Pronunciation: The intrusive /r/
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Date: 2020-09-18
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Comments and reviews: 10
keybladesrus
I'm a native speaker of American English, though I don't know quite how to describe my accent. Just stating the region I'm from doesn't help because it doesn't sound like what people typically think of from that area. I guess it's like a radio accent, where the accent is as clear and featureless as possible for clarity, though it's just my natural accent rather than an intentional way of speaking. Anyway, the point of this is that for someone with my accent, the idea of intrusive letters is deeply confusing. If I'm speaking quickly, some sounds can sneak their way in like a y or w, but r is such a weird on to me. It's an incredibly noticeable sound, and it just sounds wrong. It's in some American accents too. Words like wash being said as warsh, or idea being idear. It drives me nuts. It even kind of ruins a song I like where the singer says fast as farst. I understand sounds sneaking into spoken words to make linking them easier, but I just don't get why a letter as noticeable as r would be one of them. It stands out too much, and it's really annoying, and I hate it.
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I'm a native speaker of American English, though I don't know quite how to describe my accent. Just stating the region I'm from doesn't help because it doesn't sound like what people typically think of from that area. I guess it's like a radio accent, where the accent is as clear and featureless as possible for clarity, though it's just my natural accent rather than an intentional way of speaking. Anyway, the point of this is that for someone with my accent, the idea of intrusive letters is deeply confusing. If I'm speaking quickly, some sounds can sneak their way in like a y or w, but r is such a weird on to me. It's an incredibly noticeable sound, and it just sounds wrong. It's in some American accents too. Words like wash being said as warsh, or idea being idear. It drives me nuts. It even kind of ruins a song I like where the singer says fast as farst. I understand sounds sneaking into spoken words to make linking them easier, but I just don't get why a letter as noticeable as r would be one of them. It stands out too much, and it's really annoying, and I hate it.
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Seiferboy
Australians do this as well. They even put r's in the middle of words! One example: 'herm' instead of 'home'. 'Dern' instead of 'done'. Highly irritating to me.
This video reminds me of the skit on that one show between Dot Cotton and Kat Slater, where Kat keeps putting r's where they don't belong.
Kat: I'll put r's wherever I please!
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Australians do this as well. They even put r's in the middle of words! One example: 'herm' instead of 'home'. 'Dern' instead of 'done'. Highly irritating to me.
This video reminds me of the skit on that one show between Dot Cotton and Kat Slater, where Kat keeps putting r's where they don't belong.
Kat: I'll put r's wherever I please!
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Stephen
Welp, that explains it! I always wondered why that was the case with that r sound with Brits, BUT , what is interesting is that while some Americans dont use that r sound, I do here it from some Americans, I believe from the south...hmmm, I will have to pay more attention to some Americans that speak this way to find out if this is regional
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Welp, that explains it! I always wondered why that was the case with that r sound with Brits, BUT , what is interesting is that while some Americans dont use that r sound, I do here it from some Americans, I believe from the south...hmmm, I will have to pay more attention to some Americans that speak this way to find out if this is regional
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Chris
Very cool video. As an American English speaker from California, I never understood why British people use an intrusive R. It always seemed like an unnecessary sound to my ears. But, it actually demonstrates the beauty, diversity, and many nuances of the English language. Great video! Thank you BBC.
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Very cool video. As an American English speaker from California, I never understood why British people use an intrusive R. It always seemed like an unnecessary sound to my ears. But, it actually demonstrates the beauty, diversity, and many nuances of the English language. Great video! Thank you BBC.
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bsanaee
Interesting, I never realized this phenomenon had a name. I guess the level of intrusion varies by speaker? For instance flaw(r) in the argument was painfully obvious, but the fellow asking if you can draw a circle ..., I've listened to it several times and can't detect the phantom 'r' at all.
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Interesting, I never realized this phenomenon had a name. I guess the level of intrusion varies by speaker? For instance flaw(r) in the argument was painfully obvious, but the fellow asking if you can draw a circle ..., I've listened to it several times and can't detect the phantom 'r' at all.
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rellman85
This is common in some parts of the US, too. We have both r-dropping and intrusive r here, especially in the Northeast and in parts of the South. I was raised in the South and, for example, pronounce Benjamin as Benjer-min and sometimes pronounce wash as worsh.
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This is common in some parts of the US, too. We have both r-dropping and intrusive r here, especially in the Northeast and in parts of the South. I was raised in the South and, for example, pronounce Benjamin as Benjer-min and sometimes pronounce wash as worsh.
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Elijah
Can you drawer-circle freehand?
My dog hurt his poor on some broken glass.
There was a flour in the argument.
I sore a good film last night.
Okay. I will never speak like this. If anything, it's harder than speaking without it.
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Can you drawer-circle freehand?
My dog hurt his poor on some broken glass.
There was a flour in the argument.
I sore a good film last night.
Okay. I will never speak like this. If anything, it's harder than speaking without it.
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ethervagabond
The first two people in your example didn't even have the r sound in there. You just think it's there because you expect it to be, and you're so used to hearing it that you don't really hear it in the first place.
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The first two people in your example didn't even have the r sound in there. You just think it's there because you expect it to be, and you're so used to hearing it that you don't really hear it in the first place.
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Mishy
Cathrine of the news review does it all the time. In one video I heard her saying. I saw (r)him.......
And most of the time she says idear....... Is it intrusion I guess.
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Cathrine of the news review does it all the time. In one video I heard her saying. I saw (r)him.......
And most of the time she says idear....... Is it intrusion I guess.
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Brandt
Not for Americans. If proper Americans. Not British immigrants.
The intrusive R shows up in some accents. Wash becomes Warsh in border states between south and North.
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Not for Americans. If proper Americans. Not British immigrants.
The intrusive R shows up in some accents. Wash becomes Warsh in border states between south and North.
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