Episode 160: Approximant-ly English
The History of English Podcast
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The Problem of the Trilled R in French Words
Speakers sometimes make a substitution to break up that pattern. They'll replace one of the rs with an l, or vice versa. Words like purple marble, turtle and laurel all originally had an r sound at the end. The modern french r didn't really emerge until the 17 hundreds and 18 hundreds.
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