The supposed absurdity of rrrr

A defense of ఱ

Posted on 2022 August 22

When I was growing up and speaking Telugu, I always pronounced ఱ differently than ర. There is no symbol in the IPA to describe this, however, so bear with me as I try to explain sounds imprecisely.

  • ర is pronounced like a single tap [ɾ]; the tip of the tongue only touches the alveolar ridge once.
  • ఱ is pronounced almost like two taps [ɾɾ], but not an indefinite trill like [r]. Instead, ఱ's length is much shorter than a trill.
  • ర్ర is pronounced like a trill [r].
  • ఱ్ఱ is pronounced like a "hard" trill [rr]. This is the hardest one to explain through writing, but essentially you need to trill faster and louder than a regular [r], almost like a geminated [r], if such a thing exists. But it is quite clear once you hear it.

This distinction has been baked into my mind. So it surprised me when I read the Brounya1 Telugu-English Dictionary, I saw this:

In colloquial speech, there is no longer a distinction between ర and ఱ, with some textbooks going as far as dropping ఱ from the alphabet entirely. This makes me sad, as ఱ is a really unique sound that I don't see many other languages having.

So consider this a call to action. If you speak Telugu, save ఱ! If you don't speak Telugu, uh, let your Telugu-speaking friends know of this blog post. Save ఱ!

  1. Is this a Telugu-ization of "Brown"? I can't tell. If that's the case, I find it entertaining how they made the 'n' retroflex. ↩