"Hyperrhoticism"

[Dennis R. Preston]

Beijing Mandarin is noted for a strong  /r/ in word final position,
particularly among men.

dInIs

>FWIW, a related phenomenon to Wilson's cousin's "hyperrhoticism" could be the
>same phenomenon that I've noticed in the English of an acquaintance
>of mine who
>I'd guess is a native speaker of Mandarin (from the fact that he
>graduated from
>Peking [sic] University).  He's been in the States several years and his
>English is pretty good, but he seems to have "hyperrhoticism" / 'intrusive r'
>at the end of all vowel-final words, as far as I can tell, no matter what the
>following context.  I know almost nothing of Mandarin, but what little I do
>know would lead me to think that this isn't a native-language-interference
>effect.
>
>In this connection as well, I suppose we should also think about British
>'intrusive r', as in
>
>'India, Australia and Canada' > [Indiy@ rostrayliy@ r at n kaen at d@].
>
>I haven't thought seriously about how all these things could be
>related, as you
>can tell.  But is my acquaintance's "hyperrhoticism" is likely to be a literal
>hypercorrection based on observation of 'intrusive r' in some contexts?
>
>Damien Hall
>University of Pennsylvania
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1036 USA
Office: (517) 353-4736
Fax: (517) 353-3755

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org