Voiced uvular fricative

The voiced uvular fricative is a consonantal sound used in some languages, represented by ⟨ʁ⟩ or ⟨r⟩ in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). It is part of the guttural R sounds found in European languages. The voiced uvular approximant can also be transcribed as ⟨ʁ⟩ and may be specified with a downtack (⟨ʁ̞⟩) to distinguish it from the fricative, though some writings use a superscript ⟨ʶ⟩.

This sound has several key features: its manner of articulation is fricative, produced by constricting air flow through a narrow channel, but in many languages, it functions closer to an approximant. The place of articulation is uvular, involving the back of the tongue (dorsum) and the uvula. It is voiced, meaning vocal cords vibrate during articulation, and is an oral, central consonant with a pulmonic airstream mechanism.

The voiced uvular fricative occurs in various languages. In Western Europe, it spread from northern French to dialects of Basque, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, German, Judaeo-Spanish, Norwegian, Occitan, Portuguese, Swedish, Low Saxon, and Yiddish, though not all retain the uvular trill today. In Brazilian Portuguese, it is often a velar fricative or voiceless uvular fricative, except in southern Brazil, where uvular and alveolar trills are common. IPA transcriptions may use ⟨r⟩ for simplicity when there is no contrast with alveolar sounds.

Ladefoged & Maddieson note that the vocal tract shape can cause uvula vibration. This sound is also found in most Turkic languages, except Turkish, and some Caucasian languages. It can sometimes be represented as ɣ.