Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Belizean Spanish

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Glottolog
  
None

IETF
  
es-PR

Native speakers
  
170,000 all dialects of Spanish (2011)

Language family
  
Indo-European Italic Romance Western Ibero-Romance West Iberian Spanish Belizean Spanish

Writing system
  
Latin (Spanish alphabet)

Belizean Spanish (Spanish: español beliceño) is the dialect of Spanish spoken in Belize. It is similar to Caribbean Spanish, Andalusian Spanish, and Canarian Spanish. While English is the only official language of Belize, Spanish is the common language of majority (62.8%), wherein 174,000 (43% of Belizeans) speak some variety of Spanish as a native language. Belizean Spanish is spoken by Belizean-born mestizos and Belizean-born citizens of pure Spanish blood. Belizeans of Guatemalan, Honduran, Mexican (including Mexican Mennonites), Nicaraguan, and Salvadoran (including Salvadoran Mennonites) descent may speak different dialects of Spanish, but since they all grow up in Belize, they all adopt the local accent.

Phonology

  • The presence of Seseo wherein /s/ and /θ/ are pronounced as [s]. Seseo is common to Andalusian and Canarian Spanish varieties.
  • /s/ at the end of a syllable or before a consonant is realized as glottal [h].
  • /x/ is realized as glottal [h].
  • Intervocalic /b, d/ and /g/ show no sign of lenition to approximants.
  • There is no confusion between /l/ and /r/, as in the Caribbean.
  • As Belize is bordered by Mexico and was inhabited by Mayan and Nahuatl peoples, Belizean dialect adopted the voiceless alveolar affricate [t͡s] and the cluster [tl] (originally /tɬ/) represented by the respective digraphs <tz> and <tl> in loanwords of Nahuatl origin, quetzal and tlapalería [t͡ɬapaleˈɾia] ('hardware store'). Even words of Greek and Latin origin with <tl>, such as Atlántico and atleta, are pronounced with the affricate: [aˈtlãn̪t̪iko̞], [aˈtle̞t̪a] (compare [aðˈlãn̪t̪iko̞], [aðˈle̞t̪a] in Spain and other dialects in Hispanic America).
  • Aside from [ɾ], [r], and [l], syllable-final /r/ can be realized as [ɹ], an influence of British English to Belizean dialect; "verso"' (verse) becomes [ˈbeɹso], aside from [ˈbeɾso], [ˈberso], or [ˈbelso], "invierno" (winter) becomes [imˈbjeɹno], aside from [imˈbjeɾno], [imˈbjerno], or [imˈbjelno], and "parlamento" (parliament) becomes [paɹlaˈmento], aside from [paɾlaˈmento], [parlaˈmento], or [palaˈmento]. In word-final position, /r/ will usually be;
  • either a trill, a tap, approximant, [l], or elided when followed by a consonant or a pause, as in amo[r ~ ɾ ~ ɹ ~ l] paterno 'paternal love', amor [aˈmo]) (elided word-final /r/ is almost similar to British English),
  • a tap, approximant, or [l] when the followed by a vowel-initial word, as in amo[ɾ~ ɹ ~ l] eterno 'eternal love').

    • References

    Belizean Spanish Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA