The Glides or Semiconsonants
A glide is a consonant characterized by a continued gliding motion of the articulators into a sort of vowel-producing position. They are also known as semiconsonants or semivowels.
A glide is characterized by having consonant features as well as vowel characteristics. That is, at the beginning of a syllable, they behave as consonants. But immediately after a vowel, they behave as vowels forming dipththongs.
| Sound | English | Spanish |
| /y/ | Voiced Palatal Glide | 1. Spanish speakers in general have a voiced palatal glide, but 2. Costa Rican Spanish speakers do not have a /y/-semiconsonant sound. This is usually confused with a /dʒ/-sound. |
| /w/ | Voiced Bilabial Glide | 1. Spanish speakers do have /w/ in words such as hueso. 2. It is very common to find speakers who include a /g/ right before a /w/ = /gw/. Ex: /gwɪ:n/ |
As you have noticed Spanish speakers do have trouble pronouncing these sounds. However, extra work on these semiconsonants is necessary to reduce your accent.
| | yell = /yɛ:ǝl/ |
| yard = /ya:rd/ | |
| young = /yʌ:ŋ/ | |
| youth = /yuwϴ/ | |
| year = /yɪ:ǝr/ | |
| yellow = /’yɛǝlow/ | |
| yolk = /yowk/ | |
| mayor = /’mɛyǝr/ |
Chart 1
| /w/ | wood = /wʊ:d/ |
| women = /’wɪmɪn/ | |
| word = /wʌ:rd/ | |
| wait = /weyt/ | |
| wine = /way:n/ | |
| wig = /wɪ:g/ | |
| well = /wɛ:ǝl/ | |
| witch = /wɪtʃ/ |
Chart 2
