B or V? When spelling has a say
Why two Spanish letters sound the same – and why we sometimes still want to pronounce them differently.
Spanish writes ⟨b⟩ and ⟨v⟩, yet both letters stand for the same sound. That is unfamiliar to learners – and it tempts them to follow the spelling. The listening comparisons show what this sounds like.
Listening comparison: bienes – vienes
What stands out about the initial sounds of bienes and vienes?
Reference speaker
Mexico · W92
Reference speaker
Chile · W92
Solution: What can be heard? Hide solution
Both reference speakers pronounce bienes (“goods”) and vienes (“you come”, from venir) alike: [ˈbje.nes]. The words are homophones – without context there is no telling which one is meant.
Two letters, one sound
The spellings ⟨b⟩ and ⟨v⟩ go back to Latin words with b and v (beber < Lat. bibere, vivir < Lat. vivere). In Spanish, their pronunciation has merged: both letters stand for the phoneme /b/. Which spelling a word has can therefore not be heard but has to be learned word by word – even for pairs such as barón – varón or botar – votar.
⟨b⟩ / ⟨v⟩ → /b/
When two letters become two sounds
The expectation that different letters must denote different sounds is familiar from other languages – and it can guide pronunciation. One example:
Listening comparison: barón – varón
Does the initial sound of the two words differ in the recordings?
Reference speaker
MAR.ELE
Learner
MAR.ELE
The reference speaker pronounces barón and varón alike: [baˈɾon]. In the learner’s recording, by contrast, varón gets a sound of its own: [vaˈʁon] instead of [baˈʁon]. Here the pronunciation follows the spelling – a case of spelling pronunciation.
Listening comparison: bienes – vienes
How is the v in vienes pronounced?
Reference speaker
Mexico · W92
Learner
L1 German · W92
Which sound is actually heard does not depend on the letter, by the way, but on the context: after a pause or a nasal, the phoneme /b/ is usually realised as the stop [b], elsewhere as the approximant [β] – vino [ˈbi.no], but de vino [de.ˈβi.no]. More on this on the topic page b, d and g: Pronounced too hard?.
Classroom prompts
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Listen first, then read
Play words such as bienes and vienes first without showing the spelling. Then reveal the spellings and discuss which pronunciation the spelling would lead one to expect.
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Question the spelling consciously
Use bienes – vienes and barón – varón to show that different letters do not automatically mean different sounds – and consider how pronunciations that follow the spelling arise (spelling pronunciation).
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Writing causes difficulties too
Take up the reverse direction. If two letters sound the same, the spelling has to be learned word by word. A comparison with German can illustrate this, for example the child’s misspelling Fater instead of Vater (meant as an illustration, not as an empirical finding). In Spanish, tubo / tuvo is an option, provided the vocabulary suits the group.
Further exploration
Further chapters of the digital textbook and the scholarly background.
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Orthography in the digital textbook
Why ⟨b⟩ and ⟨v⟩ cannot be derived systematically – with the audio examples barón and varón (in German). Learn more →
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Error linguistics in the digital textbook
How the assumption that letters must represent sounds explains pronunciation errors (spelling interference; in German). Learn more →
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Pronunciation in the digital textbook
How /b/ is pronounced as [b] or [β] depending on context (in German). Learn more →
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Tacke (2020): Spanish: Orthography and Orthoepy
Scholarly chapter on orthography, orthoepy and spelling pronunciation in Spanish, in Manual of Standardization in the Romance Languages (De Gruyter). View publication →