What distinguishes it from the R is “surplus”, for example? In both cases it’s followed by a P and another semiglide.
Apologies if this pronunciation is regional to the Western Hemisphere, but I’m very curious regardless.
We don’t?
Why don’t we voice the first R in “surprise”?
Because you’re pronouncing it wrong.
You’re pronouncing it wong. According to O.P.
Is this a western hemisphere versus East Anglia thing?
I’m Californian and I don’t pronounce the R. I also don’t pronounce the L in “salmon”, or the L in “yolk.”
I’m from the western hemisphere too and I’ve probably said it both ways. I feel like when it is said sarcastically like “what a surprise” the cadence feels better without the /r/ but when saying it without sarcasm the sound is there like “that’s surprising” definitely has the /r/ sound.
A similar letter that gets dropped in rural western America is the /t/ sound when it is preceded by another consonant. Like “mountain” is often said “moun’in” but it’ll still be there if the emphasized syllable is after it like “maintain” is pronounced correctly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhoticity_in_English, a friend of mine was a linguistics major and loved talking about it. I also learned a nonstandard dialect is why my “coil” sounds like col. There was a NY times quiz that tried to figure out where you were from based on some word and pronunciation questions, I wonder if theres a similar one for Canada.
of course your accent may vary but in mine there’s a faint r in surprise. in a supple surprise surplus, surprise is closer to supple than it is to surplus but it’s there
People in this thread, saying “we do” without mentioning what dialect they speak as if everybody speaks exactly the same as them…
Do dialects matter as much anymore? Few people still talk like southern belles, for example. Americans as a whole are losing their regional accents.
https://www.newsweek.com/american-accents-dying-appalachian-southern-louisiana-study-11554827
We…do…?
Are you saying suh-prise? Why?
There’s a joke in Weird Al’s movie UHF where someone notices a door marked “Supplies” and when they open it a bunch of ninjas jump out while yelling “Supplies!!!”
So, yeah, anyway: That’s how I say it, Sup-Rise, like “supplies” but with an R.
Don’t be ridiculous. They obviously pronounce it as Sir-Pies. 🫡
How about “February?”
I don’t necessarily believe in (I think it’s called) “phase shifting” where you like imagine yourself in a different timeline and all of a sudden you are, but I honestly remember February being spelled without the first R and Wednesday being spelled with the N before the D, so if phase shifting is real, my home dimension spells it Febuary and Wendsday.
I imagine they’re all dead by now. You were lucky to ecsape.
We do.
Two R sounds in a row can be difficult for some people to say quickly so they skip it.
Another example: I have heard “fusstrating” instead of “frustrating.”
When I was a kid I had a hard time saying “Thriller” because of this
It’s the concept that the mouth position to make an R is kind of the midway point between the S and the P, so if you’re speaking quickly, the S and P just blend together. To really enunciate the R, you kind of have to actively pause for a moment between the S and P, which is a bit awkward for some people. I stumbled into a series of videos about language quirks recently that happened to cover this; kind of coincidental to see it here right afterwards.
Reminds me of The Rural Juror:
Barbara Walters: [on The View] Let’s get personal. Your father Werner was a burger server in suburban Santa Barbara.
Jenna Maroney: Yes, that’s right.
Barbara Walters: When he spurned your mother Verna for a curly-haired surfer named Roberta. Did that hurt her?
Jenna Maroney: It was hard on all of us, yes.
Barbara Walters: Flurg murg glurg flurg murg murg murg tennis murg murg. Was a murg murg flurg?
Jenna Maroney: I’ll always be his little girl. [cries]
Barbara Walters: [puts her hand on Jenna’s shoulder] Glurg.
And the sequel, Urban Furor
I thought it was “Urban Fervor,” but to be fair, it was really hard to understand a lot of words in that episode and I could have misheard. Regardless, those two are easily the best fictional film adaptations of a Kevin Grisham novel.
You’re probably right
I do. Why don’t you?
Just raised wrong, I guess.
** suprise motherfucker
Edit. Autocorrect corrected motherfucker to motherducker hahaha
I feel I do voice the first R is “surprise” at least sometimes. It looks like it’s a common feature (in English at least) to drop sounds from syllables that aren’t the emphasized syllable. I am not qualified at all to talk about this, just a nerd that finds linguistics interesting. I found an article I think gives some good examples and reasons: https://englishwithkim.com/deleted-syllables-dropped-vowels/
Similar-ish thing as the glottal stop where double Ts are dropped for more of a pause - button vs buh-in, kitten vs keh-in. I only know of this because one of my super good friends is a linguist, and they pointed out that I don’t use the stop and instead pronounce the hard T sound (it’s kinda of a vocal stim for me).
I’m from a part of the world where those middle Ts end up pronounced like Ds.
Canada or Minnesota eh?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glottal_stop Lot’s of people from England do it, wherever that is…
