The name of the letter in Latin was "er" (/ɛr/), following the pattern of other letters representing continuants, such as F, L, M, N, and S (fff, lll, mmm, nnn, rrr, sss).
Compared to other languages, consonants in English don't vary that much from dialect to dialect. Our vowels are all over the map, but our consonants don't change much. For example, the English "m" hasn't budged since the days of Old English. By contrast, the "ou" vowel in house has gone through hundreds of permutations.
There is one exception to this generalization: the letter "r." "R" represents a rhotic consonant in American English. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) uses several variations of the letter to represent the different rhotic consonants. This sound is subject to all kinds of variants throughout the English-speaking world. There are (1) trilled r's, (2) approximant r's, (3) tapped r's, and (4) retroflex r's.
(1) The phone [r] represents the Alveolar Trill - some dialects of British English: curd (BrE); and Spanish: rio, perro, (Spanish).
This is like the "r" in Spanish, Russian or Italian. In English you don't hear this commonly except in a few strong Scottish or Welsh English speakers.
(2) The phone [ɹ] represents the Alveolar Approximant - most varieties in English: read (AmE).
This is probably the most common type of "r" in English. It’s created by placing the tip of the tongue close the ridge just behind the top row of teeth. You can hear this "r" in numerous British, American, Irish and Australian accents.
(3) The phone [ɾ] represents the Alveolar flap / Alveolar tap - most American English: water /ˈwɑ:tɚ/ (the /t/ sounds [ɾ]) (AmE); pero (Spanish).
This is the tapped "r" that you hear in the Spanish word "cara." This is fairly common in Scotland and many part of Northern England. (see The Various " t " Sounds of American English)
(4) The phone [ɻ] Retroflex Approximant - some English dialects: red (AmE dialects).
Similar to the velar approximant described above. It is pronounced the same way, except the tongue is curved back just behind the alveolar ridge. You hear this most commonly in American and some Irish accents.
Syllabic Vowel-r
The letter "r" has a fifth kind of variants called Syllabic Vowel-r represented with the sound schwa [ə] and the phone [r] sound next to each other to form the [ər] sound represented with this phoneme /ɚ/. Here the letter "r" is a vowel.
The vowel /ɚ/ sound is one of the 14 vowel sounds in American English (or one of the 15 vowel sounds in English)
When a vowel is followed by an "r", it makes a special sound (see "Syllabic Vowel-r". These are called r-controlled vowels, or r-colored vowels and the sound is /ɚ/ (pronunciation: [ər]; spelling pronunciation: /ɚ/).
The sound of syllabic or vowel-r, /ɚ/, is third highest in general usage among the fifteen vowel sounds in English.
British English (BrE) and American English (AmE) Letter "R"
This is probably the most important difference between British English (BrE) and American English (AmE). British people only pronounce the letter "r" when it is followed by a vowel. American people pronounce this letter always: sorry /ˈsɑri/ (AmE), /sɒrɪ/ (BrE); teacher /ˈti:tʃɚ/ (AmE), /ti:tʃə/ (BrE). The sound /r/ has usually changed the pronunciations of the previous vowel. This is the table of changes that explain the present pronunciation of many words:
| Letters - | Without “r” - | Examples - | With “r” - | Examples |
| A | æ | can | ɑɚ | car |
| E | ɛ | pen | ɚ | person |
| I | ɪ | bid | ɚ | bird |
| O | ɑ: | stop | oɚ | fork |
| U | ʌ | cup | ɚ | purse |
| EE | i: | feel | iɚ | beer |
| EA | i: | mean | eɚ iɚ | bear fear |
| OO | ʊ u: | took food | oɚ | door |
| OU | aʊ | house | awɚ | hour |
| AI | eɪ | day | eɚ | pair |
In all these examples with "r", AmE pronounces the "r" and BrE doesn't, but both of them present the same change in the vowel before the "R". So this letter, silent or not, is marking a change in the previous vowel.
R SOUND RULES
There are two main difference sounds for the letter "r" in American English:
1- [ɹ] When the letter "r" is an consonant such as ruby /ˈruːbi/ or trace /ˈtreɪs/.
3- [ər] When the letter "r" vowels sound such as whatever /wɑtˈɛvɚ/.
In American English learner's dictionaries frequently use the phoneme /r/ instead of the Alveolar Approximant phone [ɹ]; this means the pronunciation is [ɹ] but the spelling used is /r/ as in 1- above. Also, it's used the spelling pronunciation /ɚ/ for the Syllabic Vowel-r as in 2- above.
The Alveolar flap or also called Alveolar tap [ɾ] is a pronunciation (no a spelling pronunciation) for most American English in some words with letters "t" and "d" such as later /ˈleɪtɚ/ or letter /ˈlɛtɚ/ and grader /ˈgreɪdɚ/ or daddy /ˈdædi/.
1- /r/ Sound
(1) R at the beginning of a word: red /ˈrɛd/ -
(2) R at the beginning of a syllable: cor·rect /kəˈrɛkt/ -
(3) R in consonant clusters: bread /ˈbrɛd/ -
(4) R in "wr" spelling at the beginning of a word or immediately after a prefix: write /ˈraɪt/; rewrite /riˈraɪt/ -
(5) R between vowels in words with two or more syllables, except silent "e": ar·ea /ˈerijə/; (silent "e") there /ˈðeɚ/ -
(6) R in "ary" spelling suffixes : con·trary /ˈkɑ:nˌtreri/ -
2- /ɚ/ Sound
Schwa + [r] Sound - [ər] (/ɚ/)
(7) R in "er," "ir," "ur," spelling; "ear" spelling before consonant; and "wor" spelling: verb /ˈvɚb/; girl /ˈgɚl/; burn /ˈbɚn/; learn /ˈlɚn/; word /ˈwɚd/ -
(8) R in "ure" spelling, except words with insertion /j/): mea·sure /ˈmɛʒɚ/; (insertion /j/) fig·ure /ˈfɪgjɚ/ -
Vowel + Schwa + [r] Sounds - [aər] [eər] [iər] [oər] (/ɑɚ/, /eɚ/, /iɚ/, /oɚ/)
(9) R in "ar" spelling: star /ˈstɑɚ/ -
(10) R in "ire" with silent "e" spelling with insertion /j/ due to long ī: fire /ˈfajɚ/ -
(11) R in "air" spelling; and "are" with silent "e" spelling: stair /ˈsteɚ/; rare /ˈreɚ/ -
(12) R in "ere" with silent "e" spelling; and "ear" spelling except before consonant- see (7): here /ˈhiɚ/; hear /ˈhiɚ/ -
(13) R in "eer" spelling suffixes: en·gi·neer /ˌɛnʤəˈniɚ/ -
(14) R in "or," "ore," "oar," "oor," "our," "war,"; and "or" before consonant spelling: corn /ˈkoɚn/; more /ˈmoɚ/; board /ˈboɚd/; door /ˈdoɚ/; course /ˈkoɚs/; warm /ˈwoɚm/; force /ˈfoɚs/ -
(15) R in non-phonetic "eir," "erri," spelling words: their /ˈðeɚ/; where /ˈweɚ/; were /wɚ/; ste·reo /ˈsterijoʊ/; ter·ri·ble /ˈterəbəl/ -
SUMMARY [R] SOUND
[R] as in red, rarity, car, beard. What is transcribed here as [r] in reality represents several distinct sounds.
- Before a stressed vowel [r] denotes a continuant produced with the tongue tip slightly behind the teethridge. This sound is usually voiceless when it follows a voiceless stop, as in pray, tree, and cram.
- After a vowel in the same syllable [r] is most often a semivowel characterized by retroflexion of the tongue tip. The sequences /ar/, /er/, /ir/, /or/, /ur/, and /ər/ may then be considered diphthongs.
- In some speech the retroflexion of the [r] occurs throughout the articulation of the vowel, but in other cases the first vowel glides into a retroflex articulation. In the latter cases a brief transition vowel is sometimes heard; this variable and nondistinctive glide is not transcribed some times, but is considered implicit in the symbol /r/.
- In Received Pronunciation [r] is sometimes pronounced as a flap in the same contexts in which /t/ and /d/ occur as flaps in American English. Occasionally the flap may be heard after consonants, as in bright and grow.
- In other dialects of British English, particularly Scottish, [r] may be pronounced as an alveolar trill or as a uvular trill.
- In some dialects, especially those of the southeastern U.S., eastern New England, New York City, and southern England, [r] is not pronounced after a vowel in the same syllable. This is often, if somewhat misleadingly, referred to as r-dropping. In these dialects [r] is pronounced as a nonsyllabic /ɚ/ when it occurs in these positions or there may be no sound corresponding to the [r], thus beard, corn, and assured may be pronounced as /ˈbiɚd/, /ˈkoɚn/, and /əˈʃuɚd/ or, usually with some lengthening of the vowel sound, as /ˈbid/, /ˈkon/, and /əˈʃud/.
- In car, card, and cart those who do not pronounce [r] generally have a vowel which we would transcribe as /ɑ:/, usually pronounced with some lengthening and without a following /ɚ/.
- The stressed vowel of bird and hurt in r-dropping speech is similar to the vowel used by r-keepers in the same words but without the simultaneous raising of the center and/or tip of the tongue.
- In the U.S. most speakers of r-dropping dialects will pronounce [r] before consonants in some words or in some contexts. Because it is determined by the phonetic context, r-dropping is not explicitly represented in some dictionaries; speakers of r-dropping dialects will automatically substitute the sounds appropriate to their own speech.
- In American learner's dictionaries have five widely recognized r-controlled-vowels: /ɚ/, /ɑɚ/, /eɚ/, /iɚ/, /oɚ/ and /uɚ/ such as stir, star, stair, steer, store, and stour.
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