On Rs, rhotacism and paleophony

Abstract

In his R-tickle, William Barry (Barry 1997: 35) invites others who may have pondered along similar lines ‘to offer additional complementary or alternative views’. In somewhat belatedly accepting his invitation, I would like to make some remarks on trills, on ‘molar r’, and on rhotacism, followed by some thoughts on the question of the historical primacy of trill, at least within Indo-European.