Lisps: How does it sound in other languages?
Hello guys,
I've always been curious about this. I'm a layman in linguistics, so i'm here asking a simple question that might have a complex answer.
How do lisps sound in other languages?
I'm Brazilian, portuguese speaker, but i can pick up what's being said in most romance languages. However, outside of English and Spanish where it sounds obvious to my ears, I've never been able to spot someone with any type of lisp in other languages, like for instance, in German, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean. Haven't picked up on lisps on African languages either. It would make sense of German and French because of the sibilants. Maybe I haven't been exposed to many accents/dialects enough to spot one.
But, for instance, there's a lot of famous english speakers with different kinds of lisps, like Mike Tyson, Jonathan Ross (has a different type), if i'm not mistake Sean Connery's particular diction seems like a type of lisp.
I had a lisp that was more pronounced when i was a kid. (the lateral kind? with the sides of the tongue).
Do you guys know any speakers of those languages with a lisp?
What do they sound like?
Is it stigmatized like it is in other places?
Posted Jul 6, 2026, 9:01 PM UTC