Who rolls their “r”s?

[Auldlangsyne]

From the news:

“It's often said that the biggest difference between a British accent and an American one is rhotacism; words in British English have a flat "r" sound, while in American English the sound is rolled.” And it goes on:” New York and Boston accents, for example, have a flat "r" sound”

Is that so? Only in these two places? How to call the pronunciation of the "r" by the vast majority of the US citizens?

I have always thought that languages, such as Dutch, Spanish and Polish roll the consonant in question. I am not implying the 'r' isn't sounded in AmE, but it is not rolled either, in my humble opinion, except for some of those who speak English as a second language.

 

[Tdol]

Some parts of the UK do- many Scottish speakers, for instance. I don't (British English speaker from England).

 

[probus]

From the news:

“It's often said that the biggest difference between a British accent and an American one is rhotacism; words in British English have a flat "r" sound, while in American English the sound is rolled.” And it goes on:” New York and Boston accents, for example, have a flat "r" sound”

Is that so? Only in these two places? How to call the pronunciation of the "r" by the vast majority of the US citizens?

I have always thought that languages, such as Dutch, Spanish and Polish roll the consonant in question. I am not implying the 'r' isn't sounded in AmE, but it is not rolled either, in my humble opinion, except for some of those who speak English as a second language.

I agree 100% that in AmE we do not roll our "r"s. But the suggestion that we do gives me pause: am I perhaps misunderstanding the meaning of "rolling r's"?

 

[Auldlangsyne]

I agree 100% that in AmE we do not roll our "r"s. But the suggestion that we do gives me pause: am I perhaps misunderstanding the meaning of "rolling r's"?

That is exactly how I reacted – “do I get it wrong”? Could it be that all these years I have been mistaken? Struck by the idea that rolling might mean something completely different to what I have always thought it meant, I nervously started to read Wikipedia to sort it out.
It is comforting to hear from someone living over the pond that I was not far from the truth, after all.

 

[Auldlangsyne]

Some parts of the UK do- many Scottish speakers, for instance. I don't (British English speaker from England).

I couldn’t agree more, albeit nowadays, even in most remote places of Scotland one who expects to only hear the regional Scottish English dialects or Scottish Gaelic language might be very surprised to see how many people over there speak English (RP) not influenced by the place they live in, at all.

 

[Tdol]

The spread of Estuary English is similar- I find features that would once have been described as London/Cockney English cropping up everywhere I go in the UK.

 

[Auldlangsyne]

Exactly. That is why I decided to learn most common expressions from this very area, not that I am into it, but I was looking blankly when I first heard “Give us a Butcher’s”, and since It turns out some of the Cockney slang is well known throughout the UK, it is good to know most popular terms. Not too much, as it is hard to absorb all that terminology.

 

[probus]

We are listening hard.:-D

 

[Raymott]

A 'butcher's hook' is called a 'Captain Cook' in Australian.
I've never thought of Americans rolling their r's. Rhoticity doesn't imply rolling.

 

[Tdol]

Exactly. That is why I decided to learn most common expressions from this very area, not that I am into it, but I was looking blankly when I first heard “Give us a Butcher’s”, and since It turns out some of the Cockney slang is well known throughout the UK, it is good to know most popular terms. Not too much, as it is hard to absorb all that terminology.

Pronunciation features like the glottal stop are also spreading. Tony Blair, for instance, drops his t's when he's speaking to a British audience- abroad, he's more RP.

 

[Auldlangsyne]

We are listening hard.:-D

I have the same impression. How amazing! :-D

But seriously, over the last days I have greatly benefited from the fact that I am heard. Even if I never learn how to write correctly, I won’t say I’ve never tried. (Good job I don’t need to dwell on where to put e.g., commas when I speak.)

(Pointing out the difference between rhotacism and rolling helped really a lot.)

 

[Auldlangsyne]

Pronunciation features like the glottal stop are also spreading. Tony Blair, for instance, drops his t's when he's speaking to a British audience- abroad, he's more RP.

I think I wouldn’t know. It might be a too subtle difference for me to pick it up. Very interesting to know, though.

The current PM is a posh guy, I reckon – with a very nice and clear (and not very fast) way of speaking, great for someone like me who learns English.

I heard, on a few occasions, people saying the word “something” where “th” sounded like “f”, and yet “some” being part of “something” sounded like “soom” – heard in “soon”. I was wondering if they were from London area, and looked it up. It was described as 'th - fronting' – representing one of the features prevalent around London.

 

[BobK]

I agree 100% that in AmE we do not roll our "r"s. But the suggestion that we do gives me pause: am I perhaps misunderstanding the meaning of "rolling r's"?

:up: No indeed. Some people flap them, for others it's what people call 'a frictionless continuant'. The point about rhoticity is that in a rhotic accent the /r/ is sounded (not rolled).

As a matter of fact I sometimes roll Rs (when required to in choral singing), although my English accent is not rhotic.

Note: the word 'rhotacism' does exist, but it doesn't mean 'the having of a rhotic accent'.

b