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In several studies on sound change, it has been suggested that change is not possible without allophonic variation; indeed, it appears to be the triggering factor in phonetic evolution. This paper examines the process of yeísmo in Spanish, which is presented in recent research as a change in progress (see Moreno Fernández 2005). Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the lateral palatal /ʎ/ has been gradually merging with the non-lateral palatal approximant /j/, traditionally considered a fricative consonant in spite of its formantic structure. Nevertheless, in this process there is not a real dichotomy between a lateral and an approximant consonant. Instead, there is an array of coexisting allophones of /ʎ/([ʎ], [j], [ʒ]or […] are a few examples). The paper will thus focus on the wide variation in the phonetic representation of /ʎ/ and how it is affecting the Spanish sound system. This will be investigated through experimental means (analyzing speech acoustically) and through the collection of data for different dialects, which will give us information about (i) the existence of intra and inter-speaker variation and (ii) the way this variation functions. The results point to a restructuring of the palatal system of Spanish, at least in some parts of its linguistic territory, which seems to prove that the merger process is still progressing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we analyze ego-documents and metalinguistic texts from nineteenth century and early twentieth century Chilean Spanish showing a number of cases of phonetic-phonological hypercorrections. Our focus is the interaction between language-normative discourses and language use. We work with the assumption that hypercorrections are a symptom of the speakers’ linguistic consciousness regarding the norm and the (overt) prestige associated with certain variants, and thus they reveal the influence that normative ideas exert over language use. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Chilean Spanish underwent a process of linguistic standardization, which manifested itself through a number of ‘disciplinary texts’ (grammars, dictionaries) that offered an exoglossic normative model. Chilean Spanish differed from this normative model in a number of features which were subject to overt condemnation and also were precisely those affected by hypercorrection in our data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]