Ceceo

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Ceceo is a phenomenon in the Spanish language whereby the voiceless sibilant phoneme /s/ and the non-sibilant interdental phoneme /θ/ have merged as [θ]. In other words, the non-sibilant interdental fricative (International Phonetic Alphabet [θ], the "th" in think) is used wherever Standard Peninsular pronunciation has either [s] or [θ]. In that respect, it is not unlike a lisp. Ceceo is found primarily in some varieties of Andalusian Spanish, although Hualde (2005) reports that there is some evidence of ceceo in parts of Central America. It is a largely rural pronunciation and is often stigmatized.

Ceceo contrasts with two other patterns:

Distinción (distinction), in which the two phonemes remain unmerged. Distinction is the Standard Peninsular usage, and it is universal in Central and Northern parts of Spain, except for some bilingual speakers of Catalan and Basque according to Hualde.
Seseo, the more widespread and less stigmatized merger as [s]. Seseo is considered standard in all varieties of Latin American Spanish, and it coexists with the Standard Peninsular distinction in parts of Spain (Canary Islands, some areas of Andalucía).

For example, in standard Peninsular Spanish, la casa ("the house") is pronounced as [la 'kasa], whereas la caza ("the hunt") is pronounced as [la'kaθa]. A person with seseo pronounces both of these as [la'kasa], and a person with ceceo pronounces both of these [la'kaθa].

Note that "ceceo" is also the Spanish word for "lisp".

1 The "Castilian lisp"
2 Origins
3 Reference
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] The "Castilian lisp"

Ceceo should be carefully distinguished from the so-called "Castilian lisp", which is used in reference to the Standard Peninsular distinction. The term is a misnomer, owing perhaps to the use of /θ/ in cognates of English and French words, such as centro where an /s/ used in those languages. A persistent urban legend even claims that a Spanish king (there is no agreement as to exactly which king) spoke with a lisp, and his pronunciation spread by prestige borrowing to the rest of the population. This myth is thoroughly discredited by scholars.[1][2] Obviously, a distinction between /s/ and /θ/ is inconsistent with a true lisping pronunciation.

Even for ceceo varieties, which are in some sense more "lispy" than standard Castilian pronunciation, the spread of [θ] to all positions is explained as a regular sound change (see below).

[edit] Origins

Fifteenth-century Spanish had six sibilant phonemes, more than any current variety of Spanish, and those six phonemes merged differently as they evolved into the pronunciation of the modern dialects. There were three pairs of voiceless versus voiced sibilants: dentoalveolar affricates (spelled c/ç vs. z), apicoalveolar fricatives (-ss-/s-/-s vs. -s-), and prepalatal fricatives (x vs. j/g). The first step away from that system was to fricativize the dentoalveolar affricates.

The second step in northern and central varieties was to lose the voiceless/voiced distinction in favour of the voiceless member in most phonetic contexts, and the final step was to alter the pronunciation of the three resulting phonemes. The dentoalveolar was moved "forward" to interdental /θ/, and the prepalatal was moved "backwards" to velar /x/, resulting in the three-way distinction used in modern Standard Peninsular: interdental /θ/ (spelled c/z), apicoalveolar /s/ s, (note that the most common Peninsular Spanish /s/ is apico-alveolar, i.e., pronounced with the tip of the tongue instead of with its blade) as in English or Latin American Spanish, and velar /x/ (spelled j/g).

In many varieties of Andalusian, however, the phonological evolution since the fricativization of the affricates differed from that of Castilian. The second step in Andalusian was to merge the members of the dentoalveolar and apicoalveolar pairs according to voicing, before voicing was lost (the voiceless /ts/ c/ç and /s/ -ss-/s-/-s merged together, and the voiced /z/ z and /s/ -s- merged together), which resulted in only one merger phoneme /s/ after the third step (losing voicing) took place. The single phoneme /s/ that resulted from all this merging was pronounced differently in different parts of Andalusia; in some places (areas of seseo), it is predorsal alveolar, as in English, and this was the pronunciation that reached Latin America. In others a non-sibilant apico-dental pronunciation [θ] predominated, the ceceo.

Ladino has conserved most of the old phonemes and its study has cast light on the evolution of Spanish.