Talk:Voiced retroflex approximant

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Retroflex approximant in American English speakers[edit]

The article currently says that the retroflex approximant sound occurs in the speech of "some American speakers." Are there certain regions in which the retroflex approximant occurs instead of the more common alveolar approximant? Just saying that it occurs in "some" speakers doesn't say much. --/ɛvɪs/ /tɑːk/ /kɑntɹɪbjuʃənz/ 00:58, May 15, 2005 (UTC)

I might as well add that I'm fairly sure that I use alveolar approximants, and I'm from southern Illinois (if that matters). --/ɛvɪs/ /tɑːk/ /kɑntɹɪbjuʃ(ə)nz/ 19:15, August 29, 2005 (UTC)

This needs to be clarified. There are three common ways of pronouncing Midwestern/Western US /r/. You probably have friends and family members with all three, and can't tell the difference. (I know I can't.) That is, there are three articulations that produce the desired sound. Ladefoged discusses this, but I don't know if I'll get to it. kwami 19:39, 2005 August 29 (UTC)

Does this allophone occur more often medially and finally (in American English)? Because I seem to use the alveolar approximant initially, and the retroflex version otherwise, except before /n/ and /m/. (western Missouri, FYI...) --Xyzzyva 14:01, 12 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

retroflex approximant pronunciation of /r/ appears to be a feature of Southwestern english as well as the Treguier variant of Breton. This has been linked to possible influence of a Brittonic substratum influencing SW English and direct influence from emigrant Britons in Treguier [cf. H. Tristram 1999 "how celtic is standard english", Nauka, St. Petersburg.]Zemlod 21:41, 7 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Languages that have retroflex approximant[edit]

The "occurs in" section has a reference to Marathi language. This seems to be incorrect. please see Talk:Marathi_language#IPA. To my knowledge, Vedic Sanskrit also does not have this sound. Both these languages have retroflex lateral approximant, but not retroflex approximant. - sooraj 07:29, 31 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Deleted the references to both Marathi and Vedic Sanskrit - sooraj 17:08, 1 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Deleting Telugu from the list. Modern Telugu does not have this sound. sooraj 18:33, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Retroflex approximant in Irish English[edit]

In Irish English, r's can be pronounced like pure retroflex approximants, especially in the fashionable Dublin accent. Source: A handbook of varieties of English: Phonology, vol. 1; Bernd Kortmann, Edgar W. Schneider; Walter de Gruyter, 2004 Irish Phonology chapter written by R. Hickey

http://books.google.es/books?id=Dptsvykgk3IC&pg=PR5&dq=A+handbook+of+varieties+of+English:+Phonology,+vol.+1;+Bernd+Kortmann,+Edgar+W.+Schneider&hl=es&ei=TVidTfHHHY_AswaWpuikBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=reason%20for%20the%20retroflex&f=false — Preceding unsigned comment added by Linda Martens (talk • contribs) 06:25, 7 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Also French?[edit]

Isn't this sound also found in the French language, in the word "je" (meaning "I")? 173.89.236.187 (talk) 01:59, 4 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

No, that's [ʒ]. Peter238 (talk) 02:03, 4 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]