Learn English – Explanation and rules for adding and subtracting ‘r’s in British pronunciation

linguisticspronunciation

For example, the sentence, "The Premier of China drank vodka and beer in his car with Obama." A BBC presenter would pronounce it like:

The Premieh of Chiner drank vodker and bee'h in his ca' with Obam-er.

In other words, they add 'r's where they don't belong and eliminate them where they do.

Is there any linguistic explanation for how this evolved? Are there any formal rules regarding this?

Best Answer

Rhotic English is a term to describes varieties of English in which orthographic R is usually pronounced, even at the end of a syllable. In non-rhotic varieties of English - such as Southern Standard British English - orthographic R is only pronounced if followed by a vowel. It doesn't matter if there is a double R or not in the orthography:

  • car / ka:

  • car park / ka: pa:k

  • car alarm / ka:r əla:m

  • carrot / kærət

Modern SSBE also allows intrusive /r/. We sometimes use this when a word ending in a non-high vowel sound is followed by a word beginning with another vowel. The /r/ has the function of separating the two vowel sounds:

  • Pippa Andrews / pɪpər ændru:z

The Original Poster's example

The Premier of China drank vodka and beer in his car with Obama.

In terms of syllable-final orthographic Rs, there are two followed by vowel sounds, the ones at the ends of the words Premier and beer. These will be pronounced in SSBE. There is also one instance of a word ending in a (non-high) vowel being followed by another vowel sound. This is in the sequence vodka and. We may see speakers using an intrusive /r/ between vodka and and:

ðə premiər əv tʃaɪnə dræŋk vɒdkər ən bɪər ɪn ɪz kɑ: wɪð əbɑ:mə

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