how come when Puertorricans speak Spanish sometimes they pronounce the "r" and sometimes they don't?

Question

What is the rule to pronouncing this letter?

i'm sorry i didn't make this clear in my question. i'm not asking why some Puertorricans do pronounce it and some don't. I mean like, if you listen to the same Puertorrican sometimes he/she will pronounce it and sometimes he/she won't.

Diego you probably sound horrible to them! Do yourself a favor and stop being a hater

Answer 1

well that depend from their heritage or background in the island or if were corrected by the parents or not. I know what you are saying because my father does that and my mother doesn't, so she corrected us every time we didn't pronounce correctly.

And answering what you wrote in the corrections, if the person use it sometimes and sometimes don't, then is that they use some slang and laziness to the speech, that change with the person's mood and how fast is talking to you...

In conclusion the pronunciation is something learned and transmitted to generations that keep repeating it. That's what make us unique as a race. Some people criticize others because they should speak this way or whatever was establish by their standards, my answer is "NOOO". We are who we are because that same reason, that's what make us unique a different race... Same thing happens with English speakers from the south and the north and new york or British and north Americans and Australians. They always criticize one to the other because the way they speak...

Answer 2

That is, to begin a stupid question. Why do some Americans speak a certain way and others have to have (like Honey Bubu and southern people) a transcription --IN ENGLISH, ON SCREEN? Just because they way you speak is determined by many things, including the AREA you live in, your parents diction and your education, your exposure to other people's ways of talking. More than anything, there is the evolution of language. Over time it changes with use. And then, the new pronunciation becomes the norm. So, why did Americans get a different accent than the English that came to colonize the US? Go and open a few books on the evolution of language. Puerto Rico has a Spanish heritage, Not English, so the "r" is pronounced differently from what Americans would pronounce it, like the "i" and "e", etc... Ah,,, don't forget mood, emotion, time, situation, health, condition, etc... I am baffled by the way "blood" and "wood" are pronounced differently in USA, yet the double o's are the same. Who can follow those rules? Mexicans don't sing. For them, you may be singing a different Mariachi. Do Japanese sing? Yes, at a different rate. What about the English? Who can sustain that type of pronunciation for long? Man or woman asking, get some education before you ask... an educated question withutr bias.

Answer 3

Ok being from New York and having lived quite a while in PR I must say it s a combination of things simply because in Spanish there is the "r" and the "rr" "caro" and "carro" are not pronounced the same. The double "r" is pronounced more emphatically than the single "r". Some omit the "r" sound because of either a speech problem or because that is how their family members pronounce that word in particular due to Regionalisms. Others replace the "r" sound for an "l" sound either because they have an auditive discrimination issue or again it s how they have heard the sound pronounced all their lives. The question is not stupid, nor do I see how this person is offending anybody. As a Special Education teacher I am glad someone has asked this in a respectful way. Hope this answers your question.

Answer 4

Like in American English Spanish people have different kind of accent depending where they come from. People who live next to the shore or islands can't pronounce the "r" sound very well when it is placed in the middle of a word, but they can do it better if the sound is at the beggining or at the end of a word.

Answer 5

I'm not sure what you mean. Are you talking about the end of a word? Many speakers of Spanish don't pronounce "r" at the end of a word sometimes. I'm not sure there's a rule about it.

It would help if you would add whether you're talking about the beginning of a word, the middle of a word, or the end.

Answer 6

I'm puerto rican and sometimes we pronounce the "r" and sometimes we replace the "r" with an "L". Is how we talk. I'ts our background; our grandparents were "jibaros" and they talk like that. You should read some puerto rican poetry.

P.S. What does being poor or wealthy has to with anything?

Answer 7

as a Puerto Rican myself, I'm confused by this question... can anyone give me some examples of when you would drop the letter "r"??

Answer 8

it's like an accent. you know how in the u.s. there are southern, new york, and boston accents? it's the same in spanish. in cuba they drop lots of letters, and in spain the pronounce c's and z's as "th". spanish speakers can tell where someone is from by their accent just like americans can

Answer 9

it's just their accent some people have more of an accent then others and it could be their pronunciation or how fast they talk

Answer 10

they just dont feel like pronouncing the "r"