What Is the Origin of the French and German guttural R - Stephan's Theory 

Among Romance tongues, Portuguese also has the uvular R, although it is only pronounced when the R is at the beginning of the word or when there are two Rs in succession. In other places, the R is pronounced as an alveolar tap. Spanish shares that distinction, although its trill is an alveolar one, not uvular. In European Portuguese (specifically in central and southern Portugal), the raspy sound is maintained. In Brazil however, it has weakened to a velar fricative or even a pharyngeal approximant. Puerto Rican Spanish distinguishes its Rs in the Portuguese manner as well. Regarding the theories you mentioned, the most probable is that it may just be a Parisian affectation of early modernity, very similar to the origins of the Received Pronunciation in southeastern Britain, where the cities of London, Canterbury, Oxford, and Cambridge are. From there, it spread to other parts of Europe with varying impacts. Let us recall that in European diplomacy, commerce, and high society, where English now is, French before was. Most of Europeans kept their old Rs but many Germans, Danes, and Portuguese got a bad bug of it. The Quebeçois kept the original French R, which is an alveolar trill. Molière also noted that the R of French (of his time, which is the 17th century) creates a sort of earthquake in the mouth, which can only be done if the tongue is to made to vibrate due to turbulence as air is forced through a small opening between the raised tongue tip and the back of the teeth. Germanic R is originally a trill, and it is apparent from the High German of Bavaria, Austria, and Switzerland. The Flemish also roll their Rs, so are the Scots. In most standard dialects of English, it weakened. In Standard German and Standard Danish, it became raspier. Ashkenazi Jews got their Rs most probably from Germans who started rasping their Rs (from whom they learned a Germanic language that became Yiddish). Hebrew R is an alveolar trill, just like in Arabic. Modern Hebrew gets its uvular R from the Ashkenazis who comprise the bulk of the Jewish Israeli population, although other Jews like the Yemenites, Sephardis, and Yemenites maintain the old R. Another language RU-vidr made a similar video, and many of the ideas here originate from her research: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DY9MDA4WQzE.html

In southern Sweden we use the Danish/German/French R sound

Now a little personal: My parents were born in Essen and they used the R like the French. In the Sauerland (Westfalen) were I grew up, the people used the rolling R. Myself, I used it like the Queen of Britain, when I was speaking German. I had acqaintences from different areas in England who used the R in different ways.

In Norway, the city of Bergen is the local center of the “guttural r”. It is known to have spread, even in modern time (last 50 years) more and more. Today this R is used around Bergen and Stavanger, and the western coast. Its origins are debated: Our local professor of linguistics states it developed from the French upper classes and is believed to be a speaking error of some noble man or men in the late 1780s or just into 1800. The claim is it spread from the top of society downwards. With regards to Norway, Bergen have for more than a thousand years been the most international city and heavily influenced by especially Germany, but also England, France, Netherlands and Portugal. (Scotland is more like local waters.) So, our local authority on the question says the city dialects of Bergen commonly used it from approximately 1850. To me, this didn’t sound right, as I would believe it went back to Hanseatic times, when Germans had a major grip of main harbours in Northern Europe. However, being a living witness to how fast languages changes - diminishing local dialects in greater and greater areas in proximity to “guttural R”, how English/American influenced young people of today are, and the fact London (also influenced by seafarers and Hanseatic) didn’t adopt it, I have to say it is extremely likely this guttural R came about somewhere around the time of the French revolution.

When I read the video's title, my first association was: the Franks. The Scots also refer to English people as Sassenachs (Saxons).

I like this theory. Legitimacy was always taken seriously among the nobility of Medieval Europe. I never realized the similarity (and possible connection) between the French/German R and Hebrew’s uvular consonant (“Chet” according to wikipedia). As for the religious branding of the Merovingians, well that is definitely possible, if not likely. The Hapsburgs and many other dynasties often did style themselves as distant descendants of Jesus, who of course was born Jewish. I know the Old Testament was written in Hebrew too. I’m not sure I understand the Ashkenazi part you mention however. I’m not Jewish and don’t really understand the distinctions between Jewish groups, I always thought they were primarily geographical; so if you’re implying that their recent settlement influx helped inspire the idea through language contact then I think I understand, though I’ll admit I’m less sure about. Super interesting theory nonetheless, one that ultimately is, at least so far, the most convincing one to me, especially in regards to French. It’s worth noting that Francia and the H.R.E. (Medieval Germany) were seen as the center of both power and Christianity for many centuries; so it’d make sense that any usurping force would want to adopt this feature. One correction: European Portuguese use the uvular R too, though that’s been theorized to come from French anyway.

Hallo Stephan, da ist ja das angekündigte Video, vielen Dank dafür !!! Interessante Theorie.... 2 Dinge fielen mir spontan dazu ein: Kannten / kennen Juden ein gutturales "R" ? oder haben die Merowinger vielleicht ein "ch" abgewandelt ? Interessanterweise kennen die südlichen und nordwestlichen Nachbarn, also die am Rheinfall und die an der Nordsee, beide diesen harten Kehllaut "CH" (merkwürdige Analogie 🤨😉) Und auf der anderen Seite fällt es mir schwer vorzustellen, daß Erwachsene sich einen bis dato unbekannten und ungewohnten Laut/Ton aneignen, den sie vielleicht nur schwer aussprechen können. Sprache wird ja eher mit der Muttermilch aufgesogen und ich fände es eher natürlich, wenn in einem bestimmten geographischen Raum Menschen gleichartige, ihnen ganz eigene Arten des Ausdrucks entwickeln; schließlich ist Sprache unmittelbarer Ausdruck der Seele. Übrigens eint und verbindet die BeNeLux-Länder, das östliche Frankreich und das westliche Deutschland eine uralte Tradition: der Bergbau, der hier immer sehr intensiv betrieben wurde und auch einen bestimmten "Menschenschlag" hervorbringt.

In Portuguese there's both

Come to think of it, when I first came to Canada, in the early 1950s, there were still Yiddish speaking people around and I heard quite a bit of it. I don't remember any heavy R rolling.

It's interesting to me how the popular regal names Charles and Louis came from so many variants of this era. Carolus Magnus & Clovis (Latin), Karl der Große, Chlodwig-> Ludwig (Germanic), Charlemagne & Louis (French). Clovis was the grandson of Merovech, I believe.

Hallo! Das ist eine gut durchdachte Theorie! Mir hat das Video sehr gut gefallen, besonders wegen alle Aussprachebeispiele. Bayerische Dialekten klingen ganz anders als "standard" Dialekt, den wir in Schulen im Ausland lernen. Bitte erläutern Sie den "Franks" Zusammenhang. 🤔 Entschuldigung für irgendwelche Fehler. Dachte, ich könnte doch ein bisschen schreiben auf Deutsch üben, denn habe ich nur selten die Gelegenheit dazu.

Hello Stephan. As for the guttural or the phonème /r/ en français (uvular r) comes from the Frankish invasions after the fall of the Roman Empire. If one follows the regions wihere the rhotic /r/ remains (at least for the generation born late 19th century or early 20th century when the French educational system had less influence on the populations, that map follows fairly closely those Frankish invasions and influence. I know in Brittany even where French took over from Breton that has rhotic /r/, in eastern Brittany from the middle ages, the rhotic /r/ remained. The same in south western France to say nothing of Catalan dialects still spoken in southern France. Your theory is upheld in most linguistic circles in France. I noticed it myself having traveled in France over 35 years and spoken with my university professors on this subject. When I first started learning Breton on small farms over 40 years ago, I had to notice how much the rhotic /r/sounded like West Country English (the last Keltic regions to fall to the English and so kept their linguistic habits) or even to certain North American dialects where many of the first settlers came from the West Country or Scotland and later Ireland to say nothing of Wales. As for the Ashkenazi influence, it would appear to be the other way round. Historically, be it Hebrew or Aramaic would sound more closely to modern Arabic. The Jews who settled in these Germanic speaking regions adopted the uvular /r/ especially in Yiddish. The Jews post world war two who survived the Shoah perpetuate the uvular /r/ in modern Israel and the Sephardi or Mizrahi Jews who came from outside Western Europe speak with the rhotic /r/. A very interesting topic and the Merovingian connection would appear to be the best explanation to this observation where ancient Gaul and ancient Germanic regions came under the sway of those leaders, especially Clovis who founded this dynasty. Vielen dank Stephan!

Hmmmm

But it's a modern fashion. It can't be Merovingian.