Re: What are the Sampa representations for various |r|s?

Sally Caves wrote:

> I'm posing the question under different cover, since I think many of you
> are
> tuning out some threads, or are distracted by recent disappointing events.
> I would really like to know what the Sampa representations are for the
> various pronunciations of |r|, since I see a lot of people, including
> myself, using plain old [r] to cover a number of sounds in their Sampa IPA
> reps.
>
> The retroflex "r."  What I, an American, say in pronouncing "American."
I've replied in the other thread, but I'd like to comment on this as
well; Jarda has an actual retroflex approximant, which is probably
closer to the "l" in "Tamil" than an American /r/. I heard a similar
sounding /r/ in that Iñupiaq site someone mentioned the other day
(http://www.alaskool.org/language/maniilaq/webhtm/Maniilaq_Intro.htm).

Samples of the Jarda /r/ (real audio, unfortunately; I'll have to
re-record them one of these days....):

http://www.io.com/~hmiller/ra/j-noer.ra [n2r`]
http://www.io.com/~hmiller/ra/j-relh.ra [r`eL]
http://www.io.com/~hmiller/ra/j-thlir.ra [Kir`]
http://www.io.com/~hmiller/ra/j-sjor.ra [s\or`]
http://www.io.com/~hmiller/ra/j-gur.ra [gur`]

I used to think American /r/ was retroflex, but I'm thinking that it's
probably more velarized with some slight lip rounding, something like
[r_G_w]. But this varies; Laddiefoged and Maddieson remark about the
American /r/ that "For some speakers this is alveolar or post-alveolar
in its articulation, but a more complex articulation occurs in the
so-called 'bunched r'. This sound is produced with constrictions in the
lower pharynx and ath the center of the palate, but with no raising of
the tongue tip of blade (Uldall 1958)." (The Sounds of the World's
Languages, p. 234).

Usually just plain [r\] is used for the American /r/; there isn't a
unique IPA symbol for it.

> The voiceless front trilled "r," what a Welshman might say in pronouncing
> "rhan."  This is sometimes not actually a trill, so much as a "kind" of
> palatal fricative, the sound you get when you limit the voiceless trill to
> one "beat."
The voiceless trills would just use the voiceless diacritic: [r_0].
(underscore zero, not underscore lowercase o, which is "lowered", or
underscore capital o, which is "more rounded" -- diacritics are one of
the most unfortunate parts of X-SAMPA....).

> The voiced velar fricative.  What a Frenchwoman would say when pronouncing
> the word "rouge."  Is that the one represented by [R]?
>
> The velar trill.  [R\]  What a uvularly athletic German of the "older
> generation" ;) might say in pronouncing "geradeaus."  I notice this sign
> requires two characters.  Does the backslash indicate that it is velar?
The backslash is an X-SAMPA extension, a way to essentially double the
number of available letters. So for instance, [L] is a palatal lateral
(IPA turned y) and [L\] is a velar lateral (IPA small capital L). CXS
extends that to include substitutes for less friendly X-SAMPA letters,
like [i\] and [u\] for the high central vowels.