Rhotic consonant

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This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

In

ɺ⟩. Transcriptions for vocalic or semivocalic realisations of underlying rhotics include the ⟨ə̯⟩ and ⟨ɐ̯
⟩.

This class of sounds is difficult to characterise phonetically; from a phonetic standpoint, there is no single articulatory

correlate (manner or place) common to rhotic consonants.[2] Rhotics have instead been found to carry out similar phonological functions or to have certain similar phonological features across different languages.[3]

Being "R-like" is an elusive and ambiguous concept phonetically and the same sounds that function as rhotics in some systems may pattern with

t/, as in water. It is likely that rhotics are not a phonetically natural class but a phonological class.[5]

Some languages have rhotic and non-rhotic varieties, which differ in the incidence of rhotic consonants. In non-rhotic accents of English, /ɹ/ is not pronounced unless it is followed directly by a vowel.

Types

The most typical rhotic sounds found in the world's languages are the following:[1]

Furthermore, there is also a non-syllabic open vowel [ɐ̯] (conventional transcription, the exact quality varies) that patterns as /r/ in some Germanic languages such as German, Danish and

Luxembourgish
. It occurs only in the syllable coda.

Characteristics

In broad transcription rhotics are usually symbolised as /r/ unless there are two or more types of rhotic in the same language; for example, most Australian Aboriginal languages, which contrast approximant [ɻ] and trill [r], use the symbols r and rr respectively. The IPA has a full set of different symbols which can be used whenever more phonetic precision is required: an r rotated 180° [ɹ] for the alveolar approximant, a small capital R [ʀ] for the uvular trill, and a flipped small capital R [ʁ] for the voiced uvular fricative or approximant.

The fact that the sounds conventionally classified as "rhotics" vary greatly in both place and manner in terms of articulation, and also in their acoustic characteristics, has led several linguists to investigate what, if anything, they have in common that justifies grouping them together.[5] One suggestion that has been made is that each member of the class of rhotics shares certain properties with other members of the class, but not necessarily the same properties with all; in this case, rhotics have a "family resemblance" with each other rather than a strict set of shared properties.[2] Another suggestion is that rhotics are defined by their behaviour on the sonority hierarchy, namely, that a rhotic is any sound that patterns as being more sonorous than a lateral consonant but less sonorous than a vowel.[3] The potential for variation within the class of rhotics makes them a popular area for research in sociolinguistics.[9]

Rhotics and rhoticity in the world's languages

English

Main articles: Rhoticity in English and Pronunciation of English /r/

English has rhotic and non-rhotic accents. Rhotic speakers pronounce a historical /r/ in all instances, while non-rhotic speakers only pronounce /r/ at the beginning of a syllable.

Dutch

Colloquial Northern Dutch speech of the Randstad region is variably rhotic. In the syllable coda, the sequences /ɛr, ɑr, aːr, ɔr, oːr/ may be realized as [ɛ̝j, ɑj, aːj, ö̞j, öːj], which may close to or the same as the vowels or sequences /eː, ɑj, aːj, ɔj, oːj/, resulting in a variable merger. For instance, kerk 'church' and cake 'pound cake' may become homophonous as [kɛ̝jk], whereas maar 'but' can be homophonous with maai '(I) mow' as [maːj]. /ɔr/ and /oːr/ are usually somewhat distinct from /ɔj/ and /oːj/ as the former feature vowels that are more central (and /oːj/ features a diphthong [əuj] in certain dialects, such as Rotterdam Dutch).[10]

After /ə/, /r/ may be dropped altogether, as in kilometer [ˈkilömeitə] 'kilometer'. This is commonly heard in The Hague. It is not necessarily restricted to the word-final position, as it can also happen in word-final clusters in words such as honderd [ˈɦɔndət] 'hundred'.[11]

After /i/, /y/, /u/, /eː/ and /øː/, /r/ may be realized as a centering glide, as in mier [mïːə̯] 'ant', muur [mÿːə̯] 'wall', moer [müːə̯] 'queen bee', meer [mɪːə̯] 'lake' and deur [dʏːə̯] 'door'. As with /ɔ/ and /oː/, these vowels are more central (and also longer) than in other contexts. Furthermore, both /eː/ and /øː/ are raised in this context, so that meer becomes a near-homophone of mier, whereas deur becomes a quasi-rhyme of muur.[12]

In citation forms, /r/ in the syllable coda is pronounced as a

alveolar taps and voiced uvular fricatives) are also possible, depending on the region and individual speaker, so that mier may be also pronounced [mïə̯ɾ] or [mïə̯ʁ]ⓘ. The pre-velar bunched approximant as well as the palatal approximant realization of /r/ described above are virtually unknown in southern varieties of Dutch. In the varieties where they do occur, they are restricted to the syllable coda. In other environments, /r/ is realized as [ɾ] or [ʁ].[13]

Other Germanic languages

The rhotic consonant is dropped or vocalized under similar conditions in other Germanic languages, notably German, Danish, western Norwegian and southern Swedish (both because of Danish influence).

In most varieties of German (with the notable exception of

German phonology
.

Similarly, Danish /r/ after a vowel is, unless followed by a stressed vowel, either pronounced

vowel quality (/a(ː)r/ and /ɔːr/ or /ɔr/ are realised as long vowels [ɑː] and [ɒː], and /ər/, /rə/ and /rər/ are all pronounced [ɐ]) (løber "runner" [ˈløːpɐ], Søren Kierkegaard (personal name) [ˌsœːɐn ˈkʰiɐ̯kəˌkɒˀ]
).

Astur-Leonese

In

enclitic pronoun, which is reflected in writing. For example, the infinitive form dar [dar] plus the third-person plural dative pronoun "-yos" da-yos [ˈdaʝos] ("give to them") or the accusative form "los" dalos [ˈdalos] ("give them"). That happens also in Leonese
in which the infinitive form is "dare" [ˈdare], and both the /r/ and the vowel are dropped (da-yos, not *dáre-yos). However, most speakers also drop rhotics in the infinitive before a lateral consonant of a different word, but that is not shown in writing: dar los dos [daː los ðos] (give the two [things]). That does not occur in the middle of words: the name Carlos [ˈkarlos].

Catalan

In some

flap [ɾ] occurring between vowels, and a trill
[r] elsewhere); e.g. fornera [furˈneɾə] "(female) baker", fer-lo [ˈferɫu] "to do it (masc.)", fer-ho [ˈfeɾu] "to do it/that/so", lluir-se [ʎuˈir.sə] "to excel, to show off".

French

Final ⟨r⟩ is generally not pronounced in words ending in ⟨-er⟩. The R in parce que ("because") is not pronounced in informal speech.

Malay (including Indonesian)

The pronunciation of final /r/ in Malay and Indonesian varies considerably. In Indonesian, Baku (lit. 'standard' in Malay) Malay, and Kedah Malay, the final /r/ is pronounced, but in the Johor-Riau accent, the standard accent of Malay in Brunei and Malaysia, and several other dialects, it isn't.

The quality of the realization of the phoneme varies too. In the syllable onset, in Indonesian, Baku Malay, and standard Johor-Riau Malay, it varies between a trill [

ɹ̠]. In many dialects of Malay, such as those of Kedah, Kelantan-Pattani and Terengganu, onset /r/ is usually realized as a velar fricative [ɣ]. In Perak Malay, a uvular pronunciation, [ʁ
] is more common.

In Kedah Malay, final /r/ is uniquely realized as a pharyngeal fricative [ʕ]. In the dialect of Malacca, when it appears after /a/, final /r/ is vocalized into [w] or [u].

Portuguese

In some dialects of Brazilian Portuguese, /ʁ/ is unpronounced or aspirated. That occurs most frequently with verbs in the infinitive, which is always indicated by a word-final /ʁ/. In some states, however, it happens mostly with any /ʁ/ when preceding a consonant. The "Carioca" accent (from the city of Rio de Janeiro) is notable for this. The Caipira dialect (from São Paulo countryside) usually realizes /ʁ/ as [ɻ], [χ], or [r̪̊].

Spanish

Among the

l], which may be delateralized to [j
], forming a rising diphthong with the preceding vowel (as in dar [daj] 'to give').

Thai

The native Thai rhotic is the

alveolar trill. The English approximants /ɹ/ and /l/ are used interchangeably in Thai. That is, Thai-speakers generally replace an English-derived r (ร) with an l (ล), and when they hear an l (ล), they may write an r (ร).[16]

Turkish

In

Istanbul Turkish, /r/ is always pronounced except in colloquial speech for the present continuous tense suffix yor as in gidiyor ('going') or yazıyordum ('I was writing') and bir ('one') when used as an adjective/quantifier (but not other numbers containing this word, such as on bir ('eleven')). In these cases, the preceding vowel is not lengthened. The unfavorability of dropping /r/ can be explained with minimal pairs, such as çaldı ('stole') versus çaldır (imperative 'ring').[citation needed
]

In some parts of Turkey, like Kastamonu, the syllable-final /r/ is almost never pronounced: gidiya instead of gidiyor ("she/he is going") and gide instead of gider ("she/he goes"). In gide, the preceding e is lengthened and pronounced somewhat between e and a.

Chinese

Northern Chinese accents, centered around Beijing, are well known as having erhua which can be translated as "R-change". This normally happens at ends of words, particularly ones that end in an -n/-ng sound. So a southern Chinese might say yī diǎn (一点) ("a little bit") but a Beijinger would say it more like [(j)i tʲɚ] which in Pinyin is sometimes rendered yī diǎnr to show if the word can be rhotacized. The final "R" sound is strongly pronounced, not unlike Irish or American accents.

Uyghur

Among the

Uyghurs'. The /r/ may, however, sometimes be pronounced in unusually "careful" or "pedantic" speech; in such cases, it is often mistakenly inserted
after long vowels even when there is no phonemic /r/.

Yaqui

Similarly in Yaqui, an indigenous language of northern Mexico, intervocalic or syllable-final /r/ is often dropped with lengthening of the previous vowel: pariseo becomes [paːˈseo], sewaro becomes [sewajo].

Lacid

Proto-Tibeto-Burman.[18]

Kurdish

The Shekaki accent of the

Kurmanji dialect
of Kurdish is non-rhotic: the postvocalic flap "r" is not pronounced unlike the trill "R". When "r" is omitted, compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel takes place:

  • sar ("cold") is pronounced /saː/
  • torr ("net") is pronounced /tor/ (with a trilled r)

Shekaki retains morphological syllables, instead of phonological syllables, in non-rhotic pronunciation.[19]

Berber languages

Syllable-final /r/ is lost in many varieties of

Rif Berber and is lengthened before /a/ to [aː], and /i/ and /u/ become diphthongs like in English or German. However, a distinct phoneme /ɾ/ from earlier /l/ exists and does not undergo the same development.[20]

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 0-631-19814-8
    .
  2. ^
    JSTOR 412786
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 3-11-017033-7
    .
  4. John Wiley & Sons
    . pp. 711–729.
  5. ^
    doi:10.5334/gjgl.618
    .
  6. ISBN 978-1403917232
    .
  7. ^ Barbosa & Albano (2004:5–6)
  8. ^ "Portuguese Consonants". Portugueselanguageguide.com.
  9. ISBN 978-0-08-044299-0
    .
  10. ^ Collins & Mees (2003), pp. 112, 130, 134, 200–1.
  11. ^ Collins & Mees (2003), p. 201.
  12. ^ Collins & Mees (2003), pp. 130, 132, 134, 200.
  13. ^ Collins & Mees (2003), pp. 200–1.
  14. ISBN 0-19-829950-8
    .
  15. ^ Pracht, Henrike (2012). Schemabasierte Basisalphabetisierung im Deutschen. Ein Praxisbuch für Lehrkräfte. Waxmann Verlag. p. 67.
  16. ^ Kanokpermpoon, Monthon (2007). "Thai and English consonantal sounds: A problem or a potential for EFL learning?". ABAC Journal. 27 (1): 57–66.
  17. ^ Noftz 2017, A Literature Review on Segments in Lacid (Lashi)
  18. ^ A Literature Review on Segments in Lachid (Lashi), Robert Noftz, 2017
  19. ^ Îrec Mêhrbexş, linguist
  20. ^ "Kossmann, M.G.; Stroomer, H.J.: "Berber Phonology", p. 469-71, in Phonologies of Asia and Africa (1997)" (PDF).

Sources

Further reading
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