Intrusive /r/

Tim Hi, I’m Tim and this is my pronunciation workshop. Here I’m gonna show you how English is really spoken. It’ll help you become a better listener and a more fluent speaker. Come on, let’s go inside.

Have you ever seen a ghost? No, of course you haven’t, because they don’t exist. But have you ever heard a sound that wasn’t there? Well, if you’ve listened to lots of real English, you probably have. We asked the people of London what they think is the most important thing the government should prioritise. This is what they said:

Voxpops I think law and order is important. Yes, I think law and order is important. Law and order is very important. We all think that law and order is important. I think law and order is very important.

Tim Meet my boys. ‘Law’ and ‘order’. Join them together with the word ‘and’ and you can hear another sound after the word ‘law’. Listen out for it.

Voxpops I think law and order is important. Yes, I think law and order is important. Law and order is very important. We all think that law and order is important. I think law and order is very important.

Tim In fluent speech, if a word ends in an /ɔː/ sound, like law and the next word begins in an /ə/, you’ll often hear a /r/ sound linking them together. Law-r-and order. Law-r-and order. ‘ Law-r-and order’ is easier to say than ‘law and order’. It flows better.

And this is called intrusion. Now this is a little bit controversial. It doesn’t happen in all accents and some people do say it’s not the proper way to speak. But it is something you will hear. Just remember the /r/ sound is not very strong. Here are some other examples:

Examples Can you draw a circle freehand? My dog hurt its paw on some broken glass. There was a flaw in the argument. I saw a good film last night.

Tim Right, so you’ve heard the examples, now it’s your turn. Are you ready to give it a try? Listen and repeat.

Examples Can you draw a circle freehand? My dog hurt its paw on some broken glass. There was a flaw in the argument. I saw a good film last night.

Tim How did you do? Well done. Now, if you want to read more about this topic, please visit our website bbclearningenglish.com. That’s it from the pronunciation workshop for this week. Bye.

Now, do you want a war or what? Ow!