Non-approximant articulations

Although approximation is the most common articulation type, rhotics can be produced in a variety of other ways.

In South African English, alveolar approximants occur, and are usually clear; but other articulations are found too, such as alveolar fricatives. These are not like [z], because the tongue shape is not right to produce the narrow channel needed for this. The friction is generated with the tongue tip at the alveolar ridge, and the articulation is the same as that for [ɹ] except that there is close instead of open approximation. There is no specific symbol for this sound, but one can be composed from the symbol [ɹ] with the diacritic , which stands for a closer articulation, giving .

Another common variant of [r] in South Africa is a tap, [ɾ]. Taps are produced with a short movement of the tongue tip towards the alveolar ridge which makes a closure of short duration. Taps are therefore not approximants, but stops. Taps occur in very conservative varieties of RP especially between vowels, and can be commonly heard in old British films. Nowadays, taps for rhotics most commonly occur in Anglo-English only after [θ], where they tend also to be voiceless, as in ‘three’, . Taps are also common realizations of [r] in Liverpool (England) and Scotland. They may be voiced or voiceless, and when voiceless they often have a lot of friction accompanying them. The voiceless taps seem to come utterance finally or next to a voiceless consonant, as in ‘winter time’ and ‘shirt’, which can both have the cluster . Taps are also variants of [t] and [d] and are discussed in more detail.