phonological patterns NURSE

Loss of postvocalic r is receding in StAmE, even in its historical urban strong-holds in Boston, New York, and the plantation South. One is most likely to hear r-less pronunciations from older educated speakers from these regions, while younger speakers commonly employ pronunciations with r. That said, it has always been true that a wide range of realizations of r after vowels has been and still is employed, even in StAmE, ranging from fully constricted [r] to different levels of constriction (so-called “r-coloring”) to compensatory lengthening of the vowel to vocalization of the r to create a diphthong. Pronunciations similar to  , which used to qualify as StAmE in New York, Charleston, and New Orleans, are now stigmatized, as in the pronunciation of the cartoon character Bugs Bunny.