R and r

[petegray]

>Classical Greek (rho / rho with spiritus asper ...

>I would be extremely surprised by there not being a contrast:

There cannot be a phonemic contrast, because there are no options.   All
initial /r/ is given the spiritus asper (which, remember, was not written in
texts until some centuries after the time of the language in question) and
all initial /r/ in compounds with a prefix ending in a vowel is written
double, with spiritus lenis on the first, and asper on the second (hence
those horrendous English words such as dia-rrhoea).   Single medial /r/ ( as
in patera) or final /r/ is never given the spiritus asper.

So if there were a difference in pronunciation, it cannot have been
phonemic!   There are no words distinguished by it - at least if I am
correct.

Peter