Spanish Sibilant /r/

[@Herbyourenthusiasm]

Amazing content. This channel is a hidden gem

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you so much!

[@luisdavilaherrera6512]

I just wanted to take a minute to congratulate you on your flawless delivery, the accuracy of your explanations, and your native-sounding pronunciation of Spanish. Your channel is a hidden gem and you clearly deserve more subscribers. I absolutely love how you take complex subjects and break them down into simple, easy-to-understand pieces.

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you so much for your kind words!

[@siyacer]

i believe he is native speaking

[@JorgeGarcia-lw7vc]

Sounds a lot like Czech "soft" r -- took me a year to master, and Czechs say it is exclusive to their language--obviously, disproved, thanks to your video--which is double awesome since I had never heard of this R in Spanish (in Czech they are separate letters, though). . . . . . Another type of R that sounds like English R I have heard in Spanish from Costa Rica as well as in Brazilian Portuguese in parts of Sao Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul, and other parts of the interior.

[@veejayroth]

It is unique to Czech in the sense of being an official part of the standard language, with its own separate letter (Ř) and all that. In other languages it is either a dialectical variation of pronunciation (Kobon, Spanish, Slovak, Portugese and others) or an extinct phenomenon (old Irish Gaelic, old Polish, etc.).

[@JorgeGarcia-lw7vc]

@@veejayroth no clue if maybe that sound exists in languages of Africa, s america or Asia . Indeed in polish it exists on paper as rz and pronounced in dialects but is no longer standard pronunciation.

[@SteveSilverActor]

Very interesting. I lived in Costa Rica as an exchange student many years ago, and I found that they use the sibilant r at the end of words as well with /tr/ clusters. However, they use a kind of /tl/ sound instead of a trilled r in most other cases. I don't remember ever hearing a standard trilled r there. Which was good for me as I am incapable of producing the trilled r!

[@eb.3764]

I love this channel

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you! Comments like this keep me going.

[@dereknoble6796]

Simply the best

[@tenminutespanish]

@@dereknoble6796 Thank you so much. I'm very happy you liked the video.

[@parrychen4738]

I really enjoyed your videos, and watched quite a number of them even though I'm not currently learning Spanish (though I plan to take it up in the future). They are so rigorous and comprehensive in terms of linguistics, and yet so approachable and digestible. I really wished a similar channel existed for French, and its rather formidable vowel system.

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you so much for your kind comments.

[@murakyo79]

Great video, I'm glad someone mentions it. I have a problem with my tongue, being it too short, which means I cannot pronounce the trilled R, so characteristic of Spanish. It's called rotacismo. I instead pronounce a really similar sound to the English R and the one from this video. My grandma also couldn't pronounce it, but that's because her first language was guaraní, she grew up in the Paraguayan countryside.

[@marialujanbattilana1503]

Thank you for this! I am argentinian and I'm doing an exam and I wanted to put this type of r like an example but i couldn't find the real name of the fonetic. Very good video, also very good pronunciation of the languaje!!

[@tenminutespanish]

I'm so happy you liked my video. Thank you for your kind words.

[@bobthabuilda1525]

I know this is an older video, but I just wanted to make a note that the Argentinian singer Jorge Cafrune had a very strong S aspirating dialect and also used sibilant R instead of a trill. I have no doubt that that's rare, but I thought it might be useful to point out that it does happen, apparently. Edit: In case you're wondering, he was born in a town that was on the borders of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile.

[@andiehernandez1995]

To my understanding, Paraguayans do this as well and it's quite generalized. I might be wrong though.

[@asherf2842]

¡Gracias mucho! Esta canal explica todo claro. Es una lástima que no tengas más suscriptores. Me encantaría un vídeo sobre tiempos verbales o algo similar

[@tenminutespanish]

De nada, amigo. Me alegro mucho de que te haya gustado.

[@Miami7]

Now that I've watched all your videos about pronouncing "r," I do feel so much better about it. For years and years I have tried and failed at trilling the "R." I have a permanent dental bridge over my top teeth and a torus palatina covering the roof of my mouth, so I will never be able to trill the "R" with all that in the way. I've always just run the words together, hoping if I made a mistake no one would really notice, LOL!

[@ArturoStojanoff]

In Argentina assibilated r is strongly associated with a central and northern accent. I have family in Cordoba and I've noticed that middle class, urban Cordobese people don't assibilate their r's and they pronounce the "ll" and "y" like in Rioplatense Spanish, whereas lower class individuals, or people not from big cities will assibilate their r's and pronounce the "y" and "ll" like an "i". People in northern Argentina, however, may assibilate their r's regardless of socioeconomic status.

[@tenminutespanish]

Fascinating observations. Thank you so much for contributing to the topic. I really appreciate the input of native speakers.

[@luisdavilaherrera6512]

In Guatemalan, Honduran, and Salvadoran Spanish, '' ll '' and '' y '' are pronounced as "i" in almost every context, except when they're preceeded by "s". This makes for some funny pronunciation of words like "silla" (which ends up sounding like "sía"), "ardilla" (ardía), "tortilla" (tortía), "calle" (caie)... I could go on, but I think you get the point. Oddly enough, this pronunciation isn't associated with any particular ethnic or socioeconomic background, it's just the way everyone speaks in these countries, regardless of how educated or uneducated they may be. Being a Guatemalan myself, I definitely had my fair share of embarrassing moments when traveling, and ultimately moving, to Costa Rica. I had to change my pronunciation of '' y'' and' 'll'' so my words wouldn't sound funny to people here.

[@luisdavilaherrera6512]

As for the pronunciation of ''r'' in Costa Rica, the thorough explanations you gave on Ecuadorian r-assibilation apply to most rural Costa Rican dialects. There's another pronunciation of '' r'' which is more widespread in urban areas, but I don't know the proper name for it. Although, I think you may have heard it before if you've met any Costa Ricans under the age of 50. It almost sounds like an American ' 'r' ' and it' s used in lieu of thrilled '' r'' in initial-word positions, everywhere after ' 's' ', the rt and rd combinations, or when "r" is present before n, l, m, or s. Some people don't do this at all, but you'll hear these pronunciations more often than not. When Costa Ricans are asked about this, they'll mostly say this phenomenon isn't that common and that pronuncing '' r'' this way is considered lower-class, and even vulgar. However, I've heard these pronunciations used by individuals from all walks of life, and it's got nothing to do with class or education, it's just a unique feature of their Spanish (much like the lack of ys and lls in Guatemalan Spanish 🙂).

[@tenminutespanish]

@@luisdavilaherrera6512 Thanks for this contribution. I think the Costa Rican r you're referring to is called "retroflex r".

[@raymaersdosch2753]

I lived in Mendoza and they mostly asibilate the r

[@oidualclaudi0]

I’m a native Spanish speaker and I had to watch this whole video to understand this phenomenon, for some reason there’s no information about this in Spanish.

[@tenminutespanish]

This information appears scattered throughout chapters of books on Spanish dialectology, but not all together in one place that I know of. Where are from? Do you hear erre arrastrada where you're from?

[@oidualclaudi0]

@@tenminutespanish I’ve only found a few articles about that topic, but it’s nice to see all the information in just one video, it was so nice! I’m from Mexico City, a place where this phenomenon is rarely found, although there are some reports saying it was more common a few decades ago, the “R asibilada” was especially used by women of higher classes during the 1960’s decade. For some reason this pronunciation didn’t make it to these days and it’s now characteristic of some old people nowadays.

[@tenminutespanish]

@@oidualclaudi0 Thank you so much for contributing to the conversation.

[@mcgreedz]

Yet another great video. Just commenting to show my gratitude. ¡Gracias!

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you for your kind words.

[@austino5069]

Por fin has hecho un nuevo vídeo, excelente como siempre.

[@tenminutespanish]

Muchas gracias por el comentario! Me alegro mucho de que te haya gustado.

[@jeydee123]

Thank you for another well-thought-out video on Spanish dialectology. All your videos have been most informative. I subscribed to your channel after watching your three-part series on Voseo. So, I am an American who grew up speaking Spanish at home with what I think is a dialect typical of Zacatecas as that is where my mother is from. I also grew up in a densely-populated Mexican immigrant community and encountered Spanish on a daily basis up to adulthood. Never have I been able to trill my Rs. I was never diagnosed with a speech impediment, but have noticed a mild case of ankyloglossia: I have never been able to stick my tongue out fully like most can and have no real free tongue tip needed for a trilled R. It’s even difficult to blow a raspberry! 😅 Point of all this is that I’ve always replaced trilled Rs with assibilated Rs naturally even though I never grew up exposed to assibilated R dialects. I just think it’s interesting I grew up thinking of it as a defect when many speakers use it commonly as a variant. I’ve been asked a few times if my parents are from South America when I speak Spanish by other Mexican native Spanish speakers so I also wonder if this may be part of the reason for it. 🤔 Have no problems with flapped Rs. Lastly, since I clearly don’t think sibilant R speakers all have speech impediments, and since I don’t think you mentioned it in the video, did you ever run into any speakers of assibilated R who would change to a more standard trilled R depending on the social context they found themselves in? Similar to how some speakers of Southern American English speak more Standard American English when they are interacting with someone who does not have a Southern American English accent or is speaking in a formal setting.

[@tenminutespanish]

Fascinating insights! Thank you for your comments! To answer your question, yes. In one of the studies I read on sociolinguistics of /r/ assibilation in Ecuador, people reported that they pronounced /r/ differently depending on the formality of the speech. In formal contexts or in careful speech, they assibilated /r/ less and trilled more. In informal speech they assibilated more and trilled less. On a personal note, I know a family who speaks a dialect that trills /r/ and never assibilates. They have one daughter who exclusively assibilates. She also has other minor speech peculiarities, and I have always thought she assibilates as an alternative because she is unable to trill.

[@tenminutespanish]

You said something else interesting that I've been thinking about. You said you don't believe that sibilant speakers all have speech impediments... but maybe they do, in a sense. In Latin America, sibilant /r/ is closely associated with the influence of indigenous populations. Those populations that assibilate in the most extreme fashion are generally bilingual Spanish-Quechua (or some other indigenous language). And those monolingual Spanish speakers who assibilate the most live in close association with bilingual people, so their Spanish is influenced by bilingual communities and their manner of speech. It seems likely that the sibilant /r/ in Latin America either arose de novo or spread more easily from its Spanish origin because indigenous populations had difficulty trilling /r/ (or if not because they had difficulty trilling, because there is a similar sibilant retroflex in their language.) Linguistic evolution very often occurs to simplify sounds or combinations of sounds that are more difficult to articulate. Trilled /r/ is definitely one of the more difficult sounds in Spanish to articulate. It seems very likely that the sibilant /r/ arose because the trilled /r/ is more difficult to articulate, and those populations that do it the most seem to be influenced by the sociocultural effect of bilingualism.

[@jeydee123]

​@@tenminutespanish Totally! It’d be interesting to know how speakers of other indigenous languages in the Americas like Nahuatl or Kʼicheʼ resolve the absence of a trilled /r/ when speaking Spanish. Thanks for the detailed reply! Hope to see more videos from you soon!

[@tenminutespanish]

@@jeydee123 Thank you. I'm not sure I understand your question, but I know that the languages you mentioned are Mayan and Aztec and are spoken in southern Mexico and Guatemala. The Guatemalan highlands is one of the places where sibilant /r/ is more common, and I believe that just as in Ecuador, it is associated with indigenous influences.

[@rlwemm]

Thank you so much for this type of content. It has long bugged me that I could not get this kind of information out of any of my varied Latino American teachers nor from maestros estadounidensos. It is really unfortunate that language teachers do not consider the provision of uniform, and labelled, accents is important for language learners, especially in the beginning and intermediate stages. First language learners are almost invariably provided with a consistent accent model in the early years, and pick up and understand regional accents when they go to school. I still recall my frustration with a teacher who had a thick regional accent from Peru, I left the class after the first lesson. My neighbors mostly speak Mexican Spanish, or some variety of northern or middle American Spanish. I need to speak as close to them, or to an accent they consider to be prestigious, as possible. Your podcast, and others that have dealt with the regional pronunciation of "y" and "ll", has helped me greatly with this goal. My attention may have been focused by the fact that my post-graduate ESL training included several classes in elementary academic linguistics, including the EPA. Nevertheless, even these teachers were unconcerned with the type of English accent that teachers were offering to their ESL or EFL students. The cynical explanation may be that schools could just not afford to be choosers when it came to the type of accent they would accept from their teachers, and this included programs that were offering teacher training programs in ESL and EFL. I think it is rather sad.

[@tenminutespanish]

You're welcome. I'm so happy you like the video.

[@saisaipech]

This somehow reminds me of turkish where it tends to change its final r (tap r?) Into a "sh" sound. I've noticed that the highlighted part of northern spain in the map is the Basque region. Basque tho has both "sh" sound represented by x in writing and a trilled r. Now I'm wondering how they managed to speak with sibilant r. I also can't really tell if native Basques who speak Spanish do that or Castillians who migrated to the Basque region do that and maybe adopted the "sh" sound in Basque.

[@guidoylosfreaks]

The sibilant r in Mexico works as a "gay lisp". Effeminate men and some women use this sound, mostly at the end of a syllable. And it is sometimes spelled rs or rz.

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you for this insight. This is part of the reason I recommend that students use the regular trilled /r/ if at all possible. There is no way to know what connotations the sibilant /r/ has in other regions.

[@luisorozco4370]

In Mexico, this R sound is associated to homosexual men and is used frequently in sitcoms and movies to mock how gays supposedly speak. The first time I heard Bolivian ex-president Evo Morales in a video speaking with this particular R sound, I thought for a second that it was a meme in which his original voice had been replaced.

[@tenminutespanish]

How interesting. Thanks for this insight.

[@marcosadrianlinares3049]

I just came across this video and I love it! There's really not much information on the sibilant r sound in Spanish. Leave alone content in English! I live in Northwestern Argentina. More specifically in the province of Tucumán where the "r" is pronounced in this way by almost 100% of the population. Some people force them to pronounce it as the usual Spanish r sound but only because there's a stupid common belief that the local pronunciation is just wrong and makes us seem less cultured. Other provinces that have this distinctive r sound are Santiago del Estero, Catamarca, La Rioja and some areas of Corrientes, Salta, Jujuy, Córdoba and I'm sure I'm missing some others. Just one more thing that I noticed, your sibilant r sound differs just a little from the one in Tucumán. Maybe it's just the way they pronounce it in Ecuador but I don't really know.

[@tenminutespanish]

I played online chess with a guy from Tucumán last year. Previously I didn't know anything about the region. After that, I watched a KZbin video about Tucumán and noticed that the people used sibilant r. I think my sibilant r may sound different simply because I'm not doing it perfectly. I'm not a native Spanish speaker, it has been a long time since I lived in Latin America, and I normally trill r's, so I don't practice sibilant r on a daily basis. I would be interested to hear what an Ecuadoran from an r assibilating dialect thinks of my sibilant r. My guess is it doesn't sound quite right to them either. :-(

[@marcosadrianlinares3049]

@@tenminutespanish What a coincidence! Yeah, I don't really know how Ecuadorians pronounce it. But it's possible that they have a slightly different sound. And to be fair, it's a rather complicated sound to master even for Spanish speakers that trill their r's. When people from, let's say Buenos Aires try to imitate this sound, it's usually really funny and tend to make a "sh" kind of sound instead

[@mariovelardehere]

U ARE A GENIUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@ja5jo107]

amazing work! one of the best about spanish and linguistics

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you!

[@spanishwithrobyn]

Hello, I love your videos. They are extremely helpful. It would be wonderful to have sections of any book read out loud by you for at least 30 minutes longer would be even better. Reading out loud in full pronunciation of the different accents could be super helpful as well. It's easy with audio books to find books with spain spanish speakers and I can find speakers from Mexico and the podcast duolingo offers a bit of Argentinian accents. I really enjoy El Robo. But, having a teacher like yourself read with specific accents like you do on your channel, but much longer with explanations of what we are hearing and how it differs, could be so wonderful. I can't tell you how much it means because we'll I just can't. But a gazillion is a starting point. And if you well, being able to read the same passage out loud and practicing with your audio and being able to listen over and over to them, just sounds awesome. If you can't do this perhaps you have favorite audio books movies that you could point us toward. I so, want to master accents of spanish. Thank you again for all your continued support.

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you! I think this is a great suggestion, but sadly I'm not THAT good at imitating regional dialects. I normally speak with a pretty neutral-sounding Latin American accent, and in short bursts of a couple sentences I can modify it to sound a bit different by adding certain regional features to it. So I can model s-reduction, r-assibilation, distinción, variations in , or other regional features. But two problems: 1) I can only maintain it with accuracy in short bursts. 2) I'm not accurately imitating the WHOLE regional accent. I'm only slightly modifying a neutral accent by adding one or two regional features. So if I tried to model an Argentine accent, the best I could do is pronounce Argentine and reduce [s], but the rest of my accent would be neutral Latin American. To an Argentine, I wouldn't sound Argentine at all. So, I think that your best option is podcasts and KZbin channels by natives from different countries. Most audiobooks are produced in Spain and Mexico (most of the ones I've listened to), which is great if you're interested in those dialects.

[@bell6692]

You probably know more about the technical details but I'll give my two cents as a native speaker of an area where this phenomenom occurs: The r in northwestern Argentina has more of an airy sound while I've noticed that the accent in western Bolivia commonly sounds more like a ''sh''. Of course I know that labelling it as a ''sh'' is wrong but the sound is closer than that of northern Argentina. As a matter of fact I've noticed that a really common pronunciation in Tucuman is the combination of this sibilant R and the english voiced retroflex R . You may think my explanation is redundant because that is what the video says but in speech the differences are clear. Colloquially we say the R of Tucuman is more like a 'rw' sound, I think there's even an upper class accent in Bolivia that resembles it (La Paz rich accent?) This pronunciation is also shared in Jujuy and Salta in varying degrees with most people varying between this 'rw' and this silibant r. They are not the exact same sound.

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you for this contribution!

[@katgold8918]

I was wondering if you could be more specific on “Northern Spain”. The highlighted area looks like it could be Basque country/Navarra maybe also La Rioja but I don’t know.

[@tenminutespanish]

Maybe. I'll have to consult the article I referenced when I researched this topic for this vidro. Maybe it's more specific. I don't recall. I'll check it out and get back to you as soon as I can.

[@Mirrorseb]

I love your work!

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you!

[@marcrubin8844]

I have heard some indigenous Guatemalans say cantars instead of cantar, could there be a linguistical link between the Indigenous peoples from Central America and the Ecuadorian highlands?

[@tenminutespanish]

Absolutely. There could certainly be phonological similarities between indigenous languages.

[@kara-mariehall5691]

Another great video! Thank you!

[@tenminutespanish]

I'm so happy you liked the video.

[@jaca2899]

I think that rhotacism in Latin developed something like this. honosem > honozem > honorem

[@TheMaru666]

I am a Spaniard and I can trill my rr just fine, except un the word " Israel " , wich I hapoen to do it with this sibilant r , I just can't trill r after the s . And if I am extra cafefull with my s , I end up assibilating some other s .

[@tenminutespanish]

Fascinating insight! How interesting. I appreciate your contribution to the discussion.

[@luisdavilaherrera6512]

I have the exact same issue with every ''r'' after "s", despite my being able to trill r in every other word position.

[@AlefeLucas]

I'm a native portuguese speaker and even though there are some Portuguese dialects that thrills R's, my own dialect doesn't. I can say a couple of words thrilling the R's, but I cannot keep pronouncing it consitently, it looks like my tongue gets tired or something.

[@tenminutespanish]

It sounds like all you need is practice. With practice you'll find a way of pronouncing the sound with less tension, that will be less tiring, and you'll be able to pronounce it in more words

[@Zain-nc1ww]

@@tenminutespanish how exactly would you recommend practicing difficult sounds and sound combinations? Reading a lot of phrases with them, just trying to pronounce them over and over, reading aloud but not necessarily targeting them, or something else?

[@tenminutespanish]

@@Zain-nc1ww All of the above. Start by pronouncing the sound combination in isolation. After several days it will get easier, even if it seems hopeless at first. Then practice two or three words that contain the sound combination. Then practice a long list of words. Then read out loud focusing on that combination. Etc.

[@manspider7445]

Love it. Very interesting stuff.

[@tenminutespanish]

So glad you enjoyed the video.

[@harrisonji1906]

love your videos as always. Informative and easy to understand. Fun fact, this way of pronouncing R is also similar to the Chinese R: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aHrGpX5ooaigY9k

[@tenminutespanish]

Thanks for the kind words. Fun fact, I took three semesters of Mandarin in college. That was a long time ago, though, and I don't remember much.

[@siyacer]

quality content

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you!

[@janboreczek3045]

Hmmm, this sound has a similar place of the articulation to the alveolar trill, and I can pronounce this sibilant easily. I know that it is somewhat outside of the scope of this video, but would it be possible to start from this sound and modify it to the rolled r? I thought it might be worth trying, since the manner of articulation seems similar on paper, and every other method does not bring me any closer. It is one possible appriach that came to my mind, although I don't know what to do and maybe You, as someone who can trill the r, may provide some insight on how it may be accomplished :) It might be worth a try

[@ravenshadowz2343]

Hi do you have any videos to help speaking Spanish without a southern north American accent? Please and thank you!

[@tenminutespanish]

Yes, ALL of my videos. I don't specifically correct Southern sounds, but I do explain how to correctly pronounce Spanish sounds. I had a friend from Atlanta when I lived in Ecuador, and she spoke Spanish with the BEST Ecuadoran accent. Perfect, even. I don't think there's any reason it should be different for someone from the South.

[@IKdeoSSa_7]

Should you do with t after r. Your channel is very helpful

[@yashagarwal8741]

whilst my native language has 4 r sounds

[@josealbarran7202]

Hi, I'm looking for tokens with sibilant (r) and voiced (s) to conduct some research on indexicality in Spanish. Do you know in which corpus to find it?

[@tenminutespanish]

I'm sorry, but I'm unaware of a such a source of information or corpus.

[@colint620]

How is the /sr/ consonant cluster typically realized in regions that do not assibilate it?

[@tenminutespanish]

The /s/ is aspirated or omitted. So comes out [ih.ra.él] and comes out [lah.rá.tas]. Check out my video on s reduction.

[@colint620]

​@@tenminutespanish Thank you for your response, I will check out the video. Also, do aspiration or omission happen to the /sr/ consonant cluster in dialects that otherwise would not aspirate /s/? Once again, thank you, I find your videos very helpful.

[@tenminutespanish]

@@colint620 Great question! Yes, there are dialects that only reduce s before r, but not in any other context. Similarly, there are dialects that only assibilate r after s, but not anywhere else. These seem to be the two most common ways to deal with the problem of trilled r after s, and they each seem to be the mildest form of their respective process.

[@psonbell]

When pronouncing sr with sibilant r, is the s pronounced normally? Or does its point of articulation move towards that of sibilant r?

[@tenminutespanish]

The s and r kinda blend together into zhr

[@psonbell]

@@tenminutespanish So you only pronounce one sound [ř], not two distinct sounds [s] followed by [ř]?

[@tenminutespanish]

@@psonbell That's how it sounds to my ear.

[@hanleylopezescano5977]

What about the Caribbean R and L?

[@carlosdoriaespitia]

Ala carachas, que cosa tan chirrida.

[@mep6302]

I'm from Argentina and I've heard this r used a few times. I've never liked it. It sounds like a diction problem. You know, like foreigners trying to pronounce it but failing. Now I know there are some dialects who use it but I always advise others to avoid this sound because it's not the standard and doesn't sound good to my ears. In fact, any r sound that isn't trilled or tapped doesn't sound good in Spanish.