Why do Jews and French pronounce the letter “r” in a special way?

Burr is a defect in the pronunciation of the letter “r”, resulting from a violation of the articulation of the speech apparatus. It sounds soft, there is a similarity with other sounds. Deviation rarely causes significant discomfort in people. The degree of its severity depends on the cause of its occurrence. They turn to a speech therapist to eliminate a speech defect, and if they want to “acquire” this skill, they practice it at home.

French is considered one of the most beautiful languages ​​in the world and is loved by many. This is due to its phonetics. The special pronunciation of the letter “r” is called “grassing,” which translated means “burr.” By the way, if a Frenchman pronounces this sound clearly, he is considered uneducated. This is approximately how we treat “GC”. From a linguistic point of view, there is a distinction between Latin and French “R”, represented by different letters of the same meaning.

Mythical and real reasons

In former times, there were many myths about the causes of Jewish burr. There is a legend that the prophet Moses was distinguished by this peculiarity of speech. The Jews considered themselves descendants of this biblical character. They believed that burring was passed down to them from their great ancestor.

According to another legend, this speech trait was given to the Jews by God. It was a kind of gift to the Israelis. Therefore, representatives of the Jewish nation were not only not embarrassed by burr, but were even proud of such speech.

Of course, such explanations have nothing to do with reality. The reasons for burring lie in the peculiarities of the language.

When we start learning foreign languages, sometimes it is difficult for us to pronounce individual sounds. These vowels and consonants simply do not exist in our native speech. And we sometimes replace them with familiar sounds from the Russian language. This is exactly the case with the burrs of the Jews and the French. After all, pronunciation is the most difficult part of mastering foreign languages.

The French have already been won with the help of male charisma and female sexuality

The French know their Achilles heel, because what Vedenin just said (how to beat the French) has already been put into practice. By whom?.. Their coach is Marie-France Dubreuil!

The entire free dance of Virtue-Moira in the Olympic season four years ago was built on the charisma of Scott and the feminine sexuality of Tessa. "Moulin rouge. Tango Roxanne" - this was their sexiest and most masculine program. The first climax is the exit from the twizzles with a sharp stop under the animalistic male roar of “rrrrroksan!!!”. It was specially shown to the French - you can’t do that!

The second climax is the support at the beginning of the third minute, when Tessa jumps on Scott’s shoulders. The most powerful passion expressed in movement! And the third culmination is the final support in the boat in an arc as a hymn to a woman who can die and be resurrected, destroy and resurrect. The whole program is one big counterpoint to the best couple in the world at that time, Papadakis-Cizeron. Watch the Canadians again, just watch until the end, it’s all written on Gabi and Guillaume’s faces when they are grading. And why four years ago the French and their federation did not charge the Canadian coaches Dubreuil-Lauzon with anything, and today they are stirring up a scandal and putting pressure on the ISU? The situation has changed.

Hebrew and Yiddish

Hebrew is spoken primarily by Israeli Jews. However, this language is widespread in Jewish communities and diasporas around the world. Its characteristic feature is the guttural pronunciation of the letter “r”. This is what we perceive as burr.

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Among the Jews of Europe and Russia, the Yiddish language is widespread. It sounds like German speech. In Germanic languages, the sound "r" is not pronounced clearly. Therefore, Jews who have spoken Yiddish since childhood can also lisp.

Double consonants

Double consonants are read as one sound, for example: A nn e [an] - Anna, ba tt e [bat] - sledgehammer.

Exercise No. 7. Read:

Language environment

Surely you have met many Jews who have no problems pronouncing the sounds of Russian speech. Not all representatives of this people burr. What does this depend on?

Let's go a little deeper into history. In earlier times, Jews lived in communities in specific regions called “shtetls.” Many people spoke Russian, but mostly spoke Hebrew or Yiddish.

Jewish children grew up in an isolated linguistic environment. From a very young age, they heard their parents speak Hebrew or Yiddish. At the same time, the children were taught to speak Russian. But at the same time, the child adopted the guttural pronunciation “r” from adults.

If a Jew begins to learn Russian as an adult, then no problems with pronouncing sounds arise. Sooner or later a person masters correct and clear articulation. Burr is characteristic of those people who, from early childhood, heard Russian speech with a Jewish accent.

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Nowadays it is very difficult to meet a burring Jew. In Russia, these people are quite assimilated. Most Jews speak Russian from early childhood and often do not even speak their native languages. These people do not have any problems pronouncing sounds.

Cizeron finds it difficult to cope with many male roles

If two-time champion of the USSR, judge Alexander Vedenin, had said that the partner’s artistic abilities do not allow the couple to express any images on the ice, it would be impossible to find fault with his words. And when he connected the purely personal with the professional, here Cizeron had every right to be indignant.

Whether Vedenin is essentially right or not, everyone decides for himself. Some people see the French as the most sophisticated duo in history, while others see them as cold and monotonous.

In the comments of those who attacked Vedenin, the thesis is often heard that in figure skating no one expresses true love on ice, everyone plays their roles. Everything is correct, only in these words the revelation is not for Vedenin, but for Cizeron. He copes with many roles brilliantly, but with others he does not succeed very well.

Photo: Maria Kateshova, “Championship”

As soon as the theme or plot of the dance suggests a relationship between a man and a woman, Papdakis - Cizeron look weaker than their competitors. A striking example is the rhythm dance of the 2018/2019 season. It was tango. More precisely, for most of the top couples it was tango, and for the French it was their usual skating to the tango rhythm. Check it out if you don't remember. There is no relationship either with the eyes or with the body in their dance.

He looks past her, he rolls past her. Rolls masterfully. Technically. Deep in the arcs. Silently. Beautiful. But by.

Tango doesn't forgive this. For comparison, watch the tango by Sinitsina and Katsalapov. The difference is obvious.

Surprisingly, when Papadakis and Cizeron were young, it was not a problem for them to perform a traditional genre dance. In the same first triumphant season of 2014/2015, they had a stunning paso doble with a very strong part by Guillaume. But after the brilliant “Mozart”, which made them champions, it was as if they began to forget all their versatile talents and become a couple of the same style. And in this style, masculine and feminine are dissolved to halftones. And sometimes even stronger. This is the witchcraft of this couple, but this is also their vulnerability.

French burr

The French language is characterized by a guttural and “growling” pronunciation of “r”. Linguists call this sound “grassing.” It is grazing that we perceive as burring.

There are many versions of the origin of the French burr. However, experts believe that the fuzzy “r” sound was borrowed from the English language. In ancient times, the British conquered the northern regions of France. The pronunciation of the British also affected the peculiarities of French speech.

If a Frenchman pronounces the “r” clearly, it is considered incorrect. This speech is typical for rural residents who speak local dialects.

Because of this feature, French is considered quite difficult to master. Not everyone is able to grade correctly.

Types of grassage

According to the characteristics of phoneme formation, three types of “r” are distinguished:

• apical, or front-lingual - its pronunciation is based on the participation of the tip of the tongue;
• dorsal (back-lingual), respectively, formed using the back of the back of the tongue or the edge of the soft palate; there is no vibration when it is fed;
• “grassed”, formed due to the vibration of a small tongue.

In modern French, the dorsal, or Parisian, variant is more often heard. Its difference from the usual “r” is that not only the tip of the tongue is involved in its formation.

How to check this: say a familiar sound and remember the location of the organ at that time. Then try to engage the base of the tongue in the process. Burr will appear after the air flow passes through the throat and oral cavity. It is now fashionable to burr in French among adults and young people. In childhood, on the contrary, they try to get rid of this deviation.

When pronouncing “g” in the Ukrainian manner, if the number of hesitations is more than one, you will get the German pronunciation “r”.

How to learn to pronounce "r"

Often, burring disturbs a person. This feature of speech can create difficulties for those people who have to communicate with clients or give public speeches. The following exercises will help you overcome this speech therapy defect:

1. Move your tongue left and right along the inside of your upper teeth. Your movements should resemble brushing your teeth.
2. Open your mouth wide and stroke your upper teeth and palate with your tongue. Make up and down movements.
3. Open your mouth and hold your lower jaw with your hands. Lick your upper lip with your tongue. Don't help yourself with your jaw!

After articulation exercises, move on to speech classes. Say short words with problematic sounds. When it sounds clear enough to you, you can move on to tongue twisters, in which “r” is often repeated.

How does the sound “X” help?

The mechanism of formation of these two phonemes is similar. Exercise for setting a graded “r”:

1. Say the word with the letter “X” several times (bread, halva). Pay attention to the movements of the tongue at this time.
2. Next, play the sound separately, gradually trying to replace it with a sonorous one.
3. As the workout ends, you should hear a defective "P".

It will not be possible to quickly achieve lasting results; the main thing is not to interrupt classes and carry them out daily. After your sound becomes burry, it must be fully introduced into speech. If you do not use this skill systematically, it is easy to lose it. In this case, you will have to start lessons over again. The maximum result is such that a person can easily rearrange the articulation of sound at any time without much effort.

"Faire la moue" / "Pouty Lips"

And one more “duck”, which, alas, again does not mean anything good (and really, why did you annoy your interlocutor so much? ) Now, however, the hands are no longer involved, and the signal will be the lips extended “in a tube”. By the way, this is a typically French gesture; all other nations most likely borrowed it from some of their Parisian acquaintances.

“Alors là” / “So what’s there...”

But the next “composition” is again shown with your hands and will make it clear that your companion does not care at all how the circumstances turn out. If you are discussing a decision, then in this case he shows that he doesn’t care. To do this, he will raise two arms, bending his elbows and turning them with his palms facing you (somewhat reminiscent of the “surrender” gesture).

In addition to indifference, this can also convey ignorance, disagreement, doubt, or non-involvement in the issue at hand.

The French are the favorites of the Olympics and without any scandal

One important point. To surpass the French, masculinity alone is not enough. They were beaten only by top-level pairs who were in the best functional and psychological state, with the best and correctly set programs. Who is capable of this this season? No one yet. True, we haven't seen all the couples yet.

Papadakis - Cizeron, judging by their first performances, are excellently prepared and are skating more confidently than before. Then why do they need this made-up scandal if, without any unnecessary political intrigue, they are the main and almost the only contenders for the Olympic title? I think they simply decided to use a convenient excuse: to weaken Russia’s position in the ISU. And tolerance towards sexual minorities is now the most fashionable marker in the West.

You can get rid of the defect yourself

In an attempt to save money, many try to solve the problem on their own - now there are many textbooks and materials on the Internet. People mistakenly think that they can eliminate burr if they simply repeat after the announcers on television - it seems that then the speech apparatus will automatically adjust to correct speech.

You can repeat it if you understand how to do it correctly. And if you don’t know how articulatory mechanisms work, listening to the news will be of no use. Often adults who try to correct burr on their own do not understand why they are unable to do so. They feel like they need to speak louder, more exaggeratedly, but this can simply enhance the effect of incorrect pronunciation.

Experts do not hide: articulation exercises are indeed quite simple in most cases, and they can be found in the public domain. But each person with a speech impediment has his own nuances, and only a professional can evaluate them.

It is better not to engage in amateur performances, because even people without a burr who want to develop their diction will achieve little by repeating after newscasters. It’s not for nothing that actors learn special tongue twisters and proverbs.

Speech defect spoils a person

The last myth is quite offensive. People who pronounce the sound [r] incorrectly today can be found among radio hosts, actors, and announcers of federal channels. But despite this, burring is still perceived as an obstacle to a career.

— Whether this is a disadvantage or not depends on the person: some are very worried, others take it more easily. If incorrect pronunciation of the sound [r] interferes, then you need to work on it. However, not only those who need clear speech in their profession come to me, but also those who simply want to correct this defect,” says Tatyana Batalova.

Some people think that if a person just gets together and pays attention, he will begin to speak correctly. But experts are unanimous: of course, it won’t start. “This feature of speech is not associated with either intelligence or character. A person may be irritable or nervous because he was teased at school or kindergarten. But this does not mean that all people with such a feature will be unbalanced, and rather speaks about the behavior of society towards them,” explains Ekaterina Mineeva. Be patient, this is important.

Burr can only be corrected in childhood

The sound [r] is the most difficult to articulate, so most often speech therapy problems arise with it.
Depending on how it sounds, professionals divide this disadvantage into two types. If [r] is pronounced in the French manner, it is rhotacism. And if a sound is replaced by another - pararotacism, this is when a person pronounces “fish” as “lyba”. “Both children and adults turn to me.” There were students who mastered the sound [r] even after 40 years. In general, the approach is the same for both: articulation exercises, breathing, automation (introducing sound into speech). For children, sound production may take longer, but automation occurs faster. For adults it's the opposite. This often happens because they need to overcome a psychological barrier. And here, the help of a specialist is mandatory: not only speech therapy, but also psychological,” says speech therapist Tatyana Batalova.

In adults, the production of the sound [r] occurs more slowly, because a neural connection has already been established in their brains, a pathological stereotype has been formed over many years - it takes time to destroy it. In addition, the environment also has an influence on adults: family, friends, colleagues are probably already accustomed to a person speaking in a certain way, and will pay attention every time he tries to pronounce a difficult sound in a different way. This fear of being noticed, embarrassment, shame is also important to overcome.

At the very beginning of work, we compose a short text that helps you get ready before each lesson. This is a kind of auto-training: I speak beautifully. I pronounce the sound [r] correctly. I pronounce the sound [r] easily. In addition, we periodically make audio recordings so that a person can compare how he pronounced the sound in the first lessons and how he changed during the process.

The difference between adults and children is also in motivation. While the child is small, the desire to correct the sound [r] most likely comes from the parents. And the specialist, in addition to working with speech, needs to constantly support the motivation of the preschooler. In adults, everything is fine with motivation, and this is the first step towards results.