| Voiced uvular fricative | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ʁ | |||
| IPA number | 143 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | ʁ | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+0281 | ||
| X-SAMPA | R | ||
| Braille |   | ||
| |||
| Voiced uvular approximant | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ʁ̞ | |||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| X-SAMPA | R_o | ||
| |||
A 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 the several collectively called guttural R when found in European languages.
A 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 writings1 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 a 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 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
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, some variants of Low Saxon,3 and Yiddish.4 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 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."5
It is also present in most Turkic languages, except for Turkish, and in Caucasian languages. It may also occur as [ɣ].
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abkhaz | цыҕ / cëğ | [tsəʁ] | 'marten' | See Abkhaz phonology | |
| Adyghe | тыгъэ / tëğa / تہغە | ⓘ | 'sun' | ||
| Afrikaans | Parts of the former Cape Province6 | rooi | [ʁoːi̯] | 'red' | May be a trill [ʀ] instead.6 See Afrikaans phonology |
| Albanian | Arbëresh
Some Moresian accents |
vëlla | [vʁa] | 'brother' | May be pronounced as a normal double l. Sometimes, the guttural r is present in words starting with g in some dialects. |
| Aleut | Atkan dialect | chamĝul | [tʃɑmʁul] | 'to wash' | |
| Arabic | Modern Standard7 | غرفة / ġurfa | ⓘ | 'room' | Mostly transcribed as /ɣ/, may be velar, post-velar or uvular, depending on dialect.8 See Arabic phonology |
| Archi9 | гъӀабос / ġabos | [ʁˤabos]10 | 'croak' | Pharyngealized. | |
| Armenian | ղեկ / ġek | ⓘ | 'rudder' | ||
| Asturian | gatu | ⓘ | 'cat' | Allophone of /ɣ/. May be an approximant.1112 See IPA/Astur-Leonese | |
| Avar | тIагъур / thaġur / طاغۇر | [tʼaˈʁur] | 'cap' | ||
| Azerbaijani | Southern dialects such as in Maragha, Malekan, Binab, Ajab shir and Leylan counties of East Azerbaijan, and Chaharburj, Miyandoab alongside Baruq in West Azerbaijan | yeralma / یئرآلما | [jeʁɑlma] | 'potato' | Unlike many of Turkic dialects that have solely adapted the pronunciation of <r> into a voiced alveolar trill, these dialects often use voiced uvular fricative or they might use close-mid back unrounded vowel almost entirely in their speeches as an equivalent of r. it also has to be noted that this is not the same as voiced velar fricative which is to be resembled with ğ. |
| Bashkir | туғыҙ / tuğıð / توعئذ | ⓘ | 'nine' | ||
| Basque | Northern dialects | urre | [uʁe] | 'gold' | |
| Chilcotin | relkɨsh | [ʁəlkɪʃ] | 'he walks' | ||
| Danish | Standard13 | rød | [ʁ̞œ̠ð̠] | 'red' | Most often an approximant when initial.14 In other positions, it can be either a fricative (also described as voiceless [χ]) or an approximant.13 Also described as pharyngeal [ʕ̞].15 It can be a fricative trill in word-initial positions when emphasizing a word.16 See Danish phonology |
| Dutch17181920 | Belgian Limburg2122 | rad | [ʁɑt] | 'wheel' | Either a fricative or an approximant.1921201823 Realization of /r/ varies considerably among dialects. See Dutch phonology |
| Central Netherlands24 | |||||
| East Flanders22 | |||||
| Northern Netherlands24 | |||||
| Randstad24 | |||||
| Southern Netherlands24 | |||||
| English | Dyfed25 | red | [ʁɛd] | 'red' | Not all speakers.25 Alveolar in other Welsh accents. |
| Gwynedd25 | |||||
| North-east Leinster26 | Corresponds to [ɹ ~ ɾ ~ ɻ] in other dialects of English in Ireland. | ||||
| Northumbrian2728 | Described both as a fricative27 and an approximant.28 More rarely it is a trill [ʀ].27 Mostly found in rural areas of Northumberland and northern County Durham, declining. See English phonology and Northumbrian Burr. | ||||
| Sierra Leonean27 | More rarely a trill [ʀ].27 | ||||
| French | rester | ⓘ | 'to stay' | See French phonology | |
| German | Standard29 | Rost | [ʁɔstʰ] | 'rust' | Either a fricative or, more often, an approximant. In free variation with a uvular trill. See Standard German phonology |
| Lower Rhine29 | |||||
| Swabian30 | [ʁ̞oʃt] | An approximant.30 It is the realization of /ʁ/ in onsets,30 otherwise it is an epiglottal approximant.30 | |||
| Gondi | Hill-Maṛia | pār̥- | [paːʁ-] | 'to sing' | Corresponds to /r/ or /ɾ/ in other Gondi dialects. |
| Hebrew | Modern | עוֹרֵב | [ʔoˈʁ̞ev] | 'crow' | See Modern Hebrew phonology.31 |
| Inuktitut | East Inuktitut dialect | marruuk | [mɑʁːuːk] | 'two' | |
| Italian | Some speakers32 | 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].32 See Italian phonology. |
| Kabardian | бгъэ / bğa / بغە | ⓘ | 'eagle' | ||
| Kabyle | ⴱⴻⵖ / bbeɣ / بغ | [bːəʁ] | 'to dive' | ||
| Kazakh | саған / sağan / ساعان | [sɑˈʁɑn] | 'to you' | ||
| Kyrgyz | жамгыр / camğır' / جامعىر | [dʒɑmˈʁɯr] | 'rain' | ||
| Lakota | aǧúyapi | [aʁʊjapɪ] | 'bread' | ||
| Luxembourgish33 | Parmesan | [ˈpʰɑʁməzaːn] | 'Parmesan' | Appears as an allophone of /ʀ/ between a vowel and a voiced consonant and as an allophone of /ʁ/ between a back vowel and another vowel (back or otherwise). A minority of speakers use it as the only consonantal variety of /ʀ/ (in a complementary distribution with [χ]), also where it is trilled in the standard language.33 See Luxembourgish phonology | |
| Malay | Kedah | ramai | [ʁamaj] | 'many' | Corresponds to prevocalic and intervocalic Standard Malay /r/. Word-finally, Standard Malay /r/ corresponds to /ʕ/ in Kedah Malay. See Kedah Malay |
| Perak | Perak | [peʁɑk̚] | 'Perak' | See Malay phonology | |
| Malto34 | पोग़े | [poʁe] | 'smoke' | May be a stop [ɢ] instead. | |
| Minangkabau | Kampar dialect35 | boghe | [boʁe] | 'rice' | |
| Norwegian | Southern dialects | rar | [ʁ̞ɑːʁ̞] | 'strange' | Either an approximant or a fricative. See Norwegian phonology |
| Southwestern dialects | |||||
| Toba qom | Takshek dialect | Awo |
[awoʁojk] | 'moon' | |
| Tundra Nenets | Some speakers | вара | [waʁa] | 'goose' | |
| Ossetic | Iron | æгъгъæд / æğğæd | [ˈəʁːəd] | 'enough' | |
| Portuguese | European36 | carro | [ˈkaʁu] | 'car' | Word-initial /ʁ/ is commonly realized as a uvular trill [ʀ] in Lisbon.16 See Portuguese phonology |
| Setubalense37 | ruralizar | [ʁuʁɐɫiˈzaʁ] | 'to ruralize' | Outcome of a merger of /ɾ/ with /ʁ/, which is unique in the Lusophone world. Often trilled instead. | |
| Fluminense3738 | ardência | [ɐʁˈdẽsjə] | 'burning feeling' | Due to 19th century Portuguese influence, Rio de Janeiro's dialect merged coda /ɾ/ into /ʁ/.39 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' | ||
| Spanish | Puerto Rican | carro | [ˈkaʁo] | 'car' | Word-initial, and inter-vocallic double r ('rr') /r/ are commonly realized as a fricative trill in rural sectors and generally (but not exclusively) lower socioeconomic strata among Puerto Ricans. [ʁ].40 |
| As spoken in Asturias | gusano | [ʁ̞uˈsano] | 'worm' | Most common allophone of /g/. May also be an approximant.1112 | |
| Swedish | Southern dialects | rör | [ʁɶʁ] | 'pipe(s)' | See Swedish phonology |
| Tatar | яңгыр / yañğır / ياڭگئر | [jɒŋˈʁɯr] | 'rain' | ||
| Turkmen | aɡyr / آغیٛر | [ɑʁɨɾ] | 'heavy' | An allophone of /ɣ/ next to back vowels | |
| Tsez | агъи / aɣi | [ˈʔaʁi] | 'bird' | ||
| Ubykh | [ʁa] | 'his' | Ubykh has ten different uvular fricatives. See Ubykh phonology | ||
| Uyghur | ئۇيغۇر / Уйғур | [ʊjʁʊr] | 'Uyghur' | ||
| Uzbek | ogʻir / оғир / اۉغیر | [ɒˈʁɨr] | 'heavy' | ||
| Yakut | тоҕус / toğus | [toʁus] | 'nine' | ||
| Yi | Ğņyņə | [ʁŋêŋĕ] | 'twenty' | A fricative or approximant. | |
| Yiddish | רעגן | [ʁɛɡŋ] | 'rain' | See Yiddish phonology | |
| Zhuang | roek | [ʁɔ̌k] | 'six' | ||
Notes
Notes
- Such as Krech et al. (2009).
- Grammar of Basque, page 30, José Ignacio Hualde, Jon Ortiz De Urbina, Walter de Gruyter, 2003
- Ph Bloemhoff-de Bruijn, Anderhalve Eeuw Zwols Vocaalveranderingsprocessen in de periode 1838-1972. IJsselacademie (2012). ISBN 978-90-6697-228-5
- King, Robert D.; Beach, Stephanie A. "On the Origins of German Uvular [R]: The Yiddish Evidence". Journal of Germanic Linguistics. 10 (2): 279‑290. doi:10.1017/S1040820700002365.
- Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:167)
- Donaldson (1993), p. 15.
- Watson (2002), pp. 17.
- Watson (2002), pp. 17, 19–20, 35-36 and 38.
- "The Archi Language Tutorial" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2021-05-22.
- "Dictionary of Archi". Retrieved 2023-12-10.
- Muñiz Cachón, Carmen (2002). "Realización del fonema /g/ en Asturias". Revista de Filoloxía Asturiana (in Spanish). 2: 53–70. doi:10.17811/rfa.2.2002 (inactive 12 July 2025).
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link) - Muñiz Cachón, Carmen (2002). "Rasgos fónicos del español hablado en Asturias". Archivum: Revista de la Facultad de Filología (in Spanish). 52: 323–349.
- Basbøll (2005:62)
- Basbøll (2005:66)
- Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:323)
- Grønnum (2005), p. 157.
- Booij (1999:8)
- Collins & Mees (2003:39, 54, 179, 196, 199–201, 291)
- Goeman & van de Velde (2001:91–92, 94–95, 97, 99, 101–104, 107–108)
- Verstraten & van de Velde (2001:51–55)
- Verhoeven (2005:245)
- Verstraten & van de Velde (2001:52)
- Goeman & van de Velde (2001:91–92, 94–95, 97, 102)
- Verstraten & van de Velde (2001:54)
- Wells (1982:390)
- Hickey (2007:?)
- Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:236)
- Ogden (2009:93)
- Hall (1993:89)
- 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.
- The pronunciation of the Modern Hebrew consonant ר resh has been described as a 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.
- Canepari (1999), pp. 98–101.
- Gilles & Trouvain (2013), p. 68.
- Krishnamurti (2003), p. 150.
- Masni, Atri Kehana (2021-12-31). "Sistem Fonem Isolek Kuntu Kabupaten Kampar". MEDAN MAKNA: Jurnal Ilmu Kebahasaan Dan Kesastraan. 19 (2): 207. doi:10.26499/mm.v19i2.4013. ISSN 2721-2955. Archived from the original on 2023-11-05. Retrieved 2025-03-21.
- Cruz-Ferreira (1995:92)
- (in Portuguese) Rhotic consonants in the speech of three municipalities of Rio de Janeiro: Petrópolis, Itaperuna and Paraty Archived 2017-10-11 at the Wayback Machine. Page 11.
- (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.
- (in Portuguese) The acoustic-articulatory path of the lateral palatal consonant's allophony. Pages 229 and 230.
- Lipski (1994:333)
References
References
- Basbøll, Hans (2005), The Phonology of Danish, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0-203-97876-5
- Booij, Geert (1999), The phonology of Dutch, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-823869-X
- Canepari, Luciano (1999) [1992], Il MªPi – Manuale di pronuncia italiana [Handbook of Italian Pronunciation] (in Italian) (2 ed.), Bologna: Zanichelli, ISBN 88-08-24624-8
- 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, S2CID 249414876
- 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.
{{cite book}}:|journal=ignored (help) - Grønnum, Nina (2005), Fonetik og fonologi, Almen og Dansk (3rd ed.), Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag, ISBN 87-500-3865-6
- Hall, Tracy Alan (1993), "The phonology of German /ʀ/", Phonology, 10 (1): 83–105, doi:10.1017/S0952675700001743, S2CID 195707076
- Hickey, Raymond (2007). Irish English: History and Present-day Forms. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-85299-9.
- 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
- Krishnamurti, Bhadriraju (2003), The Dravidian Languages, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-77111-0
- Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19815-6.
- Lipski, John (1994), Latin American Spanish, London: Longman, ISBN 9780582087613
- 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, vol. 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.
{{cite book}}:|journal=ignored (help) - Watson, Janet C. E. (2002), The Phonology and Morphology of Arabic, New York: Oxford University Press
- Wells, John C. (1982), Accents of English, vol. 2: The British Isles, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.