R-linking
The phenomenon of r-linking is based on the fact that, by default, in Standard British English (though not in many other accents of English), /r/ in syllable final position is not pronounced, e.g. car /kɑː/. R-linking takes place when a syllable ends with one of the following vowel sounds: /ɑː/, /ɔː/, /ɜː/, /ə/, or any of the diphthongs that finish with a schwa, e.g. /eə/, /ɪə/ and /ʊə/, and the next syllable starts with any vowel sound. This may take place within single words, e.g.
| Care | /keə/ |
| Caring | /keərɪŋ/ |
or between word boundaries, e.g.
| Care about | /keər əbaʊt/ |
Note that, while a letter 'r' often appears in the spelling of the vowel sounds listed above, this is not always the case. For example, a common orthographic realisation of /ɔː/ is [aw], e.g. saw, draw, paw, similarly the schwa, /ə/ has spellings that don't include 'r', e.g. Australia, Austria. In these cases r-linking also takes place, even though there are those who would object to such pronunciations.
| Draw all the flowers | /drɔːr ɔːl ðə flaʊəz/ |
| There's a comma after that | /ðəz ə kɒmər ɑːftə θæt/ |
| Australia or New Zealand | /ɒsˈtreɪlɪər ɔː njuː ˈziːln̩d/ |
Here are some more examples:
| It's near enough | /ɪts nɪər ɪˈnʌf/ |
| It's quite far away | /ɪts kwaɪt fɑːr əˈweɪ/ |
| The doctor agrees | /ðə dɒktər əˈgriːz/ |
| There are three places | /ðər ə ˈθriː ˈpleɪsɪz/ |
| There's a tour along the river | /ðəz ə tʊər əˈlɒŋ ðə ˈrɪvə/ |
| It's made of fur and leather | /ɪts meɪd əv ˈfɜːr ən ˈleðə/ |
| Law and order | /lɔːr ən ɔːdə/ |
| The actor and playwright | /ðɪ ˈæktər ən ˈpleɪraɪt/ |
| I can't hear anything | /aɪ ˈkɑːn ˈhɪər enɪθɪŋ/ |