Linking R and intrusive R are

sandhi Sandhi ( ; , ) is any of a wide variety of sound changes that occur at morpheme or word boundaries. Examples include fusion of sounds across word boundaries and the alteration of one sound depending on nearby sounds or the grammatical function o ...

phenomena wherein a

rhotic consonant In phonetics, rhotic consonants, or "R-like" sounds, are liquid consonants that are traditionally represented orthography, orthographically by symbols derived from the Greek alphabet, Greek letter Rho (letter), rho (Ρ and ρ), including R, , i ...

is pronounced between two consecutive vowels with the purpose of avoiding a hiatus, that would otherwise occur in the expressions, such as ''tuner amp'', although in isolation ''tuner'' is pronounced the same as ''tuna'' in

non-rhotic The distinction between rhoticity and non-rhoticity is one of the most prominent ways in which varieties of the English language are classified. In rhotic accents, the sound of the historical English rhotic consonant, , is preserved in all p ...

varieties of English Dialects are linguistic varieties that may differ in pronunciation, vocabulary, spelling, and other aspects of grammar. For the classification of varieties of English in pronunciation only, see regional accents of English. Overview Dialects ...

. These phenomena occur in many of these dialects, such as those in most of

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the Law of the United Kingdom#Legal jurisdictions, three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Th ...

, parts of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and all of the Anglophone societies of the southern hemisphere, with the exception of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. In these varieties, is pronounced only when it is immediately followed by a vowel. Linking R and intrusive R may also occur between a root morpheme and certain

suffixes In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

, such as ''-ing'' or ''-al''. For instance, in words such as ''draw(r)ing, withdraw(r)al,'' or ''

Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of real ...

(r)esque''. These phenomena first appeared in English sometime after the year 1700.

Non-rhotic varieties

By definition, non-rhotic varieties of English pronounce only when it immediately precedes a vowel. This is called ''r''-vocalisation, ''r''-loss, ''r''-deletion, ''r''-dropping, ''r''-lessness, or non-rhoticity. For example, even though the word ''tuner'' is spelled with an (which reflects that an was pronounced in the past), non-rhotic accents do not pronounce an when there is no vowel sound to follow it. In contrast, speakers of rhotic dialects, such as those of Scotland, Ireland, and most of North America (except in some of the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States (also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. Located on the East Coast of the United States, ...

and

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

), always pronounce an in ''tuner'' and never in ''tuna'' so that the two always sound distinct, even when pronounced in isolation. Hints of non-rhoticity go back as early as the 15th century, and the feature was common (at least in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

) by the early 18th century.

Linking R

In many non-rhotic accents, words historically ending in (as evidenced by an in the spelling) may be pronounced with when they are closely followed by another morpheme beginning with a vowel sound. So ''tuner amp'' may be pronounced . This is the case in such accents even though ''tuner'' would not otherwise be pronounced with an . Here, "closely" means the following word must be in the same

prosodic unit In linguistics, a prosodic unit is a segment of speech that occurs with specific prosodic properties. These properties can be those of stress, intonation (a single pitch and rhythm contour), or tonal patterns. Prosodic units occur at a hie ...

(that is, not separated by a

pausa In linguistics, pausa (Latin for 'break', from Greek παῦσις, ''pâusis'' 'stopping, ceasing') is the hiatus between prosodic declination units. The concept is somewhat broad, as it is primarily used to refer to allophones that occur in ...

). This phenomenon is known as linking R. Not all non-rhotic accents feature linking R.

South African English South African English (SAfE, SAfEn, SAE, en-ZA) is the List of dialects of English, set of English language dialects native to South Africans. History British Empire, British settlers first arrived in the South African region in 1795, ...

African-American Vernacular English African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) is the variety of English natively spoken, particularly in urban communities, by most working- and middle-class African Americans and some Black Canadians. Having its own unique grammatical, voc ...

and non-rhotic varieties of

Southern American English Southern American English or Southern U.S. English is a regional dialect or collection of dialects of American English spoken throughout the Southern United States, primarily by White Southerners and increasingly concentrated in more rural areas ...

are notable for not using a linking R.

Intrusive R

The phenomenon of intrusive R is a reinterpretation of linking R into an r-insertion rule that affects any word that ends in the non-high vowels , , , or ; when such a word is closely followed by another word beginning in a vowel sound, an is inserted between them, even when no final was historically present. For example, the phrase ''bacteria in it'' would be pronounced . The

epenthetic In phonology, epenthesis (; Greek ) means the addition of one or more sounds to a word, especially in the first syllable ('' prothesis''), the last syllable ('' paragoge''), or between two syllabic sounds in a word. The opposite process in whi ...

can be inserted to prevent hiatus (two consecutive vowel sounds). In extreme cases an intrusive R can follow a reduced schwa, such as for the example ''if you hafta I’ll help'' and in the following examples taken from the native speech of English speakers from Eastern Massachusetts: ''I’m gonna sk Adrian'', ''t �rdd to his troubles'', ''a lotta pples'' and ''the pples''. A related phenomenon involves the dropping of a consonant at the juncture of two words and the insertion of an r in its place. Sometimes this occurs in conjunction with the reduction of the final vowel in the first word to a schwa: examples of this are ''He shoulda aten''. Other recognizable examples are the

Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

singing: ''"I saw-r-a film today, oh boy"'' in the song "

A Day in the Life "A Day in the Life" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as the final track of their 1967 album '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. Credited to Lennon–McCartney, the opening and closing sections of the s ...

", from their 1967 album ''

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (often referred to simply as ''Sgt. Pepper'') is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released on 26May 1967, ''Sgt. Pepper'' is regarded by musicologists as an early concept ...

''; in the song " Champagne Supernova" by

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentScenes from an Italian Restaurant" by

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Piano Man" after his Signature song, signature 1973 song Piano Man (song), of the same name, Joel has ha ...

: ''"Brenda-r-and Eddie"''; in the song " Beauty and a Beat" by

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Regarded as a pop icon, he is recognized for his multi-genre musical performances. He was discovered by record executive Scooter Braun in 2008 and subsequently brought to the U ...

featuring

Nicki Minaj Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( ), is a Trinidadian rapper, singer, and songwriter. Regarded as the "Queen of Rap" and one of the most influential rappers of all time, she is noted for her ...

: ''"eye out for Selena-r"''; in the phrases, ''"law-r-and order"'' and ''"Victoria-r-and Albert Museum"'', and even in the name ''" Maya-r-Angelou"''. This is now common enough in parts of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

that, by 1997, the linguist

John C. Wells John Christopher Wells (born 11 March 1939) is a British phonetician and Esperantist. Wells is a professor emeritus at University College London, where until his retirement in 2006 he held the departmental chair in phonetics. He is known for ...

considered it objectively part of

Received Pronunciation Received Pronunciation (RP) is the Accent (sociolinguistics), accent of British English regarded as the Standard language, standard one, carrying the highest Prestige (sociolinguistics), social prestige, since as late as the beginning of the 2 ...

, though he noted that "the speech conscious often dislike it and disapprove of it". It is or was stigmatised as an incorrect pronunciation in some other standardized non-rhotic accents, too. Wells writes that at least in RP, "linking and intrusive are distinct only historically and orthographically". Just as with linking R, intrusive R may also occur between a root morpheme and certain

, such as ''draw(r)ing'', ''withdraw(r)al'', or ''

(r)esque''. A rhotic speaker may use alternative strategies to prevent the hiatus, such as the insertion of a

glottal stop The glottal stop or glottal plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many Speech communication, spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic ...

to clarify the boundary between the two words. Varieties that feature linking R but not intrusive R (that is, ''tuna oil'' is pronounced ), show a clear phonemic distinction between words with and without in the syllable coda.

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

was nicknamed "Laura Norder" because of her references during her period of office to "law and order" with an intrusive /r/.Collins, B., & Mees, I. (2003). ''The Phonetics of English and Dutch'' (3rd ed.). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.

Prevalence

A 2006 study at the

University of Bergen The University of Bergen () is a public university, public research university in Bergen, Norway. As of 2021, the university had over 4,000 employees and 19,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 1946 consolidating several sci ...

examined the pronunciation of 30 British newsreaders on nationally broadcast newscasts around the turn of the 21st century speaking what was judged to be "mainstream RP". The data used in the study consisted mostly of the newsreaders reading from prepared scripts, but also included some more informal interview segments. It was found that all the newsreaders used some linking R and 90% (27 of 30) used some intrusive R. Overall, linking R was used in 59.8% of possible sites and intrusive R was used in 32.6% of possible sites. The factors influencing the use of both linking and intrusive R were found to be the same. Factors favouring the use of R-sandhi included adjacency to short words, adjacency to

grammatical In linguistics, grammaticality is determined by the conformity to language usage as derived by the grammar of a particular speech variety. The notion of grammaticality rose alongside the theory of generative grammar, the goal of which is to formu ...

or otherwise non-lexical words, and informal style (interview rather than prepared script). Factors disfavouring the use of R-sandhi included adjacency to proper names; occurrence immediately before a stressed syllable; the presence of another /r/ in the vicinity; and more formal style (prepared script rather than interview). The following factors were proposed as accounting for the difference between the frequency of linking and intrusive R: * overt stigmatization of intrusive R * the speakers being professional newsreaders and thus, presumably, speech-conscious professionals * the speakers (in most cases) reading from a written script, making the orthographic distinction between linking and intrusive R extremely salient * the disparity between the large number of short grammatical words that end in possible linking R (e.g. "for", "or", "are", etc.) and the absence of such words that end in possible intrusive R.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * *

External links

A century of "intrusive" R in English
— video by the British linguist Geoff Lindsey
The Intrusive /r/ and Linking /r/ - British English Pronunciation & Connected Speech
{{LetterR English phonology Phonetics Phonotactics