Re: |r|, |rr| and other Rs. :)

On Mon, Oct 04, 2004 at 08:10:56AM +0200, Andreas Johansson wrote:

> That's assuming the title being meaningful - a certain lengthy
> discussion here nonwithstanding, I remain unconvinced that "r sounds"
> constitute an objectively identifiable class.
Fair enough.

> The local dialect here, as I've mentioned repeatedly before, uses [w] for /r/.
> Does that qualify as "an r"?
My personal opinion is that [w] is not a rhotic, orthography
notwithstanding.  Nevertheless, it is clearly a close relative at least
one rhotic - the American English [r\] - since it is occurs as a
substitution for that sound in the speech of individuals with certain
articulatory difficulties.  Elmer Fudd would be the most famous stereotypical
example, but as is usually the case with stereotypes, he represents an
exaggeration of a real phenomenon.  Barbara Walters is a well-known
real-life instance.

-Marcos