Learn English – the best word (or term) to identify pronouncing W’s for L’s and R’s

idiom-requestsphrase-requestssingle-word-requeststerminologyword-choice

Is there a specific/proper/technical term for it? And not just the R-flop, but specifically the L-flop to W.

What would work here:

“I'm watching Formula 1 on Sky Sports and the __________ of the Brit announcers is so annoying – it's killing me."

“Billie Piper is so hot. Her __________ in Dr. Who has me rubbing my legs together like a cricket.”

You get the idea.

  • Rhotacism – I think related to other speech “impediments”, possibly too specific to the letter R, or at least not specific enough, I don't think
  • Elmer Fudd Syndrome – too pejorative
  • Baby Talk – perfect in above sentences, but I think reserved for intentional use.
  • Johnathan Ross Syndrome – ?
  • The L/R to W speech impediment – ?
  • L-vocalization – ?
  • “non-rhotic dialect r fronting” – ?

Ref.

Best Answer

L-vocalization is the term that would be used by linguists. In addition to British English, you can see the change in Polish and Brazilian Portuguese as well (a dark L is pronounced as a vowel or glide instead of as a lateral). Shakespeare himself made a little joke of this in Hamlet:

Gravedigger: It must be se offendendo. It cannot be else. For here lies the point: if I drown myself wittingly, it argues an act. And an act hath three branches—it is to act, to do, to perform. Argal, she drowned herself wittingly.

Received Pronunciation is said to be a non-rhotic because speakers do not pronounce the r at the end of words. I'd want to check with some of our UK contributors, but I think that it is a loss of r (and lengthening of the previous vowel) rather than a change from /r/ to /w/.

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