For April 2025, Paul is going solo, discussing one of his favorite topics: rhoticity, or how the letter R is pronounced in words. He addresses many aspects of how the letter is used in several accents and dialects but focuses mostly on how R is sounded before and after a vowel. And he compares rhotic with non-rhotic speech.

For more information on the accents and dialects discussed in this podcast, visit this page. And to access Paul’s and Eric Armstrong’s rhoticity research, R and Its Articulation, go here. And don’t forget to visit the free IPA charts.

Other podcast episodes addressing rhoticity include episode 1 (Shakespeare’s Original Pronunciation), episode 12 (The Australian Dialect of English), episode 22 (Received Pronunciation), episode 61 (Irish: A Language in Danger), episode 70 (How American English Got Its Start), and episode 78 (Transatlantic and Old Movie Dialects).

And check out these related videos, the first from fellow dialect coach and IDEA editor Jim Johnson:

(Bach’s Cello Suite #1 in G Major BMV 1007 Prelude (by Ivan Dolgunov) is courtesy of Jamendo Licensing.)

The post Episode 87 (Rhoticity: Watch Your R’s) first appeared on Paul Meier Dialect Services.

Episode 87 (Rhoticity: Watch Your R's)