R and r

[Dr. John E. McLaughlin]

>>  The question is: is there any language in the world which has
>> a *phonemic*
>> opposition between dental vibrant /r/ and uvular *vibrant* /R/?

Assuming you mean the uvular fricative (IPA turned R) as in French and the
dental/alveolar trill (IPA lower case r).  "Vibrant" isn't an English
phonetic term.  I've got records of this phonemic contrast occurring in (I
use Ruhlen's labels for consistency) Yukaghir, Bats, Ingush, Avar, Yaghnobi,
Yami, Kabardian, Riff, Budux, Tamasheq, Shughni, Tsaxur, Khakas, Lezgi,
Aramaic, Ubyx, Xvarshi, Western Arabic, Xinalug, South Arabian, Tabasaran,
Okanagan, Talysh, Burushaski, Karakalpak, Chaplino, Karachay, Ukrainian,
Abipon, Yazgulami, Rimi, Mapos, Maninka, Hinux, Tatar, Chechen, Altai,
Pashto, Wakhi, Dido, Ishkashmi, Tajiki, Chulym, Adygh, Hunzib, Gilyak,
Georgian, and Bezhta (48 out of 1017 in sample).  Obviously, the original
materials varied in phonemic sophistication, but that's a fairly sizable
group of languages from widely scattered parts of the world, although there
seems to be a high concentration of them in the Caucasus/Central Asia
region.

John E. McLaughlin, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
mclasutt at brigham.net

Program Director
Utah State University On-Line Linguistics
http://english.usu.edu/lingnet

English Department
3200 Old Main Hill
Utah State University
Logan, UT  84322-3200

(435) 797-2738 (voice)
(435) 797-3797 (fax)