Question 1 (Consolidate)
We saw in Section 10.7 that /r/ often surfaces between vowels as an additional element of connected (non-rhotic) speech. In the following examples, identify the position in which /r/ could occur as the result of this liaison, and decide whether each example is an instance of linking r or intrusive r. Do you notice anything else of interest?
| 1 | ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’ |
| 2 | ‘a galaxy far far away’ |
| 3 | banana oil |
| 4 | store up trouble |
| 5 | forearm |
| 6 | sawing some wood |
| 7 | law-abiding |
| 8 | five-star event |
Answer/discussion
The locations of linking r (indicated by ↓):
| 1 | ‘The Murder↓of Roger↓Ackroyd’ |
| 2 | ‘a galaxy far far↓away’ |
| 4 | store↓up trouble |
| 5 | fore↓arm |
| 8 | five-star↓event |
The locations of intrusive r:
| 3 | banana↓oil |
| 6 | saw↓ing some wood |
| 7 | law↓-abiding |
Example 1 (the title of a novel by Agatha Christie) has two possibilities for linking r. All six of the linking r locations occur between a word that would end in [-r] in a rhotic accent, but isn’t usually articulated in RP. However, the /r/ would definitely surface in an inflected or derived form of some of these words, namely murderer, storing and starring.
Of the examples of intrusive r, 6 and 7 show that /r/ can surface not just between words in connected speech, but within a word (derived, compound or inflected) where there is no consonant at a syllable boundary.
Question 2 (Explore)
The segment /r/ is not the only sound that occurs in liaison. Two other approximants, /j/ and /w/, can also perform a linking function, although usually only a faint quality of these sounds is detectable. From the following examples, work out the phonological contexts in which /j/ and /w/ can occur, focussing on the vowels that precede them. (They are represented below with superscript symbols.)
| /j/ | free up | [friːj ʌp] |
| | fly over London | [flaɪj əʊvə lʌndn̩] |
| | don’t annoy Anna | [dəʊnt ənɔɪj ænə] |
| /j/, /w/ | staying power | [steɪjɪŋ paʊwə] |
| /w/ | queue up | [kjuːw ʌp] |
| | plough on | [plaʊw ɒn] |
| | hello everyone | [hələʊw evriwʌn] |
Answer/discussion
The palatal approximant /j/ can be found after the long vowel /iː/ or after the short vowel /ɪ/ when it occurs as the second element in a diphthong. These vowels are both front vowels articulated with the tongue close to the hard palate, so the palatal approximant arises naturally in this position.
Similarly, the bilabial approximant /w/ is found after the long vowel /uː/ or after the short vowel /ʊ/ when it occurs as the second element in a diphthong. Again, the tongue is raised towards the palate for these vowels, but the fact they are both back vowels causes /w/, which has a secondary velar quality, to surface as the linking segment.
