Saltillo (linguistics)

Saltillo is a fancy word that linguists use to describe a special sound that some Spanish words have. It's kind of like a sneaky sound that only shows up in certain situations.

So, let's say you're speaking Spanish, and you come across a word like "casa" (which means "house"). Normally, you would pronounce it like "KAH-suh." But if that word happens to be at the beginning of a sentence, or if there's a pause before the word, something weird happens. Instead of saying "KAH-suh," you might say "HKAH-suh"! That little "H" sound at the beginning is the saltillo.

It might seem confusing, but think of it like a special code that Spanish words can follow. Whenever certain conditions are met (like being at the start of a sentence), that little "H" sound jumps in to signal the change. Linguists find this kind of thing fascinating, and it's just one of the many cool quirks you can find in different languages!