Loísmo, with its feminine counterpartlaísmo, is a feature of certain dialects ofSpanish consisting of the use of the pronounslo,la,los, andlas (which are normally used fordirect objects) in place of the pronounsle andles (which are used forindirect objects).Loísmo andlaísmo are almost entirely restricted to some dialects in central Spain; they are virtually absent from formal and written language. In practicelaísmo is much more frequent thanloísmo.
A simple example would be sayinglo hablé (lit. "I spoke him"),la hablé (lit. "I spoke her"),los hablé (lit. "I spoke them [masculine]"), orlas hablé (lit. "I spoke them [feminine]") where a speaker of a dialect withoutloísmo would sayle(s) hablé ("I spoke to him/her/them").
This effectively means the loss of adeclensionalcase marker. The difference betweenlo (accusative case) andle (dative case) are holdovers fromLatin declension. The general trend in the evolution of Spanish has been to drop such declensions, but most dialects of Spanish have preserved this feature for object pronouns. It just happens that speakers withloísmo have further lost this distinction, replacing it with a different distinction of a semantic kind.
Another effect ofloísmo andlaísmo is that the gender of the indirect object is clearer than it would be usingle. One issue with non-loísmo dialects is that thele pronoun is ambiguous, as it does not specify gender. For example,le doy un beso can mean "I give him a kiss", "I give her a kiss", or even "I give you (formal) a kiss". One way around this ambiguity is to clarify the pronoun with a prepositional phrase; for our example, this would meanle doy un beso a él,le doy un beso a ella, orle doy un beso a usted, respectively. Sincelo indicates masculine andla indicates feminine, usingloísmo andlaísmo means that this clarification is not necessary.
Loísmo can also seemingly change the meaning of certain phrases, since some verbs take on a different meaning based on the case of their objects. For example,le pegué means "I struck him", but a speaker withloísmo would saylo pegué, which literally means "I pasted/stuck him (onto something)" in dialects withoutloísmo.
TheReal Academia Española listedloísmo andlaísmo as correct in 1771; however, it condemned their use in 1796. The Academy's online grammar guide[1] currently states it is "inappropriate" to use them.
The lack of acceptance from the RAE has caused a certain classist or social stigma to be attached toloísmo and those who use it. This often leads tohypercorrection, withloístas choosing thele pronoun even for direct objects as a form ofleísmo.
Articles in theDiccionario panhispánico de dudas of the Royal Spanish Academy (in Spanish)
