Yeísmo

Yeísmo is a phonological phenomenon in Spanish-speaking communities in which the sounds traditionally written as “ll” and “y” merge into a single phoneme. Historically, Spanish distinguished the palatal lateral /ʎ/ (ll) from the palatal approximant /ʝ/ or /j/ (y). In yeísmo, these two are pronounced as one sound, most often a palatal fricative or approximant, with the exact realization varying by dialect.

Geographically, yeísmo is widespread across much of Spain and Latin America. Some regions retain a contrast between the two sounds, an arrangement traditionally called lleísmo, llismo, or the distinction. In many dialects, especially in the Americas, the merge is already the norm, with speakers not distinguishing ll from y in everyday speech. In parts of Argentina and Uruguay, speech habits associated with yeísmo co-exist with distinctive local pronunciations such as sheísmo or zheísmo, where the sound may resemble [ʃ] (sh) or [ʒ] (zh).

Phonetic realization of the merged sound varies: the most common is a voiced palatal fricative [ʝ], but other realizations exist depending on region, including affricates or sibilants in some urban varieties. The shift often accompanies broader phonological changes in a speaker’s variety of Spanish and interacts with social factors such as urbanization, education, and regional identity.

In linguistic literature, yeísmo contrasts with the historical distinction described as lleísmo. The phenomenon is a major characteristic for classifying dialects and is often discussed alongside other regional variations in Spanish pronunciation.