pronounced as /notice/In Spanish dialectology, the realization of coronal fricatives is one of the most prominent features distinguishing various dialect regions. The main three realizations are the phonemic distinction between pronounced as //θ// and pronounced as //s// (), the presence of only alveolar pronounced as /link/ (), or, less commonly, the presence of only a denti-alveolar pronounced as /link/ that is similar to pronounced as //θ// ().
While an urban legend attributes the presence of the dental fricative to a Spanish king with a lisp, the various realizations of these coronal fricatives are actually a result of historical processes that date to the 15th century.
A persistent urban legend claims that the prevalence of the sound pronounced as //θ// in Spanish can be traced to a Spanish king who spoke with a lisp, whose pronunciation spread via prestige borrowing to the rest of the population. This myth has been discredited by scholars.[1] traces the origins of the legend to a chronicle of Pero López de Ayala which says that Peter of Castile "lisped a little" (Spanish; Castilian: "ceceaba un poco"). However, Peter reigned in the 14th century and the sound pronounced as //θ// began to develop in the 16th century (see below). Moreover, a true lisp would not give rise to the systematic distinction between pronounced as //s// and pronounced as //θ// that characterizes Standard Peninsular pronunciation. For example, a lisp would lead one to pronounce ('I feel') and ('hundred') the same (as pronounced as /[ˈθjento]/) whereas in standard peninsular Spanish they are pronounced pronounced as /[ˈsjento]/ and pronounced as /[ˈθjento]/.
The misnomer "Castilian lisp" is used occasionally to refer to the presence of pronounced as /[θ]/ in Peninsular pronunciation (in both Spanish; Castilian: distinción and Spanish; Castilian: ceceo varieties).
In the 15th century, Spanish had developed a large number of sibilant phonemes: seven by some accounts, eight by others (depending on whether pronounced as //d͡ʒ// and pronounced as //ʒ// are considered contrasting), more than any current dialect. During the 16th and early 17th centuries these phonemes merged differently as they evolved into those of the different modern dialects. There were four pairs of voiceless versus voiced sibilants: dental/alveolar affricates pronounced as //t͡s// vs. pronounced as //d͡z// (spelled (c) or (ç) vs. (z)); dental/alveolar fricatives pronounced as //s// (spelled (ss) when intervocalic, (s) otherwise) vs. pronounced as //z// (intervocalic only, spelled (s)); postalveolar affricates pronounced as //t͡ʃ// (spelled (ch)) vs. pronounced as //d͡ʒ//; and postalveolar fricatives pronounced as //ʃ// (spelled (x)) vs. pronounced as //ʒ//. Both pronounced as //d͡ʒ// and pronounced as //ʒ// were spelled (g) before (e) or (i), and (j) elsewhere. It is likely that pronounced as //d͡ʒ// deaffricated and merged with pronounced as //ʒ// before the year 1500. The main difference between the prestige dialect of north central Spain and dialects to the south (such as Andalusian Spanish) was that, in the north, the dental/alveolar continuants were more retracted than the affricates (the former pair can be represented as pronounced as //s̺// and pronounced as //z̺// and the latter as pronounced as //t͡s̪// and pronounced as //d͡z̪//), keeping their phonemic distinction, while in the south they were homorganic. The first step away from that system was the deaffrication of pronounced as //d͡z̪// in the first quarter of the 16th century. Because of a differing place of articulation, this still contrasted with pronounced as //z̺// in the prestige dialect of north central Spain, though it was a complete merger for southern dialects.
| Pronunciation | Orthography | ||
| voiced affricate → fricative | postalveolar | pronounced as //dʒ// → pronounced as //ʒ// | (g) before ⟨e⟩, ⟨i⟩; ⟨j⟩ elsewhere |
| voiceless fricative | pronounced as //ʃ// | (x) | |
| voiceless affricate | pronounced as //t͡ʃ// | (ch) | |
| voiced fricative | apicoalveolar | pronounced as //z̺// | intervocalic (s) |
| voiceless fricative | pronounced as //s̺// | (s) in syllable onset or coda; (ss) between vowels | |
| voiced affricate → fricative | coronal | pronounced as //d͡z̪// → pronounced as //z̪// | (z) |
| voiceless affricate | pronounced as //t͡s̪// | (c) before (e), (i); (ç) before (a), (o), (u) |
The second step was the devoicing of voiced sibilants. In the north, pronounced as //z̺// and pronounced as //ʒ// were lost, but pronounced as //z̪// remained contrastive with its new pronunciation pronounced as //s̪//, because there had been no voiceless pronounced as //s̪// previously. This sound contrasted with two acoustically similar sounds: dentoalveolar pronounced as //t͡s̪// and apicoalveolar pronounced as //s̺//. By 1600, pronounced as //t͡s̪//, too, had deaffricated and merged with the earlier pronounced as //s̪// that had already developed from pronounced as //z̪//. Subsequent changes to the sound system of Spanish retained the contrasts while enhancing the segments by increasing articulatory distance amongst their rather subtle acoustic contrasts, an appropriate step due to the high productivity of these phonemes in differentiating frequently used minimal pairs. The dentoalveolar one was moved "forward" to interdental pronounced as //θ̟//, losing its former sibilance in the process (which increased its acoustic distance to the remaining sibilant (s)), and the prepalatal one was moved "backward" to velar pronounced as //x//, also losing its former sibilance, all in all resulting in the three-way distinction of modern Standard Peninsular pronunciation:
| Original 6-way contrast | Deaffrication 1 | Devoicing | Deaffrication 2 | Modern Spanish; Castilian: distinción | Orthography | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as //d͡z̪// – pronounced as //t͡s̪// | pronounced as //z̪// – pronounced as //t͡s̪// | pronounced as //s̪// – pronounced as //t͡s̪// | pronounced as //s̪// | pronounced as /[θ̟]/ | (z) or (c) (before (e), (i)) | |
| pronounced as //z̺// – pronounced as //s̺// | pronounced as //s̺// | pronounced as /[s̺]/ | (s) | |||
| pronounced as //ʒ// – pronounced as //ʃ// | pronounced as //ʃ// | pronounced as /[x]/ | (j) or (g) (before (e), (i)) | |||
In the south, the devoicing process and deaffrication of pronounced as //t͡s// gave rise to new fricatives that were indistinguishable from the existing ones. The process of increasing articulatory distance still applied, however, and pronounced as //ʃ// retracted to pronounced as //x// in the south just as it did in the north. In a number of Spanish; Castilian: ceceo areas (particularly the southernmost provinces like Cádiz) pronounced as //s// developed into a non-sibilant apico-dental pronounced as /[θ̺]/, perceptually similar to the interdental pronounced as //θ̟// used by Standard Peninsular speakers for orthographic (c)/(z). In Spanish; Castilian: seseo areas (particularly in the westernmost provinces like Seville and Huelva), the resulting phoneme developed a predorsal alveolar realization pronounced as /[s̻]/ (like English (s)), perceptually similar to the apicoalveolar pronounced as /[s̺]/ used by Standard Peninsular speakers for orthographic (s). This Spanish; Castilian: seseo variety was the pronunciation that most impacted Latin America, as many emigrants to the Americas were from Andalusian and Canarian ports. In addition, several generations of Spanish speakers had lived and grown in the Americas before pronounced as //θ// appeared in Castilian.
| Original 6-way contrast | Deaffrication 1 | Devoicing | Deaffrication 2 | Modern Spanish; Castilian: seseo | Modern Spanish; Castilian: ceceo | Orthography | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as //d͡z// – pronounced as //t͡s// | pronounced as //z// – /s/ + pronounced as //ts// | pronounced as //s// – pronounced as //ts// | pronounced as //s// | pronounced as /[s̻]/ | pronounced as /[θ̺]/ | (z), (c) (before (e), (i)), (s) | |
| pronounced as //z// – pronounced as //s// | |||||||
| pronounced as //ʒ// – pronounced as //ʃ// | pronounced as //ʃ// | pronounced as /[x]/ | (j) or (g) (before (e), (i)) | ||||
The development of the sibilants in Ladino (which split off from Castilian and other Peninsular varieties in the 15th century) was more conservative, resulting in a system closer to that of Portuguese.
Distinction (Spanish; Castilian: distinción) refers to the differentiated pronunciation of the two Spanish phonemes written and or (only before or, the so-called "soft" ):
By the early 1700s the six sibilant phonemes of medieval Spanish had all merged into three phonemes in the dialects with this distinction and two phonemes elsewhere, but spelling still reflected the older pronunciation system. From 1726 to 1815 the RAE reformed spelling, resulting in a modern Spanish orthography which reflects the system with distinction. This distinction is universal in Central and Northern parts of Spain, except for some bilingual speakers of Catalan and Basque, according to, as well as some bilingual speakers of Galician whose dialect has this trait (but not all).
In most of Spain, this distinction is between an apical pronounced as /link/ and a dental pronounced as /link/. That said, in most regions of Andalusia which distinguish pronounced as //s// and pronounced as //θ//, the distinction involves a laminal pronounced as /[s]/. According to, the distinction between a laminal pronounced as //s// and pronounced as //θ// is native to most of Almería, eastern Granada, most of Jaén, and northern Huelva, while the distinction between an apical pronounced as //s// and pronounced as //θ//, as found in the rest of Peninsular Spanish, is native to the very northeastern regions of Almería, Granada and Jaén, to northern Córdoba, not including the provincial capital, and to a small region of northern Huelva.
In most Spanish-speaking regions and countries the phonemic distinction between pronounced as //s// and pronounced as //θ// does not exist. These varieties of Spanish are sometimes said to exhibit ('neutralization') as opposed to .
Spanish; Castilian: Seseo pronounced as /es/ is a lack of distinction between /s/ and /θ/ with both being realized as pronounced as /[s]/. For example, the words ('house') and ('hunt') would be pronounced with the same pronounced as /[s]/ sound. This can result in ambiguity but can usually be interpreted depending on the context of which the sentence is spoken. Spanish; Castilian: Seseo is the most widespread pronunciation among Spanish speakers worldwide and occurs in nearly all speakers in Hispanic America. While it is a minority pronunciation in Spain itself, Spanish; Castilian: seseo is considered standard in all varieties of Latin American Spanish. It coexists with Spanish; Castilian: distinción and Spanish; Castilian: ceceo in parts of Spain (e.g. in the Canary Islands, much of Andalusia, historically in southern Murcia, western Badajoz, and the western coast of Galicia).[2] Victoriano Gaviño Rodríguez of the University of Cádiz also notes the existence of seseo in pockets in Castile and León, Castilla–La Mancha, the Community of Madrid, Asturias, Cantabria, and the Basque Country, as well as among some first-language Catalan-speakers.[3] Traditional dialect atlases (e.g.,) show one variant or another used in adjacent regions. In Spain, Spanish; Castilian: seseo is considered "more socially acceptable or perhaps 'less substandard' than Spanish; Castilian: ceceo".
Spanish; Castilian: Ceceo pronounced as /es/ (sometimes transcribed in English sources according to pronunciation as thetheo) is a phenomenon found in a few dialects of southern Spain in which pronounced as //s// and pronounced as //θ// are not distinguished and there is only one coronal fricative phoneme realized as the voiceless denti-alveolar sibilant pronounced as /[s̟]/, a sibilant sounding somewhat like pronounced as /[θ]/, but not identical. Spanish; Castilian: Ceceo is found primarily in some varieties of Andalusian Spanish, and historically in two villages of southeastern Murcia. That said, Hualde reports that there is some evidence of the phenomenon in parts of Central America. A publication of the University of Oviedo also notes that Spanish; Castilian: ceceo can be found in Argentina and Chile. Other linguists have noticed the use of Spanish; Castilian: ceceo in parts of Puerto Rico, Honduras, and Venezuela. A similar sound characterized as a "voiceless apico-or corono-post-dental slit fricative" has been observed in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela; In these places, ceceo is a largely rural pronunciation and is often stigmatized.
In El Salvador, some speakers use a pronounced as /link/-like fricative in the syllable instead of the usual glottal pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /[s]/, or phonetic zero, rendering 'all' (plural) as pronounced as /[ˈtoðoθ]/, more usually pronounced pronounced as /[ˈtoðoh]/ or pronounced as /[ˈtoðo]/ (the latter homophonous with 'all' (singular)). Salvadoran Spanish occasionally weakens, but almost never completely deletes, pronounced as //s// in onset positions, and this pronounced as /[sᶿ]/ allophone is more common in onset positions than coda ones. According to, this is the result of a gestural undershoot. It is on an acoustic continuum between pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/, representing an intermediate degree of lenition. identifies this with the Spanish; Castilian: ceceo of Andalusian and other dialects. The following table gives an example of the three pronunciation patterns discussed so far:
| Spanish; Castilian: La casa ('the house') | Spanish; Castilian: La caza ('the hunt') | ||
| Distinción | pronounced as //la ˈkasa// | pronounced as //la ˈkaθa// | |
| Seseo | pronounced as //la ˈkasa// | ||
| Ceceo | pronounced as //la ˈkas̟a// | ||
Many speakers of Spanish; Castilian: ceceo and Spanish; Castilian: seseo dialects in Spain show sociolinguistic variation in usage. In some cases, this variation may arise when a Spanish; Castilian: ceceo or Spanish; Castilian: seseo speaker more or less consciously attempts to use Spanish; Castilian: distinción in response to sociolinguistic pressure (hypercorrection). However, as, for instance, in the case of the variation between the standard velar nasal and alveolar pronunciation of the nasal in -ing in English (walking versus walkin), the switching may be entirely unconscious. It is perhaps evidence of the saliency of three-way Spanish; Castilian: ceceo-seseo-distinción variation that inconsistent use has elicited evaluative comments by some traditional Spanish dialectologists. For instance, discussed it as "sporadic or chaotic switching [between {{IPA|[s]}} and pronounced as /[θ]/] and the use of intermediate sounds impossible to determine with precision". proposes the synonymous terms Spanish; Castilian: '''ceseo''' pronounced as /es/ and Spanish; Castilian: '''seceo''' pronounced as /es/ to refer to these "mixed" patterns, and notes surprise at a speaker who produced all four possible pronunciations of Zaragoza (pronounced as /es/, pronounced as /es/, pronounced as /es/ and pronounced as /es/) within the space of a few minutes. In fact, sociolinguistic variation is typically highly structured in terms of how often each variant will appear given various social and linguistic independent variables. The Spanish spoken by the inhabitants of the Canary Islands is exclusively Spanish; Castilian: [[:wikt:seseante|seseante]], but exclusive Spanish; Castilian: seseo is quite rare in mainland Spain – even in areas, such as Seville, listed as being majority Spanish; Castilian: seseante.