People from England - curious about something

[Brigandier]

Serious. In the UK things don't have an extended RRRRR sound at the end of words, unless you are a pirate arrrr!

I always thought the adding of an R with an A sound was strictly Bostonian. Growing up, to give me a good laugh my ma would tell me about how a guy she worked with called her Lisar, and we'd both do a few Kennedy impressions on Lisar.

 

[HAL9000]

I always thought the adding of an R with an A sound was strictly Bostonian. Growing up, to give me a good laugh my ma would tell me about how a guy she worked with called him Lisar, and we'd both do a few Kennedy impressions on Lisar.

Exactly, I've never heard someone pronounce something with an RRRR sound at the end in the UK, sometimes R changes the sound of a vowel prior to it but that's about it.

 

[brblx]

yeah i would say he's pretty serious, that's a real common thing.

still never heard of these fabricated 'r's though. sounds like a scottish and/or pirate thing.

'where you headed to, matey?'

'americAAARRRRRR!'

I always thought the adding of an R with an A sound was strictly Bostonian. Growing up, to give me a good laugh my ma would tell me about how a guy she worked with called him Lisar, and we'd both do a few Kennedy impressions on Lisar.

again...what? people from boston drop r's. get in the CAH so we can go to MAHket and get some AHHTichokes.

 

[CaptnKirk]

With the hideous teeth the British are known for, it's a wonder they can talk at all.

 

[HAL9000]

yeah i would say he's pretty serious, that's a real common thing.

still never heard of these fabricated 'r's though. sounds like a scottish and/or pirate thing.

'where you headed to, matey?'

'americAAARRRRRR!'

Exactly the point I was making Arrrr!

 

[HAL9000]

With the hideous teeth the British are known for, it's a wonder they can talk at all.

Just like all americans are fat and stupid eh? Obviously all stereotypes are completely accurate...

 

[Locut0s]

I've noticed that a lot of people with British accents seem to place an "r" at the end of words that end with an "a".

For instance:

America is pronounced "Americ-r"
Mama is pronounced "Mom-r"
Alaska is pronounced "Alask-r"
I've even heard Obama pronounced "Obam-r"

Is that a regional thing?

BTW- take heart in knowing that the British have the best accents. Nice work guys. Really well done.

This sounds more southern US than British to me. :hmm:

 

[Brigandier]

Just like all americans are fat and stupid eh? Obviously all stereotypes are completely accurate...

If the best thing one has to say is about your teeth, do they really say anything?

 

[zinfamous]

yeah i would say he's pretty serious, that's a real common thing.

still never heard of these fabricated 'r's though. sounds like a scottish and/or pirate thing.

'where you headed to, matey?'

'americAAARRRRRR!'




again...what? people from boston drop r's. get in the CAH so we can go to MAHket and get some AHHTichokes.

it's not rrrrrrrr.

it's a very simply, very pointed "r." that's it.

you guys are inventing something that we are not discussing, then tossing it out because it already doesn't exist.

It's "Chiner;" Not, "Chin-ARRRRRRRR"


but you're right on it not being a Boston thing. The Kennedy's didn't have a Bostonian accent--it was a cultivated, upper class, New England accent (see: Katherine Hepburn, George Plimpton). Bostonians drop their "r's," much like the English drop their "h's" at the beginning of words.

 

[zinfamous]

This sounds more southern US than British to me. :hmm:

maybe more Arkansas than "southern US."

but if there is one American dialect that would be known to have this, it would be the New England dialect. See: Kennedys, Mayor Quimby on the Simpsons (a Kennedy type).

 

[Locut0s]

The only think I can think of is that Brits often extend the vowel sound at the end of words. So America becomes Americah, though usually only slightly. This may be what people are referring to but it doesn't sound like an R to me.

 

[HAL9000]

If the best thing one has to say is about your teeth, do they really say anything?

Good point.

it's not rrrrrrrr.

it's a very simply, very pointed "r." that's it.

you guys are inventing something that we are not discussing, then tossing it out because it already doesn't exist.

It's "Chiner;" Not, "Chin-ARRRRRRRR"

I've never heard anyone pronounce China either of the above. I don't know anyone who pronounces the R at the end of a word, except of changing the sound of a vowel slightly.

 

[Brigandier]

maybe more Arkansas than "southern US."

but if there is one American dialect that would be known to have this, it would be the New England dialect. See: Kennedys, Mayor Quimby on the Simpsons (a Kennedy type).

/this. There are many subtypes of the ENGLISH dialect that exhibit this trait, it's not confined to one area, but it is not nonexistent, either.

Mayor Quimby is the first person I thought of when I read this thread.

 

[Arkaign]

Good point.



I've never heard anyone pronounce China either of the above. I don't know anyone who pronounces the R at the end of a word, except of changing the sound of a vowel slightly.

It's a real sound, and it is really said that way. Hilariously, I had a deaf friend comment on this while watching something about 15 years back, I think it was PBS with the BBC news or something like that. He was a lip reader to help him read what people were saying, and he noticed the distinct difference at the ends of those words and was wondering about it. Your lips make a distinctly different shape when you say 'China' ending on an 'ah' sound as opposed to 'China' ending on an 'er' sound.

 

[HAL9000]

It's a real sound, and it is really said that way. Hilariously, I had a deaf friend comment on this while watching something about 15 years back, I think it was PBS with the BBC news or something like that. He was a lip reader to help him read what people were saying, and he noticed the distinct difference at the ends of those words and was wondering about it. Your lips make a distinctly different shape when you say 'China' ending on an 'ah' sound as opposed to 'China' ending on an 'er' sound.

I'm going to need a youtube video to comment, because I don't think that without making an Arrrrr pirate noise at the end of a word, I couldn't add that "er" sound to the end of China.

 

[Arkaign]

I'm going to need a youtube video to comment, because I don't think that without making an Arrrrr pirate noise at the end of a word, I couldn't add that "er" sound to the end of China.

It's probably become subliminal to you by this time, as evidenced by your comment that you think Donner and Donna have the exact same sound.

It's not a hard R sound like 'ARE'

It's a soft R sound like 'er' Diner, Liner, Rhymer, etc.

 

[Brigandier]

It's a real sound, and it is really said that way. Hilariously, I had a deaf friend comment on this while watching something about 15 years back, I think it was PBS with the BBC news or something like that. He was a lip reader to help him read what people were saying, and he noticed the distinct difference at the ends of those words and was wondering about it. Your lips make a distinctly different shape when you say 'China' ending on an 'ah' sound as opposed to 'China' ending on an 'er' sound.

If you enunciate, at the end of the end of the A-sound in China, you can detect the beginnings of an r sound. It'd be interesting to study the dialects that elevate this slight r sound to a full blown r, and review their languages of origin, before English. My hypothesis would be that languages that elongate that r had languages of origin with r as a prominent sound.

 

[HAL9000]

It's probably become subliminal to you by this time, as evidenced by your comment that you think Donner and Donna have the exact same sound.

It's not a hard R sound like 'ARE'

It's a soft R sound like 'er' Diner, Liner, Rhymer, etc.

Yeah none of those have an R sound at the end for me, they sound the same as China, the only reason you don't hear the difference is because in America you have this "aaa" sound that we don't have, we have "aah" sounds instead, which I suppose you could misinterpret as an "arr" sound, without that kind of american "aaa" sound you could get confused, but I don't add an "errr" sound to the end of China.

 

[Arkaign]

If you enunciate, at the end of the end of the A-sound in China, you can detect the beginnings of an r sound. It'd be interesting to study the dialects that elevate this slight r sound to a full blown r, and review their languages of origin, before English. My hypothesis would be that languages that elongate that r had languages of origin with r as a prominent sound.

That would be interesting indeed. My dad is an obsessive linguist, maybe I'll bug him about this quandary sometime soon. He probably has around 400-500 volumes just on english and the IPA alone.

 

[Arkaign]

Yeah none of those have an R sound at the end for me, they sound the same as China, the only reason you don't hear the difference is because in America you have this "aaa" sound that we don't have, we have "aah" sounds instead, which I suppose you could misinterpret as an "arr" sound, without that kind of american "aaa" sound you could get confused, but I don't add an "errr" sound to the end of China.

It leads me to a vision of hilarity though. You could be talking about Donna and Donner, and have a hard time explaining to someone that you were talking about two different people entirely

 

[zinfamous]

proof:

Neckbeard is not English

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linking_and_intrusive_R


/thread

an example:

Other recognizable examples are the Beatles singing: "I saw-r-a film today, oh boy" in the song "A Day in the Life",

ha, article goes on to say that one notable non-rhotic dialect that does not feature the linking |r| is "Southern American English."



Boom! head shot!

 

[HAL9000]

It leads me to a vision of hilarity though. You could be talking about Donna and Donner, and have a hard time explaining to someone that you were talking about two different people entirely

Yeah they are the same name over here... It's like Jon and John, same name, different spelling.

 

[Locut0s]

I'm going to need a youtube video to comment, because I don't think that without making an Arrrrr pirate noise at the end of a word, I couldn't add that "er" sound to the end of China.

I'd like video too, though I can't hear it at work right now. I'm having a hard time "picturing" what this sounds like.

 

[HAL9000]

I'd like video too, though I can't hear it at work right now. I'm having a hard time "picturing" what this sounds like.

+1

 

[Arkaign]

I've got to head out at the moment, a quick search only turns up what i believe to be fully reasonable and correct pronunciations such as this :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nuw6eWEXnrk

But I'm not imagining it, countless people online have noticed and comment on it, and it's distinct such as the sound of Donner vs. Donna over here.