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In American English, the word familiar is normally pronounced as /fəˈmɪl.jɚ/. Recently, though, I've noticed more people pronouncing it as /fɚˈmɪl.jɚ/ ("fermiliar"), an alternate pronunciation listed on Wiktionary. Looking through YouGlish, this seems to be uncommon, but certainly well-attested; for some examples of this pronunciation, see this video at 6:55 or this video at 0:15.

So: how did this unusual pronunciation come about? Is it a general process, or something specific to this one word?

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  • A kind of “intrusive r”?
    – Tinfoil Hat
    Commented Jun 9 at 1:15
  • 1
    AmE becoming more rhotic?
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Jun 9 at 1:56

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It's probably an assimilation to the /r/ (or /ɚ/) later in the word. Nancy Hall's paper "R-Dissimilation in English" (2007), which I have cited a few times previously*, discusses this, saying

Resonances can also cause listeners to err on the side of perceiving too many /r/s, and this produces colloquial insertion of /r/ in words already containing an /r/, such as farmiliar, perservere, and sherbert.

(p. 1)

See pages 19-21 for more discussion and examples.

*In 'Forward' pronounced more often as 'foward'?, Pronunciation of 'Arguable'

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    Thanks for finding this! I've definitely heard that pronunciation of persevere, and I myself pronounce sherbet with an extra /ɚ/.
    – alphabet
    Commented Jun 9 at 17:45

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