rhotic, a. Phonetics.
(ˈrəʊtɪk)
[f. rhot-, as in rhotacism n., + -ic.]
Of or pertaining to a variety or dialect of English in which r is pronounced not only in pre-vocalic position but also before a consonant or word-finally; characterized by r-pronouncing.
| 1968 J. C. Wells in Progress Rep. Phonetics Lab. Univ. Coll. London (unpublished) June 56 It was possible to divide respondents into three categories: A. (non-rhotic) Those who had nonprevocalic r-colouring neither for -er nor for -a; B. (rhotic) Those who had nonprevocalic r-colouring for -er but not for -a; C. (hyperrhotic). 1970 ― in Jrnl. Linguistics VI. 240 The local accents of the West of England, though..are rhotic. 1982 Trudgill & Hannah Internat. Eng. ii. 13 Rhotic accents are those which actually pronounce /r/, corresponding to orthographic r, in words like far and farm. 1983 Trans. Yorks. Dial. Soc. lxxxiii. 28 Benjamin Disraeli..who from his social background could be expected to have been a ‘non-rhotic’ speaker was in fact ‘rhotic’. 1988 English World-Wide IX. 57 Bansal..recommends a rhotic accent for Indian speakers for better international intelligibility. |
Hence rhoˈticity n., the quality or character of being rhotic; ˈrhoticizing ppl. a. [see -ize], that renders or tends to make rhotic.
| 1973 J. C. Wells Jamaican Pronunc. in London i. 29 The other two characteristics [of an American accent] have been mentioned already. One is the full rhoticity of most kinds of American English. Ibid. v. 99 Adolescents have not been subject to so much rhoticizing pressure. 1983 Trans. Yorks. Dial. Soc. lxxxiii. 28 An r would normally be sounded before a consonant or at the end of a word as well as..before a vowel. This area of ‘rhoticity’ is greater than the comparable one for the non-dialect forms of speech. |