Voiced uvular fricative

Labialized voiced uvular approximant
Labialized voiced uvular approximant
ʁʷ

Voiced uvular approximant
Voiced uvular approximant
ʁ̞
IPA Number	144
Audio sample
	source · help
Encoding
X-SAMPA	R_o
Image

Voiced uvular fricative
Voiced uvular fricative
ʁ
IPA Number	143
Audio sample
	source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ʁ
Unicode (hex)	U+0281
X-SAMPA	R
Braille
Image

The 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.

The 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 writings 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 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. 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 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 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, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, German, Judaeo-Spanish, Norwegian, Occitan, Portuguese, Swedish, some variants of Low Saxon, and Yiddish. 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, velar 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."

It is also present in most Turkic languages, except for Turkish, and in Caucasian languages. It could also come in ɣ.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Abkhaz		цыҕ cëğ	[tsəʁ]	'marten'	See Abkhaz phonology
Adyghe		тыгъэ tëğa		'sun'
Afrikaans	Parts of the former Cape Province	rooi	[ʁoːi̯]	'red'	May be a trill [ʀ] instead. 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 Standard	غرفة ġurfa	[ˈʁʊrfɐ]	'room'	Mostly transcribed as /ɣ/, may be velar, post-velar or uvular, depending on dialect. See Arabic phonology
Archi		гъӀабос ġabos	[ʁˤabos]	'croak'
Armenian		ղեկ łek		'rudder'
Asturian language					Most common allophone of /g/. May be an approximant.
Avar		тIагъур thaġur	[tʼaˈʁur]	'cap'
Bashkir		туғыҙ tuğïð		'nine'
Basque	Northern dialects	urre	[uʁe]	'gold'
Chilcotin		relkɨsh	[ʁəlkɪʃ]	'he walks'
Danish	Standard	rød	[ʁ̞œ̠ð̠]	'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
Dutch	Belgian Limburg	rad	[ʁɑt]	'wheel'	Either a fricative or an approximant. Realization of /r/ varies considerably among dialects. See Dutch phonology
	Central Netherlands
	East Flanders
	Northern Netherlands
	Randstad
	Southern Netherlands
English	Dyfed	red	[ʁɛd]	'red'	Not all speakers. Alveolar in other Welsh accents.
	Gwynedd				Not all speakers. Alveolar in other Welsh accents.
	North-east Leinster				Corresponds to [ɹ ~ ɾ ~ ɻ] in other dialects of English in Ireland.
	Northumbrian				Described both as a fricative and an approximant. More rarely it is a trill [ʀ]. Mostly found in rural areas of Northumberland and northern County Durham, declining. See English phonology and Northumbrian Burr.
	Sierra Leonean				More rarely a trill [ʀ].
French		rester		'to stay'	See French phonology
German	Standard	Rost	[ʁɔstʰ]	'rust'	Either a fricative or, more often, an approximant. In free variation with a uvular trill. See Standard German phonology
	Lower Rhine		[ʁɔstʰ]
	Swabian		[ʁ̞oʃt]		An approximant. It is the realization of /ʁ/ in onsets, otherwise it is an epiglottal approximant.
Gondi	Hill-Maṛia	pār̥-	[paːʁ-]	'to sing'	Corresponds to /r/ or /ɾ/ in other Gondi dialects.
Hebrew	Biblical	עוֹרֵב	[ʕoˈreβ]	'raven'	See Biblical Hebrew phonology.
Hebrew	Modern	עוֹרֵב	[ʔoˈʁ̞ev]	'raven'	See Modern Hebrew phonology.
Inuktitut	East Inuktitut dialect	marruuk	[mɑʁːuːk]	'two'
Italian	Some speakers	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]. See Italian phonology.
Kabardian		бгъэ bğa		'eagle'
Kabyle		ⴱⴻⵖ bbeɣ بغ	[bːəʁ]	'to dive'
Kazakh		саған, sağan	[sɑˈʁɑn]	'to you'
Kyrgyz		жамгыр camğır'	[dʒɑmˈʁɯr]	'rain'
Lakota		aǧúyapi	[aʁʊjapɪ]	'bread'
Limburgish	Maastrichtian	drei	[dʀ̝ɛi̯]	'three'	Fricative trill; the fricative component varies between uvular and post-velar. See Maastrichtian dialect phonology and Weert dialect phonology
Limburgish	Weert dialect	drej	[dʀ̝æj]	'three'
Luxembourgish		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. See Luxembourgish phonology
Malay	Perak dialect	Perak	[peʁɑk̚]	'Perak'	See Malay phonology
Malto		पोग़े	[poʁe]	'smoke'
Norwegian	Southern dialects	rar	[ʁ̞ɑːʁ̞]	'strange'	Either an approximant or a fricative. See Norwegian phonology
Norwegian	Southwestern dialects	rar	[ʁ̞ɑːʁ̞]	'strange'
Toba qom	Takshek dialect	Awogoyk	[awoʁojk]	'moon'
Tundra Nenets	Some speakers	вара	[waʁa]	'goose'
Ossetic	Iron	æгъгъæд æğğæd	[ˈəʁːəd]	'enough'
Portuguese	European	carro	[ˈkaʁu]	'car'	Word-initial /ʁ/ is commonly realized as a fricative trill in Lisbon. See Portuguese phonology
	Setubalense	ruralizar	[ʁuʁɐɫiˈzaʁ]	'to ruralize'	Outcome of a merger of /ɾ/ with /ʁ/, which is unique in the Lusophone world. Often trilled instead.
	Fluminense	ardência	[ɐʁˈdẽsjə]	'burning feeling'	Due to 19th century Portuguese influence, Rio de Janeiro's dialect merged coda /ɾ/ into /ʁ/. 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].
Spanish	As spoken in Asturias	gusano	[ʁ̞uˈsano]	'worm'	Most common allophone of /g/. May also be an approximant.
Swedish	Southern dialects	rör	[ʁɶʁ]	'pipe(s)'	See Swedish phonology
Tatar		яңгыр, yañğır	[jɒŋˈʁɯr]	'rain'
Turkmen		aɡyr	[ɑɡɨɾ]	'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	[ʊjʁʊr]	'Uyghur'
Uzbek		ogʻir	[ɒˈʁɨr]	'heavy'
West Flemish	Bruges dialect	onder	[ˈuŋəʀ̝]	'under'	A fricative trill with little friction. An alveolar [r] is used in the neighbouring rural area.
Yakut		тоҕус toğus	[toʁus]	'nine'

Voiced uvular fricative

Features

Occurrence

See also