Consonants /r/

The Welsh language has two r phonemes: a voiced alveolar rolled /r/, which is sometimes realized as a flap  and sometimes, particularly in the Bala area, north Wales, as a uvular rolled [R] or uvular fricative  ; and a voiceless alveolar rolled  ( <rh> in ordinary orthography). Welsh  impacts little on Welsh English, but rolled [r] realizations occur often in the spoken English of north and south Wales, excepting the border areas, and the Gower Peninsula and south Pembrokeshire, where an approximant  dominates. There is also a high frequency of flapped  in Welsh English, particularly in traditional Welsh-speaking areas, and this can be interpreted as further evidence of Welsh influence on Welsh English /r/. Uvular realizations of Welsh English /r/ are confined to the north, where they are rare and possibly usually idiolectal.

Orthographic r is always articulated in the Welsh language, in all word-positions, and this practice is carried over at times into Welsh English, resulting in post-vocalic /r/ word-medially and word-finally in the north and the south, this rhoticity being centred in the traditional Welsh-speaking areas in the west half of Wales. This Welsh-influenced rhoticity in NURSE, SQUARE, START, NORTH, FORCE, BOAR sometimes leads to a short vowel followed by /r/ (Parry 1999: 14–17), such as:  in first, third, work in western mid Wales; /εr/ in heard (a spelling pronunciation) and in chair, mare, pears in pockets in the west; /ar ~ ar/ in arm, farmer, farthing in the west;  in forks, morning and in boar, four a few times in north, mid and west Wales. Occasionally the short vowel minus following /r/ is recorded. Rhotic forms with long vowels are common in NURSE, SQUARE, START, NORTH, FORCE, BOAR, with the general pattern as follows: long vowel followed by /r/ (that is, forms influenced by the Welsh pronunciation convention of always articulating orthographic r), widespread in the western half of Wales; long r-colored vowel without a following /r/ (that is, forms influenced by west of England accents), occurring in the mid- and south-eastern border areas, and in south Pembrokeshire and the Gower Peninsula.