Image source: speechpathclinic.com
The “R” Sound
The “r” sound can be especially challenging to pronounce. It’s a voiced sound, produced by the vibration of the vocal cords. The reason why this particular sound is so difficult to master is that it can be correctly pronounced 8 different ways, depending on the letters with which it is combined. If you factor in the positioning of all of the variations of an “r” at the beginning, middle, or end of a word, you end up with 21 total variations.