Dutch R

--- Irina Rempt wrote:

> In the nineteen-sixties, the fashion said that the
> alveolar trill was the only acceptable /r/ and the
> uvular trill was sub-standard. I had two years of
> (unsuccessful) speech therapy in elementary school
> to get rid of my natural [R]. About sixty per cent
> of Dutch speakers have a natural [R].
It is true, that at least in the Netherlands the [r]
speakers are outnumbered by the [R] speakers. In
Belgium, however, the overwhelming majority of Flemish
people pronounce it like [r].
No offense meant, but I think that the [R] is in many
cases the result of a certain lazy carelessness,
characteristic for the pronunciation among mostly
younger Dutch people of their language.

> These days, indeed, both are acceptable, though the
> current fashion is more like a soft velar glide,
> almost [j] but more to the back.
This is a matter of both region and age. There are
even a lot a people who pronounce it like the American
"r".

Jan


=====
"You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought,
wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that
happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great
comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe." --- J.
Michael Straczynski

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