Approximants

R

Wood points out that although CFE has a characteristically ‘obstruent’ /r/, as a variety of English CFE is generally non-rhotic; that is, unlike Afrikaans English (AfkE), /r/ is not pronounced in pre-consonantal or word-final contexts, probably because CVA itself generally has no pronounced /r/ in similar contexts, such as kerk ‘church’, ver ‘far’. Steenkamp’s study, which focussed on /r/, found at least four types in use – resonant [ɹ], fricative  tap [ɾ] and trill [r] – with social differentiation correlating with linguistic variation. Thus, [ɹ] and  were most typical of middle-class speakers and [r] was most typical of working-class speakers, but [ɾ] was most typical overall. Wood confirms that tapped or flapped /r/ is typical of Extreme CFE speakers and that with [ɾ] is the most usual realization, but notes a further variant – uvular [R], which is probably an L2 feature associated with speakers originating in the Western Cape interior. The impression gained from my own data is that the predominant realization is [ɾ], supporting Wood’s and Steenkamp’s findings. Additionally, Saffery (1986, also cited in Wood 1987: 112) notes the presence of intervocalic linking /r/.