guycruls

Some Italians pronounce the r the French way, by vibrating the soft back of the palate, instead of rolling the tip of the tongue. Is this an individual idiosyncracy, or is it the way people speak in a specific city/region?

modicasa

In the Bergamasco they speak an Italian French dialect, given that the area was part of France for a long time. In the south they roll their 'r's given that it was Spanish. In the middle if they use the French r its an affectation, or an inability to roll the r

Pinco Pallino

I know a number of people in Piedmont who do this. I always thought it was a pretentious affectation, but will find out and report back.

Here is a rather dull (but short) YouTube clip (on something to do with 'slow food' or some such nonsense) featuring the TG3 journalist Simonetta Rho, who does the French 'r'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPFU4nEWjzI

guycruls

thanks for your feedback - looking forward to more news on this.

HADENOUGHPIZZA

A lot of people in Parma have this sound , I find it rather irritating myself . Its supposed to be because of the french influence on the local dialect but my daughters sometimes does it and she doesn't speak dialect .

Lorna at Vicenza

Where I live, that French R is considered almost a speech defect, like you never learned to roll your R properly as a child.

37100

'Tis in OH's part of piemonte, too. He speaks a very thick piemontese (piemontese is a minority language, not a dialect). He doesn't flatten his R's in Italian, but does have a strong N.W. accent (don't tell him I said that ).

Isakat

I actually find this French R annoying and like the people where you live Lorna, I have always considered it to be a speech impediment.


What about pronunciation of the sound ( ch) as in faccio? I notice up North they pronounce it softly, while here it is a strong ch sound as in church.

Pinco Pallino

Here is what looks to be the definitive answer re. the 'erre moscia':

http://italian.about.com/od/linguistics/a/aa100307a.htm

guycruls

Terrific to see further responses to my post.
Special thanks to Pinco for the link to a cracking article.

Pinco Pallino

Many thanks for that guycruls. I too found the article interesting. Curiously, of the two people I know well who speak with the 'erre moscia', one has parents who were born locally (in the Provincia di Torino), both of whom speak Italian 'normally' with mild Piedmont accents – and the other's parents are economic migrants from Campania!