Canarian speech is characterized by the aspiration of /s/ at the end of a syllable, as in expressions like /loh mucháchoh/ or /lah níñah/. This feature, present in most speakers, can even shift the aspiration to the beginning of the following syllable when the subsequent word starts with a vowel, leading to pronunciations such as /lo hárboles/.
Additionally, the aspiration of the consonant /r/ is observed when it precedes /n/ or /l/, especially in the eastern islands and La Gomera, with examples like /cáhne/ and /cáhloh/. The old palatal fricative sound /sh/, which evolved into the 'jota' in Castilian Spanish, is also aspirated, resulting in /dího/ and /hémir/. Finally, the initial /f/ of certain popular words is also aspirated, similar to old Castilian, as in /hiribílla/ and /hedióndo/.
Human languages are governed by the law of least effort. If the speaker can convey their message with two words, they do not use three.
Although criticized by some purists, these aspirations have an idiomatic justification. Since the 19th century, it has been recognized that languages tend towards relaxation and shortening to facilitate communication, especially in cohesive communities where part of the information is already implicit in the shared context.
Aspiration acts as a phonetic relaxation mechanism, reducing various sounds to a mere 'noise produced by the friction of air with the vocal folds when they are very close but not closed.' This phenomenon has occurred in various languages throughout history, such as ancient Greek, Vulgar Latin in old Castile, and French, where the final /s/ of a syllable was aspirated. In the Spanish of the Canary Islands, Andalusia, and the lowlands of America, aspiration is a fundamental characteristic that differentiates these relaxed speech modalities from tense speech, such as Castilian Spanish.
This phonetic process is not a degeneration or 'laziness' of speakers, but a catalyst that regulates pronunciation, eliminating the superfluous and optimizing articulatory energy. In Gran Canarian speech, for example, the aspiration of the final /s/ of a syllable has reinforced sounds like /b/, /d/, /g/, and /y/, creating new tense sonorities that are distinctive of the region and nearby areas such as Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.
