mm@vaxine.UUCP (Mark Mudgett) (12/07/85)
In article <393@bcsaic.UUCP> michaelm@bcsaic.UUCP (michael b maxwell) writes: >In article <2554@sjuvax.UUCP> tmoody@sjuvax.UUCP (T. Moody) writes: >>Back in Rhode Island (actually pronounced > r'DIsland ), there is an >>unusual consonant transformation, which I've never heard anywhere >>else. In certain contexts, the 'r' sound is changed to a rather soft >'v' sound. >I can't tell for sure from your description, but it sounds like it might >be a bilabial fricative. The usual "v" in English is a labiodental >fricative; if you stand in front of a mirror, you can see your lower lip >touch your upper teeth when you make it. In a bilabial fricative, your >lower lip would almost touch your upper lip. A "w" is similar, but your >lips are rounded (and definitely don't close). >If this is the sound "r" turns into, I'd agree it's a very unusual shift. I think that this sound is veally a lobiodental fvicative. It is pronounced as if the fvont upper teeth and the lower lip were pvonouncing a V (although the jaw and lower lip are a bit more velaxed than in pvonouncing a V); while the tongue (at the back of the mouth) is pvonouncing the letter R. It's as if the R sound fvom the back of the mouth is passing thvough the V sound at the fvont of the mouth. I'm not fvom vDisland, but I have heard people fvom Pvovidence pvonounce their R's this way. -- ------------------------------------ Mark C. Mudgett uucp: ...!decvax!encore!vaxine!mm phone: 617-667-7900x2394 ------------------------------------