Mere hours after I write about discovering a new R sound (thanks to Michael Rosen), I’ve just thought of a fifth R sound that Mr Rosen seems to have overlooked!
This is one you hear around the Liverpool area. To say it, you put the tip of your tongue very low behind the bottom teeth at the front of your mouth, and sort of very briefly go “eurgh”. I promise you that when you hear it in context, it sounds like an R.
This sound is most often heard when people with quite a marked Liverpudlian accent speak quite slowly and emphatically, so who better to demonstrate than John Bishop. I’ve found a clip here for you to watch where he conveniently says the word fridge about fifty times; I don’t think he uses that special new R every single time, but listen out and you’ll hear it.
Well done, Liverpool, for going beyond even Michael Rosen’s knowledge of pronunciation!
