British RP is Non-Rhotic!

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Rhotic & Non-Rhotic Accents

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Rhotic accents are accents in which /r/ is pronounced. For example "Car" has retained the original pronunciation /karr/.  

Non-rhotic accents lose /r/. For example Car (Carr) becomes /ka:/  

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1) Speakers of Non-Rhotic dialects do so under certain conditions. Speakers drop r in a word when it follows a vowel, and would therefore not pronounce the r in the following words:

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Start, Heart, Far

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2) But they would pronounce r in these words, because r does not follow a vowel:

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Run, Drain, Frog

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3) English also retains a final r when the following word begins with a vowel. 

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Far-out in the countryside

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4) Occasionally, /r/ is used to join words together. This is called "Intrusive /r/"

I saw(r) a film

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How to Pronounce /r/

1. Purse your lips into a relaxed "o" shape with your jaw slightly open and no teeth touching.

2. Put the tip of your tongue in the air inside your mouth

3. Bring the inside of your bottom lip up to your top front teeth

4. Open and close this position by saying "ahhh" or "rrrr"  

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Let's Practice!

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