A contribution to the study of phonetic variation of Rs

in French and Italian linguistic domains

Within the framework of a Real Phonetik approach, this paper aims to open a discussion around the phonetic
variability of the different realizations of 'r', in order to improve the current view of linguistic variation in Italy and
France.
The character of the work I carried out on phonetic grounds during last 5 years is mainly descriptive, but it is always
confirmed by experimental evidence (spectrographic analysis and MRI to verify some articulatory characteristics).
The literature on this topic - for all the varieties I considered - shows how a simplified view is still dominating in
spite of progresses in the description of these sounds in other linguistic domains (Lin85, Rec91, Hag95, Bar97, ...). The
main r-variability described in these domains is stylistic (and sometimes, for special pronunciations, also diatopic);
paradoxally very few details are available about phonotactic variability (exceptions are in Can83 and in LaM96).
About French, this lack is particularly marked. Behind the traditional description of apical r vs. uvular r (sometimes
masked by general labels as "r grassy" which were used to describe, following the authors' ear, quite different classes
of sounds) stands a typological vagueness which obviously characterizes large diffusion books, but also part of the
recent scientific press.
French r pronunciation shows nowadays very interesting dynamics. Common r-sounds, overall in the North and in
young groups, involve a pharyngal r (especially when final) becoming almost a vowel sound like [a] (this is obviously
more evident for southern listeners as shown by a clip of the '30s from Marcel Pagnol's film "Marius", where Csar,
character played by the Provenal Raimu, seems not to understand the northern pronunciation of "mer" by the actor R.
Fresnay). Car74 described this sound for the Lorrainese and for the Lille variety of French.
In the current scientific era, several projects started on variating pronunciation of French (see Durand et al.) and a
by-product will probably be a better knowledge on r production by different speakers. At present my contribution
(based on the results of the analysis of a sample of about 1000 words uttered by 4 speakers of different origins and with
idiosynchratic phonetic properties) may only consist of an instrumental survey of r-realisations from some "normative"
speakers and their exact description in terms of "narrow phonetics" (cfr. LaM96; another answer to this kind of needs
came recently, most of all for other linguistic domains, from the book edited by VVH01).
As for Italy, a symptom of the different considerations connected with r pronunciations is the disagreement on the
sociolinguistic status of some r-sounds between Lad77 and Can99. Even if these authors agree on the articulatory
description of a few r-sounds (and the formers add useful acoustic details), the different opinions on the prestige status
of dialects showing them clearly reveal the uncomplete (and, more often, non-uniform) knowledge of the geographical
and social variability of these phenomena.
The traditional view refers to what is called "r moscia" (lit. limp r), but in this category we can recognize at least 10
different r-sounds (cfr. Can79, Mio87).
For all these r-sounds, outside the presence or not of uvular vibrations, it seems to me that we still need to detect, in
each case, the exact articulatory place, the degree of constriction, the voicing, and so on. That is what I tried to do,
working on more than 300 utterances of r from different speakers from all over Italy. On the acoustic field, I found also
valid for the Italian varieties the framework designed for a number of languages by Jak57, adapted by Fan68 and
already confirmed by LaM96, showing different strategies to get non-apical r-sounds by using the acoustic (then
perceptual) effect of lowering some formant frequencies.
Bar97
Can79
Can83
Can99
Car74
Fan68

Barry W.J. (1997). Another R-tickle. JIPA, 27, 35-45.

Canepari L. (1979). Introduzione alla Fonetica. Torino, Einaudi, 1979 (3me rd. 1985).
Canepari L. (1983). La Notazione Fonetica / Phonetic Notation. Vemezia, Cafoscarina.
Canepari L. (1999). MaPI. Bologna, Zanichelli.
Carton F. (1974). Introduction la phontique du franais. Paris, Bordas.
Fant G. (1968). "Analysis and synthesis of speech processes". In B. Malmberg (ed.), Manual of Phonetics, Amsterdam,
North-Holland, 171-272.
Hag95 Hagiwara R. (1995). Acoustic Realizations of American /R/ as produced by Women and Man. UCLA Working Papers in
Phonetics, 90.
Jak57
Jakobson R. (1957). Mufaxxama: the emphatic phonemes in Arabic. In Studies Presented to Joshua Whatmough , The
Hague, Mouton (republ. in Selected writings. The Hague, Mouton, 1962, 510-522).
Lad77 Ladefoged P., Cochran A. and Disner S. F. (1977). Laterals and trills. JIPA, 7, 46-54.
LaM96 Ladefoged P. & Maddieson I. (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford, Blackwell.
Lin85 Lindau M. (1985). "The story of r". In V.A. Fromkin (ed.), Phonetic Linguistics, Orlando, Academic Press, 157-168.
Mio87 Mioni A.M. (1987). Fonetica articolatoria: descrizione e trascrizione degli atteggiamenti articolatori. In L. Croatto (d.),
Trattato di foniatria e logopedia. Aspetti fonetici della comunicazione (vol. II), Padova, La Garngola, 15-88.
Rec91 Recasens D. (1991). On the production characteristics of apicoalveolar taps and trills. JofPh, 19, 267-280.
VVH01 Van de Velde H. & van Hout R. (eds.) (2001). r-atics. Sociolinguistic, phonetic and phonological characteristics of /r/. In
Etudes & Travaux, 4, Bruxelles, Univ. Libre de Bruxelles, 199 pp.