How do I pronounce my r's with R hardening like they do in the Northern US accent?
R hardening
Pronounce them the same way at the end of a word as you do at the beginning.
At least here (that being Milwaukee, WI, since I assume you aren't a regular here), there definitely is such "hardening". Non-syllabic rhotics here consist of a laminal postalveolar (aka "bunched") rhotic and varying uvular rhotics. The laminal postalveolar rhotic shows up after laminal and coronal consonants (and to some extent at times utterance-initially), whereas uvular rhotics show up in all other positions.
Said uvular rhotics seem to consist of, on one hand, simple uvular approximants, and on the other hand, "hardened" pharyngealized uvular approximants or (optionally pharyngealized) uvular fricatives. (Note that I say "seem to" as I really cannot be certain about all this, as I have not pinned this down firmly with, say, spectral analysis and whatnot.) Said "hardened" rhotics seem to show up in syllable codas and after dorsal consonants, with uvular fricatives primarily being associated with the latter case. Also note that such "hardened" rhotics primarily show up when speaking carefully/emphatically.
Note though that, on the other hand, "normal" uvular approximants can be realized so weakly at times that they will sporadically become more like [6] or [@] than rhotics, and at least from my experience may be perceived as such. This contrasts with such "hardened" rhotics, which even I sometimes perceive as being rather strong, to say the least.
Said uvular rhotics seem to consist of, on one hand, simple uvular approximants, and on the other hand, "hardened" pharyngealized uvular approximants or (optionally pharyngealized) uvular fricatives. (Note that I say "seem to" as I really cannot be certain about all this, as I have not pinned this down firmly with, say, spectral analysis and whatnot.) Said "hardened" rhotics seem to show up in syllable codas and after dorsal consonants, with uvular fricatives primarily being associated with the latter case. Also note that such "hardened" rhotics primarily show up when speaking carefully/emphatically.
Note though that, on the other hand, "normal" uvular approximants can be realized so weakly at times that they will sporadically become more like [6] or [@] than rhotics, and at least from my experience may be perceived as such. This contrasts with such "hardened" rhotics, which even I sometimes perceive as being rather strong, to say the least.
Errrm. Can that be explained in a more down-to-earth language, please??
By R-hardening do you mean a very American-sounding R? Try to make an S-like sound, then pull your tongue back while at the same height to where it is as far back as the little ridge on the roof of your mouth. Then make a vowel sound. Make sense?
>>By R-hardening do you mean a very American-sounding R? Try to make an S-like sound, then pull your tongue back while at the same height to where it is as far back as the little ridge on the roof of your mouth. Then make a vowel sound. Make sense?<<
This is the one of the things called a "bunched r", and is basically what I have for a rhotic after labials and coronals.
This is the one of the things called a "bunched r", and is basically what I have for a rhotic after labials and coronals.