Yeism is a way of pronunciation that consists of pronouncing the LL the same as the Y: «caballo» / «cabayo».
Yeism is a mode of pronunciation characteristic of several regions that consists of pronouncing the LL ( “elle” ) in the same way as the Y ( “ye” ). In this way, yeism leads to saying “cabayo” instead of “horse” and “zapayo” instead of “zapallo” , to cite two examples .
Yeism can be defined as a phonetic alteration , since the articulation of a phoneme is changed. The process implies that two phonemes that, originally, were different, are now confused and used in the same way.
Reasons for yeism
In the Spanish of the Middle Ages , the LL and the Y represented two different phonemes. Over the years, this differentiation was lost in many countries , although it is still maintained in others.
According to specialists, the causes of yeism are several. On the one hand, in Spanish there are few terms that are distinguished only by the appearance of the Y instead of the LL ( callo/cayo , arrollo/brook , etc.). Therefore, as a matter of convenience, the difference in pronunciation was eliminated from speech, since it was not necessary to understand the concepts .
Many other examples of yeismo are found when pronouncing words like the following:
– Stream and stream .
– He fell silent and fell .
– Chair and siya .
– Hair and head .
– Rooster and gayo .
– Call and yamar .
With yeism, "chair" is pronounced "siya."
What happens in Spain
In addition to all the above, it is considered that in Castilian yeism is much more evident in some areas of Spain than in others. Thus, for example, it is determined that Andalusia is the region of the country where there is full yeism.
On the other hand, in the Canary Islands it is established that they use lleism and in some specific points of them, as would be the case of Tenerife or Gran Canaria , it alternates with yeism.
In the same way, there are studies carried out that determine that there are three sources of yeism:
– Catalan-Balearic.
– The Asturian-Leonese.
– The Andalusian.
Furthermore, these research works, specifically those carried out by the expert Tomás Navarro , establish that the Galician area and closest to Portugal is the one that is identified because it is the only one in Spain where yeism does not exist.
Other questions about yeism
Other important information about yeism are the following:
– It is considered that it is increasingly present in Spain and that it is expanding more and more. Hence there are those who consider that in the future it will be the general trend.
– Analyzes carried out in different autonomous communities and among different population groups determine that older people tend towards lleism and younger people tend towards yeism.
– The Spanish spoken in the Río de la Plata area ( Argentina and Uruguay ) includes the so-called yeísimo con rehilamiento , which refers to a hum or vibration that is included in the point of articulation of certain consonants . In this way, “horse” is pronounced as “cabasho” , because the term does not sound exactly the same as “cabayo” .