Do Spanish use the glottal stop?
Do Spanish speakers use the glottal stop [?] in their speech? Especially in word-initial position as in "Amigo".
As you know, Spanish has only five vowels and the schwa sound is not one of them. When transcribing "amigo", for example, the only sound that may fit there is the glottal stop.
[?migu]
[?æ?ks]!!
3 Answers
It looks like the answer is no. See this reference.
If you check the Spanish version of the same Wikipedia article, you will find the following information:
[E]n español aparece en ciertas variedades andaluzas como realización de una /s/ ante oclusiva (e.g. esta tarde [??tha ta??e]). También es típico de la zona de Canarias donde se produce un fenómeno similar en palabras terminadas en /s/ o con la /s/ anteoclusiva, y del español rioplatense (sólo en posición anteoclusiva, no en las finales).
This translates roughly to:
In Spanish [the glottal stop] appears in certain Andalusian varieties as the realization of an /s/ before an occlusive (e.g. esta tarde [??tha ta??e]). Similarly, the glottal stop is also typical in areas of the Canary Islands where it is produced in words that end in /s/ or in words in which the /s/ occurs before an occlusive. In Rioplatense (Spanish spoken in the Río de la Plata basin area of South America) the glottal stop is similar to that found in the Andalusian variety.
So, if this Wikipedia article is to be trusted, it seems that the answer to your question is yes--yes, the glottal stop is found in certain varieties of Spanish.
It looks like the answer is no. See this reference.
No Spanish doesn't use glottal stop.
