Pronunciation of "las" in "las redes sociales"

[luo-ning]

How is "las" pronounced in "las redes sociales"? Specifically, how is the ⟨⁠s⁠⟩ pronounced before the [⁠r⁠] in the next word? The sequence [⁠sr⁠] is quite difficult to pronounce, so it makes sense that it'd often be substituted for something else.

In the title of the Duolingo story Famosa en las redes sociales, it definitely doesn't sound like an [⁠s⁠] — it sounds to me more like the speaker is pronouncing a [⁠h⁠] sound: [⁠lah ˈre.ðes⁠ soˈsja.les⁠]. Here's the audio for the title on its own: https://stories-cdn.duolingo.com/audio/ ... 790a5c.mp3.

Is [⁠h⁠] an accurate rendering? If not, what's the actual pronunciation here? And how much does it vary between speakers?

[Cifi]

I think this is an aspired s. The Canarian Spanish uses it, and some Latinamerican countries, too, as far as I know (and at least the Canarian do it all the time, not just before certain consonants).

However, both female voices later in the story don't do this, they pronounce [las ˈre.ðes⁠ soˈsja.les], did you notice?

[luo-ning]

I think this is an aspired s.

Ahh I see, I kinda assumed "aspirated s" would mean [⁠sʰ⁠], but seems in the context of Spanish it just means ⟨⁠s⁠⟩ (or ⟨⁠c⁠⟩, ⟨⁠z⁠⟩) realized as [⁠h⁠].

However, both female voices later in the story don't do this, they pronounce [las ˈre.ðes⁠ soˈsja.les], did you notice?

I'm hearing [⁠h⁠] from Lin, but [⁠s⁠] from Bea (also in "tienes razón").

The Canarian Spanish uses it, and some Latinamerican countries, too, as far as I know (and at least the Canarian do it all the time, not just before certain consonants).

I found a great video on the regional variation in usage of aspirated s:

That channel also has a video on "sibilant r", which the author transcribes as [⁠ř⁠], which provides an alternative way to resolve the difficulty of pronouncing /sr/ — [⁠sř⁠].