AimThis paper reveals no new facts about the use of linking and intrusive /r/ in English. Instead, an attempt has been made to find a phonological description which can adequately account for the facts which are already known. In particular, the aim has been to find evidence for and against different types of phonological analysis, especially the abstract phonology developed within transformational-generative grammar.
The Facts1In many English dialects /r/ only occurs before a vowel (in ring, three, very etc.), and the r that appears in the spelling is never pronounced before consonants (in farm, heart, court etc.) or at the end of a word (in stir, clever, cheer, far, her, before etc.). However, an /r/ always appears in the latter case, if an inflectional or derivational ending beginning with a vowel is added to the word ending in r , e.g. stir /sta:/ but stirring /'sta:rirJ/ clever /'kleva/ but cleverer /'klevara/ cheer /tSia/ but cheery /'tSiari/ Similarly, an 1 . 1 is regularly added if a word ending in r is followed in the same rythmic group by a word beginning with a vowel, e.g. far /fa:/ but far away /'fa:r a'wei/ her /ha(:)/ but her aunt /har 'a:nt/ before /bi'fo:/ but before eight /bi'fo:r 'eit/ 1 Information on the use of linking and intrusive /r/ can be found in most handbooks of English phonetics. The last, and probably most detailed, account is available in Gimson (1970), which has been my primary source of information.
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STIO JOHANSSONThis phenomenon is usually termed linking /r/. The vowels which may be followed by a linking /r/ are /a:, a, a:, a:, ia, &a, ua/. Very often an /r/ may be added after these vowels, even though it cannot be justified by spelling or historical evidence.2 This is usually termed intrusive /r/. Examples (taken from Gimson, 1970, p. 209):Russia and China /'rASar en 'tJaha/ drama and music /'dra:mar en 'mju:zik/ Shah of Persia /'Sa:r av 'pa:Ja/ law and order /'la:r end 'o:da/ Gimson, p. 209, says about this intrusive /r/: "It is clear that the RP system of linking /r/ strongly encourages the creation of analogous links in similar phonetic contexts. Spelling consciousness remains an inhibiting factor, but the present general tendency among RP speakers is to use intrusive /r/ links after final /a/, evenunconsciouslyamong those who object most strongly. Words containing final /a:/ or /a:/, without an earlier form with /r/, are less common than those with /a/. The pressure of analogy to use an intrusive /r/ might in consequence appear to be greater; but the comparative rarity of the cases af such possible intrusive /r/s tends to make speakers more aware of the 'correct' form; thus, I saw it /ai 'sxr it/, drawing /'dra:riq/, are generally disapproved of, though it is likely that many RP speakers have to make a conscious effort to avoid the use of such forms." It is clear that intrusive /r/ is a regular feature of Received Pronunciation (RP), though the general pattern is somewhat disturbed by the inhibiting influence of spelling consciousness. The less regular occurrence of an int...
