<OT> The alternation between the flap /r/ and the fricative /z/

[R.O'Connor]

Kathryn's message reminded me of learning Irish many years ago.  
I have dug out the relevant paragraph from the grammar book 
(Myles Dillon & Donncha O Croinin (1961). Irish: a complete 
introductory course. London: Hodder and Stoughton Ltd (Teach 
Yourself Books). p.9.):

'One sound about which a special note is required is 'r'.  It is 
always trilled, never flapped or silent as in English.  For broad* 'r' 
there is no further difficulty, but slender* 'r' is difficult for English 
speakers.  It approaches the sound of 'z'.  (In some dialects it has 
almost become 'z'.)  If you sound a 'z' and trill it, you will get a fair 
result.  Fortunately original slender 'r' has become broad when it 
begins a word, so that this sound is required only in medial or final 
position: 'ri'' (king) has a broad 'r', but 'ti'r' (country) and 'Ma'ire' 
(Mary) have the slender sound.'

* The 'broad'/'slender' distinction (referred to elsewhere as 'velarised' 
and 'palatalised' respectively - see e.g. Antony Dubach Green, 
2000. The prosodic representation of clitics in Irish. In Birgit 
Gerlach & Janet Grijzenhout, Clitics in morphology, phonology and 
syntax. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. p183-4) refers to a phonemic 
contrast exhibited by all Irish consonants (except 'h').  Ailbhe Ni 
Chasaide, writing in the the Handbook of the IPA, refers to this 
realisation of palatalised 'r' as an 'apico-postalveolar fricative' 
(p.114), which is somewhat removed from the dental fricative you 
refer to.

I hope this is of some help.

Best wishes,

Rob O'Connor.

From:           	"Kathryn Tippetts" <ktippett@indiana.edu>
To:             	"Lee, Amy P" <aplee@essex.ac.uk>, <optimal@ling.ucsd.edu>
Subject:        	Re: <OT> The alternation between the flap /r/ and the fricative /z/
Date sent:      	Mon, 2 Jun 2003 17:54:08 -0500

> Regarding the /r/ - dental fricative alternation:
> 
> The /r/ in French is not a flap either(cf non-rhotic dialects of English),
> it is generally uvular, but there was a time in the history of French where
> it became fashionable to replace r's with a dental fricative.  For example,
> instead of Paris [pari], it was Pazis [pazi].  Some of the changes effected
> were never returned to the original, although most were.  An example of this
> is the word for chair, "chaise."  There is an r in the English word because
> it was borrowed from French before the change from /r/ to /z/.  But modern
> French has retained the /z/ form.
> 
> Thought this might be of interest to you.  Don't hesitate to contact me
> personally if you would like more info.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Kathryn Tippetts
> 
> ktippett@indiana.edu
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Lee, Amy P" <aplee@essex.ac.uk>
> To: <optimal@ling.ucsd.edu>
> Sent: Monday, June 02, 2003 2:06 PM
> Subject: <OT> The alternation between the flap /r/ and the fricative /z/
> 
> 
> > Dear all,
> >
> > We would like to raise a question about the alternation of the two
> segments: flap /r/ and the dental fricative /z/ occurring in a Formosan
> language--Kavalan (the Austronesian family).
> >    The two dialects, one spoken in Hsin-she (the dialect H) and the other
> one spoken in Chang-yuan (the dialect C), displays the alternation in
> question.  The two segments are both phonemic and heard in the two dialects.
> Some examples are as follows:
> >    Dialect H Dialect C Gloss
> >    zapan rapan foot and leg
> >    zau rau this
> >    muzan muran rain
> >    qaniz qanir all
> >
> > (Data taken from Chang, Y.L. (1997) Voice, Case and Agreement in Seediq
> and Kavalan, Ph.D. thesis, Hsinchu: National Tsing-hua University.)
> >
> > A similar alternation is also found in Non-rhotic English (e.g. British
> English), where names such as Barry, Terry, are shortened as Baz, Tez,
> because /r/ cannot occur at coda position. (Though the /r/ in English is not
> flap)
> >
> > We would like to ask:
> > (a) whether anyone had suggestions about how this alternation came about
> in two completely different languages and
> > (b) whether anyone know of any other similar cases in other disparate
> languages.
> >
> > Thank you,
> >
> > Wyn Johnson (wyn@essex.ac.uk)
> > Amy Peijung Lee (aplee@essex.ac.uk)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > The Optimal List
> > Optimal@ling.ucsd.edu
> > https://ling.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo.cgi/optimal
> >
> >
> >
> 
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