Singer-songwriter, Shiite, express, banner, cycle route, oh!, basil / 'Language in Time', column by Fernando Ávila

Are there any words with double a's? Yes, a few, e.g., contraalmirante, contraataque, contraargumento, although the spelling without the double a's is also correct, contralmirante, contrataque, contrargumento. In the case of cantautor, the form cantaautor is no longer valid. And with a double e? Many, e.g., creo, Neerlandés, infantiles, which do not allow any other form, and maestreescuela, irremplazable, sobreexcitación, which can also be spelled without the double e, maestrescuela, irremplazable, sobreexcitación. And with a double i? Not many, e.g., anti-imperialista, Shiita, semiinconsciente, none of which can be spelled without the double i. And with a double o? Many, e.g., zoo, coordinador, zootecnia, which also do not allow versions without the double o. And with a double u? Very few, all from the same family, duumvir, duumviral, duumvirate, which also do not admit simplification.

Do words with double s exist? No, they have for three centuries. That's why, impasse (French), dossier (French), express (French and English) are written in Spanish with a single s, impase (Dictionary of Americanisms), dosier, exprés. And the ones that appear with double s in the Dictionary of the Spanish Language (DLE)? They're all foreign words. That's why they're in italics, except for Picasso-like and Rousseau-like, which, due to their hybrid nature, aren't italicized. And with double z? All the ones that appear in the DLE are foreign words: jazz (English), mezzo-soprano (Italian), pizza (Italian), except for the hybrids, jazzista, pizzería, prepizza. And with double c? Lots! Pe, acceso, cóccix, dicción. And with double t? None. That's why the Italian words tutti frutti and the French words baguette and culotte are written in Spanish as tutifruti (Pan-Hispanic Dictionary of Doubts, DPD), baguete (DPD), and culote. And with double nns? Many! For example, connatural, innovación, perenne, but not as many as in English, which is why the English words tennis, scanner, and banner are written in Spanish as tenis, escribir, báner (DPD).

And with a double l? Of course! Many more than one might think! Let's remember that the double l was a letter until fifty-one years ago. It was called elle. Now it's a digraph and continues to be used with the same sound as ye, valla, calle, gallina, with the usual warning that valla ('obstacle') is not the same as vaya (from the verb "ir"), nor cayo ('island') as callo (from the verb "callar"), nor raya ('line') as ralla (from the verb "rallar"), even though they sound the same. And the double r? Of course! It's only used between vowels to distinguish the soft sounds of caro, varia, cero from the hard sounds of carro, barría, cerro. Never, between a consonant and a vowel, as erroneously appears in Enrrique, Conrrado, Isrrael, which have a hard sound without the need for duplication, Enrique, Conrado, Israel. It is important to remember that words composed of one element ending in a vowel and another beginning with r, require the duplication of the r, e.g., ciclorruta, vicerector, seismorresistente, which have as their second component ruta, rector, resistente.

It could be said that, in general, there is a tendency toward simplification. Words like veer, preveer, transteo, transpaso, translado, obscuro, subjeto, pseudónimo, tsunami, are giving rise to the simplified forms ver, prever, trasteo, traspaso, transferencia, oscuro, sujeto, pseudónimo, tsunami. Gabriel García Márquez spoke in his famous speech in Zacatecas, 1997, about the need to do away with the rupestrian "h"s. And that has happened with, for example, bahareque, alhelí, ¡huy!, albahaca, which are now usually written without the h, bareque, alelí, ¡uy!, albaca.

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