An ultrasound study on the phonetic allophony of Tyrolean /R/

Moving from traditional dialectological literature and inspired by contemporary research on rhotics, in this paper we present preliminary data on the distribution and the articulation of /r/ in Tyrolean, an under-researched South Bavarian dialect. Two speakers produced a comprehensive selection of Tyrolean words containing /r/. They uttered up to five different uvular rhotics: [χ, ʁ, ʁ̞, ρ, ʀ]. We found mild tendencies in the allophonic distribution of the variants, but systematic differences in their lingual configurations: trills are produced steep lowering the tongue tip; vocalizations are markedly lowered and retracted, with the tongue dorsum flat; approximants are retracted.