Following this video, this is how we correctly make the r sound:
- Let the throat vibrate since it is voiced.
- Round the lip a little.
- Raise the tip of the tongue towards the hard bump behind the upper front teeth,
but do not let the tip of tongue touch the bump. This also makes the center of the tongue go down. - The back part of the tongue is raised because you pull it into a tight ball
- Fold and raise the sides of the tongue so they touch the upper side-teeth.
If we follow the above requirement, our tongue should have an s shape when we pronounce the r sound as depicted in the following sketch:
Is it possible to raise the tip while raising the back and lowering the center of the tongue when making an r sound?
How do native speakers make an r?
P.S. My tongue is very short anyway!
![[ama]](https://i.stack.imgur.com/av3g1.png)
Best Answer
I suppose in the picture they want to explain the tongue position for the typical American r-sound as in "far" that isn't used in normal BrE.
I would say that description of the tongue position is very bizarre. You have the mouth opening as in the articulation of long a and raise the tip of your tongue up to the palate and pronounce /fa:r/, that's all. I doubt whether you can raise the back of your tongue as the back of your tongue is fixed somewhere in the throat. You can raise the lower jaw and by doing this the back of the tongue comes nearer to the top of the mouth cavity.
But all this is irrelevant for producing an American r-sound. I think the picture and the explanation is not very scientific. And I would look for better material.