29-04-2004 22:14, Lisa wrote:
> Can someone give me a timeline of Old Norse (over the centuries) for
> how the final -r (the one designating a proper name) would have been
> pronounced?
It doesn't mark proper names but (in those cases where it doesn't
represent an inherited *r) is simply a reflex of PGmc. *-z < *-s. For
example, the nom.sg. of thematic masculines (the most productive class
of masculine nouns) developed as follows: PIE *-os > PGmc. -az > Old
Norse -r. It was still -z in Proto-Scandinavian and was represented with
a special rune resembling Greek "psi" (transliterated either as <z> or
somewhat misleadingly as <R>) in the Older Futhark alphabet.
Scandinavian rhotacism (z > r) took place at some time between ca. AD
600 and 800. Older forms such as <gastiz> 'guest' and <heldaz> 'hero'
became "classical" (Old Icelandic) Norse <gestr> and <hjaldr>. After
some consonants we have assimilation rather than rhotacism, e.g.
*stainaz > *stainz > OIc. steinn 'stone', *sto:laz > *sto:lz > OIc.
stóll 'chair'.
> Secondarily, I have a phonetic question. The r-hacek, such as in the
> name Dvorak - what is that sound transition technically called? And
> is that a voiced retroflex fricative?
It's a voiced alveolar fricative trill, articulated using the tongue
blade rather than the tongue tip (i.e. laminal rather than apical). If
you try to roll your "r" in this way, a fricative noise resembling [z^]
or [s^] will accompany the trill. I's a crying shame that there is no
convenient IPA symbol for it as yet.
For a definition and examples of rhotics, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotic_consonant
Piotr