r and s: Galician

[Alan R. King]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Yet another instance of s > r occurs dialectally in Galician (also Galego,
Gallego; Romance, nearest relation Portuguese).  It occurs with
phonological regularity as a (substandard) geographically localized dialect
feature (for isogloss details see Fernandez Rey), and is mentioned as such
in several modern manuals of Galician linguistics, according to which:
 
etymological (and standard Galician) /s/ (generally alveolar in Galician,
with regional variants) is realized in the varieties in question as:
 
[r], more exactly a "voiced simple alveolar liquid vibrant" (see Freixeiro
Mato), in the following context:
 
"in word internal position, or as a sandhi phenomenon, PRECEDING A VOICED
CONSONANT, and to a lesser extent (Fernandez Rey: "exceptionally"), before
the voiceless consonants /f/ and /th/ ["voiceless interdental fricative"],
and even before /ch/ ["voiceless prepalatal affricate"]"
(translated-paraphrased from Freixeiro Mato).
 
Examples from Freixeiro and from Fernandez Rey [format: "standard spelling"
+  /broad transcription of realization, reinterpreted by me avoiding
phonetic symbols not available/ + 'meaning']:
 
"desde" /derde/ 'since, from'
"as vacas" /arbakas/ 'the cows'
"lesma" /lerma/ 'kind of mollusk'
"as mans" /armans/ 'the hands'
"escindir" /erthindir/ 'separate, split'
"os zapatos" /orthapatos/ 'the shoes'
"as flores" /arflores/ 'the flowers'
"todos xuntos" /todor shuntos/ 'all together'
 
Just for the record:  Both sources also mention another, more "sporadic"
tendency in some dialects of Galician to aspirate /s/ when "implosive"
(i.e. when followed by a consonant), e.g.
 
"desde" /dehde/ 'since, from'
"disgusto" /dihhusto/ 'displeasure' (in many parts of Galicia, /g/ in most
positions is regularly realised as [h])
"espantallo" /ehpantalyo/ 'scarecrow'
"a escoba" /ahkoba/ 'the broom'
 
Finally, I should no doubt mention that in Galician, /s/ is normally
voiceless, but is regularly voiced when it precedes a voiced consonant, so
in standard pronunciation "desde" is [dezde], "as vacas" is [azbakas], etc.
 
Sources:
 
Fernández Rei, Francisco: Dialectoloxía da lingua galega [second edition].
Vigo: Xerais, 1991.  (see page 57)
 
Freixeiro Mato, Xosé Ramón: Gramática da lingua galega.  I: Fonética e
fonoloxía.  Vigo; A Nosa Terra.  (see page 161)
 
Alan
 
 
 
Alan R. King, Ph.D.
alanking at bigfoot.com
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