Historia y presente del yeísmo (rehilado) en el Uruguay

Abstract

The phenomena of yeísmo, rehilamiento and devoicing are certainly constitutive of Uruguayan Spanish. In the past, many studies have analyzed these phenomena focusing on both the synchronic and the diachronic perspectives of language analysis. However –and as indicated by the specialized literature–  there still have not been systematic attempts to evaluate –globally and critically– previous studies and their findings. This paper provides a critical review of studies addressing yeísmo, rehilamiento and devoicing in Uruguayan Spanish. Our focus is on the historical description of these processes, their current status in the phonological system of Uruguayan Spanish and the social attitudes attached to them. This allows us to contribute to the history of the Spanish language in Uruguay, but also to provide a local view of a phonological and phonetic process that is by definition complex and that has for a long time accompanied the phonological evolution of Spanish. On the other hand, providing a critical review of the literature also allows us to identify and evaluate previous contributions, theoretical and methodological limitations and future research areas. In turn, this will help us achieve a better understanding of these phenomena.