kartavnie

[Ernest Scatton]

The ordinary Russian [r], as I'm sure you know, is a trill. To make it
involves a lot of complex articulatory juggling. And there is plenty of
evidence to suggest that it ranks relatively high in the scale of
complexity and difficulty. For example, trills take longer to acquire than
many other sounds. And, fact is, some speakers never do acquire them, and
so have to find something to substitute for them. By the way, the Czech
"r" in Dvorak, for example (excuse lack of diacritic), is in the same
category...but apparently even moreso. By the way you can also see the
"problem" in the trouble lots of students of Russian have producing
Russian [r].

One maybe related point: English [r]...which isn't trilled...is also
pretty troublesome, as shown by the number of English speakers that have
difficulty acquiring it, if they ever do.

If you're interested in more info, I'll send you some references if you
contact me offlist.

Ernie Scatton

> Dear Seelangers and linguists in particular:
>
> Question is: what is there about the Russian r and l that makes it
> difficult
> for some (Russian) people to pronounce correctly?
>
> _For the sake of this discussion_ we assume that kartavanie is an
> undesirable trait, and that it is, therefor worth eliminating. (We have
> heard of some parents willing to have their children operated on to
> eliminate the phenomenon.)
>
> Is the source of the problem physical (shape of mouth, for example), or
> cultural (grew up among Frenchmen)?  Are the people who do it, aware that
> they do?
>
> Are there similar or comparable lapses in other languages? (I have not
> come
> across any, but that isn't saying much.)
>
> Thanks,
>
> Genevra
>
> http://www.GenevraGerhart.com
>
> ggerhart at comcast.net
>
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