Consonants /r/

The phonetic realizations and distributions of /r/ vary considerably between different northern dialects. In two areas of the North, /r/ was attested in preconsonantal environments in the SED. These rhotic areas were found in Lancashire and in Northumberland. In the latter case, there was more r-coloring (in which the articulation of the vowel anticipates the position of the /r/, but the consonant is not fully realized) than full articulation of /r/. In modern dialects, rhoticity is more likely to be found in north Northumberland, which borders (rhotic) Scotland, than further south, and it would certainly not be found in Newcastle. In Lancashire, rhoticity is still found in central Lancashire, including some of the towns within Greater Manchester, but not in the City of Manchester itself, except perhaps in the speech of older people. The dialect of Liverpool was not rhotic even at the time when the SED data was collected: this lack of rhoticity has been one of the features distinguishing Liverpool from its Lancashire hinterland, but, increasingly, rhoticity is being lost even in Lancashire.

Where speakers in Lancashire and Northumberland are rhotic, the quality of the /r/ or /r/-coloring is distinct in each area. In Northumberland, the traditional dialect has a uvular , known as the Northumbrian burr. As the quote indicates, this pronunciation has been a source of pride to Northumbrians, many of whom today will perform the burr as a party-trick even though they would not use it in everyday speech. In the 18^th century, the burr was heard in Durham and Newcastle as well as Northumberland; however, Påhlsson’s (1972) study shows that, even in north Northumberland, the burr is now recessive, confined as it is mainly to the speech of older, working-class males in rural or fishing communities. The influence of the burr remains in the burr-modified vowel of NURSE.

In Lancashire, the /r/ is a retroflex , especially in rhotic accents, but in Liverpool and the surrounding areas of Lancashire and Cheshire, the /r/ is a flap .