The Dreaded "R" Sound

The r sound is one of the most difficult sounds to make for ESL students. In American English, the /r/ sound is rhotic. When speaking with the General American Accent, Americans use a rhotic /r/, which means we say it in all parts of the word, (beginning, middle, and end) including when it occurs after a vowel sound. This is one of the major differences among accents of English. I tell my students, where you see an /r/ written, pronounce the /r/ sound. The key is to remember that vocalic /r/ has 5 different positions, as it is controlled by vowels, which modifies it's shape each time. ie: or, ar, er, ir, ur.

The /r/ sound and the /l/ sound are difficult because they are both "liquid". This simply means there is no hard place to put your tongue tip (except for the L at a words beginning, "la") and as you say the letter your mouth and tongue are moving. I spend time at the beginning of every class doing rudimentary pronunciation practice, usually by means of a "tongue twister". Invariably when we practice the /r/ sound we end up making faces at each other and making weird noises as I attempt to demonstrate and teach the /r/ sound.
Here are some tips.

• I tell my students: Sweep the roof of your mouth(front to back) with your tongue saying 'ah'. When I say stop, keep your tongue in that position and continue vocalization. Then Bring the tip down slightly. The tip doesn't touch any part of the mouth at this point.
• make a bowl or cup shape with your tongue with a flexing action as if your making a muscle.
• the cup shaped sides of your tongue touch the side of your mouth just above the back molar area.
• the front of the tongue can be up or down just not touching
• say "sh," then stop, but maintain the tongue position, and then drop the tip of the tongue slightly relax your jaw and say /r/. This can lead to say, "sh...r" (sure)

Pronunciation: The "r" Sound

Minimal Pairs

ray	lay	way	fire	file	marrow	mellow
reed	lead	weed	steer	steel	crew	clue
rain	lain	wane	tear	teal	bereave	believe
rash	lash		trier	trial	berated	belated
rind	wind		pyre	pile
rest	lest

Challenging Words

rhyme	ear	wary	retrieving
care	ire	ritual	irrelevant
rail	wire	ogre	relentless
rare	flare	peril	rollover
roar	hair	wristwatch	labyrinth
roll	arrow	infringe	occurrence
war	really	rowing
strip	heirloom

In Phrases

rest and relaxation	not a care in the world	violent behavior
live and let live	a calendar girl	All's well that ends well
road rage	without rhyme or reason	twenty-seventh
get your wires crossed	rest assured	anniversary
101 West Redwood Road	random access memory	liven up
road rally	verifiable evidence	wide variety

Dialogue

A: What's wrong?

B: Nothing. Just rehearsing my lines.

A: What for? Are you performing in a play?

B: It's called "The Grapes of Wrath."

A: Never heard of it.

B: Really? It's the most popular play around.

A: Are you memorizing or just trying to remember?

B: I'm trying to concentrate.

B: Sorry.