvergnat
Gascon
Aranese
Béarnese
Judeo-Gascon
Languedocien
Niçard
Old Provençal
Shuadit
Vivaro-Alpine
Mentonasc
Gardiol
Gallo-Romance
Langues d'oïl
Angevin
Berrichon
Burgundian
Champenois
Frainc-Comtou
Lorrain
Anglo-Norman
Augeron
Auregnais
Cauchois
Cotentinais
Guernésiais
Sercquiais
Orléanais
Poitevin-Saintongeais
Francoprovencalic
Faetar
Franco-Provençal/Arpitan
North Italian
Gallo-Italic
Brigasc
Genoese
Intemelio
Monégasque
Romagnol
Gallo-Italice of the Marches
Judaeo-Piedmontese
Gallo-Italic of Sicily
Gallo-Italic of Basilicata
Fiuman
Talian
Triestine
Mediterranean Lingua Franca
Rhaeto-Romance
Romanian/ Moldovan
Bukovinian
Crișana
Other dialects
Transylvanian
Wallachian
Megleno-Romanian
Istro-Romanian
Common Romanian
African Romance
British Latin
Moselle Romance
Pannonian Romance
Campidanese
Reconstructed
Italics indicate extinct languages
Bold indicates languages with more than 5 million speakers
Languages between parentheses are varieties of the language on their left.
Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Spanish_language&oldid=1136091362"
Fusional languages
Languages of Argentina
Languages of Bolivia
Languages of Chile
Languages of Colombia
Languages of Costa Rica
Languages of Cuba
Languages of the Dominican Republic
Languages of Ecuador
Languages of El Salvador
Languages of Equatorial Guinea
Languages of Guatemala
Languages of Honduras
Languages of Mexico
Languages of Nicaragua
Languages of Panama
Languages of Paraguay
Languages of Peru
Languages of Puerto Rico
Languages of Spain
Languages of the United States
Languages of Uruguay
Languages of Venezuela
Lingua francas
Subject–verb–object languages
CS1 Spanish-language sources (es)
CS1 maint: others
CS1 Portuguese-language sources (pt)
CS1 Czech-language sources (cs)
Pages containing links to subscription-only content
Language articles citing Ethnologue 18
Articles with Spanish-language sources (es)
ISO language articles citing sources other than Ethnologue
Articles containing Old Spanish-language text
Articles containing Occitan (post 1500)-language text
Lang and lang-xx code promoted to ISO 639-1
Articles containing Galician-language text
Articles containing Sardinian-language text
Articles containing Italian-language text
Articles containing Romanian-language text
Articles containing Asturian-language text
Articles containing Catalan-language text
Articles containing Ladino-language text
Articles containing Aragonese-language text
Articles containing Portuguese-language text
All articles with failed verification
Articles with failed verification from January 2022
Articles needing additional references from October 2012
Articles lacking reliable references from November 2020