Re: THEORY: phonemes and Optimality Theory tutorial

> Carlos Thompson wrote:
> > In Spanish, flapped /r/ and trilled /rr/ only contrast in
intervocalic
> > positions not begining a word.  In codas the consonant is always
> > trilled.
>
> Interesting.  My Spanish dictionary said that <r> is pronounced as a
> trill "at the beginning of a word, or in the middle of a word and
> preceded by l, n, or s" and as a tap "at the end of a word, or in
the
> middle of a word and not preceded by l, n, or s", so it gave
<forma>,
> <deber>, <otro>, <pero> as having the tap pronunciation.  Does the
> pronunciation of <r> vary from region to region?  Or perhaps by age
> group?  Or is my dictionary just completely wrong?
Well, for me it would be difficult to pronounce word final <r> as an
alveolar flap, much less a tap (or am I messing up this concepts?) ,
then in "deber" there is definitively a trill (well I can pronounce a
retroflex flap, but this would sound alien).  About "forma", there
seems to be a free variation between the flap and the trill, being the
trill the one showing up in carefull speech.

Anyhow the trill in "deber" will become a flap or tap when adding a
suffix (like the plural for the noun: "deberes" or the future tense
for the verb: "deberá").

In onset clusters it is a tap/flap, as well as intervocalic when
written with a single <r>, then "otro" and "pero" use the tap/flap
pronunciation.

One ortographic question are "sub-" compounds.  In words like
"subrayar" (to underline), I will pronounce with a trill from "sub-" +
"rayar" (word initial <r>), but the written word suggest a flapped
pronunciation.  Some other words like "subrogar" (subrogate) I
pronounce with the flap; probably because I don't analyze it as a
compund... much less "subrepticio" (sudden)... "repticio" isn't even a
word in Spanish.

-- Carlos Th.