non-rhoticadj.
/nɒnˈrəʊtɪk/, U.S. /nɑnˈroʊdɪk/ Phonetics.
Of or relating to a dialect in which r is only pronounced in prevocalic position; characterized by such a pronunciation.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > a language > dialect > [adjective] > of other types of dialect
south country1673
idiolectal1949
non-rhotic1968
rhotic1968
1893 J. Clark Man. Linguistics vii. 181 Wherever, medially, in Italic, an s between two vowels followed an unaccented syllable, the final result gave z in the non-rhotacising dialects, such as Oscan, and r (through z) in the rhotacising dialects, such as Latin and Umbrian.]
1968 J. C. Wells in Progress Rep. Phonetics Lab. Univ. Coll. London (unpublished) June 56 It was possible to divide respondents into three categories: A. (non-rhotic) Those who had nonprevocalic r-colouring neither for -er nor for -a, [etc.].
1978 D. Abercrombie in P. Strevens In Honour A. S. Hornby viii. 124 It [sc. RP] is not really representative of accents of English, being, as it is, ‘non-rhotic’ (meaning that r is pronounced only at the beginning, and not at the end, of syllables.
1996 J. J. Smith Hist. Study Eng. ii. 37 Keats suffered at the hands of his first reviewers, and one of the grounds of their criticism was his habit of rhyming such pairs as higher : Thalia, thorns : fawns,..[etc.] indicating that his accent was non-rhotic.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1968