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| R-colored vowel | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ◌˞ | |||
| ɚ | |||
| ɝ | |||
| ɹ̩ | |||
| ɻ̍ | |||
| IPA number | 327 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity(decimal) | ˞ | ||
| Unicode(hex) | U+02DE | ||
| X-SAMPA | @` | ||
| |||
Anr-colored orrhotic vowel (also called aretroflex vowel,vocalic r, or arhotacized vowel) is avowel that is modified in a way that results in a lowering in frequency of the thirdformant.[1] R-colored vowels can be articulated in various ways: the tip or blade of the tongue may be turned up during at least part of the articulation of the vowel (aretroflex articulation) or the back of the tongue may be bunched. In addition, the vocal tract may often be constricted in the region of theepiglottis.[1]
R-colored vowels are exceedingly rare, occurring in less than one percent of all languages.[1] However, they occur in two of the most widely spoken languages:North American English andMandarin Chinese. In North American English, they are found in words such asdollar,butter,third,color, andnurse. They also occur inCanadian French, some varieties ofPortuguese,[2][3][4] someJutlandic dialects ofDanish, and in a fewindigenous languages of the Americas and ofAsia, includingSerrano andYurok in the United States,Luobohe Miao in China,Katë in Afghanistan, andBadaga in India.
In theIPA, an r-colored vowel is indicated by ahook diacritic ⟨˞⟩ placed to the right of the regular symbol for the vowel. For example, the IPA symbol forschwa is ⟨ə⟩, while the IPA symbol for an r-colored schwa is ⟨ɚ⟩. Similarly, the IPA symbol for theopen-mid central unrounded vowel is ⟨ɜ⟩, while an r-colored open-mid central unrounded vowel is ⟨ɝ⟩. This diacritic is the hook of ⟨ɚ⟩ or ⟨ɝ⟩, symbols constructed byJohn Samuel Kenyon along with ⟨ᶔ⟩ by adding the retroflex hook (right hook) to ⟨ə⟩ and ⟨ɜ⟩.[5] Both ⟨ɚ⟩ and ⟨ɝ⟩ were proposed as IPA symbols by the editors ofAmerican Speech in 1939 to distinguish it from[əɹ].[6]
The IPA adopted several ways to transcribe r-colored vowels in its 1947 chart: the turned r ⟨ɹ⟩; the superscript turned r ⟨əʴ⟩, ⟨aʴ⟩, ⟨eʴ⟩, ⟨ɔʴ⟩, etc.; the retroflex hook ⟨ᶕ⟩, ⟨ᶏ⟩, ⟨ᶒ⟩, ⟨ᶗ⟩, etc.;[7] and added ⟨ɚ⟩ as a variant of ⟨ᶕ⟩ in its 1951 chart.[8] In 1976 the retroflex hook was dropped due to insufficient usage.[9] In 1989, at theKiel Convention, the hook of ⟨ɚ⟩ and ⟨ɝ⟩ was adopted as a diacritic placed on the right side of the vowel symbol for r-colored vowels, e.g. ⟨ɛ˞o˞ɔ˞⟩.[10] Following the convention of alternating ⟨ɜ⟩ and ⟨ə⟩ for non-rhotic accents, ⟨ɝ⟩ and ⟨ɚ⟩ signify stressed and unstressed, respectively, rather than a difference in phonetic quality.[11] The use of the superscript turned r (əʴ) is still commonly seen.
R-colored vowels are found in most rhotic forms of English, includingGeneral American andIrish English. The r-colored vowels of General American can be written with "vowel-r"diacritic:[12]
In words such asstart, many speakers have r-coloring only in the coda of the vowel, rather than as a simultaneous articulation modifying the whole duration. This can be represented in IPA by using a succession of two symbols such as[ɑɚ] or[ɑɹ], rather than the unitary symbol[ɑ˞].[12]
In European classical singing, dropping or weakening of r-colored vowels has been nearly universal and is a standard part of classical vocal training. However, there have always been other singing styles in which r-colored vowels are given their full emphasis, includingtraditional Irish singing styles and those of many performers ofcountry music.[citation needed] Certainpost-grunge singers made heavy use of this technique to such an extent that many people derisively exaggerated this tendency when referencing theirmusic. In certain particular cases, a vowel + /r/ is pronounced instead as two syllables: a non-rhotic vowel followed by asyllabic /r/.[citation needed]
InMandarin, the rhotacized ending of some words is the prime way by which to distinguish speakers of Standard Northern Mandarin (Beijing Mandarin) and Southwestern Mandarin from those of other forms of Mandarin in China. Mandarin speakers call this phenomenonerhua. In many words, the-r suffix (simplified Chinese:儿;traditional Chinese:兒) is added to indicate some meaning changes. If the word ends in a velar nasal (ng), the final consonant is lost and the vowel becomesnasalized.[13] Major cities that have this form of rhotacized ending includeBeijing,Tianjin,Tangshan,Shenyang,Changchun,Jilin,Harbin, andQiqihar. Thiserhua has since spread to other provincial capitals not home toStandard Mandarin, such asShijiazhuang,Jinan,Xi'an,Chongqing, andChengdu.
In rhotic accents of Standard Mandarin, such as those fromBeijing,Tianjin, most of theHebei province (e.g.Tangshan,Baoding,Chengde), easternInner Mongolia (e.g.Chifeng,Hailar), and inthe Northeast, vocalic r occurs as adiminutive marker of nouns (pinyin:ér) and theperfective aspect particle (了;le). This also occurs in the middle syllables of compound words consisting of three or more syllables. For example, the name of the famous restaurantGo Believe (狗不理) in Tianjin is pronounced as 'Gourbli' (Gǒu(r)bùlǐ →Gǒurblǐ). The name of the streetDazhalan (大栅栏) in Beijing is pronounced as 'Da-shi-lar' (Dàshànlàn(r) →Dàshílàr).
InQuebec French, the vowel/œ̃/ is generally pronounced[œ̃˞] and the r-colored vowels are also pronounced in loan words.[citation needed] For example, the wordhamburger can be pronounced[ambɚɡɚ], the wordsoccer can be pronounced[sɒkɚ] etc.
The vowel /ø/ may be pronounced as[ø˞ː] in open syllables.
In the 1930s theDravidian languageBadaga had two degrees of rhoticity among all five of its vowels, but few speakers maintain the distinction today, and then only in one or two vowels. An example is non-rhotic[be] "mouth", slightly rhotacized ("half retroflexed")[be˞] "bangle", and fully rhotacized ("fully retroflexed")[be˞˞] "crop".[14]
TheAlgic languageYurok illustrated rhoticvowel harmony. The non-high vowels/a/,/e/ and/o/ could become/ɚ/ in a word that has/ɚ/. For example, the root/nahks-/ 'three' became/nɚhks-/ in the word/nɚhksɚʔɚjɬ/ 'three (animals or birds)'.[15]
Luobohe Miao also contains[ɚ].[16]
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