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Phonological history of Spanish coronal fricatives - Wikipedia
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Phonological history of Spanish coronal fricatives

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This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

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 /θしーた/ and /s/ (distinción), the presence of only alveolar [s] (seseo), or, less commonly, the presence of only a denti-alveolar [s̟] that is similar to /θしーた/ (ceceo).

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.

Origins

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Castilian 'lisp'

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A persistent urban legend claims that the prevalence of the sound /θしーた/ 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] Lundeberg (1947) traces the origins of the legend to a chronicle of Pero López de Ayala which says that Peter of Castile "lisped a little" ("ceceaba un poco"). However, Peter reigned in the 14th century and the sound /θしーた/ began to develop in the 16th century (see below). Moreover, a true lisp would not give rise to the systematic distinction between /s/ and /θしーた/ that characterizes Standard Peninsular pronunciation. For example, a lisp would lead one to pronounce siento ('I feel') and ciento ('hundred') the same (as [ˈθしーたjento]) whereas in standard peninsular Spanish they are pronounced [ˈsjento] and [ˈθしーたjento].

The misnomer "Castilian lisp" is used occasionally to refer to the presence of [θしーた] in Peninsular pronunciation (in both distinción and ceceo varieties).

Historical evolution

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Historical development of the Spanish sibilants. Text is in Spanish; Roman numerals represent centuries AD.

In the 15th century, Spanish had developed a large number of sibilant phonemes: seven by some accounts,[2] eight by others[3] (depending on whether /d͡ʒ/ and /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.[4][5] There were four pairs of voiceless versus voiced sibilants: dental/alveolar affricates /t͡s/ vs. /d͡z/ (spelled ⟨c⟩ or ⟨ç⟩ vs. ⟨z⟩); dental/alveolar fricatives /s/ (spelled ⟨ss⟩ when intervocalic, ⟨s⟩ otherwise) vs. /z/ (intervocalic only, spelled ⟨s⟩); postalveolar affricates /t͡ʃ/ (spelled ⟨ch⟩) vs. /d͡ʒ/; and postalveolar fricatives /ʃ/ (spelled ⟨x⟩) vs. /ʒ/. Both /d͡ʒ/ and /ʒ/ were spelled ⟨g⟩ before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and ⟨j⟩ elsewhere. It is likely that /d͡ʒ/ deaffricated and merged with /ʒ/ before the year 1500.[6] 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 /s̺/ and /z̺/ and the latter as /t͡s̪/ and /d͡z̪/),[clarification needed] keeping their phonemic distinction, while in the south they were homorganic.[7] The first step away from that system was the deaffrication of /d͡z̪/ in the first quarter of the 16th century. Because of a differing place of articulation, this still contrasted with /z̺/ in the prestige dialect of north central Spain, though it was a complete merger for southern dialects.[8]

Pronunciation Orthography
voiced affricate → fricative postalveolar /dʒ/ → /ʒ/ ⟨g⟩ before ⟨e⟩, ⟨i⟩; ⟨j⟩ elsewhere
voiceless fricative /ʃ/ ⟨x⟩
voiceless affricate /t͡ʃ/ ⟨ch⟩
voiced fricative apicoalveolar /z̺/ intervocalic ⟨s⟩
voiceless fricative /s̺/ ⟨s⟩ in syllable onset or coda; ⟨ss⟩ between vowels
voiced affricate → fricative coronal /d͡z̪/ → /z̪/ ⟨z⟩
voiceless affricate /t͡s̪/ ⟨c⟩ before ⟨e⟩, ⟨i⟩; ⟨ç⟩ before ⟨a⟩, ⟨o⟩, ⟨u⟩

The second step was the devoicing of voiced sibilants.[8] In the north, /z̺/ and /ʒ/ were lost, but /z̪/ remained contrastive with its new pronunciation /s̪/, because there had been no voiceless /s̪/ previously. This sound contrasted with two acoustically similar sounds: dentoalveolar /t͡s̪/ and apicoalveolar /s̺/. By 1600, /t͡s̪/, too, had deaffricated and merged with the earlier /s̪/ that had already developed from /z̪/.[8] 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 /θしーた̟/, 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 /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 distinción Orthography
/d͡z̪/ – /t͡s̪/ /z̪/ – /t͡s̪/ /s̪/ – /t͡s̪/ /s̪/ [θしーた̟] ⟨z⟩ or ⟨c⟩ (before ⟨e⟩, ⟨i⟩)
/z̺/ – /s̺/ /s̺/ [s̺] ⟨s⟩
/ʒ/ – /ʃ/ /ʃ/ [x] ⟨j⟩ or ⟨g⟩ (before ⟨e⟩, ⟨i⟩)

In the south, the devoicing process and deaffrication of /t͡s/ gave rise to new fricatives that were indistinguishable from the existing ones. The process of increasing articulatory distance still applied, however, and /ʃ/ retracted to /x/ in the south just as it did in the north.[4] In a number of ceceo areas (particularly the southernmost provinces like Cádiz) /s/ developed into a non-sibilant apico-dental [θしーた̺], perceptually similar to the interdental /θしーた̟/ used by Standard Peninsular speakers for orthographic ⟨c⟩/⟨z⟩. In seseo areas (particularly in the westernmost provinces like Seville and Huelva), the resulting phoneme developed a predorsal alveolar realization [s̻] (like English ⟨s⟩), perceptually similar to the apicoalveolar [s̺] used by Standard Peninsular speakers for orthographic ⟨s⟩. This 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 /θしーた/ appeared in Castilian.[9]

Original 6-way contrast Deaffrication 1 Devoicing Deaffrication 2 Modern seseo Modern ceceo Orthography
/d͡z/ – /t͡s/ /z/ – /s/ + /ts/ /s/ – /ts/ /s/ [s̻] [θしーた̺] ⟨z⟩, ⟨c⟩ (before ⟨e⟩, ⟨i⟩), ⟨s⟩
/z/ – /s/
/ʒ/ – /ʃ/ /ʃ/ [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.[10]

Distinction

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Distinction (Spanish: distinción) refers to the differentiated pronunciation of the two Spanish phonemes written ⟨s⟩ and ⟨z⟩ or ⟨c⟩ (only before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, the so-called "soft" ⟨c⟩):

  1. ⟨s⟩ represents a voiceless alveolar sibilant /s/ (either laminal as in English, or apical);
  2. ⟨z⟩ and soft ⟨c⟩ represent a voiceless dental fricative /θしーた/ (the ⟨th⟩ in think).

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.[11] This distinction is universal in Central and Northern parts of Spain, except for some bilingual speakers of Catalan and Basque, according to Hualde (2005), 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 [s̠] and a dental [θしーた]. That said, in most regions of Andalusia which distinguish /s/ and /θしーた/, the distinction involves a laminal [s]. According to Penny (2000), the distinction between a laminal /s/ and /θしーた/ is native to most of Almería, eastern Granada, most of Jaén, and northern Huelva, while the distinction between an apical /s/ and /θしーた/, 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.[12]

Lack of distinction

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Most Peninsular Spanish dialects have [s]/[θしーた] contrast (distinción), while such contrast is absent in Latin America, the Canary Islands, and some parts of southern Spain (seseo/ceceo).[13]
 
Distinción in European Spanish

In most Spanish-speaking regions and countries the phonemic distinction between /s/ and /θしーた/ does not exist. These varieties of Spanish are sometimes said to exhibit neutralización ('neutralization') as opposed to distinción.

Seseo

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Seseo [seˈseo] is a lack of distinction between /s/ and /θしーた/ with both being realized as [s]. For example, the words casa ('house') and caza ('hunt') would be pronounced with the same [s] sound. This can result in ambiguity but can usually be interpreted depending on the context of which the sentence is spoken. 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, seseo is considered standard in all varieties of Latin American Spanish. It coexists with distinción and 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).[14][15] Traditional dialect atlases (e.g., Alvar (1991)) show one variant or another used in adjacent regions. In Spain, seseo is considered "more socially acceptable or perhaps 'less substandard' than ceceo".[16]

Ceceo

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Ceceo [θしーたeˈθしーたeo] (sometimes transcribed in English sources according to pronunciation as thetheo) is a phenomenon found in a few dialects of southern Spain in which /s/ and /θしーた/ are not distinguished and there is only one coronal fricative phoneme realized as the voiceless denti-alveolar sibilant [s̟], a sibilant sounding somewhat like [θしーた], but not identical.[17] Ceceo is found primarily in some varieties of Andalusian Spanish, and historically in two villages of southeastern Murcia.[18] 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 ceceo can be found in Argentina and Chile.[19] Other linguists have noticed the use of ceceo in parts of Puerto Rico, Honduras, and Venezuela.[20][21] 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;[22][23] In these places, ceceo is a largely rural pronunciation and is often stigmatized.[24]

In El Salvador, some speakers use a [θしーた]-like fricative in the syllable instead of the usual glottal [h], [s], or phonetic zero, rendering todos 'all' (plural) as [ˈtoðoθしーた], more usually pronounced [ˈtoðoh] or [ˈtoðo] (the latter homophonous with todo 'all' (singular)). Salvadoran Spanish occasionally weakens, but almost never completely deletes, /s/ in onset positions, and this [sᶿ] allophone is more common in onset positions than coda ones.[25] According to Brogan 2018, this is the result of a gestural undershoot. It is on an acoustic continuum between [s] and [h], representing an intermediate degree of lenition.[26] Brogan 2018 identifies this with the ceceo of Andalusian and other dialects.[27] The following table gives an example of the three pronunciation patterns discussed so far:

La casa ('the house') La caza ('the hunt')
Distinción /la ˈkasa/ /la ˈkaθしーたa/
Seseo /la ˈkasa/
Ceceo /la ˈkas̟a/

Ceseo or seceo

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Many speakers of ceceo and seseo dialects in Spain show sociolinguistic variation in usage. In some cases, this variation may arise when a ceceo or seseo speaker more or less consciously attempts to use 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 ceceo-seseo-distinción variation that inconsistent use has elicited evaluative comments by some traditional Spanish dialectologists. For instance, Dalbor (1980) discussed it as "sporadic or chaotic switching [between [s] and [θしーた]] and the use of intermediate sounds impossible to determine with precision".[28] Obaid (1973) proposes the synonymous terms ceseo [θしーたeˈseo] and seceo [seˈθしーたeo] to refer to these "mixed" patterns, and notes surprise at a speaker who produced all four possible pronunciations of Zaragoza ([θしーたaɾaˈɣoθしーたa], [saɾaˈɣosa], [θしーたaɾaˈɣosa] and [saɾaˈɣoθしーたa]) within the space of a few minutes.[29] 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 seseante, but exclusive seseo is quite rare in mainland Spain – even in areas, such as Seville, listed as being majority seseante.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ See for instance Linguist List Archived 2014-08-30 at the Wayback Machine and About.com Archived 2014-07-13 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ^ Penny (2002), p. 86.
  3. ^ Harris (1969), p. 208.
  4. ^ a b Harris (1969), p. 213.
  5. ^ Penny (2002), pp. 86–87.
  6. ^ Harris (1969), p. 209.
  7. ^ Harris (1969), pp. 216–217.
  8. ^ a b c Harris (1969), p. 210.
  9. ^ Harris (1969), p. 214.
  10. ^ Penny (2002), pp. 27–28.
  11. ^ Penny (2000), pp. 213–214.
  12. ^ Penny (2000), p. 120.
  13. ^ Seseo Archived 2021-09-26 at the Wayback Machine, Diccionario panhispánico de dudas, Royal Spanish Academy (in Spanish).
  14. ^ Navarro Tomás, Espinosa & Rodríguez-Castellano (1933), pp. 227–229, 258–260.
  15. ^ Klee, Carol A; Lynch, Andrew (2009). El español en contacto con otras lenguas (in Spanish). Georgetown University Press. p. 72. ISBN 9781589016088. Rabanal (1967) caracterizaba el seseo en el español de Galicia como rasgo típico del occidente marinero, de Pontevedra y La Coruña, y observó que "los, más o menos numerosos y más o menos cultos y vulgares, gallegos que todavia sesean al hablar su lengua propia, o idioma regional gallego, sesean y por lo mismo al hablar el español común: 'dose', 'lus', 'disir', 'conoser', 'rasión', 'empesar" (27). [Rabanal (1967) characterized seseo in Galician Spanish as a typical feature of the seafaring West, of Pontevedra and La Coruña, and observed that "the more or less numerous and more or less cultured and vulgar Galicians who speak with the seseo when speaking their own language, or Galician regional language, also speak with the seseo for the same reason when speaking common Spanish: 'dose', 'lus', 'disir', 'conoser', 'rasión', 'empasar' (27).]
  16. ^ Dalbor (1980), p. 6.
  17. ^ Dalbor (1980), p. 22.
  18. ^ Navarro Tomás et al.
  19. ^ Alvarez Menéndez (2005), p. ?.
  20. ^ Alonso (1951).
  21. ^ Lapesa (1969).
  22. ^ Dalbor (1980), pp. 5–19.
  23. ^ Herranz H. (1990).
  24. ^ Hualde (2005), p. 154.
  25. ^ Brogan (2018), pp. 104–105.
  26. ^ Brogan & Bolyanatz (2018), p. 204.
  27. ^ Brogan (2018), p. 84.
  28. ^ Dalbor (1980), p. 7.
  29. ^ Obaid (1973), p. 63.

Sources

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