Re: Further language development Q's

Quoting Steven Williams <feurieaux@...>:

> It's fairly simple. German, for example, had (up to
> the sixteenth century), [r]. It's still pronounced
> that way in some dialects, I believe, and it's also
> common in some 'old-fashioned' speech, like operas,
> where [r] is seen as more 'melodic'. After about the
> sixteenth century, the German [r] shifted to [R],
> either because [R] is easier to articulate than [r]
> (it is, at least for me), or from influence from
> French (this sounds doubtful to me).
FWIW, the French influence is the explanation I've always heard. It's also been
made responsible for the use of uvular r's in Dutch and in southern
Scandinavian dialects.

For me, [r] comes easier than [R]. Neither occurs in my native 'lect.

                                                       Andreas

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