pronunciation 'the idea of'

[bureaucracy]

Hello. My "today" question is whether I may pronounce a kind of an 'r' between 'the idea' and 'of' in the phrase 'the idea of'. May I?
edit: a--->an

 

[Chicken Sandwich]

A kind of 'r'? I do not understand what you mean. There is no 'r' in this phrase.

 

[bureaucracy]

Why, sometimes you hear (an) 'r' when pronouncing the phrase. ((The)Native speaker's tells (were) not fully told...)

 

[MikeNewYork]

Hello. My "today" question is whether I may pronounce a kind of a 'r' between 'the idea' and 'of' in the phrase 'the idea of'. May I?

You will hear that pronunciation in some regions, particularly the Boston area. If you ever heard a tape of John Kennedy pronouncing Cuba, you would hear "Cuber". I would not use that pronunciation if you can avoid it.

 

[bureaucracy]

Okay, thanks.

 

[emsr2d2]

In BrE, you will frequently hear what sounds like an "r" in connected words such as "idea of". It comes out sounding like "eye dear-ov". I would not recommend doing it on purpose. It occurs in some variants of English but people who consider that they speak "properly" will be very careful to end the word "idea" and then leave a very slight pause before starting "of", without making that invisible "r" sound in between.

The same goes for things like "I have no idea about that". It will sounds like "I have no eye dear-about that".

 

[5jj]

1. My dear father works here.
2. My father is here all day.
3. The idea/r/ of ...

Most speakers of Southern British English, and other non-rhotic varieties of English,, do not have a /r/ sound in such words as appear in #1.
When the letter r is followed closely by a vowel, as in #2, we do pronounce the /r/ sound (the linking r).
When the vowels /ə/, /ɑ:/ or /ɔ:/ are followed by a vowel sound, many speakers of non-rhotic varieties often introduce an intrusive /r/, as in #3.