Re: rhotics (was: Hellenish oddities)

En réponse à Roger Mills <romilly@...>:

>         Theoretically, that should be an uvular fricative, devoiced in
> these
> particular environments....but I wonder if it hasn't been drawn forward
> (to
> _velar_) due to the preceding palatal/dental consonants???  (I've never
> been
> able to produce a proper French trilled uvular /r/-- sounds a bit like
> imitating a dog's growl).
>
Well, in fact the trilled uvular /r/ has nearly disappeared in French. Only a
few Parisians still pronounce it this way. The French 'r' is now a voiced uvular
approximant, much nicer for your throat I believe. At least, it doesn't sound
like a dog's growl :) .

Christophe.