A linguistic question: comenzar => comencé
Why is the Yo form of the preterite tense of "comenzar" is "comencé" not "comenzé"? Doesn't "ce" and "ze" sound the same in Spanish? Why bother? Don't tell me just "do as Spanish-speaking people do." I hope I can get a detailed answer.
2 Answers
The following is my translation of the excellent essay in Spanish by “ampurdan” (user member identity) on Wordreference.com’s Spanish Language forum. It was posted in February of 2009. I could not come up with a smooth translation of the 4th paragraph (1 long sentence), but I think you will understand what I am trying to say and hopefully what the author intended.
I think that the reason is etymological. Creo que la razón es etimológica.
There was a time, in the Latin roots of the language that the “c” before “e” and “i” was pronounced like the “c” before “a”, “o” and “u” (that is to say like /k/). However, with the evolution of the language that “c” before “e” and “i” changed in pronunciation to a particular way (like a type of “ts”), the same sound was represented by “ç” before “a”, “o” and “u” (even though sometimes also before "e" and "i", the spelling was not as strict as nowadays). Because of that the “z” represented an very similar sound, but sounded like (“ds”) before all vowels. Besides there were written forms “s”, “ss” to represent the same sounds.
Hubo un tiempo, en las raíces latinas del idioma, que la "c" delante de "e" e "i" se pronunciaba como la "c" delante de "a", "o" y "u" (es decir, el fonema /k/). Sin embargo, con la evolución del idioma, esa "c" delante de "e" e "i" pasó a pronunciarse de distinta manera (como una especie de "ts"), el mismo sonido era representado por "ç" ante "a", "o" y "u" (aunque a veces también ante "e" e "i", la ortografía no era tan estricta como hoy). Para ese entonces "z" representaba un sonido muy parecido, pero sonorizado ("ds") ante todas las vocales. Aparte, existían las grafías "s", "ss" para representar sonidos parecidos.
Between the 15th and 17th century the medieval system changed and evolved in a distinct way in different zones where Spanish was spoken. In the north of Spain all these sounds combined to form 2 distinct sounds which came to be represented by “z/c” for one of them and “s” for the other.
Entre los siglos XV y XVII el sistema medieval cambió, y evolucionó de manera distinta en las distintas zonas en que se hablaba español. En el norte de España todos estos sonidos se agruparon en dos sonidos distintos que vinieron representados por "z/c" por un lado y "s" por el otro.
In the rest of the territories all those sounds ended up being pronounced in the same way, within a unique solution (if indeed the solution could have been distinct between different sites, they always shared pronouncing it in the same way).
En el resto de territorios, todos esos sonidos acabaron pronunciándose de la misma manera, con una única solución (si bien la solución podía ser distinta entre unos sitios y otros, tienen en común que siempre lo pronuncian de la misma manera).
During all that, in the 18th century the Royal Spanish Academy, which wanted to modernize the writing of the language, came on the scene. At that time, people were free enough to write and each was writing a little according to the usage with which he was accustomed, without a fixed standard (stable norm). Writing continued to conform to the medieval style (with "s", "ss", "z", "c/ç", etc.), even though the pronunciation had changed and most of these letters were pronounced the same.
En esas, en el siglo XVIII apareció la Real Academia Española, que quiso modernizar y normalizar la escritura del idioma. En esa época, existía bastante libertad para escribir y cada uno escribía un poco según el uso al que estaba acostumbrado, sin una norma estable. Se seguía escribiendo de acuerdo con el sistema medieval (con "s", "ss", "z", "c/ç", etc.), aunque la pronunciación había cambiado y muchas de esas letras se pronunciaban igual.
The Royal Academy, based in Madrid and taking the Spanish of Castile as the norm and intending to seek a balance between etymology and current pronunciation, reformed and simplified the written language. That which was pronounced like /th/ would be written “z” before “a”, “e” and “o” and “c” before “e” and “i”. The “s” sound would be written as such in all occurrences.
La Real Academia, radicada en Madrid y tomando el español de Castilla como norma e intentando buscar un equilibrio entre etimología y pronunciación actual, reformó y simplificó la escritura del idioma. Lo que en Castilla se pronunciaba como /th/, se escribiría "z" delante de "a", "e", "o" y como "c" delante de "e" e "i". El sonido sibilante se escribiría "s" en cualquier lugar.
The Academy could have said that the sound /th/ would be written “z” always and everywhere, but it was partly out to respect for the Latin etymology of the words (rather than the medieval etymology), and that is the system we have inherited.
La Academia podría haber dicho que el sonido /th/ se escribiría "z" siempre y en cualquier ubicación, pero fue parcialmente respetuosa con la etimología latina de las palabras (no con la medieval) y ese es el sistema que hemos heredado.
I am not a linguist and what I have explained is simply a summary of what I have read in various places and it might contain imprecisions and errors; but I hope I have answered you question and at least have given you some useful information.
No soy lingüista y lo que he explicado es simplemente un resumen de lo que he leído en varios sitios y puede contener imprecisiones y errores; pero espero haberte respondido o, por lo menos, haberte dado alguna información de utilidad.
The correct form is "comencé"
