History of the Spanish language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Modern SpanishOld SpanishLatin

The language known today as Spanish is derived from a dialect of spoken Latin, which was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans during the Second Punic War, beginning in 218 BC, and which evolved in central parts of the Iberian Peninsula after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century. A written standard was developed in the cities of Toledo (13th to 16th centuries) and Madrid (from the 1560s).[1] Over the past 1,000 years, the language expanded south to the Mediterranean Sea, and was later transferred to the Spanish colonial empire, most notably to the Americas. Today it is the official language of 20 countries, as well as an official language of numerous international organizations, including the United Nations.

Main distinguishing features[edit]


  • debuccalization and eventual loss of Latin initial /f/ in most contexts, marked in modern spelling by the silent ⟨h⟩ of words such as hablar, hilo, hoja (from Latin "fabulare", "filum", and "folia" respectively. Also in Gascon: hilh, huelha)





Due to prolonged language contact with other languages, the Spanish lexicon contains loanwords from Basque, Hispano-Celtic (Celtiberian and Gallaecian), Iberian, Germanic (Gothic), Arabic and indigenous languages of the Americas.

Accents—used in Modern Spanish to mark the vowel of the stressed syllable in words where stress is not predictable from rules—came into use sporadically in the 15th century, and massively in the 16th century. Their use began to be standardized with the advent of the Spanish Royal Academy in the 18th century. See also Spanish orthography.

External history[edit]






The "first written Spanish" was traditionally considered to have appeared in the Glosas Emilianenses located in San Millán de la Cogolla, La Rioja. These are "glosses" (translations of isolated words and phrases in a form more like Hispanic Romance than Latin) added between the lines of a manuscript that was written earlier in Latin. Nowadays the language of the Glosas Emilianenses is considered to be closer to the Navarro-Aragonese language than to Spanish proper. Estimates of their date vary from the late 10th to the early 11th century.[6]






Beginning in the late fifteenth century, the discovery and colonization of the Americas by Spanish explorers brought the language across the Atlantic and to Mexico, Central America, and western and southern South America.[11] Under the Spanish Crown, the language was used as a tool for colonization by Spanish soldiers, missionaries, conquistadors, and entrepreneurs. In the coming centuries, their descendants continued to spread the language.[12]










In the Pacific[edit]

In the Marianas, the Spanish language was retained until the Pacific War, but is no longer spoken there by any significant number of people. As part of Chile since 1888, Spanish is spoken by most people in Easter Island along with Rapa Nui language.



International projection[edit]




The mention of "influences" on the Spanish language refers primarily to lexical borrowing. Throughout its history, Spanish has accepted loanwords, first from pre-Roman languages (including Basque, Iberian, Celtiberian and Gallaecian), and later from Greek, from Germanic languages, from Arabic, from neighboring Romance languages, from Native American languages, and from English.

The most frequently used word that entered Spanish from (or through[16]) Basque is izquierda "left".[17] Basque is perhaps most evident in some common Spanish surnames, including García and Echeverría. Basque place names also are prominent throughout Spain, because many Castilians who took part in the Reconquista and repopulation of Moorish Iberia by Christians were of Basque lineage. Iberian and Celtiberian likewise are thought to have contributed place names to Spain. Words of everyday use that are attributed to Celtic sources include camino "road", carro "cart", colmena "hive", and cerveza "beer".[18] Suffixes such as -iego: mujeriego "womanizer" and -ego: gallego "Galician" are also attributed to Celtic sources.




In 711 Spain was invaded by Moors, who brought the Arabic language to the Peninsula. For about eight hundred years, until the fall of the Emirate of Granada (1492), Spanish borrowed thousands of words from Arabic, such as alcalde "mayor", álgebra "algebra", aceite "oil", zanahoria "carrot", alquiler "rent", achacar "to blame", adelfa "oleander", barrio "neighbourhood", chaleco "vest", to name just a few; making up 8% of the Spanish dictionary - the second largest lexical influence on Spanish after Latin.[21][22][23] It is thought that the bilingualism of the Mozarabs facilitated the large transfer of vocabulary from Arabic to Castilian.[24]

The neighboring Romance languages—Portuguese/Galician, Catalan, French, and Occitan—contributed greatly to the Spanish lexicon throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era.[25] Borrowing from Italian occurred most frequently in the 16th and 17th centuries, due largely to the influence of the Italian Renaissance.[26]




Internal history[edit]




Early syncope in Spanish
Environment Latin words Spanish words
_r aperīre, humerum, litteram,[32] operam, honorāre abrir, hombro, letra, obra, honrar
r_ eremum, viridem yermo, verde
l_ sōlitārium soltero
s_t positum, consūtūram puesto, costura



Later syncope in Spanish
Environment Latin words Spanish words
b_t cubitum, dēbitam, dūbitam codo, deuda, duda
d_c undecim, vindicāre once, vengar
f_c advērificāre averiguar
p_t capitālem, computāre, hospitālem caudal, contar, hostal



While voiceless intervocalic consonants regularly became voiced, many voiced intervocalic stops (d, g, and occasionally b) were dropped from words altogether through a process called elision.[33][34] Latin /b/ between vowels usually changed to /v/ in Old Spanish (e.g. habēre > aver), while Latin /p/ became /b/ (sapere > saber). In modern times the two phonemes merged into /b/ (haber, saber), realized as [β] between vowels (see Betacism). Latin voiced stops—/b/, /d/, and /ɡ/, which are represented orthographically as B, D, and G respectively—and also occurred in intervocalic positions also underwent lenition: [β], [ð], and [ɣ], but appeared in Spanish also through learned words from Classical Latin.

Examples of elision in Spanish
Consonant Latin word Spanish word
b → ∅ vendēbat vendía
d → ∅ comedere, vidēre, hodie, cadēre, pede, quō modō comer, ver, hoy, caer, pie, cómo


Voicing and spirantization[edit]



Examples of voicing and spirantization in Spanish
Consonants Latin word Spanish word
pb [β] aperīre, cooperīre, lupum,
operam, populum, capram, superāre1
abrir [aˈβɾir], cubrir [kuˈβɾir], lobo [ˈloβo],
obra [ˈoβɾa], pueblo [ˈpweβlo], cabra [ˈkaβɾa], sobrar [soβˈɾar]
td [ð] cīvitātem, cubitum, latum, mūtāre,
scūtum, stātus, petram
cg [ɣ] focum, lacum, locum,
pacāre, sacrātum, aqua
pagar [paˈɣar], sagrado [saˈɣɾaðo], agua [ˈaɣwa]

1Latin superāre produced both sobrar and its learned doublet superar.


Forms with /k//θ/,/s/ (before front vowels) Forms with /k//ɡ/ (before back vowels)
English Latin Spanish English Latin Spanish
To say, to tell
It says, it tells
dīcere /ˈdiːkere/
dīcit /ˈdiːkit/
decir /deˈθiɾ/,/deˈsiɾ/
dice /ˈdiθe/,/ˈdise/
I say, I tell
May it tell
dīcō /ˈdiːkoː/
dīcat /ˈdiːkat/
digo /ˈdiɡo/
diga /ˈdiɡa/
To do, to make
It does, it makes
facere /ˈfakere/
facit /ˈfakit/
hacer /aˈθeɾ/,/aˈseɾ/
hace /ˈaθe/,/ˈase/
I do, I make
May it make
faciō > *facō /ˈfakoː/
faciat > *facat /ˈfakat/
hago /ˈaɡo/
haga /ˈaɡa/

Diphthongization in open and closed syllables[edit]

It is commonly thought that the reflexes of stressed short E and O of Latin were realised, after the loss of phonemic quantity, as the low-mid vowels /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ respectively in the Western Romance languages, contrasting with close-mid /e/ and /o/, which would have originated from the mergers between long E and short I and between long O and short U, respectively; this change would explain the similarity of the vowel systems in modern Romance languages such as Portuguese, Catalan and Italian. These low-mid vowels subsequently would have undergone diphthongization in many of the Western Romance languages. In Spanish this change occurs regardless of syllable shape (open or closed), in contrast to French and Italian, where it takes place only in open syllables, and in greater contrast to Portuguese where this diphthongization does not occur at all. As a result, Spanish phonology exhibits a five-vowel system, not the seven-vowel system that is typical of many other Western Romance languages.[39][40][41] The stressed short [e] and [o] reappeared in Spanish through learned words from Classical Latin and also evolved from short vowels /i/ and /u/ from Vulgar Latin, and was retained from long vowels [eː] and [oː] from Vulgar Latin.

Spanish diphthongization in open and closed syllables
Syllable shape Latin Spanish French Italian Portuguese Catalan

Learned words and consonant cluster simplification[edit]


Reduction of consonant clusters
Consonant cluster Latin form Learned form Old Spanish form Modern Spanish form
ctt effectum, perfectum, respectum, aspectum, dīstrīctus, sectam efecto, perfecto, respecto, aspecto, districto, secta efeto, perfeto, respeto, aspeto, distrito, seta, efecto, perfecto, respeto/respecto, aspecto, distrito, secta
ptt acceptāre, baptismum,
aceptar, baptismo,
acetar, bautismo,
aceptar, bautismo,
gnn gnum, magnīficum, signīficāre digno, magnífico,
dino, manífigo,
digno, magnífico,



Another type of consonant cluster simplification involves "double" (geminate) plosives that reduced to single: -pp-, -tt-, -cc-, -bb-, -dd-, -gg- /pː, tː, kː, bː, dː, gː/ > -p-, -t-, -c-, -b-, -d-, -g- /p, t, k, b, d, g/. The simplified Spanish outcomes of the Latin voiced series -bb-, -dd-, -gg- /bː, dː, gː/ remain voiced, inducing phonemic merger with intervocalic /b/, /d/, /g/ that issued from voicing of Latin /p/, /t/, /k/, so that all are subject to the same phonetic realization as voiced fricatives: [β], [ð], and [ɣ], respectively.

Simplification of double plosives in Spanish
Consonant Latin word Spanish word
bb [bː]b [β] abbātem abad
dd [dː]d [ð] in- + addere, addictiōnem añadir, adicción
gg [gː]g [ɣ] aggravare agravar
tt [tː]t [t] cattum, guttam, quattuor, litteram gato, gota, cuatro, letra



Syllable-final vocalization
Change Latin word Intermediate form Spanish word
bw bitam debda deuda
bw → Ø cubitum, dubitāre cobdo, dubdar codo, dudar
vw vitātem cibdad ciudad
ctch octō, nōctem *oito, *noite ocho, noche


Most Romance languages have maintained the distinction between a phoneme /b/ and a phoneme /v/: a voiced bilabial stop and a voiced, usually labiodental, fricative, respectively. Instances of the /b/ phoneme could be inherited directly from Latin /b/ (unless between vowels), or they could result from the voicing of Latin /p/ between vowels. The /v/ phoneme was generally derived either from an allophone of Latin /b/ between vowels or from the Latin phoneme corresponding to the letter ⟨v⟩ (pronounced [w] in Classical Latin but later fortified to the status of a fricative consonant in Vulgar Latin). In most Romance-speaking regions, /v/ had labiodental articulation, but in Old Spanish, which still distinguished /b/ and /v/, the latter was probably realized as a bilabial fricative [β]. The contrast between the two phonemes was neutralized in certain environments, as the fricative [β] also occurred as an allophone of /b/ between vowels, after a vowel, and after certain consonants in Old Spanish.[46] The similarity between the stop [b] and fricative [β] resulted in their complete merger entirely by the end of the Old Spanish period.[47] In Modern Spanish, the letters ⟨b⟩ and ⟨v⟩ represent the same phoneme (usually treated as /b/ in phonemic transcription), which is generally realized as the fricative [β] except when utterance-initial or after a nasal consonant, when it is realized as the stop [b]. The same situation prevails in northern Portuguese dialects, including Galician, but the other Portuguese dialects maintain the distinction. The merger of /b/ and /v/ also occurs in Standard Catalan in eastern Catalonia, but the distinction is retained in Standard Valencian spoken in eastern Catalonia and some areas in southern Catalonia, in the Balearic dialect, as well as in Algherese.

In Modern Spanish, from the 16th century onward, the choice of orthographic ⟨b⟩ or ⟨v⟩ depends mainly on the etymology of the word. The orthography attempts to mimic the Latin spelling, rather than to keep the pronunciation-based spelling of Old Spanish.[2] Thus, Old Spanish bever "to drink", bivir/vivir "to live" become beber, vivir, respectively, following the Latin spelling bibere, vīvere. The Spanish placename Córdoba, often spelled Cordova in Old Spanish (the spelling that prevailed in English until the 20th century), now reflects the spelling used by the city's Roman founders, "Corduba".

Latin f- to Spanish h- to null[edit]

F was almost always initial in Latin words, and in Spanish most of them passed through a stage in which the consonant eventually developed to [h] and then was lost phonologically. Spelling conventions have grapheme ⟨h⟩ used in words such as humo 'smoke', hormiga 'ant', hígado 'liver' (compare Italian fumo, formica, fegato, with /f/ intact), but in terms of both structure and pronunciation, the initial consonant has been lost: /ˈumo/, /orˈmiɡa/, /ˈiɡado/. It is thought that ⟨f⟩ represented the labiodental [f] in Latin, which underwent a series of lenitions to become, successively, bilabial [ɸ] and then glottal [h] (hence the modern spelling), and it was then lost altogether in most varieties; ⟨h⟩ is assumed to have been "silent" in Vulgar Latin. The first written evidence of the process dates from 863, when the Latin name Forticius was written as Ortiço, which might have been pronounced with initial [h] but certainly not [f]. (The same name appears as Hortiço in a document from 927.) The replacement of ⟨f⟩ by ⟨h⟩ in spelling is not frequent before the 16th century, but that is thought not to reflect preservation of /f/. Rather, ⟨f⟩ was consistently used to represent /h/ until the phoneme /f/ reappeared in the language (around the 16th century, as a result of loanwords from Classical Latin). Then, it became necessary to distinguish both phonemes in spelling.

The change from /f/ to /h/ occurred in the Romance speech of Old Castile and Gascon, but nowhere else nearby. Since both areas were historically bilingual with Basque, and Basque once had [h] but no [f], it is often suggested that the change was caused by Basque influence. However, this is contested by many linguists.

Most current instances of ⟨f⟩ are either learned words (those influenced by their written Latin form, such as forma, falso, fama, feria), loanwords of Arabic and Greek origin, or words whose initial ⟨f⟩ in Old Spanish is followed by a non-vowel (⟨r⟩, ⟨l⟩, or the glide element of a diphthong), as in frente, flor, fiesta, fuerte.[48][49][50] That, along with the effect of preservation of /f/ regionally (Asturian fumu 'smoke', formiga 'ant', fégadu 'liver'), accounts for modern doublets such as Fernando (learned) and Hernando (inherited) (both Spanish for "Ferdinand"), fierro (regional) and hierro (both "iron"), and fondo and hondo (fondo means "bottom" and hondo means "deep"). Also, hacer ("to make") is the rootword of satisfacer ("to satisfy"), and hecho ("made") is the rootword of satisfecho ("satisfied").

Consonants Latin word Old Spanish form Modern Spanish word
farīnam, fēminam, fīcatum, fīlium, folia,
fōrmōsum, fūmum, fungum, furcam
fablar, fazer, fazienda, feito, fambre,
farina, fembra, fígado, fijo, foja,
formoso, fumo, fongo, forca
hablar, hacer, hacienda, hecho, hambre,
harina, hembra, hígado, hijo, hoja,
hermoso, humo, hongo, horca

Fabulāri is translated as "make stories", opposed to its Spanish derivative hablar which means "speak" or "to talk".

Silent Latin h-[edit]


Consonants Latin word Old Spanish form Modern Spanish word
h- → ∅ → h- habēbat, habēre, habuī, hodiē, hominem, honorāre, hospitālem, humerum avié; aver; ove; oy; omne, omre, ombre; onrar; ostal; ombro había, haber, hube, hoy, hombre, honrar, hostal/hospital, hombro

Modern development of the Old Spanish sibilants[edit]

During the 16th century, the three voiced sibilant phonemes—dental /d͡z/, apico-alveolar /z/, and palato-alveolar /ʒ/ (as in Old Spanish fazer, casa, and ojo, respectively) lost their voicing and merged with their voiceless counterparts: /t͡s/, /s/, and /ʃ/ (as in caçar, passar, and baxar respectively). The character ⟨ç⟩, called ⟨c⟩ cedilla, originated in Old Spanish[51] but has been replaced by ⟨z⟩ in the modern language.

Additionally, the affricate /t͡s/ lost its stop component, to become a laminodental fricative, [s̪].[52] As a result, the sound system then contained two sibilant fricative phonemes whose contrast depended entirely on a subtle distinction between their places of articulation: apicoalveolar, in the case of the /s/, and laminodental, in the case of the new fricative sibilant /s̪/, which was derived from the affricate /t͡s/. The distinction between the sounds grew in the dialects of northern and central Spain by paradigmatic dissimilation, but dialects in Andalusia and the Americas merged both sounds.

The dissimilation in the northern and central dialects occurred with the laminodental fricative moving forward to an interdental place of articulation, losing its sibilance to become [θ]. The sound is represented in modern spelling by ⟨c⟩ before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩ and by ⟨z⟩ elsewhere. In the south of Spain, the deaffrication of /t͡s/ resulted in a direct merger with /s/, as both were homorganic,[citation needed], and the new phoneme became either laminodental [s̪] ("seseo", in the Americas and parts of Andalusia) or [θ] ("ceceo", in a few parts of Andalusia). In general, coastal regions of Andalusia preferred [θ], and more inland regions preferred [s̪] (see the map at ceceo).

During the colonization of the Americas, most settlers came from the south of Spain; that is the cause, according to almost all scholars, for nearly all Spanish-speakers in the New World still speaking a language variety derived largely from the Western Andalusian and Canarian dialects.

Meanwhile, the alveopalatal fricative /ʃ/, the result of the merger of voiceless /ʃ/ (spelled ⟨x⟩ in Old Spanish) with voiced /ʒ/ (spelled with ⟨j⟩ in some words and in others with ⟨g⟩ before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩), was moved backwards in all dialects, to become (depending on geographical variety) velar [x], uvular [χ] (in parts of Spain) or glottal [h] (in Andalusia, Canary Islands, and parts of the Americas, especially the Caribbean region). [53][54]


One unusual feature of Spanish etymology is the way in which the liquids /r/ and /l/ have sometimes replaced each other in words derived from Latin, French and other sources. For example, Spanish milagro, "miracle", is derived from Latin miraculum. More rarely, this process has involved consonants like /d/ and /n/ (as in alma, from Latin anima). Here is an incomplete list of such words:

  • ancla, "anchor", Latin ancora
  • algalia, "catheter", Ancient Greek: ἐργαλεία ergaleía, "tools"
  • alma, "soul", Latin anima
  • alondra, "lark", Latin alaudula
  • altramuz, "lupin", Hispanic Arabic at-tarmūs
  • árbol, "tree", Latin arbor
  • Argelia, "Algeria (nation)"
  • azufre, sulfur, Latin sulphur
  • blandir, "to brandish", French brandir
  • bolsa, "bag, purse", Latin bursa
  • calambre, "cramp, electric shock", French crampe
  • chaflán, "chamfer", French chanfrein.
  • cilantro, "coriander", Latin coriandrum
  • cuartel, "quarter", French quartier
  • dintel, "lintel", Old French lintel
  • escolta, "escort", Italian scorta
  • flete, "freight, cargo", French fret
  • franela, "flannel", French flanelle
  • frasco, "flask", Germanic flasko
  • golondrina, "swallow (bird)", Latin hirundo
  • lirio, "lily, iris", Latin lilium
  • mármol, "marble", Latin marmor
  • milagro, "miracle", Latin miraculum
  • nivel, "level", Latin libellum, "little balance", from libra, "balance"
  • olor, "smell, scent", Latin odor
  • papel, "paper", Catalan paper, Latin papyrus
  • palabra, "word", Latin parabola
  • plática, "chat, conversation", Latin practica
  • recluta, "recruit", French recrute
  • surco, "groove, furrow", Latin sulcus
  • taladro, "drill", Latin tarātrum < Celtic tarātron
  • temblar, "tremble", Latin tremulāre
  • templar, "temper, warm up", Latin temperō"
  • tiniebla(s), "darkness", Latin tenebrae


Documents from as early as the 15th century show occasional evidence of sporadic confusion between the phoneme /ʝ/ (generally spelled ⟨y⟩) and the palatal lateral /ʎ/ (spelled ⟨ll⟩). The distinction is maintained in spelling, but in most dialects of Modern Spanish, the two have merged into the same, non-lateral palatal sound. Thus, for example, most Spanish-speakers have the same pronunciation for haya (from the verb haber) as for halla (from hallar). The phonemic merger is called yeísmo, based on one name for the letter ⟨y⟩.[55][56][57]

Yeismo is a trait of the Andalusian dialect, among others. Since more than half of the early settlers of Spanish America came from Andalusia,[58][59][60] most Spanish-speaking regions of the Americas have yeísmo, but there are pockets in which the sounds are still distinguished. Native-speakers of neighboring languages, such as Galician, Astur-Leonese, Basque, Aragonese, Occitan and Catalan, usually do not feature yeísmo in their Spanish since those languages retain the /ʎ/ phoneme.

A related trait that has also been documented sporadically for several hundred years is rehilamiento (literally "whizzing"), the pronunciation of /ʝ/ as a sibilant fricative [ʒ] or even an affricate [], which is common among non-native Spanish speakers as well. The current pronunciation varies greatly depending on the geographical dialect and sociolect (with [], especially, stigmatized except at the beginning of a word). Rioplatense Spanish (of Argentina and Uruguay) is particularly known for the pronunciation [ʒ] of both /ʝ/ and original /ʎ/. A further development, the unvoiced pronunciation [ʃ], during the second half of the twentieth century came to characterize the speech of "most younger residents of Buenos Aires" and continues to spread throughout Argentina.[61]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Penny (2002:20–21)
  2. ^ a b Navarro Tomás (1982), §§90-91.
  3. ^ Penny (2002:11–15)
  4. ^ Ostler (2005:331–334)
  5. ^ Penny (2002:15)
  6. ^ Lapesa (1981:162)
  7. ^ Penny (2002:15–16)
  8. ^ Lapesa (1981:235–248)
  9. ^ Lapesa (1981:288–290)
  10. ^ Lapesa (1981:419–420)
  11. ^ "The Spanish Language | Rosetta Stone®". Rosetta Stone. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  12. ^ Stavans, Ilan (2017-04-26). "The Spanish Language in Latin America since Independence". Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.013.371. ISBN 978-0-19-936643-9. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  13. ^ Ostler (2005:335–347)
  14. ^ Penny (2002:21–24)
  15. ^ Lapesa (1981:524–534)
  16. ^ Corominas (1973:340)
  17. ^ Erichsen (2018)
  18. ^ Penny (2002:256)
  19. ^ Penny (2002:91–92)
  20. ^ Penny (2002:260–262)
  22. ^ https://www.academia.edu/7403980/Impact_of_Arabic_on_Spanish
  24. ^ Penny (2002:271)
  25. ^ Penny (2002:272–275, 279–281)
  26. ^ Penny (2002:281–284)
  27. ^ Penny (2002:275–277)
  28. ^ Penny (2002:277–279)
  29. ^ Lathrop (2003:10)
  30. ^ Lloyd (1987:113)
  31. ^ Penny (2002:50–51)
  33. ^ Lathrop (2003:85–87)
  34. ^ Lloyd (1987:232–237)
  35. ^ Lathrop (2003:82–85)
  36. ^ Penny (2002:67–71)
  37. ^ Walsh (1991)
  38. ^ Cravens (2002:17–27)
  39. ^ Lathrop (2003:61–63)
  40. ^ Lloyd (1987:122)
  41. ^ Penny (2002:44)
  42. ^ Lapesa (1981:390)
  43. ^ Lathrop (2003:85 and 94)
  44. ^ Lloyd (1987:253 and 347)
  45. ^ Penny (2002:61 and 78)
  46. ^ The confusion of Latin /b/ and /v/ in Spain is demonstrated by an often-cited pun in Latin, "Beati Hispani quibus vivere bibere est" [Blessed (are the) Spaniards, for whom to live is to drink], with variants such as "Beati Hispani, dum bibere dicunt vivere". The saying seems to be not really from Roman times but from the Middle Ages or even the Renaissance. See Nihil Novum sub Sole.
  47. ^ Lloyd (1987:239)
  48. ^ Lathrop (2003:78–79)
  49. ^ Lloyd (1987:212–223)
  50. ^ Penny (2002:90)
  51. ^ Lapesa (1981:163)
  52. ^ Penny (2002:86)
  53. ^ Lloyd (1987:328–344)
  54. ^ Penny (2002:86–90)
  55. ^ Hammond (2001)
  56. ^ Lloyd (1987:344–347)
  57. ^ Penny (2002:93)
  58. ^ Boyd-Bowman (1964)
  59. ^ Penny (2002:25–26)
  60. ^ Lapesa (1981:565–566)
  61. ^ Lipski (1994:170)


  • Erichsen, Gerald (January 27, 2018), "Languages of Spain Not Limited to Spanish: Spanish is one of four official languages", ThoughtCo
  • Lipski, John M. (1994), Latin American Spanish, London: Longman
  • Spaulding, Robert Kilburn (1971) [1943], How Spanish Grew, Berkeley: University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-01193-7
  • Walsh, Thomas J. (1991), "The Demise of Lenition as a Productive Phonological Process in Hispano-Romance", in Harris-Northall, Ray; Cravens, Thomas D. (eds.), Linguistic Studies in Medieval Spanish, Madison: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, pp. 149–163

External links[edit]