Cuban Spanish

High school (ages 12+)
People & Society

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/cuban-spanish

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the primary geographic origin?Cuba, with significant diaspora presence in the United States (especially Florida)
2. What is the lexical influences?Spanish, West African languages, and indigenous Taíno
3. Why does Cuban Spanish sound different from Spanish spoken in Spain?People in Cuba were separated from Spain and mixed Spanish with words from African and Taíno languages, making its sounds change.
4. How do people in Cuba pronounce the letter "s" at the end of a word?In Cuban Spanish, the final "s" can become a soft [h] sound or sometimes disappear, so "los dos" can sound like "loh dóh".

Coda Weakening: The reduction or loss of consonant sounds at the end of syllables or words.
Seseo: The pronunciation of 's', 'z', and 'c' (before e/i) with the /s/ sound.
Linguistic Diaspora: The spread of a language or dialect by people who have moved away from their original homeland.