Voiced uvular trill

The voiced uvular trill is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ʀ⟩, a small capital version of the Latin letter r. This consonant is one of several collectively called guttural R.

Features

Features of the voiced uvular trill:

Its manner of articulation is trill, which means it is produced by directing air over an articulator so that it vibrates. Unlike in tongue-tip trills, it is the uvula, not the tongue, that vibrates.^[1]
Its place of articulation is uvular, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue (the dorsum) at the uvula.
Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

There are two main theories regarding the origination of the uvular trill in European languages. According to one theory, the uvular trill originated in Standard French around the 17th century and spread to the standard varieties of German, Danish, Portuguese, and some of those of Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish. It is also present in other areas of Europe, but it is not clear if such pronunciations are due to French influence.^[3] In most cases, varieties have shifted the sound to a voiced uvular fricative [ʁ] or a voiced uvular approximant [ʁ̞].

The other main theory is that the uvular R originated within Germanic languages by the weakening of the alveolar R, which was replaced by an imitation of the alveolar R (vocalisation).^[4] Against the "French origin" theory, it is said that there are many signs that the uvular R existed in some German dialects long before the 17th century.^[4]

Notes

^ a b Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), p. 225.
^ Map based on Trudgill (1974:220)
^ Trudgill (1974:221), citing Moulton (1952), Ewert (1963), and Martinet (1969)
^ a b Bisiada (2009).
^ a b Donaldson (1993), p. 15.
^ Wheeler (2005), pp. 24.
^ Booij (1999), p. 8.
^ Collins & Mees (2003), pp. 42, 54, 77, 165, 199–200.
^ Goeman & van de Velde (2001), pp. 91–92, 94–97, 99–104.
^ Verstraten & van de Velde (2001), pp. 45–46, 51, 53–55, 58.
^ Verhoeven (2005), pp. 243 and 245.
^ a b c Verstraten & van de Velde (2001), p. 52.
^ a b Collins & Mees (2003), p. 42.
^ Collins & Mees (2003), p. 209.
^ a b c d Verstraten & van de Velde (2001), p. 54.
^ Verstraten & van de Velde (2001), pp. 52 and 54.
^ a b Finn (2004), p. 976.
^ a b c d Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), p. 236.
^ Grevisse & Goosse (2008), pp. 22–36.
^ Hall (1993), p. 89.
^ a b Canepari (1999), pp. 98–101.
^ "Picture Dictionary: Japreria Animals". www.native-languages.org. Retrieved 2023-01-30.
^ The guttural r is used in some other cities in the Low Saxon area as well.
^ Zuid-Drente en Noord-Overijssel. Zwolle. Reeks Nederlandse Dialectatlassen deel 14 (1982).
^ Gilles & Trouvain (2013), pp. 67–68.
^ Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 68.
^ Mateus & d'Andrade (2000), p. 11.
^ a b Acoustic analysis of vibrants in Brazilian Portuguese (in Portuguese)
^ Rood & Taylor (1996).
^ Lakota Language Consortium (2004). Lakota letters and sounds.
^ Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:225–226)
^ a b Kleine (2003:263)

References

Bisiada, Mario (2009), "[R] in Germanic Dialects — Tradition or Innovation?", Vernacular, 1: 84–99
Booij, Geert (1999), The phonology of Dutch, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-823869-X
Canepari, Luciano (1999) [1992], Il MªPi – Manuale di pronuncia italiana [Handbook of Italian Pronunciation] (in Italian) (2 ed.), Bologna: Zanichelli, ISBN 88-08-24624-8
Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2003) [First published 1981], The Phonetics of English and Dutch (5th ed.), Leiden: Brill Publishers, ISBN 9004103406
Donaldson, Bruce C. (1993), "1. Pronunciation", A Grammar of Afrikaans, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 1–35, ISBN 9783110134261
Ewert, A. (1963), The French Language, London: Faber
Finn, Peter (2004), "Cape Flats English: phonology", in Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Kortmann, Bernd; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive (eds.), A handbook of varieties of English, vol. 1: Phonology, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 964–984, ISBN 3-11-017532-0
Gilles, Peter; Trouvain, Jürgen (2013), "Luxembourgish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 67–74, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000278
Goeman, Ton; van de Velde, Hans (2001). "Co-occurrence constraints on /r/ and /ɣ/ in Dutch dialects". In van de Velde, Hans; van Hout, Roeland (eds.). 'r-atics. Brussels: Etudes & Travaux. pp. 91–112. ISSN 0777-3692. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
Grevisse, Maurice; Goosse, André (2008), Le Bon Usage (14th ed.), De Boeck et Larcier
Hall, Tracy Alan (1993), "The phonology of German /ʀ/", Phonology, 10 (1): 83–105, doi:10.1017/S0952675700001743, JSTOR 4615428, S2CID 195707076
Kleine, Ane (2003), "Standard Yiddish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (2): 261–265, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001385
Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19815-6.
Martinet, A. (1969), Le Français sans fard, Paris: Presses Universitaires
Mateus, Maria Helena; d'Andrade, Ernesto (2000), The Phonology of Portuguese, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-823581-X
Moulton, W.G. (1952), "Jacob Böhme's uvular r", Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 51: 83–89
Rood, David S.; Taylor, Allan R. (1996), "Sketch of Lakhota, a Siouan Language, Part I", Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 17, Smithsonian Institution, pp. 440–482, archived from the original on 2012-07-12, retrieved 2014-11-14
Trudgill, Peter (1974), "Linguistic change and diffusion: Description and explanation in sociolinguistic dialect", Language in Society, 3 (2): 215–246, doi:10.1017/S0047404500004358, S2CID 145148233
Verhoeven, Jo (2005), "Belgian Standard Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 35 (2): 243–247, doi:10.1017/S0025100305002173
Verstraten, Bart; van de Velde, Hans (2001). "Socio-geographical variation of /r/ in standard Dutch". In van de Velde, Hans; van Hout, Roeland (eds.). 'r-atics. Brussels: Etudes & Travaux. pp. 45–61. ISSN 0777-3692. {{cite book}}: |journal= ignored (help)
Wheeler, Max W. (2005), The Phonology Of Catalan, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-925814-7

External links