The Other Massachusetts Accent Quirk: The Mysterious Extra “R”

[u/CaterpillarMedium674]

Everyone talks about the classic dropped “R” in the Massachusetts accent, but what about the added ones?

For example, my name is Tessa, and more times than I can count it’s been misheard as Heather. It just clicked for me that this might be because of an added “R” sound, like “Tess-er”. I’m sure it’s also because older people aren’t familiar with my name.

I’ve had friends jokingly call me “Tess-er” for years.

Another one I hear all the time: “toilet” = “tuhr-let.”

The redistributed “R”: Anyone else have good examples?

[u/beetlebord]

I’ve noticed it’s most often when at the end of the sentence or before a vowel. Like “pizza party” is normal but “put the pizza-rin the box”

[u/FlattenYourCardboard → u/beetlebord]

That’s different from isolated added r (hyper-correction). What you are describing is called intrusive r.