Rhotacism - Definition and Overview

Rhotacism is the misuse or over-pronunciation of the letter "r".

Orthoepy

Rhotacism is a medical condition consisting of an inability or difficulty in pronouncing the letter "r".

Phonetics

In Indo-European languages, rhotacism can be seen in a shift from the sound of "s" to an "r" sound.

Examples of rhotacism can be found in Latin, Germanic (especially the Western branch), Sanskrit and other languages. For example:

English

• was vs were (from Germanic *was vs *wēzun)
• lose vs forlorn (from Germanic *liusana vs *luzenaz)

Dutch

• vriezen vs gevroren (from Germanic *friusana vs *fruzenaz)

Compare also Gothic dags with Old Norse dagr (from Germanic *dagaz)

Latin

• flos (nominative) vs florem (accusative) (Old Latin flosem)
• genus (nominative) vs generis (genitive) (from *geneses, cf Sanskrit janasas)
• corroborare vs robustus (verb from *conrobosare)
• de iure vs iustus (from de iouse)
• ero vs est (from eso)

Sanskrit

Words ending in -s other than -as become -r in sandhi with a voiced consonant:

• naus (before p/t/k) vs naur bharati
• agnis (before p/t/k) vs agnir mata

Slovene

Slovenian rhotacism consists of shift from [Z] (like in English vision) to vibrating [r]:

• moreš from možešь
• kdor from kъtože

Slovenian rhotacism is already visible in the Freising manuscripts, a written document from the 10th century.

The same shift occurred in single words in other South Slavic languages.

Neapolitan

In Neapolitan rhotacism is seen in a shift from the sound of "d" to an "r" sound:

(Italian vs Neapolitan)

• medesimo vs meresemo
• diaspora vs riaspro

and, to a lesser extent, from the sound of an "l" to an "r" sound:

• albero vs arvero
• ultimo vs urdemo

Quenya

Although it is not an Indo-European language, actually not a natural language at all, J.R.R. Tolkien's Quenya swifts -s and -r for historical reasons:

• kár "head" vs kas-, e.g. *casi "heads". Source: The Etymologies (1930s Quenya).
• mar "dwelling of men, the Earth, -land" vs mas-, e.g. *masen "of dwelling". Source: The Book of Lost Tales I (1910s Qenya).

Famous Sufferers

One famous sufferer is the British TV personality Jonathan Ross.