A 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 , a small capital version of the Latin letter r. This consonant is one of several collectively called guttural R.
Features
Features of a voiced uvular trill:
Unlike in tongue-tip trills, it is the uvula, not the tongue, that vibrates.
Occurrence
thumb|upright=1.4|Distribution of [[guttural R (such as ) in Europe in the mid-20th century.
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There are two main hypotheses regarding the origin of the uvular trill in European languages. According to one hypothesis, 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. In most cases, varieties have shifted the sound to a voiced uvular fricative or approximant .
The other main hypothesis is that the uvular trill originated within Germanic languages through the weakening and vocalization of the alveolar trill toward an open back vowel (notable for its pharyngealization), with the uvular trill subsequently emerging as a strengthened articulation of this vocalization. Accordingly, there is ample evidence that the uvular trill existed in German dialects long before the 17th century, suggesting that while the French usage may have influenced its spread, it was not the ultimate origin.
{| class="wikitable"
!colspan=2| Language
! Word
! IPA
! Meaning
! Notes
|-
| Afrikaans
| Parts of the former Cape Province
|
|
| 'red'
| May be a fricative instead. See Afrikaans phonology
|-
| Arabic
| North Mesopotamian
|
| [ˈqʌmʌʀ]
| 'moon'
| Corresponds to [r, ɾ] in most other varieties. See Arabic phonology
|-
|Breton
|Kerneveg
|
| [bʀoː]
|'country'
|Corresponds to [r~ʁ] in standard Breton. See Breton phonology
|-
| Catalan
| Some northern dialects
|
|
| 'to run'
| See Catalan phonology
|-
|rowspan=7| Dutch
| Belgian Limburg
|rowspan=7|
|rowspan=7|
|rowspan=7| 'red'
|rowspan=4| More commonly a flap. Uvular pronunciations appear to be gaining ground in the Randstad. Realization of varies considerably among dialects. See Dutch phonology
|-
| Central Netherlands
|-
| Randstad
|-
| Southern Netherlands
|-
| Flemish Brabant || rowspan="3" | More commonly a flap. It is one of the least common realizations of in these areas. See Dutch phonology
|-
| Northern Netherlands
|-
| West Flanders
|-
|Estonian
|Some speakers, mostly in Tartu County
|
| [kuʀk]
|'cucumber'
|-
|rowspan=3| English
| Cape Flats
|rowspan=3| red
|rowspan=3|
|rowspan=3| 'red'
| Possible realization of ; may be instead. See South African English phonology
|-
| Northumbrian dialect
| More often a fricative. Dialectal "Northumbrian Burr", mostly found in eastern Northumberland, declining. See English phonology
|-
| Sierra Leonean
| More often a fricative.
|-
|colspan=2| French
|
|
| 'rendezvous', 'appointment'
| Dialectal. More commonly an approximant or a fricative . See French phonology
|-
| German
| Standard
|
|
| 'red'
| In free variation with a voiced uvular fricative and approximant. Can be realized as voiceless after voiceless consonants. See Standard German phonology
|-
|colspan=2| Hebrew
| /
|
| 'green'
| May also be a fricative or approximant. See Modern Hebrew phonology
|-
| Italian
| Some speakers
|
|
| 'rare'
| Rendition alternative to the standard Italian alveolar trill , due to individual orthoepic defects and/or regional variations that make the alternative sound more prevalent, notably in South Tyrol (bordering with German-speaking Austria), Aosta Valley (bordering with France) and in parts of the Parma province, more markedly around Fidenza. Other alternative sounds may be a voiced uvular fricative or a labiodental approximant . See Italian phonology.
|-
| colspan="2" |Japreria
|peŕo
|
|'dog'
|Contrasts with flap [ɾ], represented orthographically by ŕ.
|-
|colspan=2| Judaeo-Spanish
|
|
| 'woman', 'wife'
|
|-
|rowspan=1| Low Saxon || Zwols || || ||rowspan=1|'prices'||Only in the city and its immediate surroundings, not in the area surrounding Zwolle.
|-
| colspan="2" | Luxembourgish
|
|
| 'silence'
| Prevocalic allophone of . See Luxembourgish phonology
|-
|rowspan=4| Occitan
| Eastern
|
|
| 'oak'
| Contrasts with alveolar trill ( 'cured')
|-
| Provençal
|
|
| 'parts'
|rowspan=3| See Occitan phonology
|-
| Southern Auvergnat
|
|
|rowspan=2| 'son'
|-
| Southeastern Limousin
|
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Norwegian || Southern dialects || rowspan="2" | || rowspan="2" | || rowspan="2" | 'strange' || rowspan="2" | Either an approximant or a fricative. See Norwegian phonology
|-
| Southwestern dialects
|-
|rowspan=3| Portuguese
| European
|
|
| 'to get scarcer'
| Alternates with other uvular forms and the older alveolar trill. See Portuguese phonology
|-
| Fluminense
|
|
| 'market', 'fair'
| Tendency to be replaced by fricative pronunciations. In coda position, it is generally in free variation with , , , and before non-voicing environments.
|-
| Sulista|| ǧí
|
| 'it's brown'
| Allophone of before
|-
| Sotho
| Regional variant
|
|
| 'hair'
| Imported from French missionaries. See Sesotho phonology
|-
| Swedish
| Southern
|
|
| 'fox'
| See Swedish phonology
|-
| Yiddish
| Standard
|
|
| 'bridge'
| More commonly a flap ; can be alveolar instead. || || || 'red' || Most often an approximant when initial. In other positions, it can be either a fricative (also described as voiceless ) or an approximant. It can be a fricative trill in word-initial positions when emphasizing a word. See Danish phonology
|-
|rowspan=2| Limburgish || Maastrichtian || || ||rowspan=2| 'three' ||rowspan=2| Fricative trill; the fricative component varies between uvular and post-velar. See Maastrichtian dialect phonology and Weert dialect phonology
|-
| Weert dialect || ||
|-
| West Flemish || Bruges dialect || || || 'under' || A fricative trill with little friction. An alveolar is used in the neighbouring rural area.
|}
See also
- Index of phonetics articles