Linking and intrusive R

Linking R and intrusive R are phonological phenomena that occur in many non-rhotic dialects of English. In all non-rhotic dialects, the phoneme /ɹ/ is not pronounced in the coda of a syllable unless there is a following vowel (so spar in isolation is pronounced the same as spa); in dialects with linking and/or intrusive R, however, [ɹ] may appear at a word boundary before a word that begins with a vowel.

Linking R

The linking R occurs in most (but not all) non-rhotic dialects of English. In dialects that possess linking R, if a word that ends with /ɹ/ precedes a word that begins with a vowel in the same prosodic unit, the /ɹ/ will be pronounced. Thus, for example, the R in here would not be pronounced in here they are (because it is followed by a consonant), but it would be pronounced in here I am. Likewise, the R at the end of far would only be pronounced if the next word begins with a vowel, as in far away or far off. In other words, in a non-rhotic dialect with linking R, /ɹ/ is pronounced only if it is followed by a vowel, including across word boundaries.

Intrusive R

Some (but not all) dialects that possess linking R also possess intrusive R. In a dialect with intrusive R, an epenthetic [ɹ] is added after a word that ends in a non-high vowel or glide if the next word begins with a vowel, regardless of whether the first word historically ended with /ɹ/, and even though its spelling does not end with an R. For example, intrusive R would appear in Asia[ɹ] and Africa or the idea[ɹ] of it: Asia and idea did not historically end in /ɹ/, and are not pronounced with an [ɹ] in other circumstances, but the [ɹ] is inserted epenthetically to prevent a hiatus. Intrusive R also occurs within words before certain suffixes, such as draw[ɹ]ing or withdraw[ɹ]al. This is now so common in parts of England that by 1997 the linguist John C. Wells considered it objectively part of Received Pronunciation, but he noted that it was still stigmatized as an incorrect pronunciation,^[1] as it is or was in some other standardized non-rhotic accents.

Rhotic dialects do not have linking R because the /ɹ/ is always pronounced. Intrusive R arose historically as hypercorrection^{[citation needed]} of linking R in non-rhotic dialects, so it too does not occur in rhotic dialects.

References

See also

• Diaeresis
• Hiatus (linguistics)
• Liaison (French)
• Sandhi
• R-colored vowel