Why do people pronounce an imaginary “r” on the end of words ending in “a”?
The pronunciation of an R at the end of words like “idea” as well as in the middle of expressions like “I saw it” (Australian sounds like “I sawr it”) is, ironically, usually the result of the LOSS of r in certain situations. It happened something like this: 1) Many British dialects, including the “Received Pronunciation”, stopped pronouncing many r’s, beginning in the 18th century (though seeds of r-loss may go back several centuries). These are called “non-rhotic” (non-r-pronouncing) dialects (as opposed to “rhotic” dialects). Note that this happened AFTER the founding of the American colonies in the 17th century, which is why most American dialects did not experience this change (except for those, esp.in parts of New England, who maintained closer contacts with Britain and imitated some of the British changes). 2) Now in these non-rhotic dialects, the /r/ is usually lost ONLY at the very end of a phrase, or when it appears before a consonant. But when the sound is followed immediate
