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Why do native speakers pronounce "Anna and the King" as "Annarand the King?" Why do they put r in between the two a's? Why not use the "y" glide?

NVZ
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Raff
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  • See this question about the intrusive "r" http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/110227/non-rhotic-dialects-and-intrusive-r Possible duplicate – Centaurus Apr 03 '17 at 14:57
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    Adding an R to that phrase is not common in most of the American dialects I have been exposed to. – mmyers Apr 03 '17 at 16:31
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    Not even Americans put a "y" glide in "Anna and the King". We might put a glottal stop in to separate the two vowels, but a "y" glide? That would sound horrible. – Peter Shor Apr 03 '17 at 17:02
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    Native to where? – Gaurav Apr 03 '17 at 18:02
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    In my school days that was called the "linking r": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linking_and_intrusive_R#Linking_R (I'm not sure whether this applies to the example, or only to words where an ending r is usually not pronounced). –  Apr 03 '17 at 18:09
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    @Araucaria Rhotic doesn't mean that there are no r sounds, only that they are usually dropped. Part of many standard non-rhotic accents, such as RP, is that the r is kept if it precedes a vowel. This rule is then generalized to other words that normally don't have an "r" if they proceed a vowel, causing the Linking-R phenomenon. So contrary to what you say, this can only apply to non-rhotic accents. Though not all of them have this feature. Southern American English is a notable exception to the linking-r phenomenon present in most non-rhotic accents. – Aiaimai Apr 03 '17 at 18:59
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    Normally if I heard that pronunciation, absent any other clues, I would (as a Midwest US English speaker) assume the individual talking was speaking a non-rhotic British dialect. – Hot Licks Apr 03 '17 at 21:21
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    @m69 This isn't the linking r (that's when there really is an /r/ underlyingly, as in car engine), but the other one, the intrusive r. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Apr 03 '17 at 22:00
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    Not only is this highly dialect-dependent, people who are native speakers of dialects that do it may flat-out deny that they are doing any such thing, and insist that they cannot hear any 'r' if you record them doing it and play it back to them. – zwol Apr 03 '17 at 22:14
  • @JanusBahsJacquet you're right; I should have read the whole article instead of just the one paragraph. –  Apr 03 '17 at 22:14
  • I noticed this in my own speech and was very confused by it because there's a strange level of non-rhotic-pride generated when faced with the dominance of American culture. It was torn down a little by the discovery of insidious Rs in my own language. – Joel Roberts Apr 03 '17 at 22:57
  • @Aiaimai Oops, I flipped rhotic and non-rhotic in my post and comment (was tired). – Araucaria - Him Apr 03 '17 at 23:35
  • This is fairly common in Australian English – Jorg Apr 04 '17 at 02:27
  • @Araucaria - You must have had your mind on arhotica at the time. – Hot Licks Apr 04 '17 at 22:01
  • @HotLicks How did you know? – Araucaria - Him Apr 04 '17 at 22:13

1 Answers1

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In non-rhotic varieties of English, such as Southern Standard British English (also known as RP), a small non-phonetic glide is commonly thought to separate two vowels across a word boundary. The two glides that are thought to be used are mini articulations of [j] and [w] (the sounds at the beginning of the words yoyo and window). Alternatively, such speakers may use an /r/ to separate the vowel at the end of a word from another following vowel. Here are some examples:

  • The end /ðijend/ "Thee yend"
  • Two uzies /tu:wu:zi:z/ "Two wuzies"
  • Law and order /lɔ:r ən ɔ:də/ "Lawran order"

Which sounds are used where:

You might notice that a [j] sound (the Y in yoyo), is very like the vowel [i] in bee /bi:/, and also similar to the vowel [ɪ] in kit /kɪt/. These three sounds may all be phonetically characterised as high front vowel sounds. If the vowel at the end of the first word ends as a high front vowel (if it ends with an /i:/ or a dipthong ending in /ɪ/) then a [j]-glide may be percieved between the two words. This is what we see in the string:

  • /ðijend/ "thee yend"

You might also notice that [w] is very similar to the [u] and [ʊ] vowels. These are all phonetically high back vowels. If the vowel at the end of the first word has a high back quality, then a [w]-glide may be perceived between the two vowels. This is what we see in the string:

  • /tu:wu:zi:z/ "Two wuzies"

In all other cases—where the vowel is therefore a non-high vowel—an /r/ may be used to separate the two syllables. This is what we see in the string:

  • Law and order /lɔ:r ən ɔ:də/ "Lawran order"

The first word law ends in a non-high back vowel, /ɔ:/, and it is this which provides the right conditions for the use of an intrusive /r/.

The Original Poster's question:

In the string Anna and the first word ends with a schwa vowel, /ə/. This is a mid, central vowel, and is therefore not a high vowel. This rules out a [j] or [w] glide and at the same time allows for an intrusive /r/. Notice that this intrusive /r/ is not mandatory, and at one time was sneered at by prescriptivists—although those days have now passed.

Araucaria - Him
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