Editing Guttural R (section)

===French===
[[File:Procrastinateur - Prononciation - France (Seine-et-Marne).ogg|thumb|{{lang|fr|procrastinateur}} from [[Seine-et-Marne]].]]
The r letter in French was historically pronounced as a trill, as was the case in Latin and as is still the case in Italian and Spanish. In Northern France, including Paris, the [[alveolar trill]] was gradually replaced with the [[uvular trill]] from the end of the 17th century.<ref>{{cite journal |jstor=43342245|title=Contribution à l'histoire de la consonne ''R'' en français|last1=Straka|first1=Georges|journal=Neuphilologische Mitteilungen|year=1965|volume=66|issue=4|pages=572–606}}</ref> [[Molière]]'s ''[[Le Bourgeois gentilhomme]]'', published in 1670, has a professor describe the sound of {{IPA|/r/}} as an alveolar trill (Act II, Scene IV).<ref>{{cite book|author=Molière|title=Le bourgeois gentilhomme|year=1670|publisher=Imprimerie nationale|quote=Et l’R, en portant le bout de la langue jusqu’au haut du palais, de sorte qu’étant frôlée par l’air qui sort avec force, elle lui cède, et revient toujours au même endroit, faisant une manière de tremblement : Rra. [And the R, placing the tip of the tongue to the height of the palate so that, when it is grazed by air leaving the mouth with force, it [the tip of the tongue] falls down and always comes back to the same place, making a kind trembling.]}}</ref> It has since evolved, in Paris, to a [[voiced uvular fricative]] or approximant {{IPA|[ʁ]}}.

The alveolar trill was still the common sound of r in Southern France and in Quebec at the beginning of the 20th century, having been gradually replaced since then, due to Parisian influence, by the uvular pronunciation. The alveolar trill is now mostly associated, even in Southern France and in Quebec, with older speakers and rural settings.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}

The alveolar trill is still used in French singing in classical choral and opera. It is also used in other French speaking countries as well as on French oversea territories such as French Polynesia due to the influence of the indigenous languages which use the trill.