Rhoticity: the pronunciation of /r/
1. Practise a (non-)rhotic accent: the reading passage
2. Listen and repeat: minimal pairs in a rhotic and non-rhotic accent
3. Listen and repeat: minimal pairs with /l/ vs /r/
Consonants are important for understandability (Jenkins 2002). Some speakers do not make the same distinction between /l/ and /r/ as in English. This video explains the English pronunciation of /l/ and /r/.
Consonants are important for understandability (Jenkins 2002). Some speakers do not make the same distinction between /l/ and /r/ as in English. This video explains the English pronunciation of /l/ and /r/.
4. An analytical exercise: Variant pronunciations of /r/
British English has an alveolar approximant /r/, and American English a retroflex approximant /ɻ/. There are many other variant pronunciations of 'r'. You can listen to them in this online chart (e.g. alveolar tap or flap /ɾ/, uvular trill /ʀ/, and uvular fricative /ʁ/ ). They do not bear on intelligibility, but research has shown that they may be remarked upon (Van Den Doel 2006, Beinhoff 2009). What pronunciation do you have?
British English has an alveolar approximant /r/, and American English a retroflex approximant /ɻ/. There are many other variant pronunciations of 'r'. You can listen to them in this online chart (e.g. alveolar tap or flap /ɾ/, uvular trill /ʀ/, and uvular fricative /ʁ/ ). They do not bear on intelligibility, but research has shown that they may be remarked upon (Van Den Doel 2006, Beinhoff 2009). What pronunciation do you have?
