Editing Spanish language (section)

=== Phonology ===
{{See also|Phonetic change "f → h" in Spanish}}
The four main phonological divisions are based respectively on (1) the phoneme {{IPAslink|θ}}, (2) the [[debuccalization]] of syllable-final {{IPA|/s/}}, (3) the sound of the spelled {{angle bracket|s}}, (4) and the phoneme {{IPAslink|ʎ}}.
* The phoneme {{IPA|/θ/}} (spelled {{lang|es|c}} before {{lang|es|e}} or {{lang|es|i}} and spelled {{angle bracket|z}} elsewhere), a [[voiceless dental fricative]] as in English '''''th'''ing'', is maintained by a majority of Spain's population, especially in the northern and central parts of the country. In other areas (some parts of southern Spain, the [[Canary Islands]], and the Americas), {{IPA|/θ/}} does not exist and {{IPA|/s/}} occurs instead. The maintenance of phonemic contrast is called {{lang|es|[[distinción]]}} in Spanish, while the merger is generally called {{lang|es|[[seseo]]}} (in reference to the usual realization of the merged phoneme as {{IPA|[s]}}) or, occasionally, {{lang|es|[[ceceo]]}} (referring to its interdental realization, {{IPA|[θ]}}, in some parts of southern Spain). In most of Hispanic America, the spelled {{angle bracket|c}} before {{angle bracket|e}} or {{angle bracket|i}}, and spelled {{angle bracket|z}} is always pronounced as a [[Voiceless alveolar sibilant#Dentalized laminal alveolar|voiceless dental sibilant]].
* The debuccalization (pronunciation as {{IPA|[h]}}, or loss) of syllable-final {{IPA|/s/}} is associated with the southern half of Spain and lowland Americas: Central America (except central Costa Rica and Guatemala), the Caribbean, coastal areas of southern Mexico, and South America except Andean highlands. Debuccalization is frequently called "aspiration" in English, and {{lang|es|aspiración}} in Spanish. When there is no debuccalization, the syllable-final {{IPA|/s/}} is pronounced as [[Voiceless alveolar sibilant#Retracted alveolar|voiceless "apico-alveolar" sibilant]] or as a [[Voiceless alveolar sibilant#Dentalized laminal alveolar|voiceless dental sibilant]] in the same fashion as in the next paragraph.
* The sound that corresponds to the letter {{angle bracket|s}} is pronounced in northern and central Spain as a [[Voiceless alveolar sibilant#Retracted alveolar|voiceless "apico-alveolar" sibilant]] {{IPA|[s̺]}} (also described acoustically as "[[Grave and acute|grave]]" and articulatorily as "retracted"), with a weak "hushing" sound reminiscent of {{lcons|retroflex}} fricatives. In [[Andalusia]], [[Canary Islands]] and most of Hispanic America (except in the [[Colombian Spanish#Paisa dialect|Paisa region]] of Colombia) it is pronounced as a [[Voiceless alveolar sibilant#Dentalized laminal alveolar|voiceless dental sibilant]] {{IPA|[s]}}, much like the most frequent pronunciation of the /s/ of English. 
* The phoneme {{IPA|/ʎ/}}, spelled {{angle bracket|ll}}, a [[Palatal lateral approximant|palatal lateral]] consonant that can be approximated by the sound of the {{angle bracket|lli}} of English ''million'', tends to be maintained in less-urbanized areas of northern Spain and in the [[Andean Spanish|highland areas of South America]], as well as in [[Paraguayan Spanish|Paraguay]] and [[Bolivian Spanish#Dialects|lowland Bolivia]]. Meanwhile, in the speech of most other Spanish speakers, it is merged with {{IPA|/ʝ/}} ("curly-tail ''j''"), a non-lateral, usually voiced, usually fricative, palatal consonant, sometimes compared to English {{IPA|/j/}} (''yod'') as in '''''y'''acht'' and spelled {{angle bracket|y}} in Spanish. As with other forms of allophony across world languages, the small difference of the spelled {{angle bracket|ll}} and the spelled {{angle bracket|y}} is usually not perceived (the difference is not heard) by people who do not produce them as different phonemes. Such a phonemic merger is called {{lang|es|[[yeísmo]]}} in Spanish. In [[Rioplatense Spanish]], the merged phoneme is generally pronounced as a postalveolar fricative, either voiced {{IPA|[ʒ]}} (as in English ''measure'' or the French {{angle bracket|j}}) in the central and western parts of the dialectal region ({{lang|es|zheísmo}}), or voiceless {{IPA|[ʃ]}} (as in the French {{angle bracket|ch}} or Portuguese {{angle bracket|x}}) in and around Buenos Aires and Montevideo ({{lang|es|sheísmo}}).<ref>Charles B. Chang, [http://www.lingref.com/cpp/wss/4/paper1755.pdf "Variation in palatal production in Buenos Aires Spanish"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004213655/http://www.lingref.com/cpp/wss/4/paper1755.pdf |date=4 October 2013}}. Selected Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics, ed. Maurice Westmoreland and Juan Antonio Thomas, 54–63. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project, 2008.</ref>