Yeísmo

Main article: Spanish dialects and varieties

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Regions without opposition (yeísmo) and regions with opposition.

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Yeísmo (Spanish pronunciation: [ɟʝeˈizmo]) is a distinctive feature of many dialects of the Spanish language, which consists of the loss of the traditional palatal lateral approximant phoneme /ʎ/ (written ⟨ll⟩) and its merger into the phoneme /ʝ ~ ɟʝ/ (written ⟨y⟩), usually realized as a palatal approximant or affricate. In other words, ⟨ll⟩ and ⟨y⟩ represent the same sound /ʝ ~ ɟʝ/. The term yeísmo comes from the Spanish name of the letter ⟨y⟩ (ye). Nowadays over 90% of Spanish dialects exhibit this phonemic merger. Similar mergers exist in other languages, such as Italian, Catalan, Portuguese or Galician, with different social considerations. Occasionally the term lleísmo (pronounced: [ʎeˈizmo]) has been used to refer to the maintenance of the phonemic distinction between /ʝ/ (spelled "y") and /ʎ/ (spelled "ll").

Pronunciation

Most dialects that merge the two sounds represented by ⟨ll⟩ and ⟨j⟩ commonly realize the remaining sound as a voiced palatal fricative [ʝ], which is similar to the ⟨y⟩ in English yellow, though it may also sound like ⟨j⟩ in English jar, especially after /n/, /l/, or at the beginning of a word. For example, relleno is pronounced [reˈʝeno] while conllevar is pronounced [koɲɟ͡ʝeˈβaɾ] or [koɲdʒeˈβaɾ].

In Spanish spoken in most of Argentina and Uruguay, this sound is pronounced [ʒ]; and in Buenos Aires the sound has recently been devoiced to [ʃ] among the younger population.

Extent of yeísmo and lleísmo

Yeísmo has always been common in much of Latin America, mainly in lowlands, and also in large areas in Spain.

At present, the distinction between /ʝ/ and /ʎ/ remains in the Ecuadoran highlands, Andean Peru, Paraguay, most of Bolivia and the northeastern portions of Argentina that border with Paraguay. The distinction is more common in areas where bilingualism with indigenous languages such as Aymara and Guaraní is common. In Spain, most of the northern half of the country and several areas in the south used to retain the distinction, but yeísmo has spread throughout the country, and the distinction is now lost in most of Spain, particularly outside of areas with linguistic contact with Catalan and Basque.

Minimal pairs

Yeísmo produces homophony in a number of cases. For example, the following word pairs sound the same to speakers of dialects with yeísmo, but would be minimal pairs in regions with lleísmo:

• haya ("beech tree" / "that there be") ~ halla ("s/he finds")
• cayó ("s/he fell") ~ calló ("s/he became silent")
• hoya ("pit, hole") ~ olla ("pot")
• baya ("berry") / vaya ("that he go") ~ valla ("fence")

Due to the relatively low frequency of both /ʝ/ and /ʎ/, confusion is unlikely. However, orthographic mistakes are common (for example, writing llendo instead of yendo). A similar effect took place in the local name of the island of Majorca: Mallorca is a continental Catalan hypercorrection of the earlier Maiorca.

See also

• Rioplatense Spanish
• History of the Spanish language
• List of phonetics topics
• Phonological history of Spanish coronal fricatives (distinción, seseo and ceceo)

External links

• Yeísmo y su desarrollo en España
• Lleísmo