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Voiced uvular fricative
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This SourceThe 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, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is R. This consonant is one of several collectively called guttural R when found in European languages.
Because the IPA symbol stands for both the uvular fricative and the uvular approximant, the fricative nature of this sound may be specified by adding the uptack to the letter, [ʁ̝]. (The approximant can be specified by adding the downtack, [ʁ̞].)
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.
- Its place of articulation is uvular which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue (the dorsum) against or near the palatine uvula.
- Its phonation type is voiced, which means the vocal cords are vibrating during the articulation.
- It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
- It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the middle of the tongue, rather than the sides.
- The airstream mechanism is pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the lungs and through the vocal tract, rather than from the glottis or the mouth.
Occurrence
In Western Europe, a uvular trill pronunciation of rhotic consonants spread from northern French to several dialects and registers of Danish, Dutch, German, Hebrew, Norwegian, Portuguese, and Swedish. However, not all of these remain a uvular trill today. In Danish, the r is a pharyngeal approximant in all but the most conservative speech. In Brazilian Portuguese, it is usually a voiceless velar fricative [x], voiceless uvular fricative [χ], or a voiceless glottal fricative [h]. Because such uvular rhotics don't often contrast with alveolar ones,| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abkhaz | цыҕ | [tsəʁ] | 'marten' | ||
| Adyghe | гъызын | [ʁəzən] | 'to wail' | ||
| Aleut | Atkan dialect | chamĝul | 'to wash' | ||
| Armenian | քաղաքավար | [kʰaʁakʰaˈvaɹ] | 'polite' | ||
| Avar | тIагъур | [tʼaˈʁur] | 'cap' | ||
| Chilcotin | 'he walks' | ||||
| Danish | rød | [ʁɶð] | 'red' | See Danish phonology | |
| French | rester | [ʁɛste] | 'to stay' | See French phonology | |
| German | Frau | [fʁaʊ̯] | 'woman' | See German phonology | |
| Modern Hebrew | ירוק | [jaˈʁok] | 'green' | See Hebrew phonology | |
| Kabardian | гъэ | [ʁɑ] | 'let' | ||
| Kabyle | bbeγ | [bːəʁ] | 'to dive' | ||
| Norwegian | western | rar | [ʁɑːʁ] | 'strange' | |
| Portuguese | European | carro | 'car' | See Portuguese phonology and Guttural R. | |
| Ubykh | 'his, her, its' | Ubykh has ten different uvular fricatives. See Ubykh phonology | |||
| Zhuang | roek | [ʁɔ̌k] | 'six' | ||
| Yukaghir | Northern | example needed | -- | -- | |
See also
References
Bibliography
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Last updated on Friday February 08, 2008 at 01:05:44 PST (GMT -0800)
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