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 (IPA|r), and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r. It is commonly called the rolled R, rolling R, or trilled R. Quite often, (IPA|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. Languages where trills always have multiple vibrations include Albanian, Spanish, Cypriot Greek, and a number of Armenian and Portuguese dialects.
People with ankyloglossia may find it exceptionally difficult to articulate the sound because of the limited mobility of their tongues.
| Ipa Symbol: | r |
| Ipa Number: | 122 |
| Decimal: | 114 |
| X-Sampa: | r |
| Braille: | r |
Features of the voiced alveolar trill:
dental (behind the upper front teeth),
alveolar (at the alveolar ridge), or
post-alveolar (behind the alveolar ridge).
| Language | Word | Meaning | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hungarian[1] | Hungarian: [[Hungarian orthography|a'''rr'''a]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ɒr̪ːɒ]/ | 'that way' | Laminal dental. See Hungarian phonology | ||
| Marshallese: dik[2] | pronounced as /[r̪ʲik]/ | 'to be small' | Palatalized. The language's two other rhotic phonemes, pronounced as //rˠ// (velarized) and pronounced as //rʷ// (rounded), are post-alveolar. | |||
| Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: [[Romanian orthography|'''r'''epede]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈr̪e̞pe̞d̪e̞]/ | 'quickly' | Apical. See Romanian phonology | |||
| Russian[3] | Russian: [[Russian orthography|'''рь'''яный]]/ | pronounced as /[ˈr̪ʲjän̪ɨ̞j]/ | 'zealous' | Apical, palatalized. Usually only a single vibration, presumably due to the palatalization. It contrasts with a post-alveolar trill. See Russian phonology | ||
| Language | Word | Meaning | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | Afrikaans: '''r'''ooi|italic=yes | pronounced as /[roːi̯]/ | 'red' | May be a tap pronounced as /link/ instead. See Afrikaans phonology | ||
| Arabic: راء|rtl=yes/ | pronounced as /[raːʔ]/ | the name of the letter Arabic: [[ر]] | In free variation with pronounced as /link/ by many speakers. | |||
| Aragonese: sota'''rr'''año|italic=yes | pronounced as /[sotaˈraɲo]/ | 'basement' | Allophone of /ɾ/. | |||
| Armenian | Armenian: [[Armenian alphabet|'''ռ'''ումբ]]/ | 'cannonball' | ||||
| Asturian; Bable; Leonese; Asturleonese: [[Asturian alphabet|fe'''rr'''amienta]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[feraˈmjeŋta]/ | 'tool' | Allophone of /ɾ/. | |||
| Bengali: [[Bengali alphabet|'''রা'''ত]]/ | pronounced as /[rat̪]/ | 'night' | More commonly [{{IPA link|ɾ}} ~ {{IPA link|ɹ}}] for most speakers. May occur word-initially; as against pronounced as /[ɾ]/, which occurs medially and finally. See Bengali phonology | |||
| Breton: [[Breton alphabet|'''r'''oue]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ruːe]/ | 'king' | Dominant in and around Léon and Morbihan while many other dialects have adopted the voiced uvular fricative. See Breton phonology | |||
| Bulgarian | pronounced as /[ˈrabotə]/ | 'work' | See Bulgarian phonology | |||
| Chinese | Dangyang (a Southwestern Mandarin) | [[Chinese characters|被子]] | pronounced as /[pei r̩]/ | quilt | ||
| Chuvash | арăслан/araslan | [arəs'lan] | 'lion' | |||
| Czech: [[Czech orthography|chlo'''r''']]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[xlɔ̝ːr]/ | 'chlorine' | Contrasts with pronounced as //r̝//; may be syllabic. See Czech phonology | |||
| Corresponds to much more back pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|ʁ}} ~ {{IPAplink|ʕ}}]/ in standard Danish. See Danish phonology | ||||||
| Standard | Dutch; Flemish: [[Dutch orthography|'''r'''aam]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[raːm]/ | 'window' | See Dutch phonology | ||
| outta the city | pronounced as /[æə̯rəˈsɪɾi]/ | 'out of the city' | A sequence of tapped pronounced as /ink/ between unstressed pronounced as /ink/ may become a single trill in AAVE. | |||
| curd | pronounced as /[kʌrd]/ | 'curd' | Only some dialects. Corresponds to [{{IPA link|ɾ}} ~ {{IPA link|ɹ}}] in others. See English phonology | |||
| Welsh[4] | bright | pronounced as /[braɪt]/ | 'bright' | Some dialects under Welsh influence. Corresponds to pronounced as /[ɾ ~ ɹ]/ in others. | ||
| Finnish: [[Estonian alphabet|ko'''rr'''us]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈkorːus]/ | 'floor' | See Estonian phonology | |||
| Finnish: [[Finnish alphabet|'''r'''aaka]]|italic=yes | 'raw' | See Finnish phonology | ||||
| Standard | Greek, Modern (1453-);: [[Greek alphabet|ά'''ρ'''τος]]/ | pronounced as /[ˈartos]/ | 'artos' | Allophone of pronounced as //ɾ//. Usual in clusters, otherwise a tap or an approximant. See Modern Greek phonology | ||
| Greek, Modern (1453-);: βο'''ρρ'''άς/ | pronounced as /[vorˈras]/ | 'north' | Contrasts with pronounced as //ɾ//. | |||
| Hindi: [[Devanāgarī|पत्थ'''र''']] / | pronounced as /[pət̪t̪ʰər]/ | 'stone' | See Hindustani phonology | |||
| Urdu | Urdu: [[nasta'liq|پتھ'''ر''']]|rtl=yes / | |||||
| Indonesian: [[Malay alphabet|geta'''r''' ]] | pronounced as /[gətar]/ | 'vibrate' | See Indonesian phonology | |||
| Italian: [[Italian alphabet|te'''rr'''a]]|italic=yes | 'earth' | See Italian phonology | ||||
| Shitamachi dialect | Japanese: から Japanese: [[Romanization of Japanese#Hepburn|ka'''r'''a]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[kara]/ | 'from' | Allophone of /ɾ/. See Japanese phonology. | ||
| Kansai dialect | ||||||
| pronounced as /[ⁿrikei]/ | 'leg' | |||||
| Central Khmer: [[Khmer script|ត្រី]] / | pronounced as /[trəj]/ | 'fish' or 'three' | See Khmer phonology | |||
| Kirghiz; Kyrgyz: [[Kyrgyz alphabet|ы'''р''']]/Kirghiz; Kyrgyz: ı'''r''' | pronounced as /[ɯr]/ | 'song' | ||||
| Latvian: [[Latvian alphabet|'''r'''ags]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[räks̪]/ | 'horn' | See Latvian phonology | |||
| Lithuanian: [[Lithuanian alphabet|i'''r''']] | pronounced as /[ɪr]/ | 'and' | See Lithuanian phonology | |||
| کورڠ / Malay: [[Malay alphabet|ku'''r'''ang]] | pronounced as /[kuräŋ]/ | 'less' | May be postalveolar approximant [{{IPA|ɹ̠}}], or more commonly, flap pronounced as /[ɾ]/. See Malay phonology | |||
| Malayalam | Malayalam: [[Malayalam script|'''റ'''മ്മി]]/Malayalam: rummy | pronounced as /[rəmmiː]/ | 'rummy' | See Malayalam phonology | ||
| /ghórra | pronounced as /[ɡʱʌrːä]/ | 'drawer' | See Nepali phonology | |||
| Polish: [[Polish orthography|k'''r'''ok]]|italic=yes | 'step' | Usually realized as pronounced as /link/. See Polish phonology. | ||||
| Portuguese: [[Portuguese orthography|'''r'''ato]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ratu]/ | 'mouse' | Contrasts with pronounced as //ɾ//. Many northern dialects retain the alveolar trill, and the trill is still dominant in rural areas. See Portuguese phonology and Guttural R. | |||
| Scots | Scots: b'''r'''icht | pronounced as /[brɪçt]/ | 'bright' | |||
| Scottish Gaelic | Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: [[Scottish Gaelic phonology|cea'''r'''t]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[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 pronounced as //ɾʲ// and pronounced as //ɾ// intervocally and word-finally. See Scottish Gaelic phonology | ||
| [[Serbian Cyrillic alphabet|'''р'''т]] / [[Gaj's Latin alphabet|'''r'''t]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[r̩t]/ | 'cape' | May be syllabic. See Serbo-Croatian phonology | |||
| Slovak: [[Slovak orthography|k'''r'''k]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[kr̩k]/ | 'neck' | May be a tap, particularly when not syllabic. | |||
| Slovenian: [[Slovene orthography|'''r'''iž]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ríːʃ]/ | 'rice' | Also described as tap pronounced as /link/, and variable between trill pronounced as /[r]/ and tap pronounced as /link/. See Slovene phonology | |||
| Spanish; Castilian: [[Spanish orthography|pe'''rr'''o]]|italic=yes | 'dog' | Contrasts with pronounced as //ɾ//. See Spanish phonology | ||||
| Some West coast and Northern dialects | Swedish: [[Swedish orthography|b'''r'''a]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[brɑː]/ | 'good' | See Swedish phonology | ||
| Tagalog: [[Filipino orthography|'''r'''ambutan]] | pronounced as /[rɐmbuˈtan]/ | 'rambutan' | Allophone of the more common pronounced as /[ɾ]/, especially with more conservative speakers.[5] See Tagalog phonology | |||
| Tamil | Tamil: [[Tamil script|ப'''ற'''வை]]/Tamil: paravai | pronounced as /[paraʋaɪ̯]/ | 'bird' | See Tamil phonology | ||
| Standard | Thai: ชลบุรี/ | 'Chonburi' | ||||
| pronounced as /[ⁿrakeiʔin]/ | 'girls' | |||||
| Ukrainian: [[Ukrainian alphabet|'''р'''ух]]/ | 'motion' | See Ukrainian phonology | ||||
| Welsh: [[Welsh alphabet|Rhagfy'''r''']]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈr̥aɡvɨr]/ | 'December' | Contrasts with the voiceless alveolar trill, pronounced as //r̥//. See Welsh phonology | |||
| Standard | Yiddish: [[Yiddish orthography|ב'''ר'''יק]]|rtl=yes/brik | pronounced as /[brɪk]/ | 'bridge' | More commonly a flap pronounced as /link/; can be uvular pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|ɢ̆}} ~ {{IPAplink|ʀ}}]/ instead. See Yiddish phonology | ||
| Zapotec | '''r-r'''ee | pronounced as /[rɘˀɘ]/ | 'go out (habitually)' | Underlyingly two sequences of pronounced as //ɾ//. | ||
See also: Retroflex trill.
| Language | Word | Meaning | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catalan; Valencian: [[Catalan orthography|'''r'''uc]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈr̠uk]/ | 'donkey' | Contrasts with pronounced as //ɾ//. See Catalan phonology | |||
| be'''l'''e | pronounced as /[bēr̠ē]/ | 'we' | Allophone of pronounced as //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 pronounced as /link/ instead. | |||
| Marshallese: raj[6] | pronounced as /[r̠ˠɑtʲ]/ | 'whale' | pronounced as //rˠ// is velarized and pronounced as //rʷ// is rounded. Another rhotic phoneme in the language, pronounced as //rʲ//, is dental and palatalized. | |||
| Marshallese: roj[7] | pronounced as /[r̠ʷɔtʲ]/ | 'ebb tide' | ||||
| Russian: [[Russian orthography|иг'''р'''ать]]/igrať | pronounced as /[ɪˈɡr̠ätʲ]/ | 'to play' | Contrasts with a palatalized dental trill. See Russian phonology | |||
| Ipa Symbol: | r̝ |
| Ipa Symbol2: | r̻ |
| Ipa Number: | 122 429 |
| Xsampa: | 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 pronounced as /[ˈrɪbaːr̝ɪ]/ 'fishermen' and the common surname Dvořák. Its manner of articulation is similar to pronounced as /[r]/ but is laminal and the body of the tongue is raised. It is thus partially fricative, with the frication sounding rather like pronounced as /[ʒ]/ but less retracted. It sounds like a simultaneous pronounced as /[r]/ and pronounced as /[ʒ]/, and some speakers tend to pronounce it as pronounced as /[rʐ]/, pronounced as /[ɾʒ]/, or pronounced as /[ɹʒ]/. In the IPA, it is typically written as (IPA|r) plus the raising diacritic, (IPA|r̝), but it has also been written as laminal (IPA|r̻).[8] (Before the 1989 IPA Kiel Convention, it had a dedicated symbol (IPA|ɼ).) The Kobon language of Papua New Guinea also has a fricative trill, but the degree of frication is variable.
Features of the voiced alveolar fricative trill:
| Language | Word | Meaning | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Czech: [[Czech alphabet|čty'''ř'''i]]|italic=yes | 'four' | May be a non-sibilant fricative. It contrasts with pronounced as //r// and pronounced as //ʒ//. See Czech phonology | ||||
| Dzongkha[9] | Dzongkha: '''རུ'''་ཏོག་/ | pronounced as /[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[10] | Kashubian: '''rz'''éka|italic=yes | pronounced as /[r̝eka]/ | 'river' | Only some northern and northwestern speakers. Formerly common over the whole speaking area. | ||
| Amount of frication variable. May also be a fricative flap | ||||||
| Ormuri | Standard (Kaniguram) | تڒګب/ | pronounced as /[tɑr̝geb]/ | 'summer' | Corresponds to /ʃ/ in Logar dialect. | |
| Some dialects | Polish: [[Polish alphabet|'''rz'''eka]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[r̝ɛka]/ | 'river' | Contrasts with pronounced as //r// and pronounced as //ʐ//. Present in areas from Starogard Gdański to Malbork and those south, west and northwest of them, area from Lubawa to Olsztyn to Olecko to Działdowo, south and east of Wieleń, around Wołomin, southeast of Ostrów Mazowiecka and west of Siedlce, from Brzeg to Opole and areas to the north, and roughly from Racibórz to Nowy Targ. Most speakers, as well as standard Polish, merge it with pronounced as //ʐ//, and speakers maintaining the distinction (which is mostly the elderly) sporadically do as well. See Polish phonology | ||
| Portuguese: [[Portuguese orthography|o'''s r'''ins]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[u ˈr̝ĩʃ]/ | 'the kidneys' | Possible realization of the sequence pronounced as //sr// for speakers who realize pronounced as //r// as pronounced as /[r]/. See Portuguese phonology | |||
| um'''rz'''ił|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈumr̝iw]/ | '(he) died' | Contrasts with pronounced as //r// and pronounced as //ʒ//. Merges with pronounced as //ʐ// in most Polish dialects. | |||
| Northern dialects | Slovak: [[Slovak orthography|'''ř'''yka]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈr̝ɪkä]/ | 'river' | Only in a few dialects near the Polish border. See Slovak phonology | ||
| Spanish | Spanish; Castilian: '''r'''ana | [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[11] | '''r'''a{{saltillo | [rᶾa˧ʔaː˧] or [r̥ᶴa˧ʔaː˧] | 'hand' | Initial allophone of /r/. | ||
| Tsakonian[12] | '''ρζ'''ινοδίτζη | [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. | ||
pronounced as /navigation/