Seseo like all of the Americas, but with the consonants kept firm: s is never aspirated, and the accent is famous for the opposite — the vowels shrink and the consonants stay. 'Pues' comes out as 'ps'. The intonation is quieter and the rhythm slower than Spain's.
Where: Mexico — central variety
Anything the spelling engine can transcribe, the accent can move. Slow it down to hear the shape.
Lower pitch and a narrower range than Spain; the rhythm slows and unstressed vowels shorten almost to nothing, so consonant clusters pile up. A characteristic rise-fall on the last stressed syllable.
In the order the mouth applies them. Every before-and-after is playable — click the IPA. The pattern is the rule as the engine runs it, for the curious.
θ → sHow: A plain s. Tongue tip behind the teeth, not between them.
Seseo. The whole of Latin America, and Andalusia, never had the lisped c. It is a Castilian innovation of the 1500s that the colonies left before it arrived.
| Word | Reference | Accent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| cinco | |||
| zapato | |||
| casa | unchanged — 'casa' and 'caza' are now one word |
ʎ → ʝHow: Say y as in 'yes'. The tongue does not touch the roof of the mouth along the sides.
Yeísmo. The palatal l of the spelling survives only in parts of the north and the Andes; everywhere else it has become the y of 'yo'.
| Word | Reference | Accent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| calle | now identical to 'caye' | ||
| lluvia |
(s)(?=[pbtdkɡqʔmnɲŋɴfvθðszʃʒɕʂʐçxχɣʁħʕhβʝlʎɹrɾjwɥʈɖɳɽʋɦ]|$| ) → $1This is a rule that changes nothing, and that is the point: Mexico is the Spanish where the final s is safe. Miss it and you sound Caribbean.
| Word | Reference | Accent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| esto | unchanged — contrast the Caribbean and the River Plate | ||
| los |
Other accents of Spanish: Castilian · Rioplatense · Andalusian / Caribbean · all accents