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 /kɑ:/. R-linking takes place when a syllable ends with one of the following vowel sounds: /ɑ:/, /ɔ:/, /ɜ:/, /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 /ɔ:/ 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 | /drɔ:r ɔ:l ðə flaʊəz/ | |
| There's a comma after that | /ðəz ə kɒmər ɑ:ftə θæt/ | |
| Australia or New Zealand | /ɒsˈtreɪlɪər ɔ: nju: ˈzi:ln̩d/ |
Here are some more examples:
| It's near enough | /ɪts nɪər ɪˈnʌf/ | |
| It's quite far away | /ɪts kwaɪt fɑ:r əˈweɪ/ | |
| The doctor agrees | /ðə dɒktər əˈgri:z/ | |
| There are three places | /ðər ə ˈθri: ˈpleɪsɪz/ | |
| There's a tour along the river | /ðəz ə tʊər əlɒŋ ðə ˈrɪvə/ | |
| It's made of fur and leather | /ɪts meɪd əv ˈfɜ:r ən ˈleðə/ | |
| Law and order | /lɔ:r ən ɔ:də/ | |
| The actor and playwright | /ðɪ ˈæktər ən ˈpleɪraɪt/ | |
| I can't hear anything | /aɪ kɑ:n hɪər enɪθɪŋ/ |