Voiced uvular trill
A voiced uvular trill is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is, a small capital version of the Latin letter r. This consonant is one of several collectively called guttural R.
Features
Features of a voiced uvular trill:Unlike in tongue-tip trills, it is the uvula, not the tongue, that vibrates.
Occurrence
There are two main hypotheses regarding the origin of the uvular trill in European languages. According to one hypothesis, the uvular trill originated in Standard French around the 17th century and spread to the standard varieties of German, Danish, Portuguese, and some of those of Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish. It is also present in other areas of Europe, but it is not clear if such pronunciations are due to French influence. In most cases, varieties have shifted the sound to a voiced uvular fricative or approximant.The other main hypothesis is that the uvular trill originated within Germanic languages through the weakening and vocalization of the alveolar trill toward an open back vowel , with the uvular trill subsequently emerging as a strengthened articulation of this vocalization. Accordingly, there is ample evidence that the uvular trill existed in German dialects long before the 17th century, suggesting that while the French usage may have influenced its spread, it was not the ultimate origin.