why is spain spanish spoken with a lisp
Phonological history of Spanish coronal fricatives A persistent urban legend claims that the prevalence of the sound /θ/ in Spanish can be traced back to a Spanish king who spoke with a lisp, and whose pronunciation spread by prestige borrowing to the rest of the population. This myth has been discredited by scholars for lack of evidence.[9] Lundeberg (1947) traces the origins of the legend back to a chronicle of Pero López de Ayala stating that Peter of Castile "lisped a little" ("ceceaba un poco") however he reigned in the 14th century and the sound /θ/ began to develop in the 16th century (see below). Moreover, it is clear that a true lisp would not give rise to the systematic distinction between /s/ and /θ/ that characterizes Standard Peninsular pronunciation. For example, a lisp would lead one to pronounce both siento ('I feel') and ciento ('hundred') the same (as [θjento]) whereas in Standard Peninsular Spanish they are pronounced [ˈsjento] and [ˈθjento], respectively.