"La boca" in Rabiosa

Question

Is it just me, or do Shakira, El Cata, and Pitbull all say "la boca" in a different way? Maybe I'm just hearing things, but I swear it's not the same.

I know that the Spanish b sounding like an English v is one of the topics that has been discussed a million times on SpanishDict, but is this just one of those things that varies by what Spanish speaking region you are from? Shakira is from Colombia, Pitbull is Cuban but was born in America, and El Cata is from the Dominican Republic.

Rabiosa (here is where Shakira and El Cata say it) El Cata first says it at 0:27

Rabiosa (here is where Shakira and Pitbull say it) Shakira first says it at 0:28, and Pitbull first says it at 1:18

Please correct me if I am mistaken, but I swear, it sounds different to me!

Answer 1

I have heard these versions before, but didn't pay much attention to any differences. I have heard the word "la boca" spoken numerous times by my friends from Mexico, Chile, The Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, but have never noticed much of a regional difference.

The only thing I do hear is that in the English version with Pitbull, when they say "your boca", the letter "b" is pronounced in the same way that we say it in English. Maybe that is what you are hearing. However, whenever it is said with "la" in front of it rather than "your", I don't notice much difference between the versions or singers.

Who knows, maybe someone else will have a different opinion.

That's probably it, Nicole, thanks so much :) - SonrisaDelSol, Sep 17, 2011