[Avodah] History of Havarah

[Minden]

RAF wrote:
> While the mechanism you propose is sound, I wonder, VOS IZ SCHLECHT MIT DER AMERIKANISCHE OHSSPRACHE fin choilem in raish?! Actually, some argue that they are superior. The American reish may be a reish refuya.

Halachico-phonologically (TM), the American Reish might be just as good as other pronunciations in principle. The following points might be of import (simplified because of terche detzibbure):

- It's distinctive and doesn't sound like other sounds, with the exception in theory that some speakers might pronounce it quite similar to the English W, but that's not important, because the same speakers don't have a bilabial Waw in *Hebrew* but a Vav.

- All three common ways, the American, the French and the Spanish Rs, have a tendency to vanish after a vowel at the end of a syllable, sometimes with a lengthening of this vowel or an A in the place of the R, just like in Hebrew before an &ayin etc. That's no better than dropping it entirely, at least in cases like 'gorer' vs. 'gorea&' which both turn 'gorea'. In other words, a tongue-rolled R doesn't prevent R-dropping, and the Irish and many American dialects show that a non-rolled diffuse R can be pretty persistent. Better a pronounced American R than a dropped Yiddish one.

- Yes, it does indeed sound funny and non-authentic, but beauty certainly isn't an argument, and the question about what is the authentic R isn't so poshet. (I wrote a bit about that a year ago here: http://lipmans.blogspot.com/2005/10/purr.html ) The question is more between tongue and uvula, but who knows. A question related to authenticity is family tradition, but that mainly concerns a *deliberate* change from, say, the Yiddish ("French") R to the American, which is rarely if ever the case.

- There is a danger of slurring a preceding vowel with the American R. ('Shrr' for 'sure' - in fact, to my ears the lack of this slur sounds Irish.)

ELPhM
http://lipmans.blogspot.com