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What does RP stand for in English?
What is Received Pronunciation (RP)?
What is a RP accent?
What is an example of a RP pronunciation?
Pronunciation forms an essential component of language learning and teaching; a model accent is necessary for learners to aim at, and to act as a basis for description in textbooks and classroom materials. RP has been the traditional choice for teachers and learners of British English.
- Overview
- History and reification
- Phonetic features of Received Pronunciation
- Variety and usage of Received Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation (RP), standard speech used in London and southeastern England. It has traditionally been associated with the middle and upper classes and as a mark of public school education. Received Pronunciation (RP) is sometimes referred to as the “Queen’s English,” the “King’s English,” “BBC English,” or “Oxford English.”
The term received pronunciation was coined by phonetician A.J. Ellis in 1869 to refer to an accent used “all over the country, not widely differing in any particular locality…as the educated pronunciation of the metropolis, of the court, the pulpit and the bar.” The definition of received in his use of received pronunciation conveyed the word’s adjectival meaning of “accepted” or “common,” as in the expression received wisdom.
The development of RP is associated with British public schools, including Eton College, Winchester College, Harrow School, and Rugby School, as well as the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. In fact, “Public School Pronunciation” was the term that phonetician Daniel Jones used to refer to the upper-class accent in his English Pronouncing Dictionary (1917) before he adopted the term “Received Pronunciation” in the second edition (1924) of the work. When the British Broadcasting Company, Ltd., (later renamed the British Broadcasting Corporation; BBC) was established in 1922, it selected the RP accent as its broadcasting standard.
There are many notable phonetic features of RP that differentiate it from other English accents in the United Kingdom, including but not limited to the following:
•RP speakers only pronounce the r sound in words when it is followed by a vowel sound. For example, the RP pronunciation for butter is /ˈbʌtə/, but for buttery /ˈbʌtəri/ the r sound is retained. Other examples of words that drop the r sound include far /fɑː/, mother /ˈmʌðə/, and weather /ˈwɛðə/.
•RP speakers pronounce the h sound at the onset of words, whereas speakers of some other British accents do not. For example, the RP pronunciation for happy is /ˈhæpi/ and not /ˈæpi/, as it is with other accents. Other examples of words with the vocalized h sound include house /haʊs/, help /hɛlp/, and hello /həˈləʊ/.
•RP speakers lengthen the short a vowel before some fricative or nasal consonants in a subset of words. This lengthening is referred to as the trap-bath split because trap is pronounced as /træp/ (with short a), but bath is pronounced as /bɑːθ/ (with long a). Words such as back /bæk/, cat /kæt/, and dad /dæd/ retain the short a vowel in trap, but other words that lengthen it in RP include dance /dɑːns/, laugh /lɑːf/, and grass /grɑːs/.
Generally speaking, dialects and accents tend to differ over time and due to geographic and social factors. The RP used today, for example, sounds different from that used by speakers on BBC broadcasts in the early and mid-1900s, which now comes off as particularly old-fashioned and outdated. Although the RP accent originated in southeastern England, it has been regularly adopted by upwardly mobile individuals throughout the United Kingdom. It is therefore considered regionally unmarked, although some speakers do incorporate regional features into their use of RP.
RP varies somewhat, however, by age, occupation, and lifestyle. The conservative RP variety is associated with older generations and aristocracy. General, or mainstream, RP is a neutral accent in regard to age and social status, but it does mark advanced education. Advanced, or contemporary, RP is an accent that includes features typical of younger speakers from the upper classes.
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Received pronunciation, commonly abbreviated as RP, is a once prestigious variety of British English spoken without an identifiable regional dialect. It is also known as British Received Pronunciation, BBC English, the Queen's English , and posh accent .
Feb 26, 2021 · In this article, you'll learn exactly what is Received Pronunciation (RP), how it originated and the benefits of speaking with such an accent.
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- Drop and relax your jaw. Ease tightness in your jaw and lower your tongue. Accents tend to have a sort of default mouth position, and for the RP accent, this involves releasing the tension in your jaw and allowing it to hang loose.
- Round your lips to make the "ah" sound. Produce a full, rounded sound from the back of your mouth. Keep your tongue low and press it back slightly when saying words such as "on" or "not."
- Add a "y" sound before a long "u." This is called "yod retention" and affects the long "u" sound. Other English accents, particularly American English, often drop this sound.
- Leave off the "r" at the ends of words. Use the "uh" sound for the last syllable of words that end with "r." Regardless of the vowel in the last syllable, if it ends in an "r," the RP accent typically drops the "r" sound and pronounces the last syllable as "uh"—a vowel sound known as the "schwa."
Oct 13, 2017 · 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".
- 9 min
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- Benjamin’s English · engVid
“ a widely recognized accent of British English, associated with education, broadcasting and the South of England” And according to The Cambridge dictionary, Received Pronunciation is defined as: “the standard way in which middle-class speakers of southern British English pronounce words”
