la aspiradora - pronunciation
la aspiradora
When I listen to Antonio say this, the la and the word seem to sound like one word and sounds like laspiradora.
Is that the way I should pronounce it? Or should I try to say the la separately?
Rachel
3 Answers
Laspiradora is exactly how it should be pronounced. This is called elision. It occurs in Spanish whenever a word ending with a vowel is followed by another word that starts with the same vowel.
In my experience, there is no language in which words are normally pronounced in isolation. People speak in phrases (breath groups) not words and, as a result, run words together (within the phrase).
This may actually be worse in English. For instance, "what are you" is perhaps the most butchered phrase of all. When I am speaking, I may say "wuhyuh" (said very quickly, and I'm amazed anybody understands it, but they do)...or "whatchya" (typical southern US fare).
Consider the sentence, "What are you trying to do?"
I would say, "Wuh-yuh tryin'(d)a-do?"
Sometimes the "t" in "to" almost makes it into a d sound...sometimes it doesn't make it at all. I just recently started analyzing my around-the-house speech. I'm astounded at how fast and slurred it is. Even more amazing is that people understand it.
In many situations, I purposely slow my speech down and speak more evenly (I'm a telephone customer service operator...gotta be understood).
In my experience, there is no language in which words are normally pronounced in isolation. People speak in phrases (breath groups) not words and, as a result, run words together (within the phrase).
