The Law of R Preservation

As a trained linguist, I cannot help noticing there seems to be a law of R preservation. For example, take the word “February.” Everyone I know (with the exception of Richard Bonomo) pronounces this word “Feb-yoo-ary.” Where did the R go? Into the word “sherbet,” which around here tends to be pronounced “shur-burt.” There is no actual R in the orthography of this word, but we don’t have to wonder where it came from. Clearly, it came from February, which has an R that is rarely pronounced.

The Boston accent demonstrates the Law of R Preservation beautifully. They seem to drop most of their R’s, in words like “park,” “car,” and “chowder,” which they pronounce “pahk,” “cah,” and “chowduh.” However, these R’s are not lost; they are stuck onto the ends of words that don’t actually end in R, so that the names Tricia and Becca become “Trisher” and “Becker.” So in the sentence “Tricia brought Becca some chowder in the car,” the net number of R’s is the same whether spoken by a Midwesterner or a Bostonian.

Midwest: TRicia bRought Becca some chowdeR in the caR = 4 R’s
Boston: TRisheR bRought BeckeR some chowduh in the cah = 4 R’s

I rest my case.

Famous Hat = No R's wherever you are