czech fricative trill

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 2541
Date: 2000-05-25

Attachments :
Czech ř (which continues the Proto-Slavic cluster *rj or *r palatalised by a following front vowel) is a laminal alveolar trill [r̻] (the correct IPA diacritic is a small subscript rectangle). As the tip of the tongue vibrates, the blade of the tongue approaches the back of the alveolar ridge, producing a fricative noise. The consonant is devoiced when preceded by a voiceless obstruent or word-final.
 
Polish also had this sound until about the 17th century, when it was replaced by [ʐ] (the voiceless allophone by [ʂ]), still spelt <rz>. As one of my Czech colleagues once told me, a large proportion of Czech children find the consonant extremely difficult to learn and even some adults de-trill their ř, especially in word-final position, making it sound like Czech š/ž.
 
Tell me if you can play the attached .rm file and if it sounds all right. If there are any problems, I can post the original .wav file, which ensures better sound quality, but is almost three times larger.
 
The file contains three Czech words in my non-native imitation:
 
moře -- an element of nature, guess which
tři -- a low numeral, guess which
hřeben [ɦřɛbɛn] 'comb'
 
... and a prolonged ř in isolation
 
Piotr