Yeísmo
Sound merger of ⟨ll⟩ and ⟨y⟩ in most Spanish dialects / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Yeísmo?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
Yeísmo (Spanish pronunciation: [ɟʝeˈismo]; literally "Y-ism") is a distinctive feature of certain dialects of the Spanish language, characterized by the loss of the traditional palatal lateral approximant phoneme /ʎ/ ⓘ (written ⟨ll⟩) and its merger into the phoneme /ʝ/ ⓘ (written ⟨y⟩). It is an example of delateralization.
In other words, ⟨ll⟩ and ⟨y⟩ represent the same sound [ʝ] ⓘ when yeísmo is present. The term yeísmo comes from one of the Spanish names for the letter ⟨y⟩ (ye[1]). Over 90% of Spanish speakers exhibit this phonemic merger.[2] Similar mergers exist in other languages, such as French, Italian, Hungarian, Catalan, Basque, Portuguese or Galician, with different social considerations.
Occasionally, the term lleísmo (pronounced [ʎeˈismo]) has been used to refer to the maintenance of the phonemic distinction between /ʝ/ and /ʎ/.[3][4][5]