Acoustic Analysis of /r / Production of British Speakers in New York

This study examines the acoustics of /r / as produced by native speakers of British English who have lived in New York for a long time. The study establishes two parameters for measuring and comparing the acoustic signal of /r / in different contexts, one showing the F3 value of /r / relative to the F3 of adjacent vowels and the other measuring the quickness of transition from the /r / F3 minimum to the vowel F3 maximum. Data from two control speakers show that there are regular differences between the /r/s of British and American English. The results show that the non-native speakers do accommodate some acoustic differences in some contexts, but do not apply them consistently with the data from the native speaker of American English. 1