Genetics of Spanish vocabulary

Posted by Amit Schandillia at 2:33 AM

The most essential part of the Spanish vocabulary is derived from Vulgar Latin. Thousands of words from classical Latin were included in the Spanish vocabulary with the development of the literary language.

Some words were borrowed from the languages of the pro-Roman inhabitants of the Iberian peninsula (the Iberians and the Celtiberians). The invasion of the Visigoths early in the 5th century AD introduced a few Germanic words; those of them which were beginning with w- received a prothetic g-, e.g., Gmc. werra war -> Sp. guerra.

The Muslim conquest in the 8th century later brought in a large number of Arabic words, many of which are easily detected by their polysyllabic structure (e.g., berenjena aubergine) or by the prefixed Arabic article al- (e.g., alcalde mayor, alfil officer, almohada pillow etc.)

Under the influence, beginning in the 11th century, of French ecclesiastics and pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, the Spanish vocabulary was appreciably augmented by words and phrases from French. During the 15th and 16th centuries an infusion of elements from the Italian occurred because of Aragonese domination in Italy and the great vogue of Italian poetry in Spain. Relations between Spain and its colonies and possessions have led to the introduction of terms from Native American languages and other sources, and scholarly activities have constantly increased the stock of borrowed words.

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Spanish language phonology and vocabulary skills

Posted by Amit Schandillia at 1:23 AM

Here, we are going to do a little autopsy of the Spanish phonology and understand how it can help us improve our vocabulary effortlessly and more naturally. Words retained this way tend to retain for longer.

Spanish has simplified the Vulgar Latin vocal system to only 5 open vowels (as in Classic Latin) -- a, e, i, o, u -- that are pronounced clearly and without reduction in both stressed and unstressed positions. The vowels, that are short in Classic Latin, diphthongize when stressed in Spanish, except for a:

CL porta door -> Sp. puerta,

CL herba grass -> Sp. hierba.

The long and stressed vowels, e, o are replaced by i, u, and the short and unstressed vowels i, u, by e, o:

CL fêci (I) did -> Sp. hice.

The accent may fall on the ultimate, penultimate or antepenultimate syllable. Its place is recognizable from orthography. As compared with the accent of Classical Latin, it shows a tendency to move towards a syllable containing –r:

CL tenebrae darkness -> Sp. tinieblas.

The Latin consonants p, t, c between vowels are voiced to b, d, g in Spanish:

CL apotheca (th=t) store-room -> Sp. bodega.

The intervocalic -d- disappears (CL cadere to fall -> Sp. Caer), and the intervocalic -g- may disappear or become a glide sound [j] written y (CL legere to read -> Sp. Leer; CL reges kings -> Sp. Reyes), while the intervocalic -b- is preserved, but tends to become aspirated as v (CL habere to have -> Sp. haber).

The initial f- is replaced by a mute h-:

CL facere to do -> Sp. hacer.

The consonant clusters ct, lt are transformed to ch (act to ech):

CL octo eight -> Sp. ocho,
CL multu (m) much, many -> Sp. mucho,
CL lactuca lettuce -> Sp. lechuga.

The clusters cl, fl, pl are palatalized to ll:

CL clamo (I) call -> Sp. llamo,
CL flama flame -> Sp. llama,
CL ploro (I) weep -> Sp. lloro.

The clusters ali, eli, ili, oli, uli are transformed to aj, ej, ij, oj, uj:

CL alium garlic -> Sp. ajo,
CL filius son -> Sp. hijo,
CL mulier woman -> Sp. mujer, etc.

The clusters lr, mr, nr are divided by epenthetic -b- or -d- and become ldr, mbr, ndr, as in:

venir to come + he (I) have -> vendré (I) will come.

The words beginning with s- followed by a consonant (s impure) receive a prothetic e-:

CL stare to stand -> Sp. estar.

With this insight into the fundamental structure of Spanish and its semblance to Latin, the parent language of all Romance languages and a major contributor to the English vocabulary, you will be able to understand the anatomy of Spanish vocabulary better and enhance your vocabulary more naturally. Given that many English words derive from Latin and Latin is a direct predecessor of Spanish, you will, more often than not, discover Spanish words that have not-so-distant cousins in the English language too! Makes learning easier?

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Visualize and improve your vocabulary in 10 minutes!

Posted by Amit Schandillia at 9:02 AM

In continuation with a previous article on visualization for vocabulary, here are 10 more words with their visual tags to help you further boost your vocabulary of the Spanish language. Remember, this technique is effective only if you can relate the visual image with the word and the meaning given below.

cuaderno notebook (picture a Tai Kwan Do class where they kick through a notebook instead of a board)

dama lady (in English, we also call’em dame, don’t we?)

daño damage, harm (imagine the Danish Vikings on a rampage)

despertarse to wake up (imagine being desperate to save your arse after seeing a bad nightmare)

echar to throw, to pour (imagine throwing charcoal)

edad age (you must respect your dad for his age!)

fábrica factory (what is a factory, after all? A place to fabricate goods!)

fácil easy (I have just facilitated your learning Spanish, made it easier, by writing this guide, haven’t I?)

feo ugly (few people are uglier than transvestites, don’t ya agree?)

gafas glasses (imagine saying, glasses, with a lisp and cold. Funny, ain’t it?)

If you don't remember all the words given above within 10 minutes, you are probably not focusing on the visual image or maybe, you should customize your own image with more details, colors, or vividness.

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