Voiced uvular fricative

The voiced uvular fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ʁ⟩, an inverted small uppercase letter ⟨ʀ⟩, or in broad transcription ⟨r⟩ if rhotic. This consonant is one of several collectively called guttural R when found in European languages.

Voiced uvular fricative
ʁ
IPA Number	143
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ʁ
Unicode (hex)	U+0281
X-SAMPA	R
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Voiced uvular approximant
ʁ̞

The voiced uvular approximant is also found interchangeably with the fricative, and may also be transcribed as ⟨ʁ⟩. Because the IPA symbol stands for the uvular fricative, the approximant may be specified by adding the downtack: ⟨ʁ̞⟩, though some writings[1] use a superscript ⟨ʶ⟩, which is not an official IPA practice.

For a voiced pre-uvular fricative (also called post-velar), see voiced velar fricative.

Features

Features of the voiced uvular fricative:

• Its manner of articulation is fricative, which means it is produced by constricting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence. In many languages it is closer to an approximant, however, and no language distinguishes the two at the uvular articulation.

• 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.

• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

In Western Europe, a uvular trill pronunciation of rhotic consonants spread from northern French to several dialects and registers of Basque,[2] Catalan, Danish, Dutch, German, Judaeo-Spanish, Norwegian, Occitan, Portuguese, Swedish, and Yiddish. However, not all of them remain a uvular trill today.

In Brazilian Portuguese, it is usually a velar fricative ([x], [ɣ]), voiceless uvular fricative [χ], or glottal transition ([h], [ɦ]), except in southern Brazil, where alveolar, velar and uvular trills as well as the voiced uvular fricative predominate. Because such uvular rhotics often do not contrast with alveolar ones, IPA transcriptions may often use ⟨r⟩ to represent them for ease of typesetting. For more information, see guttural R.

Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996) note, "There is... a complication in the case of uvular fricatives in that the shape of the vocal tract may be such that the uvula vibrates."[3]

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Abkhaz		цыҕ cëğ	[tsəʁ]	'marten'	See Abkhaz phonology
Adyghe		тыгъэ tëğa	[təʁa]	'sun'
Afrikaans	Parts of the former Cape Province[4]	rooi	[ʁoːi̯]	'red'	May be a trill [ʀ] instead.[4] See Afrikaans phonology
Aleut	Atkan dialect	chamĝul	[tʃɑmʁul]	'to wash'
Arabic	Modern Standard[5]	غرفة‎ ġurfa	[ˈʁʊrfɐ]	'room'	Mostly transcribed as /ɣ/, may be velar, post-velar or uvular, depending on dialect.[6] See Arabic phonology
Archi		гъӀабос ġabos	[ʁˤabos][7]	'croak'
Armenian	Eastern[8]	ղեկ łek	[ʁɛk]	'rudder'
Avar		тIагъур thaġur	[tʼaˈʁur]	'cap'
Bashkir		туғыҙ/tuğïð	[tuˈʁɤð]	'nine'
Basque	Northern dialects	urre	[uʁe]	'gold'
Chilcotin		relkɨsh	[ʁəlkɪʃ]	'he walks'
Danish	Standard[9]	rød	[ʁ̞œ̠ð̠]	'red'	Most often an approximant when initial.[10] In other positions, it can be either a fricative (also described as voiceless [χ]) or an approximant.[9] Also described as pharyngeal [ʕ̞].[11] It can be a fricative trill in word-initial positions when emphasizing a word.[12] See Danish phonology
Dutch[13][14][15][16]	Belgian Limburg[17][18]	rad	[ʁɑt]	'wheel'	Either a fricative or an approximant.[15][17][16][14][19] Realization of /r/ varies considerably among dialects. See Dutch phonology
	Central Netherlands[20]
	East Flanders[18]
	Northern Netherlands[20]
	Randstad[20]
	Southern Netherlands[20]
English	Dyfed[21]	red	[ʁɛd]	'red'	Not all speakers.[21] Alveolar in other Welsh accents.
	Gwynedd[21]
	North-east Leinster[22]				Corresponds to [ɹ ~ ɾ ~ ɻ] in other dialects of English in Ireland.
	Northumbrian[23][24]				Described both as a fricative[23] and an approximant.[24] More rarely it is a trill [ʀ].[23] Mostly found in rural areas of Northumberland and northern County Durham, declining. See English phonology and Northumbrian Burr.
	Sierra Leonean[23]				More rarely a trill [ʀ].[23]
French		rester	[ʁɛste]	'to stay'	See French phonology
German	Standard[25]	Rost	[ʁɔst]	'rust'	Either a fricative or, more often, an approximant. In free variation with a uvular trill. See Standard German phonology
	Lower Rhine[25]
	Swabian[26]		[ʁ̞oʃt]		An approximant.[26] It is the realization of /ʁ/ in onsets,[26] otherwise it is an epiglottal approximant.[26]
Hebrew	Biblical	עוֹרֵב	[ʁoˈreβ]	'raven'	See Biblical Hebrew phonology.
	Modern	עוֹרֵב	[oˈʁ̞ev]	'raven'	See Modern Hebrew phonology.[27]
Inuktitut	East Inuktitut dialect	marruuk	[mɑʁʁuuk]	'two'
Italian	Some speakers[28]	raro	[ˈʁäːʁo]	'rare'	Rendition alternative to the standard Italian alveolar trill [r], due to individual orthoepic defects and/or regional variations that make the alternative sound more prevalent, notably in Alto Adige (bordering with German-speaking Austria), Val d'Aosta (bordering with France) and in parts of the Parma province, more markedly around Fidenza. Other alternative sounds may be a uvular trill [ʀ] or a labiodental approximant [ʋ].[28] See Italian phonology.
Kabardian		бгъэ bğa	[bʁa]	'eagle'
Kabyle		ⴱⴻⵖ bbeɣ بغ	[bːəʁ]	'to dive'
Kazakh		саған, saǵan	[sɑˈʁɑn]	'you' (dat. sing.)
Korean		무궁화, mugunghwa	[muɡuŋ​ʁʷɐ]	'Rose of Sharon'
Kyrgyz		жамгыр camğır	[dʒɑmˈʁɯr]	'rain'
Lakota		aǧúyapi	[aʁʊjapɪ]	'bread'
Limburgish	Maastrichtian[29]	drei	[dʀ̝ɛi̯]	'three'	Fricative trill; the fricative component varies between uvular and post-velar.[29][30]
	Weert dialect[30]	drej	[dʀ̝æj]
Luxembourgish	Some speakers[31]	Rou	[ʁəʊ̯]	'silence'	Pre-vocalic allophone of /ʀ/; more often realized as a trill [ʀ].[31] See Luxembourgish phonology
	Standard[31]	Kugel	[ˈkʰuːʁəl]	'ball'	Appears only in a few words.[31] See Luxembourgish phonology
Malay	Perak dialect	Perak	[peʁɑk̚]	'Perak'	See Malay phonology
Norwegian	Southern dialects	rar	[ʁ̞ɑːʁ̞]	'strange'	Either an approximant or a fricative. See Norwegian phonology
	Southwestern dialects
Ossetic	Iron	æгъгъæд æğğæd	[ˈəʁːəd]	'enough'
Portuguese	European[32]	carro	[ˈkaʁu]	'car'	Word-initial /ʁ/ is commonly realized as a fricative trill in Lisbon.[12] See Portuguese phonology
	Setubalense[33]	ruralizar	[ʁuʁəɫiˈzaʁ]	'to ruralize'	Often trilled. Due to a merger, corresponds to both /ɾ/ and /ʁ/ in other dialects.
	Fluminense[33][34]	ardência	[ɐʁˈdẽsjə]	'burning feeling'	Due to 19th century Portuguese influence, Rio de Janeiro's dialect merged coda /ɾ/ into /ʁ/.[35] Often trilled. In free variation with [ɣ], [ʕ] and [ɦ] before voiced sounds, [x], [χ], [ħ] and [h] before voiceless consonants
	Sulista	arroz	[ɐˈʁos]	'rice'
Swedish	Southern dialects	rör	[ʁɶʁ]	'pipe(s)'	See Swedish phonology
Tatar		яңгыр, yañğır	[jɒŋˈʁɯr]	'rain'
Tsez		агъи aɣi	[ˈʔaʁi]	'bird'
Ubykh		[ʁa]		'his'	Ubykh has ten different uvular fricatives. See Ubykh phonology
Uyghur		ئۇيغۇر	[ʊjʁʊr]	'Uyghur'
Uzbek		ogʻir	[ɒˈʁɨr]	'heavy'
West Flemish	Bruges dialect[36]	onder	[ˈuŋəʀ̝]	'under'	A fricative trill with little friction. An alveolar [r] is used in the neighbouring rural area.[36]
Yakut		тоҕус toğus	[toʁus]	'nine'
Zhuang		roek	[ʁɔ̌k]	'six'

See also

• Index of phonetics articles
• Guttural

Notes

1. Such as Krech et al. (2009).
2. Grammar of Basque, page 30, José Ignacio Hualde, Jon Ortiz De Urbina, Walter de Gruyter, 2003
3. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:167)
4. Donaldson (1993), p. 15.
5. Watson (2002), pp. 17.
6. Watson (2002), pp. 17, 19-20, 35-36 and 38.
7. http://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/Archi/Linguists/links/3r/raibos/raibos_inf.mp3
8. Dum-Tragut (2009:13)
9. Basbøll (2005:62)
10. Basbøll (2005:66)
11. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:323)
12. Grønnum (2005), p. 157.
13. Booij (1999:8)
14. Collins & Mees (2003:39, 54, 179, 196, 199–201, 291)
15. Goeman & van de Velde (2001:91–92, 94–95, 97, 99, 101–104, 107–108)
16. Verstraten & van de Velde (2001:51–55)
17. Verhoeven (2005:245)
18. Verstraten & van de Velde (2001:52)
19. Goeman & van de Velde (2001:91–92, 94–95, 97, 102)
20. Verstraten & van de Velde (2001:54)
21. Wells (1982:390)
22. Hickey (2007:?)
23. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:236)
24. Ogden (2009:93)
25. Hall (1993:89)
26. Markus Hiller. "Pharyngeals and "lax" vowel quality" (PDF). Mannheim: Institut für Deutsche Sprache. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-05-28. Retrieved 2015-02-24.
27. The pronunciation of the Modern Hebrew consonant ר resh has been described as a unique uvular approximant ʁ, specifically [ʁ̞], which also exists in Yiddish, see Ghil'ad Zuckermann (2003), Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 261-262.
28. Canepari (1999), pp. 98–101. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFCanepari1999 (help)
29. Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999), p. 156.
30. Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 108.
31. Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 68.
32. Cruz-Ferreira (1995:92)
33. (in Portuguese) Rhotic consonants in the speech of three municipalities of Rio de Janeiro: Petrópolis, Itaperuna and Paraty. Page 11.
34. (in Portuguese) The process of Norm change for the good pronunciation of the Portuguese language in chant and dramatics in Brazil during 1938, 1858 and 2007 Archived 2016-02-06 at the Wayback Machine Page 36.
35. (in Portuguese) The acoustic-articulatory path of the lateral palatal consonant's allophony. Pages 229 and 230.
36. Hinskens & Taeldeman (2013), p. 167.

References

• Basbøll, Hans (2005), The Phonology of Danish, ISBN 0-203-97876-5
• Booij, Geert (1999), The phonology of Dutch, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-823869-X
• Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2003) [First published 1981], The Phonetics of English and Dutch (5th ed.), Leiden: Brill Publishers, ISBN 9004103406
• Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 25 (2): 90–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223
• Donaldson, Bruce C. (1993), "1. Pronunciation", A Grammar of Afrikaans, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 1–35, ISBN 9783110134261
• Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2009), Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
• 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
• Grønnum, Nina (2005), Fonetik og fonologi, Almen og Dansk (3rd ed.), Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag, ISBN 87-500-3865-6
• Gussenhoven, Carlos; Aarts, Flor (1999), "The dialect of Maastricht" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, University of Nijmegen, Centre for Language Studies, 29: 155–166, doi:10.1017/S0025100300006526
• Hall, Tracy Alan (1993), "The phonology of German /ʀ/", Phonology, 10 (1): 83–105, doi:10.1017/S0952675700001743
• Heijmans, Linda; Gussenhoven, Carlos (1998), "The Dutch dialect of Weert" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 28: 107–112, doi:10.1017/S0025100300006307
• Hickey, Raymond (2007). Irish English: History and Present-day Forms. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-85299-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Hinskens, Frans; Taeldeman, Johan, eds. (2013), Dutch, Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-018005-3
• Kachru, Yamuna (2006), Hindi, John Benjamins Publishing, ISBN 90-272-3812-X
• Krech, Eva Maria; Stock, Eberhard; Hirschfeld, Ursula; Anders, Lutz-Christian (2009), Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch, Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-018202-6
• Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-631-19815-4.
• Ogden, Richard (2009), An Introduction to English Phonetics, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd., ISBN 978-0-7486-2540-6
• Sjoberg, Andrée F. (1963), Uzbek Structural Grammar, Uralic and Altaic Series, 18, Bloomington: Indiana University
• 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
• Watson, Janet C. E. (2002), The Phonology and Morphology of Arabic, New York: Oxford University Press
• Wells, John C. (1982), Accents of English, 2: The British Isles, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

External links

• List of languages with [ʁ] on PHOIBLE