Re: venge of the Mutant Ninja Consonants (Re: mutation?

Jay Bowks wrote:

> In the Caribbean speech of Puerto Ricans, Dominicans,
> and Cubans, one can hear the "r" becoming an "l"
> sort of like "Puelto Rico".
Yup.  Here in New York the word "favor" ("Please ...") often appears
on handwritten signs as "fabol".

> Another sad show of this mutating consonantal change
> in Spanish is the "th" sound in Andalusia. There are
> such pressures to talk "Castillian" that you hear the
> "th" sound used all the time instead of the appropriate
> "s" sound in words which should have the "s" and not
> the "z" or "ce, ci". I find this very annoying ;-) And pick
> on my cousins a lot about it.
Actually, "ceceo" is old (16th century probably), and there is no
evidence that it is hypercorrection.  Spanish split into "ceceo",
"seseo", and standard ("ceseo"? "seceo"?) dialects when the
old affricates became fricatives.

--
        John Cowan      http://www.ccil.org/~cowan      cowan@ccil.org
Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis um dies! / Schliesst euer Aug vor heiliger Schau,
Denn er genoss vom Honig-Tau / Und trank die Milch vom Paradies.
                        -- Coleridge / Politzer