Re: tr- and rhoticity

>
> Even the peculiar affrication of initial tr- is not unique
> to English. The country of Chile was named after the
> Araucanian (Mapundungu) word Trile. In Chilean Spanish, tr-
> is affricated as in English (perhaps an effect of the
> Araucanian substrate), and -rr- [also in Argentina, Per�] is
> an alveolar fricative (much more friction than in English,
> more like Czech <r^> but usually without vibration of the
> tongue). In some Caribbean variants of Spanish, -r- becomes
> /l/. In Puerto Rico ([pwelto Xiko]), /r/ = /l/ and /rr/ is
> usually a uvular fricative (tending to voiceless).
>
> Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
> mcv@...
>

Before the rhotic thread peters out entirely...

I have the impression that <tr> in Mapudungu spelling is used for a
retroflex c^, which is distinct from a palatal c^ customarily written
<ch> (cf. Adelaar, _The Languages of the Andes_, p. 517). It's not,
in a Mapudungu context, a combination of a dental stop and a rhotic.
No essential difference between the use of initial <ch> and <tr> in
Vietnamese "quoc-ngu." To European ears a retroflex affricate or
stop at this articulatory point seems to have suggested a sequence of
/t/ and /r/.

Jim Rader