Spanish Music Lyrics and Grammar

Cafe Society
1

Hi SD,

I have posted before about Spanish language and culture. As someone who has some facility with the language (can speak better than can understand), I find it fascinating. I enjoy learning everything I can.

I recently took a trip to the Dominican Republic, and found myself at one point in a disco. It was there I was exposed to a lot of Spanish speaking disco hits. We’re talking Danza Kuduro, Vivir Mi Vida, La Mano Pa’ Arriba, etc.

While I enjoy the music, I can’t help but wondering if it’s any more difficult to understand Spanish language when sung or spoken really fast, in comparison to other languages.

There are several reasons I say this:

  1. In Spanish lots of words have similar endings. I’m not only talking about conjugated verbs. Endings like “-ito,” and “-ita,” for example, are diminutives used so often for rhyming phrases. In the context of merengue or other fast music, you basically only have one or two syllables to get what the word is—chiquito? Carrito? Palito? Perrito?

  2. Another issue is the constant dropping of consonants. Para becomes Pa’ for example. This may have to do with the type of Spanish. I noticed a lot of Dominican Spanish is very light on consonants.“Esto” becomes “Eh-to”. “Como estas” becomes “Comota.” It makes it very difficult to understand if you’re not native. I also noticed the elision of d–pronouncing cansado as cansao. etc, plus other elided phrases.

  3. There are distinct differences in types of Spanish. I am given to understand for example that Spanish from Spain has a lot of “th” “Como Ethtath”. They also use vosotros, correct? Not all countries do. My girlfriend’s family, from El Salvador, has never once used that pronoun. Is it easier for English speakers to understand a different dialect of English than it is for Spanish speakers to understand a different dialect of Spanish? At least in my experience, English speakers from different places (Australia, England, Canada, USA, etc), have more difference in terms of accent than actual pronunciation of the language. My hypothesis is that there are more forms of Spanish than English, and if you’re not a native of the speaker’s area, region or country, it might affect your understanding of it to a more significant degree.

  4. I also find the syllables fly by because Spanish in general focuses more on the vowels than other languages, such as English, German, etc. In a Spanish sentence, you’ll often find a more equal ratio of vowels to consonant clusters. For example, from Danza Kuduro,

Quien Puede Domar La Fuerza Del Mal Que Se Mete Por Tus Venas Lo Caliente Del Sol Que Se Te Metió Y No Te Deja Quieta, Nena Quien Puede Parar Eso Que Al Bailar Descontrola Tus Caderas

There’s a kind of lilt to it, with more of an emphasis on the vowels. I just wonder if Spanish speakers hearing it (and other songs like it) for the first time would understand, having less consonants to grab on to.

  1. The speed and the percussive quality of Latin music.

6.The inclusion of a lot of information in a short phrase. To me there is a quality of the language that enables it to provide a lot more information using fewer words.

In English, my native language, rap is the closest we have to quickly spoken phrases in music. I find it pretty easy to catch lyrics if I’m listening hard.

I don’t wish to malign Spanish or Spanish speakers or compare unfavorably to English at all.

I only wonder if there is a real impact on comprehension of the language (within music, and in general) because of the reasons listed above, and if it is an actual quality of Spanish itself or of the way it’s spoken.

I for one find Spanish a beautiful language, certainly more so than my clunky English. I just ask about comprehension, both in Spanish music, and in general conversation.

Any input is appreciated. I always love hearing from Spanish speakers and experts.

Dave

2

That’s very common in Cuban Spanish. Maybe something similar going on in the DR.

That’s because English is your native language. Note how common it is for rap to drop consonants.

3

I think the issue is more that Spanish is syllable-timed and English (which I assume is your native language) is stress-timed. After all, English has over 20 vowels (depending on how you define it), while Spanish has only five, so the immediate assumption would be that in Spanish they’re easier to differentiate.

4

I am also a native English speaker with an interest (and some fair ability) in Spanish.

The dropping of -s is common in all the Caribbean dialects.

It’s true that some dialects of Spanish spoken in Spain do have a soft “th” sound, although you wouldn’t hear it in Como estas? The “th” only replaces soft c or z, never an "s’. Also correct that Spain is the only place you will regularly hear the vosotros.

To your larger question, my guess is that the divergence of Spanish dialects is about on par with the diversity of English dialects. I have been with diverse groups of Spanish speakers in social situations, and they converse, each in their own dialect, without difficulty, except for the occasional “oh, is that how you say it in …?”

5

Pronunciation-wise… no, it is not difficult to understand. Especially nowadays when in mainstream media you have so many people from different areas. Yea I never used the vos form, but it is taught at school.

The changes has more to do with slang and local vocabulary than with accent. And as an English speaker but not native… it is far more difficult to me to get various accents in English than in Spanish.

6

Correct, and for the most part, it is not wrong to do, or at least it used to not be wrong to do. I must check recent changes to see if this stands.

Correct.

Yes, this is how it goes. Only if a lot of local words are used do you need to stop and explain.

7

The only thing I’ve noticed is that every other sentence must contain the word corazon.

8

Clarifying, the “th” is only in the soft c or z sounds, as it was/is used to distinguish the consonants. I don’t think it is a replacement so much as that is how it originally was (or what was accepted as “proper” at some point), but use of the seseo (use of the s sound instead, what you commonly hear) extended such that seseo is considered correct and the distinction between soft c, z, and s is only kept in some dialects (and is also a valid pronunciation). ¿*Cómo estás? *will always sound the same, but words like *cazar *and zapato may vary with the dialect. The only place during childhood I encountered the distinction was during dictation in Spanish class, when the teacher wanted us to write (spell) the word correctly (caza/casa would sound the same, for example).

There are some groups that do use ceceo, which is what piano mentioned, where the s is pronounced like the soft c or z, but those groups are less common than the ones who practice seseo. And they’re restricted to Spain.