So Long, Diphthong!

In Costa Rica I have noticed the elimination of diphthongs in certain words. For example, the word achiote (crushed annato seeds made into a paste for red food coloring) is most often pronounced [achote], effectively cutting off the '-io-' diphthong.

This isn't the only strange vowel-related phenomenon I've encountered. I wrote about the weakening of strong vowels in my article, "Not the King's Spanish". Check it out.

Pura Vida,

Thomas