[net.nlang] the King's Spanish

rpiche@watdcsu.UUCP (R. Piche [Civ Eng]) (08/10/84)

more on Martin Taylor's assertion on Geo. II being the model
   for the King's English:

I had heard that the lisp ('ceceo') characteristic of Castilian
spanish is also the result of courtiers' mimicing of a royal speech
impediment.
 
           .....Robert Piche'

gino@voder.UUCP (Gino Bloch) (08/14/84)

If the Castilian lisp was the result of imitating a king's lisp
then why aren't Castilian s's pronounced like Castilian c's?

The hypothesis I like is that about the time the Americas were
being colonized (invaded?), c's before front vowels were pronounced
`ts' as in German today.  The pronunciation started changing in the
XVI century - but differently in the two hemispheres.