“Why we ‘R’ the way we ‘R’: How one little sound came to be the hallmark of ‘Standard American’ speech”
By Ruth Walker
Christian Science Monitor
June 6, 2008
Ruth Walker writes about modern literatures and cultures professor Tom Bonfiglio’s book “Race and the Rise of Standard American” and his theory on the conscious adaptation of “Midwestern” as the standard pronunciation for announcers in the early years of radio. A century later, Americans are still pronouncing the “r” despite the fact that the country’s power center has long preferred to “pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd.”
