poor-er

[Verona_82]

Hello,

I'm wondering how British and American speakers pronounce the comparative of 'poor', poorer. Do you pronounce it as
[pʊə.ə] or
[pʊərə]?
I've always pronounced the 'r' sound in the comparative, is it incorrect?

Thank you!

 

[thatone]

Non rhotic accents generally use a linking r between two consecutive vowels (sometimes even an intrusive r, i.e. when there's no r in the world but it is pronounced anyway), therefore the r of "poor" would usually be pronounced in both American and British English. A transcription that would fit both varieties would be /pʊ(ə)ɹə(ɹ), pɔ-/.

 

[5jj]

JC Wells notes that in BrE some 74% of native speakers pronounce the first vowel/diphthong as /ɔ:/, 24% as /ʊə/

Wells, JC (2008) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd edn), Harlow: PearsonLongman

 

[Verona_82]

Thank you, but do the Britons pronounce the comparative also without the 'r' sound?

 

[5jj]

Thank you, but do the Britons pronounce the comparative also without the 'r' sound?

No; see thatone's post #2.