RP English

Received Pronunciation variety of English

Kornel Baranowski

Basic information

• RP is an accent of spoken English
• Unlike other UK accents it is not associated with a region but rather tells us about speakers social group and education
• Often decribed as 'typically British', however only 2-3% of British speaks it

Its origin

• The phrase Received Pronunciation was created in 1869 by A J Ellis.
• It became a widely used term to describe the accent of the social elite in 1924, beacuse of phonetician Daniel Jones

Where it is used and by whom.

• Traditionally defined as the standard speech used in London and southeastern England and all people elsewhere who speak in this way.

• RP English is not associated with any region but with social group which differes from the rest of the varieties of English
• It is used by social elite and well-educated group of people

Its past and present associations.

• In the past RP accent was associated with people who are well educated, could have been described as 'snob' or 'posh'.

• It is still the case that if you speak with RP accent you are seen as more educated, however this is shifting and people have less negative bias towards non-standard accents

Famous people using that dialect.

• Queen and British Royal Family
• David Cameron (former PM in UK)
• Boris Johnson (PM in UK)

Phonological characteristic - differences between this variety and standard forms of English.

• RP speakers will pronounce words as in standard English
• English Phonetic Reference Sheet shows us perfectly how RP speakers pronounce certain vowels diphtongs and consonants
• For example RP speaker word 'Trap' would say as /træp/ like in standard form of english, while non-RP speakers could say /trap/
• RP English speakers will not use such things as th-fronting or h-dropping.

Lexis and syntax characteristic to that variety.

• Speakers of RP variety of English avoid non-standard grammatical construction and vocabulary characteristic especially for a regional accent it does not tell us about speaker's geographic background (but social group)

The future of this dialect.

• Now people are not as pressed as before to speak with perfect RP accent .

• As we know only 2-3% of population actually speak RP english and it is becomeing less and less used
• We can say that the future of RP English is not bright. It may even become dead someday

Sources:

1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/yourvoice/rpandbbc.shtml
2. https://www.bl.uk/british-accents-and-dialects/articles/received-pronunciationLorem
3. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Received-PronunciationLorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipiscing
4. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20180307-what-does-your-accent-say-about-you

Thanks!