Re: initial /dr/ & /tr/

Hi!

Carsten Becker writes:
> Matahaniya ang Henrik Theiling ya 20' November 2007:
>
>> I mentioned once that there are some German dialects that
>> have an alveolar approximant for their /r/, which sounds
>> quite similar to a typical postalveolar English /r/
>> (because the dialect isn't well-known, speakers are
>> sometimes mistaken to be from America, speaking 'very
>> good German'...).  In these dialects, the /tr/ is
>> [ts_ar\], i.e., an (apical) alveolar fricative creeps in.
>
> Are you referring to the Wetterau /'vEr\:AU)/ dialect of western
> Hesse?
Could be -- I don't know the approximant /r/'s extents.  I know the
approximant /r/ is used near Marburg, e.g. in Ebsdorfergrund.  The
above-mentioned person I talked to was from there.

> If so, I have heard it spoken once, on the bus, and I couldn't
> understand a single word.
>...
Well, that person talked High German to me so I could understand her,
but the /r/ was still an alveolar approximant.  Probably there is also
a proper dialect that is harder to understand.

**Henrik