[ɾ]→[ɽ]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 4/5

Voiced alveolar flap to Voiced retroflex flap

The transformation from an alveolar flap to a retroflex flap is a common process of retroflexion, typically occurring when an alveolar rhotic is influenced by surrounding retroflex consonants or specific vowel environments.

Phonetic Effects

Retroflexion, Assimilation, Fronting

Language Examples

Hindi/Hindustani Indo-Aryan

ɾ→ɽ— While distinct phonemes, the alveolar and retroflex flaps frequently interact in various dialects and loanword adaptations (e.g. 'r' in many English loans is realized as a retroflex flap).

Norwegian Germanic

ɾ→ɽ— In many Eastern and Northern dialects, the historical 'thick L' is realized as a retroflex flap, and the alveolar flap can likewise be retracted in specific clusters.

Related Transformations

Thick L Fronting

More Germanic Shifts

[a] → [ã] — Assimilatory Nasalization [a] → [∅] — Elision [a] → [ʔ] — Glottalization [a] → [ə] — Vowel Reduction [ai] → [e] — Monophthongization

Sources & References

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