> Man, uvulars really get
> AROUND in Europe, don't they :)
The dialect map of uvular /r/ versus trilled /r/ is quite complex (and even
more so when you consider uvular fricative /r/). I give you two
descriptions:
(a) very simply, uvular /r/ is found in a continuous area of Europe from
France up to Germany and Denmark (but not in Holland).
(b) in more detail, uvular /r/ is:
not usual in Spain, Italy, mid-south & East Switzerland, Austria, Bavaria,
and beyond the eastern German border; Norway, Sweden, Holland, North
Flanders.
generally used in France (outside the south-west), other parts of Belgium,
the area around The Hague, and in three unconnected areas of Germany (around
Cologne, Stuttgart and Berlin), all Denmark (except the extreme south), and
under Danish influence, the southern tips of both Norway and Sweden, and
around Bergen in Norway.
usual in educated speech in south-west France, most of Germany outside
Bavaria, and north-mid Switzerland, but there are pockets within these areas
where it will be heard only in some educated speech.
Peter