Syllabic r

In many accents of the type called "rhotic", such as most American accents, syllabic r is very common. The word 'particular', for example, would probably be pronounced pṛtɪkjəlṛ in careful speech by most Americans, while BBC speakers would pronounce this word pətɪkjələ. Syllabic r is less common in BBC pronunciation: it is found in weak syllables such as the second syllable of 'preference' prefrəns. In most cases where it occurs there are acceptable alternative pronunciations without the syllabic consonant.

There are a few pairs of words (minimal pairs) in which a difference in meaning appears to depend on whether a particular r is syllabic or not, for example:

'hungry' hΛŋgri 'Hungary' hΛŋgṛi

But we find no case of syllabic r where it would not be possible to substitute either non- syllabic r or ər; in the example above, 'Hungary' could equally well be pronounced hΛŋgəri.