Pronouncing the American "R"

by Jennie Parker

In my experience, I have found that speakers of almost any other first language find pronouncing the American “r” (/r/) difficult, no matter where it appears in a word.  Try this tongue-twister:
 
Ray Rag ran across a rough road. Across a rough road Ray Rag ran. Where is the rough road Ray Rag ran across?

Was it difficult? If so, let’s work on tongue and lip placement when making the American /r/ sound. Then we’ll take a look at the vowel sounds that precede “r.”

First, your tongue should be high in the mouth and pulled back with the sides of your tongue touching the inside of your back molars. To help with this positioning, make the /i/ sound, as in "seed" or "be." Notice the contact your tongue makes with your mouth. Hold the /i/ sound, and then slide your tongue back, along the inside of your upper teeth. The /i/ sound will change to /r/. Do this a few times, and /i/ + /r/ will start to sound like "ear."

​Second, there should be no trilling or rolling of the tongue, as in the Spanish “rr” sound. In other words, you should feel no vibration of the tongue. Focus on keeping the tongue steady.  Say the following words, focusing on the placement of your tongue:          red          art          car          ready          artist          barber

​Next, your lips should be puckered – not quite a kiss – more like “duck face.”

Now, try the following words, focusing both on your tongue and the position of your lips:         
​rat          fort          pear         
riddle          lizard          razor

If you are more accustomed to British English, you may be softening or omitting the /r/ at the end of a syllable. In British English, when “r” comes after a vowel in the same syllable (as in star, herd, hornet), the /r/ is omitted. However, in American English, the “r” is always pronounced. Words ending in “r,” for example, should leave you with “duck face.”

Another tricky aspect of the American “r” is the vowel that comes before it. As you know, the pronunciation of vowels in English is tricky; while there are only five vowels, there are approximately 14 vowel sounds. However, when a vowel comes before an “r,” its sound is somewhat distorted; we call these “r-colored vowels.” In American English, there are only four sounds that a vowel + r make, but many different spellings, as the chart below illustrates. Practice these words, keeping in mind that each row reflects the same sound. And note that words like "ear" are formed /iɚ/ but sometimes represented as a fifth r-colored vowel.

ɚ		er matter	ar dollar	ir stir	our journal	or doctor	ur burn	ear pearl
ɑɾ		ar star	er sergeant	ear heart
ɔɾ		ore store	or or	oar oar
ɛɾ		air stair	are dare	ear pear	ere there	eir heir	ayer prayer

Please let me know in the comments whether this blog was helpful. And also let me know if you’re having trouble with other sounds; they could be a future blog post! For live in-person assistance with /r/ and other sounds, please see our Lunch Break: Pronunciation Workshop schedule and our private training services.