Difficulty pronouncing the /r/ sound is known as rhotacism and it is customarily considered to be a speech impediment. Rhotacism is very common among children because /r/ is one of the most challenging sounds to pronounce in the English language.
Why is it so hard to pronounce /r/? due to a variety of conditions. In clinical practice, SLPs have found that the motor movement (i.e., correct use and cooperation of lips, teeth, tongue, and airway) for /r/ articulation tends to be the most difficult aspect of proper production.
The word for the practice of pronouncing 'r' as 'w' (or indeed pronouncing 'r' in any strange or exaggerated way) is "rhotacism" (or "rotacism"). You can also "rhotacize" or employ "rhotacization".
It's not such an uncommon phenomenon and actually also happens with the letter L, a phenomenon known as lambdacism. Sometimes people mistake these speech impediments for a lisp, of which they are not.
The most common approach to speech therapy for a rhotacism is known as articulation therapy. In articulation therapy, speech therapists can work with a person to improve or correct speech sounds in a phonological system. This includes /r/.
“R” usually acts like a consonant when it comes before a vowel, such as in “red,” “around,” and “green.” “R” can also act like a vowel. R acts like a vowel in words such as “feather,” “learn,” and “fur.” Children may be able to produce “R” in some contexts, but not others.
Approximately 8-9 percent of young children have some kind of speech or language disorder. One of the most common speech and language disorders a child may experience is an inability to pronounce the /r/ sound correctly. This particular speech impediment is known as rhoticism.
Some individuals produce a distorted version of the consonant /r/. It is a production that is also referred to as a derhotacized /r/. It is thought that the individual starts from a lower than required tongue position when producing /r/, and the result is a distortion.
#1 The Australian accent is non-rhotic
The Australian accent is for the most part non-rhotic. This means that the pronunciation of the /r/ sound will never occur at the end of words. Where an American will say three separate sounds for the word car /kar/, an Australian native speaker will only say 2 /ka:/.
People often worry that their inability to trill is genetic. But the reason people struggle with the trill is simply that it's not obvious how to do it. Everything takes place out-of-sight, inside the mouth, where most of us have very little awareness of what our mouth parts are doing.
Technically speaking, this sound is made by forcing air into the limited space between the tongue and the ceiling of the mouth and causing the tongue to vibrate. To many native English speakers, the rolled R is notoriously hard to pronounce since there isn't an equivalent in the English language.
< r > in English Accents (Rhotic vs Non-rhotic)
English accents that follow the silent < r > rule are known as 'non-rhotic', and these include most accents in England, Wales, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Many children with early speech impairments do eventually outgrow them by the time they are ready for kindergarten.
However, from a clinical perspective, children should be able to correctly pronounce /r/ sound in words by around 7 years of age, or once they enter second grade.
The “r” sound is among the hardest for children to master, and so it's usually the sound that presents latest in their childhood (most often around age 7 or 8). Children that are treated for rhotacism will typically work with a speech therapist to ensure the lips and tongue are in the proper position.
Where words like saw and idea come before a vowel, there's an increasing tendency among speakers of British English to insert an 'r' sound, so that law and order becomes law-r and order and china animals becomes china-r animals. Linguists call this 'intrusive r' because the 'r' was never historically part of the word.
The key to making /r/ is not letting the tip of your tongue touch the roof of your mouth. If you do touch, listeners may hear an /l/ sound instead. Pull your tongue back so the tip is positioned around center of your mouth. Point the tip up slightly.
Autism is not an illness
Being autistic does not mean you have an illness or disease. It means your brain works in a different way from other people. It's something you're born with. Signs of autism might be noticed when you're very young, or not until you're older.
Voiced Consonants
As you pronounce a letter, feel the vibration of your vocal cords. If you feel a vibration the consonant is a voiced one. These are the voiced consonants: B, D, G, J, L, M, N, Ng, R, Sz, Th (as in the word "then"), V, W, Y, and Z.
Noun. zetacism (uncountable) (linguistics) A sound change converting a consonant into /z/, the voiced alveolar sibilant. quotations ▼ (linguistics) The lack of a sound change in a language when languages in the same family undergo rhotacism.
The Asian “R” becomes an “L” simply by touching the palate with the tongue. That's why L and R sound so similar to our Western ears – because they are very similar.