French Pronounciation SOS | Specific language questions | Forum

I would say that r [ʁ] is totally unaffected by consonant doubling (as are most counsonant in French), they only have etymological origins and have no phonetic significance.

I think a very conscientious French-speakers might make [ʁ] imperceptibly longer in a word such as barre as compared to bar (the r is usually pretty dulled in casual speech speed if not at the beginning of words, and one might unconsciously dull it a bit less while reading rre than just r), but nothing you will ever have to care about (nor does the vast majority of French) .

the letter r has a very regular pronunciation by French standards : the only occasion in which r is not pronounced as a standard [ʁ] is in the combination 'er' at the end of a word (which becomes [e]).

To sum up my thoughts :

- beginning of a word : barely dulled.

- somewhere else in a word : usually dulled.

- after another consonant : very dulled. 

But that's for casual speed speech.

Also it has sprung to my mind that I actually lengthen the r in the most natural way in the word "mourrai", although I don't have the reflex to do it in the word "pourrai" (same future tense conjugation).

If anything, I guess all this shows that exact pronunciation of r is an extra low priority even among Frenchmen, not to mention for learners !

So as Lingo quoted : "It must remain consistent in all positions, regardless of the other vowels and consonants that may be adjacent to it." and don't bother very much about it, I would say.