Editing Spanish language (section)

=== Segmental phonology ===
[[File:Spanish vowel chart.svg|thumb|upright=1.15|Spanish vowel chart, from {{Harvcoltxt|Ladefoged|Johnson|2010|p=227}}]]
The Spanish [[Phoneme|phonemic]] inventory consists of five vowel phonemes ({{IPA|/a/}}, {{IPA|/e/}}, {{IPA|/i/}}, {{IPA|/o/}}, {{IPA|/u/}}) and 17 to 19 consonant phonemes (the exact number depending on the dialect<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Hualde|2014|p=39}}</ref>). The main [[Allophone|allophonic]] variation among vowels is the reduction of the high vowels {{IPA|/i/}} and {{IPA|/u/}} to glides—{{IPA|[j]}} and {{IPA|[w]}} respectively—when unstressed and adjacent to another vowel. Some instances of the mid vowels {{IPA|/e/}} and {{IPA|/o/}}, determined lexically, alternate with the diphthongs {{IPA|/je/}} and {{IPA|/we/}} respectively when stressed, in a process that is better described as [[Morphophonology|morphophonemic]] rather than phonological, as it is not predictable from phonology alone.

The Spanish consonant system is characterized by (1) three [[nasal stop|nasal]] phonemes, and one or two (depending on the dialect) [[lateral consonant|lateral]] phoneme(s), which in syllable-final position [[Archiphonemic|lose their contrast]] and are subject to [[Assimilation (linguistics)|assimilation]] to a following consonant; (2) three [[Voicelessness|voiceless]] [[Plosive|stops]] and the [[Affricate consonant|affricate]] {{IPA|/tʃ/}}; (3) three or four (depending on the dialect) [[Voicelessness|voiceless]] [[Fricative consonant|fricatives]]; (4) a set of voiced [[obstruent]]s—{{IPA|/b/}}, {{IPA|/d/}}, {{IPA|/ɡ/}}, and sometimes {{IPA|/ʝ/}}—which alternate between [[Approximant consonant|approximant]] and [[plosive]] allophones depending on the environment; and (5) a phonemic distinction between the "[[Flap consonant|tapped]]" and "[[Trill consonant|trilled]]" ''r''-sounds (single {{angle bracket|r}} and double {{angle bracket|rr}} in orthography).

In the following table of consonant phonemes, {{IPA|/ʎ/}} is marked with an asterisk (*) to indicate that it is preserved only in some dialects. In most dialects it has been merged with {{IPA|/ʝ/}} in the merger called {{lang|es|[[yeísmo]]}}. Similarly, {{IPA|/θ/}} is also marked with an asterisk to indicate that most dialects do not distinguish it from {{IPA|/s/}} (see {{lang|es|[[seseo]]}}), although this is not a true merger but an outcome of different evolution of sibilants in southern Spain.

The phoneme {{IPA|/ʃ/}} is in parentheses () to indicate that it appears only in [[loanwords]]. Each of the voiced obstruent phonemes {{IPA|/b/}}, {{IPA|/d/}}, {{IPA|/ʝ/}}, and {{IPA|/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 [[Allophone|allophonically]] (i.e. without phonemic contrast) between plosive and approximant pronunciations.

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto 1em auto; text-align: center;"
|+ Consonant phonemes<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Martínez-Celdrán|Fernández-Planas|Carrera-Sabaté|2003|p=255}}</ref>
|-
!
! colspan=2 | [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! colspan=2 | [[Dental consonant|Dental]]
! colspan=2 | [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! colspan=2 | [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! colspan=2 | [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
|-
! [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| style="border-right:0; width:25px;"| || style="border-left:0; width:25px;"|{{IPA link|m}}
| colspan=2 |
| style="border-right:0; width:25px;"| || style="border-left:0; width:25px;"|{{IPA link|n}}
| style="border-right:0; width:25px;"| || style="border-left:0; width:25px;"|{{IPA link|ɲ}}
| colspan=2 |
|-
! [[Stop consonant|Stop]]
| style="border-right:0; width:25px;"|{{IPA link|p}}||rowspan=2 style="border-left: 0; width:25px;"|{{IPA link|b}}
| style="border-right:0; width:25px;"|{{IPA link|t̪|t}}|| rowspan="2" style="border-left:0; width:25px;"|{{IPA link|d̪|d}} 
| style="border-right:0; width:25px;"| || rowspan="2" style="border-left:0; width:25px;"| 
| style="border-right:0; width:25px;"|{{IPA link|tʃ}}|| rowspan="2" style="border-left:0; width:25px;"|{{IPA link|ʝ}}
| style="border-right:0; width:25px;"|{{IPA link|k}}|| rowspan="2" style="border-left:0; width:25px;"|{{IPA link|ɡ}}
|-
! [[Continuant]]
|style="border-right: 0;"|{{IPA link|f}}
|style="border-right: 0;"|{{IPA link|θ}}*
|style="border-right: 0;"|{{IPA link|s}}
|style="border-right: 0;"|({{IPA link|ʃ}})
|style="border-right: 0;"|{{IPA link|x}}
|-
! [[Lateral consonant|Lateral]]
| colspan=2 |
| colspan=2 |
|style="border-right: 0;"| ||style="border-left: 0;"|{{IPA link|l}}
|style="border-right: 0;"| ||style="border-left: 0;"|{{IPA link|ʎ}}*
| colspan=2 |
|-
! [[Flap consonant|Flap]]
| colspan=2 |
| colspan=2 |
|style="border-right: 0;"| ||style="border-left: 0;"|{{IPA link|ɾ}}
| colspan=2 |
| colspan=2 |
|-
! [[Trill consonant|Trill]]
| colspan=2 |
| colspan=2 |
|style="border-right: 0;"| ||style="border-left: 0;"|{{IPA link|r}}
| colspan=2 |
| colspan=2 |
|}