LINGUIST List 13.222

Mon Jan 28 2002

Qs: British vs American Eng, Spread of Uvular /r/

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Directory

  • Alain Th�riault, British vs American English phonology/phonetics
  • Mikael Parkvall, Spread of uvular /r/

    Message 1: British vs American English phonology/phonetics

     Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2002 08:01:11 -0500 (EST)
    From: Alain Th�riault <alain.theriaultUMontreal.CA>
    Subject: British vs American English phonology/phonetics


    Dear List Members Would any of you know of papers, or web pages, that give a complete, or partial, comparative description of the phonology of British and American English. I want to make a speech sythetyser speek like CNN from a list of BBC like pronunciations and I have a feeling that there are regular conversions that can be made.

    I'll sum up, of course

    Thanks

    Alain Theriault Ph.D. Student (Linguistics) Universite de Montreal

    Message 2: Spread of uvular /r/

     Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2002 14:17:02 +0100
    From: Mikael Parkvall <parkvallling.su.se>
    Subject: Spread of uvular /r/


    The spread of uvular /r/ throughout much of western Europe during the past couple of centuries has often been commented on. It seems, however, that the nature of this spread is less well understood than I thought it would be. Despite scattered documentation, there is seemingly not enough for a complete picture to emerge. The usual assumption is that Paris is the centre of innovation, although a German origin has also been suggested. If Paris is indeed the place of origin, the direction of expansion is somewhat unusual, in that Denmark was conquered before any other country was. In general, the spread appears to have been much faster to the north-east than in any other direction. And if the late 18th century is indeed when the feature first ventured outside Paris, the speed is remarkable, to say the least, given that the front-line went through central Sweden only slightly more than a century later.

    These obeservations call, I think, for a more detailed scrutiny of the uvular success story. I would therefore like to hear about when the uvular /r/ was first observed in various locations in Europe (France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Portugal, etc) and places outside Europe, where its occurrence is presumably causally linked to the European developments (South Africa, Canada, Israel, Brazil).

    /MP

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Mikael Parkvall Institutionen f�r lingvistik Stockholms Universitet SE-10691 STOCKHOLM (rum 276)