Rhotacism
Encyclopedia : R : RH : RHO : Rhotacism
Rhotacism may refer to several phenomena related to the usage of the consonant r (whether as an alveolar tap, alveolar trill, or the rarer uvular trill).
- the excessive or idiosyncratic use of the r;
- conversely, the inability or difficulty in pronouncing r.
- the conversion of another consonant, e.g., s, into r.
In medicine rhotacism is the inability or difficulty in pronouncing the sound "r". One alleged sufferer is the British TV personality Jonathan Ross, who pronounces his own surname more like "Woss", or the internet character Homestar Runner, who pronounces his name as "Homestaw Wunnew".
Phonetics
In Indo-European languages, rhotacism can be seen in a conversion of another consonant — for instance "s" or "d" or "n" to "r" in many words.
Albanian rhotacism changes "n" to "r";
- ranë (from the Latin arena) vs rërë (= "sand")
- Valona (from the Latin Avlona) vs Vlora (a town in Southern Albania)
that change [took place in the 13th century] in the southern (Tosk) dialects, which now dominate in the literary language. The Northern Gheg dialects, also spoken in Kosovo and Western Macedonia, keep the original "n". Hence "armik" (dictionary entry for "enemy") is "anmik" in Gheg.
- vriezen vs gevroren (from Germanic *friusana vs *fruzenaz)
Compare also Gothic dags with Old Norse dagr (from Germanic *dagaz)
- was vs were (from Germanic *was vs *wēzun)
- lose vs forlorn (from Germanic *liusana vs *luzenaz)
- war vs gewesen (from Germanic *was vs *wēzun)
The Japanese language does not have a phoneme equivalent to the English 'l' or 'r'; the closest sound is referred to as an alveolar lateral flap. Loanwords with 'l' or 'r' in the original language are represented using this sound, and in romanized Japanese text the letter 'r' is used, regardless of whether the original was an 'r' or 'l' to begin with. Accordingly, Japanese people are faced with rhotacism-type trouble in pronouncing the letters 'r' and 'l', as well as difficulty in differentiating between the two sounds.
- flos (nominative) vs florem (accusative) (Old Latin flosem)
- genus (nominative) vs generis (genitive) (from *geneses, cf Sanskrit janasas)
- corroborare vs robustus (verb from *conrobosare)
- de iure vs iustus (from de iouse)
- ero vs est (from eso)
In Neapolitan rhotacism is seen in a shift from the sound of "d" to an "r" sound:
(Italian vs Neapolitan)
- medesimo vs meresemo
- diaspora vs riaspro
and, to a lesser extent, from the sound of an "l" to an "r" sound:
- albero vs arvero
- ultimo vs urdemo
In early Portuguese, rhotacism occurred from the "l" sound to the "r" sound, as in the words obrigado "obliged" and praça "plaza".
Although it is not an Indo-European language, actually not a natural language at all, J. R. R. Tolkien's Quenya converts -s to -r for historical reasons:
- kár "head" vs kas-, e.g. *casi "heads". Source: The Etymologies (1930s Quenya).
- mar "dwelling of men, the Earth, -land" vs mas-, e.g. *masen "of dwelling". Source: The Book of Lost Tales I (1910s Quenya).
Romanian rhotacism consists of a shift from intervocalic "l" to "r" and "n" to "r".
Thus, Latin caelum became Romanian cer and Latin fenestra becomes Romanian fereastră.
Some northern Romanian dialects and Istro-Romanian also further transformed all intervocalic "n" into "r". For example, Latin bonus became Istro-Romanian bur, as compared to standard Daco-Romanian bun.
Words ending in -s other than -as become -r in sandhi with a voiced consonant:
- naus (before p/t/k) vs naur bharati
- agnis (before p/t/k) vs agnir mata
This is not a case of rhotacism proper, since r and s are simply allophones in those positions.
Slovenian rhotacism consists of shift from [ʒ] (like in English vision) to vibrating [r]:
- moreš from možešь
- kdor from kъtože
Slovenian rhotacism is already visible in the Freising manuscripts, a written document from the 10th century.
The same shift occurred in single words in other South Slavic languages.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.
Albanian rhotacism changes "n" to "r";
- ranë (from the Latin arena) vs rërë (= "sand")
- Valona (from the Latin Avlona) vs Vlora (a town in Southern Albania)
- vriezen vs gevroren (from Germanic *friusana vs *fruzenaz)
- was vs were (from Germanic *was vs *wēzun)
- lose vs forlorn (from Germanic *liusana vs *luzenaz)
- war vs gewesen (from Germanic *was vs *wēzun)
The Japanese language does not have a phoneme equivalent to the English 'l' or 'r'; the closest sound is referred to as an alveolar lateral flap. Loanwords with 'l' or 'r' in the original language are represented using this sound, and in romanized Japanese text the letter 'r' is used, regardless of whether the original was an 'r' or 'l' to begin with. Accordingly, Japanese people are faced with rhotacism-type trouble in pronouncing the letters 'r' and 'l', as well as difficulty in differentiating between the two sounds.
- flos (nominative) vs florem (accusative) (Old Latin flosem)
- genus (nominative) vs generis (genitive) (from *geneses, cf Sanskrit janasas)
- corroborare vs robustus (verb from *conrobosare)
- de iure vs iustus (from de iouse)
- ero vs est (from eso)
In Neapolitan rhotacism is seen in a shift from the sound of "d" to an "r" sound:
(Italian vs Neapolitan)
- medesimo vs meresemo
- diaspora vs riaspro
and, to a lesser extent, from the sound of an "l" to an "r" sound:
- albero vs arvero
- ultimo vs urdemo
In early Portuguese, rhotacism occurred from the "l" sound to the "r" sound, as in the words obrigado "obliged" and praça "plaza".
Although it is not an Indo-European language, actually not a natural language at all, J. R. R. Tolkien's Quenya converts -s to -r for historical reasons:
- kár "head" vs kas-, e.g. *casi "heads". Source: The Etymologies (1930s Quenya).
- mar "dwelling of men, the Earth, -land" vs mas-, e.g. *masen "of dwelling". Source: The Book of Lost Tales I (1910s Quenya).
Romanian rhotacism consists of a shift from intervocalic "l" to "r" and "n" to "r".
Thus, Latin caelum became Romanian cer and Latin fenestra becomes Romanian fereastră.
Some northern Romanian dialects and Istro-Romanian also further transformed all intervocalic "n" into "r". For example, Latin bonus became Istro-Romanian bur, as compared to standard Daco-Romanian bun.
Words ending in -s other than -as become -r in sandhi with a voiced consonant:
- naus (before p/t/k) vs naur bharati
- agnis (before p/t/k) vs agnir mata
This is not a case of rhotacism proper, since r and s are simply allophones in those positions.
Slovenian rhotacism consists of shift from [ʒ] (like in English vision) to vibrating [r]:
- moreš from možešь
- kdor from kъtože
Slovenian rhotacism is already visible in the Freising manuscripts, a written document from the 10th century.
The same shift occurred in single words in other South Slavic languages.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.
- war vs gewesen (from Germanic *was vs *wēzun)
The Japanese language does not have a phoneme equivalent to the English 'l' or 'r'; the closest sound is referred to as an alveolar lateral flap. Loanwords with 'l' or 'r' in the original language are represented using this sound, and in romanized Japanese text the letter 'r' is used, regardless of whether the original was an 'r' or 'l' to begin with. Accordingly, Japanese people are faced with rhotacism-type trouble in pronouncing the letters 'r' and 'l', as well as difficulty in differentiating between the two sounds.
- flos (nominative) vs florem (accusative) (Old Latin flosem)
- genus (nominative) vs generis (genitive) (from *geneses, cf Sanskrit janasas)
- corroborare vs robustus (verb from *conrobosare)
- de iure vs iustus (from de iouse)
- ero vs est (from eso)
In Neapolitan rhotacism is seen in a shift from the sound of "d" to an "r" sound:
(Italian vs Neapolitan)
- medesimo vs meresemo
- diaspora vs riaspro
and, to a lesser extent, from the sound of an "l" to an "r" sound:
- albero vs arvero
- ultimo vs urdemo
In early Portuguese, rhotacism occurred from the "l" sound to the "r" sound, as in the words obrigado "obliged" and praça "plaza".
Although it is not an Indo-European language, actually not a natural language at all, J. R. R. Tolkien's Quenya converts -s to -r for historical reasons:
- kár "head" vs kas-, e.g. *casi "heads". Source: The Etymologies (1930s Quenya).
- mar "dwelling of men, the Earth, -land" vs mas-, e.g. *masen "of dwelling". Source: The Book of Lost Tales I (1910s Quenya).
Romanian rhotacism consists of a shift from intervocalic "l" to "r" and "n" to "r".
Thus, Latin caelum became Romanian cer and Latin fenestra becomes Romanian fereastră.
Some northern Romanian dialects and Istro-Romanian also further transformed all intervocalic "n" into "r". For example, Latin bonus became Istro-Romanian bur, as compared to standard Daco-Romanian bun.
Words ending in -s other than -as become -r in sandhi with a voiced consonant:
- naus (before p/t/k) vs naur bharati
- agnis (before p/t/k) vs agnir mata
This is not a case of rhotacism proper, since r and s are simply allophones in those positions.
Slovenian rhotacism consists of shift from [ʒ] (like in English vision) to vibrating [r]:
- moreš from možešь
- kdor from kъtože
Slovenian rhotacism is already visible in the Freising manuscripts, a written document from the 10th century.
The same shift occurred in single words in other South Slavic languages.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.
- flos (nominative) vs florem (accusative) (Old Latin flosem)
- genus (nominative) vs generis (genitive) (from *geneses, cf Sanskrit janasas)
- corroborare vs robustus (verb from *conrobosare)
- de iure vs iustus (from de iouse)
- ero vs est (from eso)
In Neapolitan rhotacism is seen in a shift from the sound of "d" to an "r" sound:
(Italian vs Neapolitan)
- medesimo vs meresemo
- diaspora vs riaspro
and, to a lesser extent, from the sound of an "l" to an "r" sound:
- albero vs arvero
- ultimo vs urdemo
In early Portuguese, rhotacism occurred from the "l" sound to the "r" sound, as in the words obrigado "obliged" and praça "plaza".
Although it is not an Indo-European language, actually not a natural language at all, J. R. R. Tolkien's Quenya converts -s to -r for historical reasons:
- kár "head" vs kas-, e.g. *casi "heads". Source: The Etymologies (1930s Quenya).
- mar "dwelling of men, the Earth, -land" vs mas-, e.g. *masen "of dwelling". Source: The Book of Lost Tales I (1910s Quenya).
Romanian rhotacism consists of a shift from intervocalic "l" to "r" and "n" to "r".
Thus, Latin caelum became Romanian cer and Latin fenestra becomes Romanian fereastră.
Some northern Romanian dialects and Istro-Romanian also further transformed all intervocalic "n" into "r". For example, Latin bonus became Istro-Romanian bur, as compared to standard Daco-Romanian bun.
Words ending in -s other than -as become -r in sandhi with a voiced consonant:
- naus (before p/t/k) vs naur bharati
- agnis (before p/t/k) vs agnir mata
This is not a case of rhotacism proper, since r and s are simply allophones in those positions.
Although it is not an Indo-European language, actually not a natural language at all, J. R. R. Tolkien's Quenya converts -s to -r for historical reasons:
- kár "head" vs kas-, e.g. *casi "heads". Source: The Etymologies (1930s Quenya).
- mar "dwelling of men, the Earth, -land" vs mas-, e.g. *masen "of dwelling". Source: The Book of Lost Tales I (1910s Quenya).
Romanian rhotacism consists of a shift from intervocalic "l" to "r" and "n" to "r".
Thus, Latin caelum became Romanian cer and Latin fenestra becomes Romanian fereastră.
Some northern Romanian dialects and Istro-Romanian also further transformed all intervocalic "n" into "r". For example, Latin bonus became Istro-Romanian bur, as compared to standard Daco-Romanian bun.
Words ending in -s other than -as become -r in sandhi with a voiced consonant:
- naus (before p/t/k) vs naur bharati
- agnis (before p/t/k) vs agnir mata
This is not a case of rhotacism proper, since r and s are simply allophones in those positions.
- moreš from možešь
- kdor from kъtože
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.