# 1.3 Word-final stops

Word-finally, the only stop that occurs in Spanish words is /d/ e.g. Madrid. It is normally pronounced as an interdental fricative [ð], or simply deleted if the word is more than one syllable long “Madrí”.

For higher levels: in Northern Peninsular Spanish it is pronounced voiceless [θ]     “Madriz”; in Catalonia and some areas of Spanish America, it is pronounced [t] “Madrit”.

All the other stops occur in borrowings only and their pronunciation is word-specific. The English word pub, for instance, is normally pronounced [paf], clubis [kluβ] or [klu].

For higher levels: word-internal syllable-final codas in Spanish are not too common and their pronunciation varies. The word doctor, for instance, can be pronounced [dokˈtor] or [doxˈtor], [doɣˈtor]. In some dialects it might appear as a long t. In most dialects in colloquial speech, stops in this context are simply deleted. In other dialects they might be reduced to a velar realisation.

OpenLearn - Teaching Spanish pronunciation
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