In medical contexts, rhotacism is the inability to pronounce or difficulty in pronouncing r sounds. Speech pathologists call the condition de-rhotacism, or de-rhotacization, because the sounds lose their rhotic quality rather than becoming rhotic.
Language development
Rhotic sounds are usually the last ones a child masters. Some people never learn to produce them; they substitute other sounds, such as the velar approximant, the uvular approximant, and the uvular trill. In English, the most common occurrence of this type is a pronunciation perceived as closer to , which is known as r-labialisation. This form of rhotacism has often been used in English-language media for comedic effect, since it evokes among English speakers a childlike way of pronouncing the letter R, an example being Elmer Fudd's pronunciation of "rabbit" ] as "wabbit" ] in Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. Often, people with the condition are mistakenly referred to as a person with a lisp, which is a different speech pattern.
The leader of Hezbollah, Lebanese Sheikh Hasan Nasrallah, has been ridiculed for his rhotacism, particularly his “*Amwīka” and “*Iswā’īl” for Arabic Amrīka, Isrā’īl.
Irina Odoyevtseva
Chris Packham, British naturalist and television presenter
Jonathan Ross, British television and radio presenter
Barry Kripke in The Big Bang Theory is depicted as having this speech impediment. However, he has problems with both "R" and "L" sounds. His Siri on his iPhone answers him back as "Bawwy". He is last seen in Season 11 episode "The Bow Tie Asymmetry", at the end of the wedding, singing the song "At Last" as "At Wast".
In the 1979 film Monty Python's Life of Brian, Pilate is also depicted as having this speech impediment. Because of this, people around him often cannot understand his words, and he is mocked by the townspeople of Jerusalem when he talks to them in the square.
In the 1986 animated filmAn American Tail, the character Gussie Mouseheimer also replaces 'R' and 'L' with 'W', similar to Elmer Fudd, especially when saying the word 'rally', pronouncing it as 'wawwy'.
In the 1974 film Blazing Saddles, Madeline Kahn again played a character with a speech impediment, this time the singer Lili von Shtüpp, the "Teutonic Titwillow".
In the 1987 film The Princess Bride, the character known as The Impressive Clergyman, also has problems with multiple sounds, including "R" and "L", pronouncing "marriage" as "mawwage".
Tony Angelino, a one-time character from Only Fools and Horses, suffered from rhotacism, becoming apparent during his stage performance of the Roy Orbison song "Crying".
Jimmy Five from Monica's Gang replaces 'R' with 'W' in the English version, except for the 'R' in words like 'car' or 'hair'. In the original Portuguese version, he replaces 'R' with 'L'.
Greta from the Spyro series speaks this way in all of her appearances. Her brother Handel possesses an identical speech impediment in ', but not in ' or the Spyro Reignited Trilogy
Beck in the 2019 song "Uneventful Days", he pronounces the word "neverending" with a rhotic R.
In the 2019 English localization and voicework for Trials of Mana, Charlotte was given a speech quirk that replaces both L and R with W, also twisting other words to read correctly with the same quirk.
In the 2008 video game Fallout 3, a character named Billy is nicknamed Biwwy for his speech impediment.
