R-dropping facts for kids

R-dropping happens to English-speakers when the "r" sound is not pronounced after a vowel. Then the words "car" and "card" both sound like "cah" and "cahd". That happens for most speakers in England and some speakers in the United States, especially in the Boston area. They usually pronounce "r" when the next word begins with a vowel as in "car is". For them, "spa" and "spar" sound alike.

The pronunciation of the R is kept in the Scottish, Irish and most of the U.S. and Canada versions of spoken English. The R-droppers include most of England, Wales, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

The issue of how the R is used is called rhoticity by linguists.

Related pages

• wiktionary for rhotic
• wiktionary for non-rhotic

Images for kids

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  Red areas indicate where rural English accents were rhotic in the 1950s.

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  Red areas are where English dialects of the late 20th century were rhotic.

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  Red dots show major U.S. cities where the 2006 Atlas of North American English found 50% or higher non-rhotic speech in at least one white speaker within their data sample. (Non-rhotic speech may be found in speakers of African-American English throughout the country.)

See also

In Spanish: Acento rótico y no rótico para niños