Voiced uvular trill

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 ⟨ʀ⟩, a small capital version of the Latin letter r. This consonant is one of several collectively called guttural R.

Voiced uvular trill
ʀ
IPA number	123
Audio sample
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Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ʀ
Unicode (hex)	U+0280
X-SAMPA	R\
Braille
Image

Features

Features of a 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.
• 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 that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
• It is a median consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream down the midline of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
• Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air only with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

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 [ʁ] or approximant [ʁ̞].

The other main hypothesis is that the uvular trill originated within Germanic languages through the weakening and vocalization of the alveolar trill [r] toward an open back vowel [ɑ] (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.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans	Parts of the former Cape Province	rooi	[ʀoːi̯]	'red'	May be a fricative [ʁ] instead. See Afrikaans phonology
Arabic	North Mesopotamian	قمر	[ˈqʌmʌʀ]	'moon'	Corresponds to [r, ɾ] in most other varieties. See Arabic phonology
Breton	Kerneveg	bro	[bʀoː]	'country'	Corresponds to [r~ʁ] in standard Breton. See Breton phonology
Catalan	Some northern dialects	córrer	[ˈkoʀə]	'to run'	See Catalan phonology
Dutch	Belgian Limburg	rood		'red'	More commonly a flap. 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 flap. It is one of the least common realizations of /r/ in these areas. See Dutch phonology
	Northern Netherlands
	West Flanders
Estonian	Some speakers, mostly in Tartu County	kurk	[kuʀk]	'cucumber'
English	Cape Flats	red	[ʀɛd]	'red'	Possible realization of /r/; may be [ɹ ~ ɹ̝ ~ ɾ ~ r] 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.
French		rendez-vous		'rendezvous', 'appointment'	Dialectal. More commonly an approximant or a fricative [ʁ]. See French phonology
German	Standard	rot		'red'	In free variation with a voiced uvular fricative and approximant. Can be realized as voiceless after voiceless consonants. See Standard German phonology
Hebrew		ירוק	[jaˈʀok]	'green'	May also be a fricative or approximant. See Modern Hebrew phonology
Italian	Some speakers	raro	[ˈʀäːʀo]	'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 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 [ʁ] or a labiodental approximant [ʋ]. See Italian phonology.
Japreria		peŕo	[peʀo]	'dog'	Contrasts with flap [ɾ], represented orthographically by ŕ.
Judaeo-Spanish		mujer	[muˈʒɛʀ]	'woman', 'wife'
Low Saxon	Zwols	priezen/prysen	[pʀi:zn̩]	'prices'	Only in the city and its immediate surroundings, not in the area surrounding Zwolle.
Luxembourgish		Rou	[ʀəʊ̯]	'silence'	Prevocalic allophone of /ʀ/. 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]
Norwegian	Southern dialects	rar	[ʁ̞ɑːʁ̞]	'strange'	Either an approximant or a fricative. See Norwegian phonology
	Southwestern dialects
Portuguese	European	rarear	[ʀɐɾiˈaɾ]	'to get scarcer'	Alternates with other uvular forms and the older alveolar trill. See Portuguese phonology
	Fluminense	mercado	[me̞ʀˈkadu]	'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'	Alternates with the alveolar trill and [h] depending on the region. Never used in coda.
Romani	Some dialects	rrom	[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	ӄаӄри	[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

Fricative trill

Voiced uvular fricative trill
ʀ̝

Some languages have a voiced uvular fricative trill, which can be represented in the IPA as ⟨ʀ̝⟩. Teuthonista uses ⟨ꭆ⟩ and ⟨ʀ̑⟩, the first having stronger frication.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Danish	Standard	rød	[ʀ̝œ̠ð̠]	'red'	Most often an approximant when initial. In other positions, it can be either a fricative (also described as voiceless [χ]) or an approximant. Also described as pharyngeal [ʕ̞]. It can be a fricative trill in word-initial positions when emphasizing a word. See Danish phonology
Limburgish	Maastrichtian	drei	[dʀ̝ɛi̯]	'three'	Fricative trill; the fricative component varies between uvular and post-velar. See Maastrichtian dialect phonology and Weert dialect phonology
	Weert dialect	drej	[dʀ̝æj]
West Flemish	Bruges dialect	onder	[ˈuŋəʀ̝]	'under'	A fricative trill with little friction. An alveolar [r] is used in the neighbouring rural area.

See also

• Index of phonetics articles

Notes

1. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), p. 225.
2. Map based on Trudgill (1974:220)
3. Trudgill (1974:221), citing Moulton (1952), Ewert (1963), and Martinet (1969)
4. Bisiada (2009).
5. Donaldson (1993), p. 15.
6. Wheeler (2005), pp. 24.
7. Booij (1999), p. 8.
8. Collins & Mees (2003), pp. 42, 54, 77, 165, 199–200.
9. Goeman & van de Velde (2001), pp. 91–92, 94–97, 99–104.
10. Verstraten & van de Velde (2001), pp. 45–46, 51, 53–55, 58.
11. Verhoeven (2005), pp. 243 and 245.
12. Verstraten & van de Velde (2001), p. 52.
13. Collins & Mees (2003), p. 42.
14. Collins & Mees (2003), p. 209.
15. Verstraten & van de Velde (2001), p. 54.
16. Verstraten & van de Velde (2001), pp. 52 and 54.
17. Finn (2004), p. 976.
18. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), p. 236.
19. Grevisse & Goosse (2008), pp. 22–36.
20. Hall (1993), p. 89.
21. Canepari (1999), pp. 98–101.
22. "Picture Dictionary: Japreria Animals". www.native-languages.org. Retrieved 2023-01-30.
23. The guttural r is used in some other cities in the Low Saxon area as well.
24. Zuid-Drente en Noord-Overijssel. Zwolle. Reeks Nederlandse Dialectatlassen deel 14 (1982).
25. Gilles & Trouvain (2013), pp. 67–68.
26. Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 68.
27. Mateus & d'Andrade (2000), p. 11.
28. Acoustic analysis of vibrants in Brazilian Portuguese (in Portuguese)
29. Rood & Taylor (1996).
30. Lakota Language Consortium (2004). Lakota letters and sounds.
31. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:225–226)
32. Kleine (2003:263)
33. Basbøll (2005:62)
34. Basbøll (2005:66)
35. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:323)
36. Grønnum (2005), p. 157.
37. Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999), p. 156.
38. Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 108.
39. Hinskens & Taeldeman (2013), p. 167.