Choral Public Domain Library

A question related to the earlier topic "Renaissance Spanish translation", related to the same song in fact, but now I'd like to know about pronunciation.
During rehearsal last night, we were debating which form of Spanish we should be using to sing "A Un Nino Llorando".
The male vocal group Chanticleer is singing it in South American Spanish (e.g. Llorando becomes SHorando instead of Yorando).
My argument is that 16th Century Spanish is likely to be closer to Catalan Spanish, while others argue that Catalan Spanish may have evolved into its present form, and that the South and Central Americans speak Spanish the way it used to be.

Are there any linguists around who can shed some light on this issue?

Thanks very much,
Frank

Hi Frank! I don't know why Chanticleer chose to sing it with such a pronunciation, but I'm quite sure that there's not such a thing as a Catalan Spanish. Catalan is not a variety of Castilian, it's a quite different language with an independent development from Latin, and its pronunciation is much closer to the languages of the Gallo-Romance linguistic branch (French, Occitan, Franco-Provençal etc.)

For this specific song, if you don't find a specialist in medieval Castilian, I suggest that your group sing it in modern Castilian (with the central Spain standard pronunciation).

Best regards
Carlos

Castillian, yes of course. Too fast with the keyboard and too slow with the brain!
I suspect Chanticleer sings it like they do because they're Californian and enjoy major Mexican influence?
Thanks for your suggestion. That's what I ll take to my next rehearsal!

Oh, you were thinking of Castilian Spanish! It all makes sense now

Here's a site I've found with some reconstructed pronunciations of Old Spanish (Castilian), you may find it useful. It's a pity they don't have the sound for "ll".

http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/santiago/osppron.html

Regards,
Carlos

That's terrific. Thanks, Carlos!

Hello to all

I don't know much about this subject, but I presume that the pronounciation could be related to Galician-Portuguese, which used to be the language of culture in the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. I don't know if the Castillian derives from this language (Galician-Portuguese).

Castillian also used to be the language of culture in the Iberian Penninsula during the Philipine dynasty, when Portugal was under Spanish domine.

This is just a contribution, I don't have prooved facts...

Greetings

L.H.