Page 147 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Unit 10: Phonemes: Detailed Study

The tip of the tongue is raised in the direction of the hinder part of the teeth ridge. The soft palate is Notes
raised so as to shut off the nasal passage of the air. The air from the lungs comes out through the gap
between the tip of the tongue and the post-alveo-lar region without any friction. The vocal cords
vibrate, producing voice. /r/ is thus a voiced postalveolar frictionless continuant.
Spellings: /r/ is represented by the letter /r/ but in R.P. it occurs only before a vowel sounds e.g. in
red, run, dry, trial. /r/ is not pronounced in other positions, e.g., in words Vike,garden, larder, early,
jerk, etc.
Allophonic Variants

(i) A voiced post-alveolar fricative /r/ (phonetic symbol [i] is used after /d/ as in dry, draw.
(ii) A voiceless, post-alveolar fricative /r/ (phonetic symbol [r] is used after aspirated /p/,/t/ and
/k/ as in pray, try, and cry).
(iii) A voiced alveolar, single flap-phonetic symbol [ ] is used when /r/ occurs between two vowels
and after / θ / as in
very 
sorry   /r/ between two vowels
three (/r/after / θ /
Distribution:
In R.P. /r/ occurs initially and medially, but only before a vowel sound. It does not occur finally. For
example,
red (initial)
moderate (medial)
[LINKING /r/: In R.P. /r/does not occur finally, but in connected speech, /r/ is retained when followed
by a vowel in the following words, For example, the word far is pronounced /fa:/ but in far away the
final r in far is pronounced because away in isolation begins with a vowel sound. The phrase far away
is pronounced/fa:r/. A few other examples are:
pepper /pep /
e
pepper and salt /pep r n’sa:lt/
e
e
here /’hi /
e
here and there /”hi r n’ ð e /
e
e
e
father /fa: ð /
e
father is at home /fa: ð r iz t’houm/
e
e
INTRUSIVE /r/: Some people use an /r/ at word boundaries if the first word ends in [ ] and the
second begins with a vowel even if there is no r in spelling. Thus, we often hear
/’1 :r n ‘: :d [law and order]
e
e
/’dram r n ,mju:zik/ [drama and music]
e
e
G: Semi-Vowels
A semi-vowel is a vowel glide to a more prominent sound in the same syllable. In English there are
two semi-vowels, /j/and /w.
/j/ is a palatal semi-vowel.
/w/ is a labio-velar semi-vowel.

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