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An articulation disorder in 17th-century Germany
Journal of Communication Disorders
|July 1, 1979
Summary
17th-century German pronunciation of R involved an apical trill, but common speech errors included uvular trills and L-substitutions. These early speech disorder accounts offer insights into historical phonetics and articulation difficulties.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Phonetics
- History of Medicine
Background:
- 17th-century German prescriptive phonetics considered the apical trill the standard pronunciation of 'R'.
- Malarticulations of the 'R' sound were prevalent, indicating challenges in achieving the standard pronunciation.
Observation:
- Two primary substitutions for the apical trill 'R' were identified: the uvular trill and the 'L' sound.
- These misarticulations were documented in contemporary texts, one satirically by Christian Weise (1673) and another scholarly yet humorous account by physician Rosinus Lentilius (1698).
Findings:
- The study presents annotated translations of these historical German texts, providing direct evidence of early speech disorder documentation.
- Analysis of these texts reveals the nature and frequency of specific 'R' sound substitutions in 17th-century German speech.
Implications:
- The findings suggest a potentially richer and earlier history of speech disorder documentation than is commonly acknowledged.
- This research contributes to understanding historical phonological variations and the evolution of speech therapy concepts.