‘To err is human: The case for neorhoticity in White South African English

Abstract

While neorhoticity in acrolectal black South African English has been investigated and confirmed by Hartmann and Zerbian (2009), and while a few commentators (including Bailey 1984, Da Silva 2008 and Bekker 2009) have briefly mentioned the possibility of a re-emergence of rhoticity in white South African English (SAfE), the phenomenon has not been investigated closely. The research reported on in this article is the first attempt to do so, focusing as it does on the speech produced in a range of styles by eight young, female speakers of the local standard of SAfE, that is, General SAfE. The research shows, furthermore, and in agreement with the existing literature on neorhoticity in modern English accents, that the re-emergence of rhoticity in General SAfE is both phonologically and sociolinguistically constrained: it appears almost exclusively in the most formal styles and is particularly prevalent when following /ɜː/, as in nurse, purse, etc. More surprisingly, there does not appear to be any evidence for an increase in the /r/-sandhi phenomena alongside the re-emergence of rhoticity.

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