What is the proper pronunciation of the double 'L' en Español?

Question

I've been wondering about the proper pronunciation of words in Spanish that contain two 'L's' next to one another. In studying Spanish, I have been watching a lot of Spanish language television to get a better idea of pronunciation and to aid in my studies by familiarizing myself with the language. That being said, when I can identify certain words that I know are 'double L' words, it seems to me there is somewhat of a soft 'J' sound. Por ejemplo: I've heard 'llaves' pronounced (more or less) as javes, and so I figured I would try and mimic or adapt that style of pronunciation as I had basically heard a native Spanish speaker say it that way (I would assume Spanish t.v. is a good source of those). So, on to my question; obviously there are a whole slew of words that contain two 'L's' next to one another...llamar, tortilla, llevar, millon, et cetera. Now, I find myself mimicing that soft 'J' in these words and being corrected "No, it's tort-ee-ya, not tort-ee-ja," by various other people (both Spanish speakers and not). Therefore, I was wondering what this soft 'J' sound is; is it regional, a dialect thing, a more proper way of speaking, or a less proper pronunciation?

You are right. There is no "proper" way in this regard, when you talk about regionalism. Just think about Canada, US, UK, Australia, which one of those is proper? - chileno, Jan 7, 2014

Answer 1

It is a regional pronunciation and is extremely varied throughout the world.

You would have to study linguistics for a detailed answer (a 4 year bachelor's and more learning on top of it to be honest). If you want an introduction, I'd suggest reading this publication. In the meantime, here is an EXTREMELY generalized explanation:

Mexico and most of Latin America/Spain - y

Argentina - j

More detailed/technical:

Most Spanish speakers pronounce ll the same as y (yeísmo). As a result, in most parts of Hispanic America as well as in many regions of Spain, Spanish speakers pronounce it /?/ (voiced palatal fricative), while some other Hispanic Americans (especially Rioplatense speakers, and in Tabasco, Mexico) pronounce it /?/ (voiced postalveolar fricative) or /?/ (voiceless postalveolar fricative).

Cool! Can you do the "v/b" and "y" next? I've been searching for a technical explanation for ages. - HackerKing, Jan 6, 2014

That's a really interesting publication, thank you so much for sharing it :) - Manity, Jan 7, 2014

Answer 2

Are you talking about the "zh" sound? It's the middle sound in the word "pleasure". AlyssaLTerry has a technical explanation, but just note that "y" and "zh" (and also the english "j") are all valid pronunciations. It really depends on the region it's spoken in.

The strange squiggly letters AlyssaLTerry uses are from the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), which has a letter for every sound that could possibly exist in a language. It's much more precise than using English or Spanish letters for reference since (the heart of the matter is that) Spanish people pronounce different letters differently depending on where they live.

Answer 3

I would say:

From Mexico to about Venezuela = y

From Venezuela down = J

Except Argentina and Uruguay - sh