Re: uvular R

--- In cybalist@..., tgpedersen@... wrote:

> --- In cybalist@..., "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...> wrote:

> But is it then possible (he asked innocently) that an alveolar tap
> produced by "decay" of /r/ could be mistakenly construed as an
> alveolar tap /D/ (and progress as such)?

The difference only very rarely matters (by being contrastive), and
if it does, as in Spanish or Basque, contrastivity prevents trilled
[r] ("rr...") from undergoing reduction.

> [of l > r via dissimilation:] That means l > r (as in Sanskrit) I

suppose?

Yes, l > r, but no, not as in Sanskrit, where the merger is
unconditional. I meant dissimilations such as like Latin ..l-alis

> ..l-aris (plur-alis but singul-aris).

Piotr