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The voiced alveolar trill is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar trills is ⟨r⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r. It is commonly called the rolled R, rolling R, or trilled R. Quite often, ⟨r⟩ is used in phonemic transcriptions (especially those found in dictionaries) of languages like English and German that have rhotic consonants that are not an alveolar trill. That is partly for ease of typesetting and partly because ⟨r⟩ is the letter used in the orthographies of such languages.
In many Indo-European languages, a trill may often be reduced to a single vibration in unstressed positions. In Italian, a simple trill typically displays only one or two vibrations, while a geminate trill will have three or more.[1] Languages where trills always have multiple vibrations include Albanian, Spanish, Cypriot Greek, and a number of Armenian and Portuguese dialects.[citation needed]
People with ankyloglossia may find it exceptionally difficult to articulate the sound because of the limited mobility of their tongues.[2][3]
| Voiced alveolar trill | |
|---|---|
| r | |
| IPA Number | 122 |
| Audio sample | |
| Encoding | |
| Entity (decimal) | r |
| Unicode (hex) | U+0072 |
| X-SAMPA | r |
| Braille |  |
Features
Features of the voiced alveolar trill:
- Its manner of articulation is trill, which means it is produced by directing air over an articulator so that it vibrates.
- Its place of articulation may be
- dental (behind the upper front teeth),
- alveolar (at the alveolar ridge), or
- post-alveolar (behind the alveolar ridge).
- It is most often apical, which means it is pronounced with the tip of the tongue.[4]
- 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.
- Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.
Occurrence
Dental
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hungarian[5] | arra | [ɒr̪ːɒ] | 'that way' | Laminal dental. See Hungarian phonology | |
| Marshallese[6] | dik[7] | [r̪ʲik] | 'to be small' | Palatalized. The language's two other rhotic phonemes, /rˠ/ (velarized) and /rʷ/ (rounded), are post-alveolar. | |
| Romanian[8] | repede | [ˈr̪e̞pe̞d̪e̞] | 'quickly' | Apical. See Romanian phonology | |
| Russian[9] | рьяный/ŕjaný | [ˈr̪ʲjän̪ɨ̞j] | 'zealous' | Apical, palatalized. Usually only a single vibration, presumably due to the palatalization.[9] It contrasts with a post-alveolar trill. See Russian phonology | |
Alveolar
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Standard[10] | rooi | [roːi̯] | 'red' | May be a tap [ɾ] instead.[10] See Afrikaans phonology |
| Arabic | Modern Standard | رأى/ra'á | [raʔaː] | 'saw' (verb) | In free variation with [ɾ] by many speakers. |
| Aragonese | sotarraño | [sotaˈraɲo] | 'basement' | Allophone of /ɾ/. | |
| Armenian | Eastern[11] | ռումբ/ŕumb | 'cannonball' | ||
| Asturian | ferramienta | [feraˈmjeŋta] | 'tool' | Allophone of /ɾ/. | |
| Bengali | রাত/rat | [rat̪] | 'night' | More commonly [ɾ ~ ɹ] for most speakers. May occur word-initially; as against [ɾ], which occurs medially and finally. See Bengali phonology | |
| Breton | roue | [ruːe] | 'king' | Dominant in and around Léon and Morbihan while many other dialects have adopted the voiced uvular fricative. See Breton phonology | |
| Bulgarian | работа/rabota | [ˈrabotə] | 'work' | See Bulgarian phonology | |
| Chinese[12][13] [better source needed] | Dangyang (a Southwestern Mandarin) | 被子 | [pei r̩] | quilt | |
| Chuvash | арăслан/araslan | [arəs'lan] | 'lion' | ||
| Czech[14] | chlor | [xlɔ̝ːr] | 'chlorine' | Contrasts with /r̝/; may be syllabic. See Czech phonology | |
| Danish | Few speakers of the Jutlandic dialect[15] | [example needed] | Corresponds to much more back [ʁ ~ ʕ] in standard Danish. See Danish phonology | ||
| Dutch | Standard | raam | [raːm] | 'window' | See Dutch phonology |
| English | African-American | outta the city | [æə̯rəˈsɪɾi] | 'out of the city' | A sequence of tapped ɾ between unstressed ə may become a single trill in AAVE. |
| Scottish | curd | [kʌrd] | 'curd' | Only some dialects. Corresponds to [ɾ ~ ɹ] in others. See English phonology | |
| Welsh[16] | bright | [braɪt] | 'bright' | Some dialects under Welsh influence. Corresponds to [ɾ ~ ɹ] in others. | |
| Estonian | korrus | [ˈkorːus] | 'floor' | See Estonian phonology | |
| Finnish | raaka | 'raw' | See Finnish phonology | ||
| Greek | Standard[17] | άρτος/ártos | [ˈartos] | 'artos' | Allophone of /ɾ/. Usual in clusters, otherwise a tap or an approximant.[17] See Modern Greek phonology |
| Cypriot[18][19] | βορράς/vorras | [vorˈras] | 'north' | Contrasts with /ɾ/. | |
| Hindustani | Hindi | पत्थर / patthar | [pət̪t̪ʰər] | 'stone' | See Hindustani phonology |
| Urdu | پتھر / patthar | ||||
| Indonesian | getar | [gətar] | 'vibrate' | See Indonesian phonology | |
| Italian[20] | terra | 'earth' | See Italian phonology | ||
| Japanese | Shitamachi dialect | から kara | [kara] | 'from' | Allophone of /ɾ/. See Japanese phonology. |
| Kansai dialect | |||||
| Kele[21] | [ⁿrikei] | 'leg' | |||
| Khmer | ត្រី / trey | [trəj] | 'fish' or 'three' | See Khmer phonology | |
| Kyrgyz[22] | ыр/ır | [ɯr] | 'song' | ||
| Latvian[23] | rags | [räks̪] | 'horn' | See Latvian phonology | |
| Lithuanian | ir | [ɪr] | 'and' | See Lithuanian phonology | |
| Malay | کورڠ / kurang | [kuräŋ] | 'less' | May be postalveolar approximant [ɹ̠], or more commonly, flap [ɾ]. See Malay phonology | |
| Malayalam | റമ്മി/rummy | [rəmmiː] | 'rummy' | See Malayalam phonology | |
| Nepali | घर्रा/ghórra | [ɡʱʌrːä] | 'drawer' | See Nepali phonology | |
| Polish[24] | krok | 'step' | Usually realized as [ɾ]. See Polish phonology. | ||
| Portuguese | rato | [ratu] | 'mouse' | Contrasts with /ɾ/. Many northern dialects retain the alveolar trill, and the trill is still dominant in rural areas. See Portuguese phonology and Guttural R. | |
| Scots | bricht | [brɪçt] | 'bright' | ||
| Scottish Gaelic | ceart | [kʲarˠʃd] | 'true' | Pronounced as a trill at the beginning of a word, or as rr, or before consonants d, t, l, n, s; otherwise a voiced alveolar tap. Contrasts with /ɾʲ/ and /ɾ/ intervocally and word-finally. See Scottish Gaelic phonology | |
| Serbo-Croatian[25][26] | рт / rt | [r̩t] | 'cape' | May be syllabic.[27] See Serbo-Croatian phonology | |
| Slovak[28] | krk | [kr̩k] | 'neck' | May be a tap, particularly when not syllabic. | |
| Slovene[29] | riž | [ríːʃ] | 'rice' | Also described as tap [ɾ],[30] and variable between trill [r] and tap [ɾ].[31] See Slovene phonology | |
| Spanish[32] | perro | 'dog' | Contrasts with /ɾ/. See Spanish phonology | ||
| Swedish | Some West coast and Northern dialects | bra | [brɑː] | 'good' | See Swedish phonology |
| Tagalog | rambutan | [rɐmbuˈtan] | 'rambutan' | Allophone of the more common [ɾ], especially with more conservative speakers.[33] See Tagalog phonology | |
| Tamil | பறவை/paravai | [paraʋaɪ̯] | 'bird' | See Tamil phonology | |
| Thai | Standard | ชลบุรี/chonbùri | 'Chonburi' | ||
| Titan[21] | [ⁿrakeiʔin] | 'girls' | |||
| Ukrainian | рух/ruh | 'motion' | See Ukrainian phonology | ||
| Welsh | Rhagfyr | [ˈr̥aɡvɨr] | 'December' | Contrasts with the voiceless alveolar trill, /r̥/. See Welsh phonology | |
| Yiddish | Standard[34] | בריק/brik | [brɪk] | 'bridge' | More commonly a flap [ɾ]; can be uvular [ɢ̆ ~ ʀ] instead.[34] See Yiddish phonology |
| Zapotec | Tilquiapan[35] | r-ree | [rɘˀɘ] | 'go out (habitually)' | Underlyingly two sequences of /ɾ/. |
Post-alveolar
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catalan[36] | ruc | [ˈr̠uk] | 'donkey' | Contrasts with /ɾ/. See Catalan phonology | |
| Gokana[37] | bele | [bēr̠ē] | 'we' | Allophone of /l/, medially between vowels within the morpheme, and finally in the morpheme before a following vowel in the same word. It can be a postalveolar tap or simply [l] instead.[37] | |
| Marshallese[38] | raj[39] | [r̠ˠɑtʲ] | 'whale' | /rˠ/ is velarized and /rʷ/ is rounded. Another rhotic phoneme in the language, /rʲ/, is dental and palatalized. | |
| roj[40] | [r̠ʷɔtʲ] | 'ebb tide' | |||
| Russian[9] | играть/igrať | [ɪˈɡr̠ätʲ] | 'to play' | Contrasts with a palatalized dental trill. See Russian phonology | |
Variable
| Voiced alveolar fricative trill | |
|---|---|
| r̝ | |
| r̻ | |
| IPA Number | 122 429 |
| Audio sample | |
| Encoding | |
| X-SAMPA | r_r |
In Czech, there are two contrasting alveolar trills. Besides the typical apical trill, written r, there is another laminal trill, written ř, in words such as rybáři [ˈrɪbaːr̝ɪ] 'fishermen' and the common surname Dvořák. Its manner of articulation is similar to [r] but is laminal and the body of the tongue is raised. It is thus partially fricative, with the frication sounding rather like [ʒ] but less retracted. It sounds like a simultaneous [r] and [ʒ], and some speakers tend to pronounce it as [rʐ], [ɾʒ], or [ɹʒ]. In the IPA, it is typically written as ⟨r⟩ plus the raising diacritic, ⟨r̝⟩, but it has also been written as laminal ⟨r̻⟩.[42] (Before the 1989 IPA Kiel Convention, it had a dedicated symbol ⟨ɼ⟩.) The Kobon language of Papua New Guinea also has a fricative trill, but the degree of frication is variable.
Features
Features of the voiced alveolar fricative 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 laminal alveolar, which means it is articulated with the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge.
- 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.
- Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.
Examples
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Czech[43][44][45][46] | čtyři | 'four' | May be a non-sibilant fricative.[44] It contrasts with /r/ and /ʒ/. See Czech phonology | ||
| Dzongkha[47] | རུ་ཏོག་/ru-tog | [r̝uto] | 'bone' | Usually released as a normal trilled [r], sometimes it has a slightly fricative character vaguely reminiscent of Czech ř. Dzongkha r is followed by the low register tone. | |
| Kashubian[48] | rzéka | [r̝eka] | 'river' | Only some northern and northwestern speakers. Formerly common over the whole speaking area.[48] | |
| Kobon | [example needed] | Amount of frication variable. May also be a fricative flap[citation needed] | |||
| Ormuri | Standard (Kaniguram) | تڒګب/tařgab | [tɑr̝geb] | 'summer' | Corresponds to /ʃ/ in Logar dialect. |
| Polish | Some dialects[49] | rzeka | [r̝ɛka] | 'river' | Contrasts with /r/ and /ʐ/. Present in areas from Starogard Gdański to Malbork[49] and those south, west and northwest of them,[49] area from Lubawa to Olsztyn to Olecko to Działdowo,[49] south and east of Wieleń,[49] around Wołomin,[49] southeast of Ostrów Mazowiecka[49] and west of Siedlce,[49] from Brzeg to Opole and areas to the north,[49] and roughly from Racibórz to Nowy Targ.[49] Most speakers, as well as standard Polish, merge it with /ʐ/,[49] and speakers maintaining the distinction (which is mostly the elderly) sporadically do as well.[49] See Polish phonology |
| Portuguese[50] | European | os rins | [u ˈr̝ĩʃ] | 'the kidneys' | Possible realization of the sequence /sr/ for speakers who realize /r/ as [r].[50] See Portuguese phonology |
| Silesian | Gmina Istebna[51] | umrził | [ˈumr̝iw] | '(he) died' | Contrasts with /r/ and /ʒ/. Merges with /ʐ/ in most Polish dialects. |
| Jablunkov[51] | [example needed] | ||||
| Slovak | Northern dialects[49][52] | řyka | [ˈr̝ɪkä] | 'river' | Only in a few dialects near the Polish border.[49] See Slovak phonology |
| Spanish | rana | [ˈr̝änä] | 'frog' | Possible realization of /r/ in some dialects, may also be realized as a non-sibilant alveolar fricative [ɹ̝-] or as a sibilant retroflex fricative [ʐ]. | |
| Chicahuaxtla Trique[53] | raꞌa | [rᶾa˧ʔaː˧] or [r̥ᶴa˧ʔaː˧] | 'hand' | Initial allophone of /r/. | |
| Tsakonian[54] | ρζινοδίτζη | [r̝inoðitɕi] | 'justice of the peace' | /ʒ/ appears to have been a fricative trill in the 19th century, and [ʒ] survived latterly only in women's usage in Southern Tsakonian. | |
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