How Rhoticity Became /r/-sandhi

It is well known that nearly all nonrhotic dialects of English exhibit linking and/or intrusive /r/. What is not known are the details about how linking and intrusive /r/ emerge. This article provides the first empirical data on the diachronic relationship between the decline of rhoticity and the emergence of /r/-sandhi in a dialect of English. The results are based on an analysis of rhoticity and /r/-sandhi in the speech of New Zealanders born between 1860 and 1925, dates that encompass the formative years of New Zealand English. The results demonstrate that the /r/- sandhi system in New Zealand English emerged gradually and overlapped with the decline of rhoticity. This is a significant advance on previous descriptive work on this topic and provides results that should both inform and constrain potential phonological theories of /r/-sandhi.