Received Pronunciation

Received Pronunciation (RP) is the accent regarded as the standard and most prestigious form of spoken British English, since as late as the early 20th century.[1][2] Language scholars have long disagreed on questions such as: the exact definition of RP, how geographically neutral it is, how many speakers there are, the nature and classification of its sub-varieties, how appropriate a choice it is as a standard, how the accent has changed over time, and even its name.[3] RP is an accent, so the study of RP is concerned only with matters of pronunciation, while other features of Standard British English, such as vocabulary, grammar, and style, are not considered. The accent has changed, or its traditional users have changed their accents, to such a degree over the last century that many of its early 20th-century traditions of transcription and analysis have become outdated and are therefore no longer considered evidence-based by linguists.[4] Still, in language education these traditions continue to be commonly taught and used, and the use of RP as a convenient umbrella term remains popular.

  1. ^ Wells (2008), p. xix, paragraph 2.1.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cruttenden (2014), pp. 74–81.
  4. ^ Lindsey, Geoff; Wells, John C. (2019). English after RP: standard British pronunciation today. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-3-030-04356-8.