Costa Rican Spanish

The distinguishing characteristics of Costa Rican phonetics include the following:

• Assibilation of the "double-R" phoneme in some speakers (spelled ⟨r⟩ word-initially and ⟨rr⟩ intervocalically), especially in rural areas, resulting in a voiced alveolar sibilant (/z/)—thus ropa [ˈʐopa] ("clothing"), carro [ˈkaʐo] ("car"). Assibilation also affects the sequence /tɾ/, giving it a sound that is similar to [tʃ].[3][4]
• The double-R phoneme and the single-R phoneme after a t, can also be realized as voiced alveolar approximant [ɹ] by the majority of speakers, with a sound similar to the /r/ of American English.[5] Thus ropa [ˈɹopa] ("clothing"), carro [ˈkaɹo] ("car") and cuatro ['kwatɹo] ("four"). Except before a consonant (this does not apply to all speakers) in which case is pronounced as a voiced alveolar trill [r] . Thus puerta [ˈpwerta] ("door"), guardar [ɡwarˈðaɹ] ("to save").

Note: This does not apply to the single-R phoneme which is typically pronounced as an alveolar tap [ɾ] as in most varieties of Spanish.

• Velarization of word-final /n/ (before a pause or a vowel), i.e. pronunciation as the velar nasal [ŋ].[6][7]
• /ʝ/ can be lost in contact with the front vowels /e/ and /i/.[8][9]
• The Costa Rican dialect adopted the voiceless alveolar affricate [t͡s] and the cluster [tl] (originally /tɬ/) represented by the respective digraphs ⟨tz⟩ and ⟨tl⟩ in loanwords of Nahuatl origin, for example quetzal and tlapalería [t͡ɬapaleˈɾia] ('hardware store'). Even words of Greek and Latin origin with ⟨tl⟩, such as Atlántico and atleta, are pronounced with /tl/: [aˈtlantiko], [aˈtleta] (compare [aðˈlantiko], [aðˈleta] in Spain and other dialects in Hispanic America[10]).
• Syllable-final /s/ is only infrequently aspirated, or pronounced as an [h], among middle-class speakers in central Costa Rica. It may be aspirated most often at the end of a word and before another word which begins in a vowel, but /s/ still occurs most of the time. Costa Rica's border regions with Nicaragua and Panama show higher rates of /s/-reduction.[11]
• The phoneme represented by ⟨j⟩, /x/, is typically just a weak aspiration, like [h]. In words like trabajo 'work' it can barely be heard.[12]

Costa Ricans are colloquially called "ticos" (based on the frequent use of the diminutive ending -ico following a /t/, as in momentico),[14] and thus colloquial expressions characteristic of Costa Rica are called tiquismos. Tiquismos and pachuquismos are used frequently in Costa Rica. The latter are expressions of popular street Spanish which can be considered vulgar and offensive if used in the wrong context. Many of these words, even when found in a standard Spanish dictionary, do not have the same meaning there as in Costa Rica. Learning colloquial expressions can be a guide to understanding the humor and character of the Costa Rican culture.[15][16]

Here are some examples of Costa Rican slang.

• Mae, ese chante es muy tuanis: "Dude, that house is pretty cool".
• Esta panta no me cuadra porque me chima las piernas: "I don’t like these shorts because they chafe my legs".
• ¡Qué taco me dio esa vara!: "That thing really scared me!"

• Canfield, D. Lincoln (1981), Spanish Pronunciation in the Americas, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0-226-09262-1
• Howard, Christopher (2010), Christopher Howard's Official Guide to Costa Rican Spanish, Miami: Costa Rica Books, ISBN 978-1-881233-87-9
• Lipski, John M. (1994), Latin American Spanish, Longman, ISBN 978-0-582-08761-3
• Lipski, John M. (2008). "Central American Spanish in the United States". Varieties of Spanish in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. pp. 142–149. ISBN 9781589012134.
• Navarro Tomás, Tomás (2004). Manual de pronunciación española (24 ed.). Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. ISBN 9788400070960.

• Jergas de habla hispana (Spanish dictionary specializing in slang and colloquial expressions, featuring all Spanish-speaking countries, including Costa Rica).

• Latin American Spanish