Rhoticity in Decline? An Ultrasound Study of Lancashire /r/

Abstract

Rhotic consonants in English are known for their variability and susceptibility to change, yet the articulatory dynamics of rhoticity remain underexplored in England's few remaining rhotic communities. This study provides the first systematic articulatory analysis of rhoticity in Blackburn, Lancashire - a region where non-prevocalic /r/ persists in contrast to most of England, the majority of which is now entirely non-rhotic. Through an analytical approach incorporating Generalised Additive Mixed Models applied to ultrasound tongue splines, we investigate whether articulatory evidence supports a weakening of rhoticity observed in recent acoustic research, focusing on contextual, generational and social variation. Our findings reveal significant articulatory differences between age groups, with younger speakers showing weaker rhoticity, suggesting a sound change in progress in Blackburn. In line with previous findings, we consider evidence for this being a female-led change. Unexpectedly, we document retroflex articulations in contexts thought to disfavour them, such as coda /r/ in front vowel contexts, highlighting the nuanced nature of variation across different rhotic varieties and the potential to miss out on possible micro-typologies if we do not document them before they are lost. These results contribute to broader discussions of how sound changes propagate, offering new insights into the interaction between articulation, acoustics and social factors. This study also introduces a replicable methodological framework for capturing sound change in progress through ultrasound imaging, advancing the field of articulatory sociophonetics. By bridging methodological innovation with theoretical significance, this analysis deepens our understanding of rhoticity and its role in English more generally.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Language and Speech, 2026 · DOI ↗