science

Linking and intrusive R

Linking and intrusive R is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Linking and intrusive R rather than just read about it. In short: Linking R and intrusive R are sandhi phenomena wherein a rhotic consonant is pronounced between two consecutive vowels with the purpose of avoiding a hiatus, that would otherwise occur in the expressions, such as tuner amp, although in isolation tuner is pronounced the same as tuna /ˈt(j)uːnə/ in non-rhotic varieties of English. These phenomena occur in many of these dialects, such as those in most of England and Wa…

Key takeaways

Linking and intrusive R belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Linking and intrusive R to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Linking and intrusive R from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Linking R and intrusive R are sandhi phenomena wherein a rhotic consonant is pronounced between two consecutive vowels with the purpose of avoiding a hiatus, that would otherwise occur in the expressions, such as tuner amp, although in isolation tuner is pronounced the same as tuna /ˈt(j)uːnə/ in non-rhotic varieties of English. These phenomena occur in many of these dialects, such as those in most of England and Wales, parts of the United States, and all of the Anglophone societies of the southern hemisphere, with the exception of South Africa. In these varieties, /r/ is pronounced only when it is immediately followed by a vowel. Linking R and intrusive R may also occur between a root morpheme and certain suffixes, such as -ing or -al. For instance, in words such as draw(r)ing, withdraw(r)al, or Kafka(r)esque. These phenomena first appeared in English sometime after the year 1700.

Non-rhotic varieties

By definition, non-rhotic varieties of English pronounce /r/ only when it immediately precedes a vowel. This is called r-vocalisation, r-loss, r-deletion, r-dropping, r-lessness, or non-rhoticity. For example, even though the word tuner is spelled with an ⟨r⟩ (which reflects that an /r/ was pronounced in the past), non-rhotic accents do not pronounce an /r/ when there is no vowel sound to follow it. In contrast, speakers of rhotic dialects, such as those of Scotland, Ireland, and most of North America (except in some of the Northeastern United States and Southern United States), always pronounce an /r/ in tuner and never in tuna so that the two always sound distinct, even when pronounced in isolation. Hints of non-rhoticity go back as early as the 15th century, and the feature was common (at least in London) by the early 18th century.

Linking R In many non-rhotic accents, words historically ending in /r/ (as evidenced by an ⟨r⟩ in the spelling) may be pronounced with /r/ when they are closely followed by another morpheme beginning with a vowel sound. So tuner amp may be pronounced [ˈtjuːnər æmp]. This is the case in such accents even though tuner would not otherwise be pronounced with an /r/. Here, "closely" means the following word must be in the same prosodic unit (that is, not separated by a pausa). This phenomenon is known as linking R. Not all non-rhotic accents feature linking R. South African English, African-American Vernacular English and non-rhotic varieties of Southern American English are notable for not using a linking R.

Intrusive R

The phenomenon of intrusive R is a reinterpretation of linking R into an r-insertion rule that affects any word that ends in the non-high vowels /ə/, /ɪə/, /ɑː/, or /ɔː/; when such a word is closely followed by another word beginning in a vowel sound, an /r/ is inserted between them, even when no final /r/ was historically present. For example, the phrase bacteria in it would be pronounced /bækˈtɪəriərˌɪnɪt/. The epenthetic /r/ can be inserted to prevent hiatus (two consecutive vowel sounds). In extreme cases, an intrusive R can follow a reduced schwa, such as in the example if you hafta[r], I’ll help and in the following examples taken from the native speech of English speakers from Eastern Massachusetts: I’m gonna[r]ask Adrian, t[ər]add to his troubles, a lotta[r]apples and the[r]apples. A related phenomenon involves the dropping of a consonant at the juncture of two words and the insertion of an r in its place. Sometimes this occurs in conjunction with the reduction of the final vowel in the first word to a schwa: examples of this are He shoulda[r]eaten. Other recognizable examples are the Beatles singing: "I saw-r-a film today, oh boy" in the song "A Day in the Life", from their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band; in the song "Champagne Supernova" by Oasis: "supernova-r-in the sky"; in the song "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" by Billy Joel: "Brenda-r-and Eddie"; in the phrases, "law-r-and order" and "Victoria-r-and Albert Museum", and even in the name "Maya-r-Angelou". This is now common enough in parts of England that, by 1997, the linguist John C. Wells considered it objectively part of Received Pronunciation, though he noted that "the speech conscious often dislike it and disapprove of it". It is or was stigmatised as an incorrect pronunciation in some other standardized non-rhotic accents, too. Wells writes that at least in RP, "linking /r/ and intrusive /r/ are distinct only historically and orthographically". Just as with linking R, intrusive R may also occur between a root morpheme and certain suffixes, such as draw(r)ing, withdraw(r)al, or Kafka(r)esque. Some varieties may feature linking R without intrusive R, maintaining a phonemic distinction between words with and without syllable-final /r/. Margaret Thatcher was nicknamed "Laura Norder" because of her references during her period of office to "law and order" with an intrusive /r/.

Prevalence

A 2006 study at the University of Bergen examined the pronunciation of 30 British newsreaders on nationally broadcast newscasts around the turn of the 21st century speaking what was judged to be "mainstream RP". The data used in the study consisted mostly of the newsreaders reading from prepared scripts, but also included some more informal interview segments. It was found that all the newsreaders used some linking R and 90% (27 of 30) used some intrusive R. Overall, linking R was used in 59.8% of possible sites and intrusive R was used in 32.6% of possible sites. The factors influencing the use of both linking and intrusive R were found to be the same. Factors favouring the use of R-sandhi included adjacency to short words, adjacency to grammatical or otherwise non-lexical words, and informal style (interview rather than prepared script). Factors disfavouring the use of R-sandhi included adjacency to proper names; occurrence immediately before a stressed syllable; the presence of another /r/ in the vicinity; and more formal style (prepared script rather than interview). The following factors were proposed as accounting for the difference between the frequency of linking and intrusive R:

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Linking and intrusive R

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Linking and intrusive R claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Linking and intrusive R before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Linking and intrusive R ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Linking and intrusive R

In research: Linking and intrusive R appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Linking and intrusive R in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Linking and intrusive R is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics English phonology, Phonetics, Phonotactics, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Linking and intrusive R outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Linking and intrusive R” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Linking and intrusive R in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Linking and intrusive R means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Linking and intrusive R out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Linking and intrusive R in simple terms?

Why does Linking and intrusive R matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Linking and intrusive R?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Linking and intrusive R.