{"id":94,"date":"2015-02-27T20:56:29","date_gmt":"2015-02-27T20:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/romlg2015\/?page_id=94"},"modified":"2015-05-01T15:55:57","modified_gmt":"2015-05-01T15:55:57","slug":"video","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/romlg2015\/ketley\/video\/","title":{"rendered":"Video"},"content":{"rendered":"

Below are recordings of both the Old Spanish and the Modern Spanish of lines 16-39 of Cantar de Mio Cid<\/em>. Since there are notable differences in pronunciation between the two versions, an explanation of the pronunciation of the Old Spanish version is necessary.<\/p>\n

The most notable difference in pronunciation is due to a middle, medieval stage of evolution of palatal clusters; this stage is the affricate stage of evolution, during which time the text was composed.<\/p>\n

During this stage, graphemes such as “ce” and “ci,,” as well as “\u00e7” <\/em>(“c” with cedilla) with “a,” “o,” and “u” and the independent grapheme “z,” yield two possible phonemes. The first is the affricate alveolar voiceless [ts], and the second is the affricate alveolar voiced [dz]. The distinction between these two phonemes is the voicing feature: while [ts] is voiceless (the vocal cords are not vibrated during pronunciation), [dz] is voiced. [ts] arises when the sound is in a protected position in the word while [dz] is formed from a sound in an intervocalic, unprotected position. In Modern Spanish, these two sounds merge into [ts] and then further evolve into the fricative lingua-alveolar voiceless [s]. In some varieties of Spanish, though, the evolution yields the fricative lingua-dental voiceless [\u03b8].<\/p>\n

Another difference involves several palatal clusters arising from the graphemes of “j,” “ge” or “gi,” and “i.” These clusters yield two possible sounds, the fricative lingua-palatal voiceless [\u0283] (in a protected position) or the fricative lingua-palatal voiced [\u0292] (in an intervocalic, unprotected position). Again, the only difference between these two phonemes is the voicing feature. In Modern Spanish, both sounds yield the fricative velar voiceless [x].<\/p>\n

The last major relevant difference involves the palatal cluster “ll” [LL]. This cluster evolves to the fricative lateral palatal [\u028e] in Old Spanish before delaterizing to become the fricative palatal [j] in Modern Spanish.<\/p>\n