In this lesson, you will learn about "Received Pronunciation", or "RP" for short. It's also known as "BBC English", "Oxford English", and "The Queen's English". I'll teach you what this accent means and signifies in England today. You may be surprised to learn that it's not entirely positive. Some people even try to hide their RP accent. I will also give you the history of RP. You'll learn where it comes from and how it developed. You will be able to hear for yourself what this accent sounds like, and how it has changed over time.
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TRANSCRIPT
Hi there. I'm going to be talking to you today about Received Pronunciation, often shortened to "RP", which is an accent of Great Britain, probably most widely taught as the accent that you're meant to learn in language schools around the world. So I'm going to be talking about the relevance, the place of RP who actually speaks with an RP accent in Britain.
Okay, so RP is defined as the regionally neutral middle-class accent of England. Regionally neutral. What that means is by hearing this accent I don't know where in the UK the speaker is from. So they might be from Devon, Wales, London, Yorkshire, anywhere. This accent is not from a particular place. Now, it has also been called over the last 50-100 years the Queen's English because people assume that the Queen speaks with Received Pronunciation. She actually doesn't. The Queen speaks in a very unique accent, which differs from Received Pronunciation. She has a very smart accent. It's not quite the same.
BBC English, yes there did used to be a time when most of the news presenters on the BBC were required to have a Received Pronunciation accent, but now society has changed and it is more inclusive, so people from different parts of the United Kingdom, people who have gone to less privileged schools are able to get jobs in the BBC and all other sectors and industries.
It's also referred to as Oxford English. So there was a time 30-40 years ago when all the professors at Oxford and when all the students at Oxford and Cambridge would speak with RP. But again, that's changed and there is a drive in schools to try and get the best school... The best students from the government schools into these top universities.
What is it, Benjamin? It's an accent. Okay? It's used with Standard English. So if someone is using a lot of slang, a lot of abbreviation, mixing where their words are from, from rap music and stuff, that wouldn't be Standard English. It avoids slang and dialect. Dialect is the language particular to a certain place. For example, a West Country dialect would be particular words from that place.
This accent reveals, shows someone's background. Okay? So it shows what kind of life they have had so far. It doesn't show where they are from in the United Kingdom. In fact, only 2 to 3% of the UK population have this accent. You might be wondering: "Do you have this accent, Benjamin?" and the answer to that is: To some degree, but not entirely. So my accent has influences from some Estuary English, and it sort of depends who I am speaking to as to how... How my accent is placed. I'm from Devon and sometimes I will veer towards a Devonian sound, but most of the time I will sound like someone from the southeast of England because that is where I have lived most.
So, a history of this accent. In the... Up until the 20th century this accent was associated with wealth and power, but then after World War II society changed in the United Kingdom. We had a Labour Government for the first time, the NHS was created, and people started getting different types of jobs. They started getting better jobs, you started getting a mix of people. And with that, regional accents have become more important. In fact, some people like to disguise an RP accent, so they'll start trying to speak a little bit like this, and start dropping their t's, and say: "Lil" and "innit" and stuff. I'm exaggerating, but it does have negative connotations, the RP accent so some people try to change their voice to fit in.
Still not sure what it is? Well, it's speaking in clipped, precise tones. Okay? It sounds quite a sort of serious accent. Maybe some people feel that it sounds quite cold.
How has it evolved? It's not the same accent, Received Pronunciation, that it was a hundred years ago. Okay? The accent changes, just as an accent from Yorkshire, or from Wales, and Ireland will change over time. It's not a fixed: This is the accent.
How it's been changed recently? The long vowel sounds have become shortened. Why is that? To... As a feeling of self-protection. You don't want to expose yourself by speaking in this ridiculous manner.