Spanish And English

1. Phonemic and phonological differences between Spanish and English

There are also some differences between the two languages that may interfere with English pronunciation (phonemic differences) and with decoding or spelling (phonological differences).

Perhaps the greatest difference between English and Spanish is that Spanish has only five vowel sounds while English has more than 14, depending on regional dialects. This is the reason Spanish speakers have difficulty differentiating between vowel phonemes in words like seat and sit. Both phonemes are pronounced differently from the Spanish sí (yes), which is pronounced somewhere between those two English phonemes. These differences also affect students' spelling.

Here are some other examples of possible interference from Spanish:

Here are a few differences between Spanish and English:

- The consonants: v, ll, h, j, r, rr, z, ñ, x

- Combinations in Spanish that are pronounced differently: que, qui, güe, güi. For example: the u is not pronounced unless it is written as ü; therefore, students may not be sure how to pronounce words like queen, quiet, or quick

- Quotation marks vs. dashes: "Come here," he said. –Ven aquí–le dijo.


Spanish does not have the following sounds (listed by category):

- Vowel diagraphs: ou, ow, eigh, au, aw, oo

- Consonant digraphs: sh, th, wh, ph

- Consonant blends: sl, sm, sts, scr, spr, str

- Initial sounds: kn, qu, wr, sk

- Final sounds: ck, ng, gh

- Endings: -ed (pronounced /d/ or /t/ or /ded/ or /ted/)

- Endings: -s (pronounced /s/ or /z/ or /ez/ or /es/)

- Endings without a vowel: -ps, -ts

- Suffixes/prefixes: un-, over-, under-, -ly, -ness, -ful, -est

- Contractions: don't, isn't, weren't, etc.