Uvular trill

Not to be confused with Alveolar trill.

Voiced uvular trill

Uvular trill
ʀ
IPA number	123
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ʀ
Unicode (hex)	U+0280
X-SAMPA	R\
Kirshenbaum	r"
Braille
Image
Sound
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The 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 letter R. This consonant is one of several collectively called guttural R.

Features

Features of the uvular trill:

• Its manner of articulation is trill, which means it is produced by directing air over the articulator so that it vibrates.
• 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

Distribution of guttural R (e.g. [ʁ ʀ χ]) in Continental Europe at the end of the 20th century.

  not usual

  only in some educated speech

  usual in educated speech

  general

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 seventeenth century, spreading to standard varieties of German, Danish, Portuguese, as well as in parts 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 this to a voiced uvular fricative [ʁ] or a voiced uvular approximant [ʁ̞].

The other main theory posits that the uvular R originated within Germanic languages through a process where the alveolar R was weakened and then replaced by an imitation of the alveolar R (vocalisation). As counterevidence against the "French origin" theory, it is stipulated that there are many signs that the uvular R existed in certain German dialects long before the 17th century.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans	Parts of the former Cape Province	rooi	[ʀoːi̯]	'red'	May be a fricative [ʁ] instead. See Afrikaans phonology
Catalan	Some northern dialects	córrer	[koˈʀe]	'to run'	See Catalan phonology
Dutch	Belgian Limburg	rood	[ʀo:t]	'red'	More commonly a tap. Uvular pronunciations appear to be gaining ground in the Randstad. Realization of /r/ varies considerably among dialects. See Dutch phonology
	Central Netherlands
	Randstad
	Southern Netherlands
	Flemish Brabant				More commonly a tap. It is one of the least common realizations of /r/ in these areas. See Dutch phonology
	Northern Netherlands
	West Flanders
English	Cape Flats dialect	red	[ʀɛd]	'red'	Possible realization of /r/; may be [ɹ ~ ɹ̝ ~ ɾ ~ r] instead.
	Northumbrian dialect				More often a fricative. Dialectal "Northumbrian Burr", mostly found in eastern Northumberland, declining. See English phonology
	Sierra Leonean				More often a fricative.
French		rendez-vous	[ʀɑ̃devu]	'appointment'	Dialectal. More commonly an approximant or a fricative [ʁ]. See French phonology
German	Standard	rot	[ˈʀoːt]	'red'	In free variation with a voiced uvular fricative and approximant. See German phonology
Hebrew		ירוק	[jaˈʀok]	'green'	May also be a fricative or approximant. See Modern Hebrew phonology
Italian	Northern dialects	raro	[ˈʀäːʀo]	'rare'	Some speakers, especially in Parma. May also be a fricative [ʁ] or a labiodental approximant [ʋ].
Judaeo-Spanish		mujer	[muˈʒɛʀ]	'woman', 'wife'
Luxembourgish	Older speakers	Mauer	[ˈmɑ̝ʊ̯əʀ]	'wall'	Realized as [ə ~ ɐ] by younger speakers. See Luxembourgish phonology
	Standard	Rou	[ʀəu̯]	'silence'	Pre-vocalic allophone of /ʀ/; less often realized as a fricative [ʁ]. See Luxembourgish phonology
Occitan	Eastern	garric	[ɡaʀi]	'oak'	Contrasts with alveolar trill ([ɡari] 'cured')
	Provençal	parts	[paʀ]	'parts'	See Occitan phonology
	Southern Auvergnat	garçon	[ɡaʀˈsu]	'son'
	Southeastern Limousin	filh	[fʲiʀ]
Portuguese	European	rarear	[ʀəɾiˈaɾ]	'to get scarcer'	Alternates with other uvular forms and the older alveolar trill. See Portuguese phonology
	Fluminense	mercado	[me̞ʀˈkaðu]	'market', 'fair'	Tendency to be replaced by fricative pronunciations. In coda position, it is generally in free variation with [x], [χ], [ʁ], [ħ] and [h] before non-voicing environments
	Sulista	repolho	[ʀe̞ˈpoʎ̟ʊ]	'cabbage'
Romani	Some dialects	rom	[ʀom]	'man'	Allophone of a descendant of the Indic retroflex set, so often transcribed /ɽ/. A coronal flap, approximant or trill in other dialects; in some it merges with /r/
Selkup	Northern dialects	[ˈqaʀlɪ̈]		'sledge'	Allophone of /q/ before liquids
Sioux	Lakota	ǧí	[ʀí]	'it's brown'	Allophone of /ʁ/ before /i/
Sotho	Regional variant	moriri	[moʀiʀi]	'hair'	Imported from French missionaries. See Sesotho phonology
Swedish	Southern	räv	[ʀɛːv]	'fox'	See Swedish phonology
Yiddish	Standard	בריק	[bʀɪk]	'bridge'	More commonly a flap [ʀ̆]; can be alveolar [ɾ ~ r] instead. See Yiddish phonology

Voiced uvular raised non-sonorant trill

Voiced uvular raised non-sonorant trill
ʀ̝
IPA number	123 429
Encoding
X-SAMPA	R\_r

Features

Features of the voiced uvular raised non-sonorant trill:

• Its manner of articulation is fricative trill, which means it is a non-sibilant fricative and a trill pronounced simultaneously.
• 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

It is phonemic in the Maastrichtian and Weert dialects of Limburgish, though in neither of these does it contrast with a plain uvular trill.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Danish		rød	[ʀ̝ɶð̞]	'red'	Word-initial allophone of /ʁ/, used only sometimes when emphasising a word. Otherwise a continuant, described variously as uvular [ʁ] and pharyngeal [ʕ]. See Danish phonology
Dutch	Belgian	sturen	[ˈstÿːʀ̝ə(n)]	'to send'	Only when following a vowel, otherwise it is voiceless. Realization of /r/ varies considerably among dialects. See Dutch phonology
Limburgish	Maastrichtian	drei	[dʀ̝ɛi̯]	'three'	Either uvular [ʀ̝] or pre-uvular [ʀ̝˖].
	Weert dialect	drej	[dʀ̝æj]
Portuguese	Lisbon	ritmo	[ˈʀ̝it̪mu]	'rhythm'	Common realization of word-initial /ʀ/. See Portuguese phonology
West Flemish	Bruges dialect	onder	[ˈuŋəʀ̝]	'under'	A trill with little friction. An alveolar [r] is used in the neighbouring rural area.

See also

• Index of phonetics articles
• Voiceless uvular trill

Bibliography

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