Changing factors in the rise of approximant /r/ in Dutch

The highly variable nature of /r/ in Dutch manifests itself along a number of phonetic parameters: variation in place of articulation ranges from alveolar to uvular, and manner of articulation from trills and fricatives to approximants and vowels (Smakman 2006; Sebregts 2015). This realisational variation is also intimately bound up with socio-geographical factors and patterns of ongoing change (Van de Velde and van Hout 1999; Tops 2009; Sebregts 2015). One important r-variant in Netherlandic Dutch is a coda approximant [ɻ], itself variable articulatorily across speakers: as shown by ultrasound studies, it can be either retroflex or bunched pre-velar (Scobbie and Sebregts 2010). This variant appears to be on the rise in a typical ‘change from above’ fashion: it is highly prestigious, and speakers are relatively aware of the variant’s use (Van Bezooijen 2005). The restriction to coda position for this variant leads to relatively complex systems of r-allophony within speakers, who mostly combine the approximant with alveolar taps or uvular trills/fricatives. Approximant r appears to be spreading in two senses of the word: first, it is gaining ground among speakers, spreading geographically and socially. Linear mixed-effects regression analysis of a large-scale corpus of colloquial Standard Dutch from various urban centres in the Netherlands (analysed auditorily and acoustically) shows that the variant is most prevalent in cities in the western Netherlands (Leiden and The Hague especially), and that young female speakers are leading the change there. The second, linguistic sense, in which the approximant appears to be on the rise is in terms of its use in a new linguistic context. The variant is most frequent when r is either word-final or in a coda cluster with a final coronal consonant (e.g. schaar /sxar/ ‘scissors’ and kaars /kars/ ‘candle’). However, in Dutch, final clusters formed by liquids plus a non-coronal consonant are subject to an optional process of schwa-insertion (Booij 1995), which creates an additional syllable and moves /r/ into an onset position (e.g. kerk /kɛrk/ [kɛ.rək] ‘church’). Schwa-insertion and use of the retroflex/bunched approximant only very rarely co-occur: r in this context tends to be produced with schwa-insertion and an onset variant of /r/ ([kɛ.ɾək] or [kɛ.ʁək]), or with a coda approximant but without schwa-insertion ([kɛɻk]). The latter pronunciation is a minority one in the Netherlands generally, although in those cities where [ɻ] is most frequent, The Hague and Leiden, it is actually in a small majority. Interestingly, however, the spreading of [ɻ] into this new syllabic context is not wholly a function of token frequency: while token frequencies of [ɻ] in Utrecht and Rotterdam are similar, the variant has made inroads into the schwa-insertion context in the latter but not the former. We present linear mixed-effects analyses examining the spreading of approximant r along both routes in six cities in the Netherlands, to determine the factors underlying the shift from a more to less restrictive syllabic context, and to ascertain whether social factors are giving way to linguistic-contextual ones in the ongoing change-in-progress. References Bezooijen, R. van (2005). Approximant r in Dutch: routes and feelings. Speech Communication 47(1-2): 15-31. Booij, G. (1995). The Phonology of Dutch. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Scobbie, J.M. and Sebregts, K. (2010). Acoustic, articulatory and phonological perspectives on allophonic variation of /r/. In Folli, R. & C. Ulbrich (eds.), Interfaces in linguistics: New research perspectives, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 131-169. Sebregts, K. (2014). The Sociophonetics and Phonology of Dutch r. Utrecht: LOT. Smakman, D. (2006). Standard Dutch in the Netherlands. A Sociolinguistic and Phonetic Description. Utrecht: LOT. Tops, E. 2009. Variatie en Verandering van de /r/ in Vlaanderen. Brussels: VUBPress. Van de Velde, H. & R. van Hout. 1999. The pronunciation of (r). In van Bezooijen, R. & R. Kager (eds.), Linguistics in the Netherlands, Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 177-188.