Retroflex Liquid /r/

 

Retroflex Liquid /r/ 

The other liquid is /r/. The sound can be made in two different ways, retroflexively or retractively. The retroflexive way is to make the tip of the tongue curled back around the palatal area, and say “RRRR”. The back of the tongue stays low. This way of making the /r/ sound is reflected by the name retroflex liquid. The retractive way of making the /r/ sound is to raise the back of the tongue. The center of the back of the tongue is lower and the air travels through this groove to create the sound. The tip of the tongue may point upward, or may be left low, but never touches any part of the mouth. To make /r/ salient, you need to make the /r/ sound as far back in the mouth as you can.

Prevocalic R

Like the lateral liquid /l/, /r/ can be used as a pure consonant or a syllabic consonant. So there are two different sounds of /r/: /r/ and /ər/. The consonant /r/ sound is pronounced when R comes before a vowel in a syllable, that is, the beginning sound of a syllable. Thus, a consonant /r/ is often called the prevocalic R.

Prevocalic R words

These words begin with a prevocalic R, that is, a consonant /r/ sound:

run, rice, rat, rag, rake, red, wrist, raisin, rabbit, ribbon, radio, rocket, ranch, rich, race, ring, rain, rug, ran, write, rip, recess, rock, read, rap

 

R bland words

These words are R consonant clusters. Naturally,  /r/ is sounded as a prevocalic R. 

BR blends:

bread, broom, brother, brick, bridge, breakfast, breathe 

CR blends:

  crayon, crawl, crab, cry, crib, crane 

DR blends:

  dry, drive, draw, drink, drum, dream, dragon 

FR blends:

freckles, friend, frozen, frog, fruit, Friday, frame 

GR blends:

grandpa, greet, grass, groceries, grapes, grill 

TR blends:

tree, triangle, truck, treasure, trash, train, traffic, tractor, truth, tree

SHR blends: 

shred, shredded, shrimp, shrug, Shrek

STR blends: 

strike, stripe, stroller, stranger, stronger

SPR blends:

spry, sprite, sprint

THR blends: 

thread, three, throw, thrift, throng

 

In these words with RH and WR, only /r/ is sounded:

rhinoceros, rhyme, rhythm, write, wrong, wrack, wraith, wrangle, wrap, wreath, wren, wrench, wrestle, wrinkle, wrist, writ, wrought