By 'speech work' I mean training people (usually actors) in regional dialects. It's usually 'one to one' across a table, so no great distance involved. The recording is then copied to CD. Quality and 'ease of use' are most important.
I have used my MD for exactly the same purposes (I learned Eugene Onegin this way. Had a language coach at the Met read the text.....very very VERy slowly....worked with only the sound of the language for a month, then learned the notes, and my russian cast mates actually thought I spoke the language when the gig started. Invaluable tool, the md...) . I found that using the Tmark on the md was a great way to index on the fly when listening back. As far as I know, the r-09 doesn't have that type of quick indexing.
As long as you don't mind using the Sonic Stage software, which for making CD's of speech is VERY easy, then I'd highly reccomend the md. You go getting the r-09 and the next thing you know, the bug bites...and yer spending way too much money on taping things other than speech....:-)