[t]→[r]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 5/5

Lenition Flapping Germanic Trans-New Guinea

Voiceless alveolar plosive to Alveolar trill

The shift from the voiceless alveolar stop [t] to a rhotic sound [r] (specifically the alveolar tap [ɾ]) is a widespread form of lenition known as flapping. In intervocalic positions, the stop closure is shortened and voiced, resulting in a sound that is phonetically a rhotic tap.

Phonetic Effects

Lenition, Flapping, Voicing

Language Examples

North American English Germanic

water [t]→[ˈwɔːɾəɹ]— The /t/ is realized as a voiced tap, which is the same sound as the Spanish single 'r'.

better→[ˈbɛɾəɹ]

Australian English Germanic

city [t]→[ˈsɪɾi]— Systematic flapping of intervocalic alveolar stops.

Enga Trans-New Guinea

/t/ (intervocalic)→[r]— In Enga (spoken in Enga Province, Papua New Guinea), the voiceless alveolar stop /t/ is regularly realized as the alveolar tap or trill [r] in intervocalic position. This allophonic rule is systematic and well-documented in the SIL phonology description of Enga.

Related Transformations

Reverse Related: Voicing

More Germanic Shifts

[a] → [ã] — Assimilatory Nasalization [a] → [∅] — Elision [a] → [ʔ] — Glottalization [a] → [ə] — Vowel Reduction [æ] → [ɛ] — Vowel Raising

Sources & References

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