Received Pronunciation - wikipedia Received Pronunciation This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help : IPA. Received Pronunciation ( RP ) is the accent of Standard English in the United Kingdom and is defined in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary as `` the standard accent of English as spoken in the south of England '', although it can be heard from native speakers throughout England and Wales. Peter Trudgill estimated in 1974 that 3 % of people in Britain were RP speakers, but this rough estimate has been questioned by the phonetician J. Windsor Lewis. RP enjoys high social prestige in Britain, being thought of as the accent of those with power, money, and influence, though it may be perceived negatively by some as being associated with undeserved privilege. Since the 1960s, a greater permissiveness towards regional English varieties has taken hold in education. The study of RP is concerned exclusively with pronunciation, whereas Standard English, the Queen 's English, Oxford English, and BBC English are also concerned with matters such as grammar, vocabulary and style. An individual using RP will typically speak Standard English, although the converse or inverse is not necessarily true. The standard language may be pronounced with a regional accent and the contrapositive is usually correct. It is very unlikely that someone speaking RP would use it to speak a regional dialect. Contents 1 History 1.1 Alternative names 1.2 Sub-varieties of RP 2 Usage 2.1 In dictionaries 3 Status 4 Phonology 4.1 Consonants 4.2 Vowels 4.2. 1 Long and short vowels 4.2. 2 Diphthongs and triphthongs 4.2. 3 BATH vowel 4.2. 4 French words 4.2. 5 Alternative notation 4.3 Historical variation 4.4 Comparison with other varieties of English 5 Spoken specimen 6 Notable speakers 7 See also 8 Notes and references 9 Bibliography 10 External links History The introduction of the term Received Pronunciation is usually credited to Daniel Jones. In the first edition of the English Pronouncing Dictionary ( 1917 ), he named the accent `` Public School Pronunciation '', but for the second edition in 1926, he wrote, `` In what follows I call it Received Pronunciation, for want of a better term. '' However, the term had actually been used much earlier by Alexander Ellis in 1869 and P.S. Du Ponceau in 1818 ( the term used by Henry C.K. Wyld in 1927 was `` received standard ''. ) According to Fowler 's Modern English Usage ( 1965 ), the correct term is `` ' the Received Pronunciation '. The word ' received ' conveys its original meaning of ' accepted ' or ' approved ', as in ' received wisdom '. '' RP is often believed to be based on the accents of southern England, but it actually has most in common with the Early Modern English dialects of the East Midlands. This was the most populated and most prosperous area of England during the 14th and 15th centuries. By the end of the 15th century, `` Standard English '' was established in the City of London. Alternative names Some linguists have used the term `` RP '' while expressing reservations about its suitability. The Cambridge - published English Pronouncing Dictionary ( aimed at those learning English as a foreign language ) uses the phrase `` BBC Pronunciation '' on the basis that the name `` Received Pronunciation '' is `` archaic '' and that BBC news presenters no longer suggest high social class and privilege to their listeners. Other writers have also used the name `` BBC Pronunciation ''. The phonetician Jack Windsor Lewis frequently criticises the name `` Received Pronunciation '' in his blog : he has called it `` invidious '', a `` ridiculously archaic, parochial and question - begging term '' and noted that American scholars find the term `` quite curious ''. He used the term `` General British '' ( to parallel `` General American '' ) in his 1970s publication of A Concise Pronouncing Dictionary of American and British English and in subsequent publications. Beverley Collins and Inger Mees use the term `` Non-Regional Pronunciation '' for what is often otherwise called RP, and reserve the term `` Received Pronunciation '' for the `` upper - class speech of the twentieth century ''. Received Pronunciation has sometimes been called `` Oxford English '', as it used to be the accent of most members of the University of Oxford. The Handbook of the International Phonetic Association uses the name `` Standard Southern British ''. Page 4 reads : Standard Southern British ( where ' Standard ' should not be taken as implying a value judgment of ' correctness ' ) is the modern equivalent of what has been called ' Received Pronunciation ' ( ' RP ' ). It is an accent of the south east of England which operates as a prestige norm there and ( to varying degrees ) in other parts of the British Isles and beyond. Sub-varieties of RP Faced with the difficulty of defining RP, some researchers have tried to distinguish between different sub-varieties : Gimson ( 1980 ) proposed Conservative, General, and Advanced ; Conservative RP referred to a traditional accent associated with older speakers with certain social backgrounds ; General RP was considered neutral regarding age, occupation or lifestyle of the speaker ; and Advanced RP referred to speech of a younger generation of speakers. Later editions ( e.g., Gimson 2008 ) use the terms General, Refined and Regional. Wells ( 1982 ) refers to `` mainstream RP '' and `` U-RP '' ; he suggests that Gimson 's categories of Conservative and Advanced RP referred to the U-RP of the old and young respectively. However, Wells stated, `` It is difficult to separate stereotype from reality '' with U-RP. Writing on his blog in February 2013, Wells wrote, `` If only a very small percentage of English people speak RP, as Trudgill et al claim, then the percentage speaking U-RP is vanishingly small '' and `` If I were redoing it today, I think I 'd drop all mention of ' U-RP ' ''. Upton distinguishes between RP ( which he equates with Wells 's `` mainstream RP '' ), Traditional RP ( after Ramsaran 1990 ), and an even older version which he identifies with Cruttenden 's `` Refined RP ''. An article on the website of the British Library refers to Conservative, Mainstream and Contemporary RP. Usage The modern style of RP is an accent often taught to non-native speakers learning British English. Non-RP Britons abroad may modify their pronunciation to something closer to Received Pronunciation to be better understood by people unfamiliar with the diversity of British accents. They may also modify their vocabulary and grammar to be closer to those of Standard English for the same reason. RP is used as the standard for English in most books on general phonology and phonetics, and is represented in the pronunciation schemes of most dictionaries published in the United Kingdom. In dictionaries Most English dictionaries published in Britain ( including the Oxford English Dictionary ) now give phonetically transcribed RP pronunciations for all words. Pronunciation dictionaries are a special class of dictionary giving a wide range of possible pronunciations ; British pronunciation dictionaries are all based on RP, though not necessarily using that name. Daniel Jones transcribed RP pronunciations of a large number of words and names in the English Pronouncing Dictionary. This is still being published by Cambridge University Press, and is now edited by Peter Roach, the accent having been renamed `` BBC Pronunciation ''. Two other pronunciation dictionaries are in common use : the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, compiled by John C. Wells, using the name Received Pronunciation, and the Oxford Dictionary of Pronunciation for Current English, compiled by Clive Upton. This represents an accent named BR ( `` British English '' ) which is based on RP, but is claimed to be representative of a wider group of speakers. An earlier pronunciation dictionary by J. Windsor Lewis gives both British and American pronunciations, using the term General British ( GB ) for the former and General American ( GA ) for the latter. Status Traditionally, Received Pronunciation was the `` everyday speech in the families of Southern English persons whose men - folk ( had ) been educated at the great public boarding - schools '' and which conveyed no information about that speaker 's region of origin before attending the school. It is the business of educated people to speak so that no - one may be able to tell in what county their childhood was passed. -- A. Burrell, Recitation. A Handbook for Teachers in Public Elementary School, 1891 In the 19th century, some British prime ministers still spoke with some regional features, such as William Ewart Gladstone. From the 1970s onwards, attitudes towards Received Pronunciation have been changing slowly. The BBC 's use of Yorkshire - born Wilfred Pickles during the Second World War ( to distinguish BBC broadcasts from German propaganda ) is an earlier example of the use of non-RP accents, but even then Pickles modified his speech towards RP when reading the news. Although admired in some circles, RP is disliked in others. It is common in parts of Britain to regard it as a south - eastern English accent rather than a non-regional one and as a symbol of the south - east 's political power in Britain. A 2007 survey found that residents of Scotland and Northern Ireland tend to dislike RP. It is shunned by some with left - wing political views, who may be proud of having an accent more typical of the working classes. The British band Chumbawamba recorded a song entitled `` R.I.P. RP '', which is part of their album The Boy Bands Have Won. Phonology Consonants Consonant phonemes Labial Dental Alveolar Post - alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal Nasal m n ŋ Stop p d k ɡ Affricate tʃ dʒ Fricative f θ ð s z ʃ ʒ h Approximant l r j w Nasals and liquids ( / m /, / n /, / ŋ /, / r /, / l / ) may be syllabic in unstressed syllables. While the IPA symbol ( ɹ ) is phonetically correct for the consonant in ' row ', ' arrow ' in many accents of American and British English, most published work on Received Pronunciation represents this phoneme as / r /. Voiceless plosives ( / p /, / t /, / k /, / tʃ / ) are aspirated at the beginning of a syllable, unless a completely unstressed vowel follows. ( For example, the / p / is aspirated in `` impasse '', with primary stress on `` - passe '', but not `` compass '', where `` - pass '' has no stress. ) Aspiration does not occur when / s / precedes in the same syllable, as in `` spot '' or `` stop ''. When a sonorant / l /, / r /, / w /, or / j / follows, this aspiration is indicated by partial devoicing of the sonorant. / r / is a fricative when devoiced. Syllable final / p /, / t /, / tʃ /, and / k / may be either preceded by a glottal stop ( glottal reinforcement ) or, in the case of / t /, fully replaced by a glottal stop, especially before a syllabic nasal ( bitten ( ˈbɪʔn̩ ) ). The glottal stop may be realised as creaky voice ; thus, an alternative phonetic transcription of attempt ( əˈthemʔt ) could be ( əˈthemm̰t ). As in other varieties of English, voiced plosives ( / b /, / d /, / ɡ /, / dʒ / ) are partly or even fully devoiced at utterance boundaries or adjacent to voiceless consonants. The voicing distinction between voiced and voiceless sounds is reinforced by a number of other differences, with the result that the two of consonants can clearly be distinguished even in the presence of devoicing of voiced sounds : Aspiration of voiceless consonants syllable - initially. Glottal reinforcement of voiceless consonants syllable - finally. Lengthening of vowels before voiced consonants. As a result, some authors prefer to use the terms `` fortis '' and `` lenis '' in place of `` voiceless '' and `` voiced ''. However, the latter are traditional and in more frequent usage. The voiced dental fricative ( / ð / ) is more often a weak dental plosive ; the sequence / nð / is often realised as ( n̪n̪ ) ( a long dental nasal ). / l / has velarised allophone ( ( ɫ ) ) in the syllable rhyme. / h / becomes voiced ( ( ɦ ) ) between voiced sounds. Vowels Monophthongs of a fairly conservative variety of RP. From Roach ( 2004, p. 242 ) Monophthongs of modern RP. From Gimson ( 2014, chpt. 8.9 ) Ranges of the weak vowels in RP and GA. From Wells ( 2008, p. XXV ) Allophones of some RP monophthongs, from Collins & Mees ( 2003 : 92, 95 and 101 ). The red ones occur before dark / l /, and the blue one occurs before velars. Monophthongs ( Short ) Front Central Back Close ɪ ʊ Mid ə Open æ ʌ ɒ Examples of short vowels : / ɪ / in kit, mirror and rabbit, / ʊ / in foot and cook, / e / in dress and merry, / ʌ / in strut and curry, / æ / in trap and marry, / ɒ / in lot and orange, / ə / in ago and sofa. Monophthongs ( Long ) Front Central Back Close iː uː Mid ɜː ɔː ( listen ) Open ɑː Examples of long vowels : / iː / in fleece, / uː / in goose, / ɜː / in nurse and furry, / ɔː / in north, force and thought, / ɑː / in father, bath and start. Long and short vowels RP 's long vowels are slightly diphthongised, especially the high vowels / iː / and / uː /, which are often narrowly transcribed in phonetic literature as diphthongs ( ɪi ) and ( ʊu ). `` Long '' and `` short '' are relative to each other. Because of phonological process affecting vowel length, short vowels in one context can be longer than long vowels in another context. For example, the long vowel / iː / in ' reach ' / riːtʃ / ( which ends with a voiceless consonant ) may be shorter than the short vowel / ɪ / in the word ' ridge ' / rɪdʒ / ( which ends with a voiced consonant ). Wiik, cited in Gimson, published durations of English vowels with a mean value of 17.2 csec. for short vowels before voiced consonants but a mean value of 16.5 csec for long vowels preceding voiceless consonants. Conversely, the short vowel / æ / becomes longer if it is followed by a voiced consonant. Thus, bat is pronounced ( bæʔt ) and bad is ( bæːd ). In natural speech, the plosives / t / and / d / may be unreleased utterance - finally, and voiced consonants partly or completely devoiced ( as in ( b̥æːd̥ ) ) ; thus distinction between these words would rest mostly on vowel length and the presence or absence of glottal reinforcement. In addition to such length distinctions, unstressed vowels are both shorter and more centralised than stressed ones. In unstressed syllables occurring before vowels and in final position, contrasts between long and short high vowels are neutralised and short ( i ) and ( u ) occur ( e.g. happy ( ˈhæpi ), throughout ( θɹuˈaʊʔt ) ). The neutralisation is common throughout many English dialects, though the phonetic realisation of e.g. ( i ) rather than ( ɪ ) ( a phenomenon called happy - tensing ) is not as universal. Unstressed vowels vary in quality : / i / ( as in HAPP Y ) ranges from close front ( i ) to close - mid retracted front ( e̠ ) ; / u / ( as in INFL UENCE ) ranges from close advanced back ( u̟ ) to close - mid retracted central ( ɵ̠ ) ; according to the phonetician Jane Setter, the typical pronunciation of this vowel is a weakly rounded, mid-centralized close back unrounded vowel, transcribed in the IPA as ( u̜̽ ) or simply ( ʊ̜ ) ; / ə / ( as in COMM A ) ranges from close - mid central ( ɘ ) to open - mid central ( ɜ ). Diphthongs and triphthongs Diphthongs of RP. From Roach ( 2004, p. 242 ) Diphthong Example Closing / eɪ / ( listen ) / beɪ / bay / aɪ / ( listen ) / baɪ / buy / ɔɪ / ( listen ) / bɔɪ / boy / əʊ / ( listen ) / bəʊ / beau / aʊ / / baʊ / bough Centring / ɪə / / bɪə / beer / eə / / beə / bear / ʊə / / bʊə / boor ( formerly / ɔə / ) / bɔə / boar The centring diphthongs are gradually being eliminated in RP. The vowel / ɔə / ( as in `` door '', `` boar '' ) had largely merged with / ɔː / by the Second World War, and the vowel / ʊə / ( as in `` poor '', `` tour '' ) has more recently merged with / ɔː / as well among most speakers, although the sound / ʊə / is still found in conservative speakers. See poor -- pour merger. The remaining two centring glides / ɪə / / eə / are increasingly pronounced as long monophthongs ( ɪː ) ( ɛː ), although without merging with any existing vowels. The diphthong / əʊ / is pronounced by some RP speakers in a noticeably different way when it occurs before / l /, if that consonant is syllable - final and not followed by a vowel ( the context in which / l / is pronounced as a `` dark l '' ). The realization of / əʊ / in this case begins with a more back, rounded and sometimes more open vowel quality ; it may be transcribed as ( ɔʊ ) or ( ɒʊ ). It is likely that the backness of the diphthong onset is the result of allophonic variation caused by the raising of the back of the tongue for the / l /. If the speaker has `` l - vocalization '' the / l / is realized as a back rounded vowel, which again is likely to cause backing and rounding in a preceding vowel as coarticulation effects. This phenomenon has been discussed in several blogs by John C. Wells. In the recording included in this article the phrase ' fold his cloak ' contains examples of the / əʊ / diphthong in the two different contexts. The onset of the pre - / l / diphthong in ' fold ' is slightly more back and rounded than that in ' cloak ', though the allophonic transcription does not at present indicate this. RP also possesses the triphthongs / aɪə / as in tire, / aʊə / as in tower, / əʊə / as in lower, / eɪə / as in layer and / ɔɪə / as in loyal. There are different possible realisations of these items : in slow, careful speech they may be pronounced as a two - syllable triphthong with three distinct vowel qualities in succession, or as a monosyllabic triphthong. In more casual speech the middle vowel may be considerably reduced, by a process known as smoothing, and in an extreme form of this process the triphthong may even be reduced to a single vowel, though this is rare, and almost never found in the case of / ɔɪə /. In such a case the difference between / aʊə /, / aɪə /, and / ɑː / in tower, tire, and tar may be neutralised with all three units realised as ( ɑː ) or ( äː ). This type of smoothing is known as the tower -- tire, tower -- tar and tire -- tar mergers. Triphthongs As two syllables Triphthong Loss of mid-element Further simplified as Example ( aɪ. ə ) ( aɪə ) ( aːə ) ( aː ) tire ( ɑʊ. ə ) ( ɑʊə ) ( ɑːə ) ( ɑː ) tower ( əʊ. ə ) ( əʊə ) ( əːə ) ( ɜː ) lower ( eɪ. ə ) ( eɪə ) ( ɛːə ) ( ɛː ) layer ( ɔɪ. ə ) ( ɔɪə ) ( ɔːə ) loyal BATH vowel See also : Phonological history of English short A § Trap -- bath split in Received Pronunciation There are differing opinions as regards whether / æ / in the BATH lexical set can be considered RP. The pronunciations with / ɑː / are invariably accepted as RP. The English Pronouncing Dictionary does not admit / æ / in BATH words and the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary lists them with a § marker of non-RP status. John Wells wrote in a blog entry on 16 March 2012 that, when growing up in the north of England, he used / ɑː / in `` bath '' and `` glass '', and considers this the only acceptable phoneme in RP. Others have argued that / æ / is too categorical in the north of England to be excluded. Clive Upton believes that / æ / in these words must be considered within RP and has called the opposing view `` south - centric ''. Upton 's Oxford Dictionary of Pronunciation for Current English gives both variants for BATH words. A.F. Gupta 's survey of mostly middle - class students found that / æ / was used by almost everyone who was from clearly north of the isogloss for BATH words. She wrote, `` There is no justification for the claims by Wells and Mugglestone that this is a sociolinguistic variable in the north, though it is a sociolinguistic variable on the areas on the border ( the isogloss between north and south ) ''. In a study of speech in West Yorkshire, K.M. Petyt wrote that `` the amount of / ɑː / usage is too low to correlate meaningfully with the usual factors '', having found only two speakers ( both having attended boarding schools in the south ) who consistently used / ɑː /. Jack Windsor Lewis has noted that the Oxford Dictionary 's position has changed several times on whether to include short / æ / within its prescribed pronunciation. The BBC Pronouncing Dictionary of British Names uses only / ɑː /, but its author, Graham Pointon, has stated on his blog that he finds both variants to be acceptable in place names. Some research has concluded that many people in the North of England have a dislike of the / ɑː / vowel in BATH words. A.F. Gupta wrote, `` Many of the northerners were noticeably hostile to / ɡrɑːs /, describing it as ' comical ', ' snobbish ', ' pompous ' or even ' for morons '. '' On the subject, K.M. Petyt wrote that several respondents `` positively said that they did not prefer the long - vowel form or that they really detested it or even that it was incorrect ''. Mark Newbrook has assigned this phenomenon the name `` conscious rejection '', and has cited the BATH vowel as `` the main instance of conscious rejection of RP '' in his research in West Wirral. French words John Wells has argued that, as educated British speakers often attempt to pronounce French names in a French way, there is a case for including / ɒ̃ / ( as in bon ), and / æ̃ / and / ɜ̃ :/ ( as in vingt - et - un ), as marginal members of the RP vowel system. He also argues against including other French vowels on the grounds that very few British speakers succeed in distinguishing the vowels in bon and banc, or in rue and roue. Alternative notation Not all reference sources use the same system of transcription. In particular : / æ / as in trap is also written / a /. / e / as in dress is also written / ɛ /. / ʌ / as in cup is also written / ɐ /. / ʊ / as in foot is also written / ɵ /. / ɜː / as in nurse is also written / əː /. / aɪ / as in price is also written / ʌɪ /. / aʊ / as in mouse is also written / ɑʊ / / eə / as in square is also written / ɛə /, and is also sometimes treated as a long monophthong / ɛː /. / eɪ / as in face is also written / ɛɪ /. / ɪə / as in near is also written / ɪː /. / əʊ / before / l / in a closed syllable as in goal is also written / ɔʊ /. / uː / as in goose is also written / ʉː /. Most of these variants are used in the transcription devised by Clive Upton for the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary ( 1993 ) and now used in many other Oxford University Press dictionaries. The linguist Geoff Lindsey has argued that the system of transcription for RP has become outdated and has proposed a new system as a replacement. Historical variation Like all accents, RP has changed with time. For example, sound recordings and films from the first half of the 20th century demonstrate that it was usual for speakers of RP to pronounce the / æ / sound, as in land, with a vowel close to ( ɛ ), so that land would sound similar to a present - day pronunciation of lend. RP is sometimes known as the Queen 's English, but recordings show that even Queen Elizabeth II has changed her pronunciation over the past 50 years, no longer using an ( ɛ ) - like vowel in words like land. A comparison of the formant values of / iː æ ɑː ɔː ʊ uː / for older ( black ) and younger ( light blue ) RP speakers. From de Jong et al. ( 2007, p. 1814 ) Some changes in RP during the 20th century include : Words such as CLOTH, gone, off, often were pronounced with / ɔː / instead of / ɒ /, so that often and orphan were homophones ( see lot -- cloth split ). The Queen still uses the older pronunciations, but it is rare to hear them on the BBC any more. There was a distinction between horse and hoarse with an extra diphthong / ɔə / appearing in words like hoarse, FORCE, and pour. The DRESS vowel and the first element of the diphthong in FACE was lowered from mid ( e̞ ) to open - mid ( ɛ ). Any final y on a word is now represented as an / i / -- a symbol to cover either the traditional / ɪ / or the more modern / iː /, the latter of which has been common in the south of England for some time. Before the Second World War, the vowel of cup was a back vowel close to cardinal ( ʌ ) but has since shifted forward to a central position so that ( ɐ ) is more accurate ; phonetic transcription of this vowel as ⟨ ʌ ⟩ is common partly for historical reasons. In the 1960s, the transcription / əʊ / started to be used for the GOAT vowel instead of Daniel Jones 's / oʊ /, reflecting a change in pronunciation since the beginning of the century. The change in RP may be observed in the home of `` BBC English ''. The BBC accent of the 1950s is distinctly different from today 's : a news report from the 1950s is recognisable as such, and a mock - 1950s BBC voice is used for comic effect in programmes wishing to satirise 1950s social attitudes such as the Harry Enfield Show and its `` Mr. Cholmondley - Warner '' sketches. More recently, in speakers born between 1981 and 1993, the vowel / ɒ / shifted up approaching ( ɔ ) in quality. The vowels / ʊ / and / uː / have undergone fronting and reduction in the amount of lip - rounding ( phonetically, this can be transcribed ( ʊ̜̈ ) and ( ʉ̜ː ), respectively ), while / æ / has become more open ( a ). Comparison with other varieties of English Like most other varieties of English outside Northern England, RP has undergone the foot -- strut split : pairs like put / putt are pronounced differently. RP is a non-rhotic accent, so / r / does not occur unless followed immediately by a vowel. Pairs such as father / farther, caught / court and formally / formerly are homophones. RP has undergone the wine -- whine merger so the sequence / hw / is not present except among those who have acquired this distinction as the result of speech training. The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, based in London, still teaches these two sounds as distinct phonemes. They are also distinct from one another in most of Scotland and Ireland, in the northeast of England, and in the southeastern United States. Unlike many other varieties of English language in England, there is no h - dropping in words like head or horse. Unlike most Southern Hemisphere English accents, RP has not undergone the weak - vowel merger, meaning that pairs such as Lenin / Lennon are distinct. Unlike most North American accents of English, RP has not undergone the Mary -- marry -- merry, nearer -- mirror, or hurry -- furry mergers : all these words are distinct from each other. Unlike many North American accents, RP has not undergone the father -- bother or cot -- caught mergers. RP does not have yod - dropping after / n /, / t /, / d /, / z / and / θ /, but some British people have yod - dropping after / s / and / l /. Hence, for example, new, tune, dune, resume and enthusiasm are pronounced / njuː /, / tjuːn /, / djuːn /, / rɪˈzjuːm / and / ɪnˈθjuːziæzm / rather than / nuː /, / tuːn /, / duːn /, / rɪˈzuːm / and / ɪnˈθuːziæzm /. This contrasts with many East Anglian and East Midland varieties of English language in England and with many forms of American English, including General American. In words such as pursuit and evolution, both pronunciations ( with and without / j / ) are heard in RP. There are, however, several words where a yod has been lost with the passage of time : for example, the word suit originally had a yod in RP but this is now extremely rare. The flapped variant of / t / and / d / ( as in much of the West Country, Ulster, most North American varieties including General American, Australian English, and the Cape Coloured dialect of South Africa ) is not used very often. In traditional RP ( ɾ ) is an allophone of / r / ( it is used intervocalically, after / θ, ð / and sometimes even after / b, ɡ / ). Spoken specimen The Journal of the International Phonetic Association regularly publishes `` Illustrations of the IPA '' which present an outline of the phonetics of a particular language or accent. It is usual to base the description on a recording of the traditional story of the North Wind and the Sun. There is an IPA illustration of British English ( Received Pronunciation ). The audio recording on which the transcriptions are based may be heard here : Specimen of Received Pronunciation The speaker ( female ) is described as having been born in 1953, and educated at Oxford University. To accompany the recording there are three transcriptions : orthographic, phonemic and allophonic. Transcriptions Notable speakers The following people have been described as RP speakers : David Attenborough, broadcaster and naturalist The British Royal Family Helena Bonham Carter, actor David Cameron, Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Judi Dench, actor Rupert Everett, actor Chris Huhne, former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Boris Johnson, British Foreign Secretary Vanessa Kirby, actor Keira Knightley, actor Helen Mirren, actor Carey Mulligan, actor Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister Rowan Williams, Former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury Kate Winslet, actor See also Accent ( dialect ) Accents ( psychology ) English language in the United Kingdom English language spelling reform General American Mid-Atlantic accent Linguistic prescription Prestige ( sociolinguistics ) U and non-U English Notes and references Jump up ^ McDavid ( 1965 ), p. 255. Jump up ^ Pearsall ( 1999 ), p. xiv. Jump up ^ Jack Windsor Lewis ( 15 July 2008 ). `` General British Pronunciation ''. Yek.me.uk -- PhonetiBlog. Jump up ^ Wells ( 2008 ), p. xiv. Jump up ^ Trudgill, Peter ( 8 December 2000 ). `` Sociolinguistics of Modern RP ''. University College London. Retrieved 3 October 2012. Jump up ^ Lewis, J. Windsor. `` A Notorious Estimate ''. JWL 's Blogs. Retrieved 17 January 2017. Jump up ^ Hudson ( 1981 ), p. 337. Jump up ^ Crystal, David ( March 2007 ). `` Language and Time ''. BBC voices. BBC. Retrieved 18 April 2011. ^ Jump up to : McArthur ( 2002 ), p. 43. Jump up ^ Fishman ( 1977 ), p. 319. Jump up ^ Jones ( 1926 ), p. ix. Jump up ^ Ellis ( 1869 ), p. 23. Jump up ^ DuPonceau ( 1818 ), p. 259. Jump up ^ Wyld ( 1927 ), p. 23. Jump up ^ `` Regional Voices -- Received Pronunciation ''. British Library. Jump up ^ Crystal ( 2003 ), pp. 54 -- 55. Jump up ^ Crystal ( 2005 ), pp. 243 -- 244. Jump up ^ Cruttenden ( 2008 ), pp. 77 -- 80. Jump up ^ Jenkins ( 2000 ), pp. 13 -- 16. Jump up ^ Wells ( 1982 ), p. 117. Jump up ^ Jones ( 2011 ), p. vi. Jump up ^ Ladefoged ( 2004 ). Jump up ^ Trudgill ( 1999 ). Jump up ^ Jack Windsor Lewis. `` Review of the Daniel Jones English Pronouncing Dictionary 15th edition 1997 ''. Yek.me.uk. Retrieved 24 August 2011. Jump up ^ Jack Windsor Lewis. `` Ovvissly not one of us -- Review of the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary ''. Yek.me.uk. Retrieved 24 August 2011. Jump up ^ Jack Windsor Lewis ( 19 February 1972 ). `` British non-dialectal accents ''. Yek.me.uk. Retrieved 24 August 2011. Jump up ^ Jack Windsor Lewis. `` Review of CPD in ELTJ ''. Yek.me.uk. Retrieved 24 August 2011. Jump up ^ Collins & Mees ( 2003 ), pp. 3 -- 4. Jump up ^ International Phonetic Association ( 1999 ), p. 4. Jump up ^ Schmitt ( 2007 ), p. 323. Jump up ^ Wells ( 1982 ). Jump up ^ exotic spices, John Wells 's phonetic blog, 28 February 2013 Jump up ^ Bernd Kortmann ( 2004 ). Handbook of Varieties of English : Phonology ; Morphology, Syntax - edit edition. Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 217 -- 230. ISBN 978 - 3110175325. Retrieved 29 March 2017. Jump up ^ British Library. `` Sounds Familiar ''. Retrieved 29 March 2017. Jump up ^ `` Case Studies -- Received Pronunciation ''. British Library. 13 March 2007. Retrieved 24 August 2011. Jump up ^ Jones ( 1917 ). Jump up ^ Jones ( 2011 ). Jump up ^ Wells ( 2008 ). Jump up ^ Upton, Kretzschmar & Konopka ( 2001 ). Jump up ^ Windsor Lewis, J. ( 1972 ). A Concise Pronouncing Dictionary of British and American English. Oxford. Jump up ^ Jones ( 1917 ), p. viii. Jump up ^ Gladstone 's speech was the subject of a book The Best English. A claim for the superiority of Received Standard English, together with notes on Mr. Gladstone 's pronunciation, H.C. Kennedy, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1934. Jump up ^ Discussed in Mugglestone ( 2003, pp. 277 -- 278 ). Jump up ^ Zoe Thornton, The Pickles Experiment -- a Yorkshire man reading the news, Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Society 2012, pp. 4 -- 19. Jump up ^ `` Scottish and Irish accents top list of favourites ''. The Independent. 13 May 2007. Jump up ^ McArthur ( 2002 ), p. 49. Jump up ^ Roach ( 2004 ), pp. 240 -- 241. ^ Jump up to : Roach ( 2004 ), p. 241. ^ Jump up to : Roach ( 2004 ), p. 240. ^ Jump up to : Gimson ( 1970 ). Jump up ^ Lodge ( 2009 ), pp. 148 -- 9. Jump up ^ Shockey ( 2003 ), pp. 43 -- 4. Jump up ^ Roach ( 2009 ), p. 112. Jump up ^ Halle & Mohanan ( 1985 ), p. 65. Jump up ^ Jones ( 1967 ), p. 201. Jump up ^ Cruttenden ( 2008 ), p. 204. Jump up ^ Collins & Mees ( 2003 : 95 and 101 ) Jump up ^ Collins & Mees ( 2003 : 92 ) Jump up ^ Roach ( 2009 ), p. 24. Jump up ^ Wiik ( 1965 ). Jump up ^ Cruttenden ( 2008 ), p. 95. Jump up ^ Roach ( 2004 ), pp. 241, 243. ^ Jump up to : Wells ( 2008 : XXV ) Jump up ^ `` A World of Englishes : Is / ə / `` real '' ? ``. Retrieved 5 March 2016. Jump up ^ Roca & Johnson ( 1999 ), p. 200. Jump up ^ Wells, John. `` Blog July2006 ''. Retrieved 24 March 2014. Jump up ^ Wells, John. `` Blog, July2009 ''. Retrieved 24 March 2014. Jump up ^ Wells, John. `` Blog Nov2009 ''. Retrieved 24 March 2014. Jump up ^ Roach ( 2009 ), pp. 18 -- 19. Jump up ^ Wells ( 1982 ), pp. 203 ff. Jump up ^ Jack Windsor Lewis ( 1990 ). `` Review of Longman Pronunciation Dictionary ''. The Times. Jump up ^ Wells, John ( 16 March 2012 ). `` English places ''. John Wells 's phonetic blog. Jump up ^ Upton ( 2004 ), pp. 222 - 223. ^ Jump up to : Gupta ( 2005 ), p. 25. Jump up ^ Petyt ( 1985 ), pp. 166 -- 167. Jump up ^ Point 18 in Jack Windsor Lewis. `` The General Central Northern Non-Dialectal Pronunciation of England ''. Retrieved 4 July 2011. Jump up ^ Pointon, Graham ( 20 April 2010 ). `` Olivia O'Leary ''. Linguism : Language in a word. Jump up ^ Petyt ( 1985 ), p. 286. Jump up ^ Newbrook ( 1999 ), p. 101. ^ Jump up to : Wells ( 2008 ), p. xxix. ^ Jump up to : `` Case Studies -- Received Pronunciation Phonology -- RP Vowel Sounds ''. British Library. Jump up ^ Schmitt ( 2007 ), pp. 322 -- 323. Jump up ^ Lindsey, Geoff ( 8 March 2012 ). `` The British English vowel system ''. speech talk. Jump up ^ Wells, John ( 12 March 2012 ). `` the Lindsey system ''. John Wells 's phonetic blog. Jump up ^ Language Log ( 5 December 2006 ). `` Happy - tensing and coal in sex ''. Jump up ^ The Queen 's speech to President Sarkozy, `` often '' pronounced at 4 : 44. Jump up ^ Wright ( 1905 ), p. 5, § 12. The symbols used are slightly different. Wright classifies the sound in fall, law, saw ' as / oː / and that in more, soar, etc. as / oə /. Jump up ^ Lindsey, Geoff ( 3 June 2012 ). `` Funny old vowels ''. Retrieved 2 October 2016. Jump up ^ Trudgill ( 1999 ), p. 62. Jump up ^ Roca & Johnson ( 1999 ), pp. 135, 186. Jump up ^ Wells, John ( 27 January 1994 ). `` Whatever happened to Received Pronunciation ? ''. Retrieved 24 August 2011. Jump up ^ Wikström ( 2013 ), p. 45. `` It seems to be the case that younger RP or near - RP speakers typically use a closer quality, possibly approaching Cardinal 6 considering that the quality appears to be roughly intermediate between that used by older speakers for the LOT vowel and that used for the THOUGHT vowel, while older speakers use a more open quality, between Cardinal Vowels 13 and 6. '' Jump up ^ Collins & Mees ( 2013 ), p. 207. Jump up ^ de Jong et al. ( 2007 ), pp. 1814 -- 1815. Jump up ^ Roach ( 2011 ), p. ?. Jump up ^ `` Wells : Whatever happened to Received Pronunciation ? ''. 1997. Retrieved 10 February 2015. Jump up ^ Wells ( 1982 ), pp. 196 ff. Jump up ^ Wells ( 1982 ), p. 76. ^ Jump up to : Wells ( 1982 ), pp. 228 ff. Jump up ^ Wells ( 1982 ), pp. 253 ff. Jump up ^ Wells ( 1982 ), pp. 167 ff. Jump up ^ Wells ( 1982 ), p. 245. Jump up ^ Wise ( 1957 ). Jump up ^ Cruttenden ( 2008 ), pp. 221. Jump up ^ Roach, Peter ( November 2004 ). `` British English ( Received Pronunciation ) ''. Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 34 ( 2 ) : 239 -- 245. doi : 10.1017 / s0025100304001768. Jump up ^ Wells, John ( 8 November 2010 ). `` David Attenborough ''. John Wells 's phonetic blog. ^ Jump up to : Wells, John ( 3 May 2011 ). `` the evidence of the vows ''. John Wells 's phonetic blog. Jump up ^ Wells, John ( 11 July 2007 ). `` Any young U-RP speakers ? ''. Jump up ^ Wells, John ( 8 April 2010 ). `` EE, yet again ''. John Wells 's phonetic blog. ^ Jump up to : Lawson, Lindsey ( 14 October 2013 ). `` A popular British accent with very few native speakers ''. The Voice Cafe. Retrieved 12 December 2017. ^ Jump up to : Wells, John ( 12 June 2008 ). `` RP back in fashion ? ''. Jump up ^ Wells, John ( 21 October 2011 ). `` Longannet ''. John Wells 's phonetic blog. Jump up ^ Klaus J. Kohler ( 2017 ) `` Communicative Functions and Linguistic Forms in Speech Interaction '', published by CUP ( page 268 ) Bibliography Collins, Beverley ; Mees, Inger M. ( 2003 ) ( First published 1981 ), The Phonetics of English and Dutch ( PDF ) ( 5th ed. ), Leiden : Brill Publishers, ISBN 9004103406 Collins, Beverley ; Mees, Inger ( 2013 ) ( First published 2003 ), Practical Phonetics and Phonology : A Resource Book for Students ( 3rd ed. ), Routledge, ISBN 978 - 0 - 415 - 50650 - 2 Cruttenden, Alan, ed. ( 2008 ), Gimson 's Pronunciation of English ( 7th ed. ), London : Hodder, ISBN 0340958774 Crystal, David ( 2003 ), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language ( 2 ed. ), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0 - 521 - 53033 - 4 Crystal, David ( 2005 ), The Stories of English, Penguin DuPonceau, Peter S. ( 1818 ), `` English phonology ; or, An essay towards an analysis and description of the component sounds of the English language. '', Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 1, pp. 259 -- 264 Ellis, Alexander J. ( 1869 ), On early English pronunciation, New York, ( 1968 ) : Greenwood Press Elmes, Simon ( 2005 ), Talking for Britain : A journey through the voices of our nation, Penguin, ISBN 0 - 14 - 051562 - 3 Fishman, Joshua ( 1977 ), `` '' Standard '' versus `` Dialect '' in Bilingual Education : An Old Problem in a New Context ``, The Modern Language Journal, 61 ( 7 ) : 315 -- 325, doi : 10.2307 / 324550, JSTOR 324550 Gimson, Alfred C. ( 1970 ), An Introduction to the pronunciation of English, London : Edward Arnold Gimson, Alfred C. ( 1980 ), Pronunciation of English ( 3rd ed. ) Gimson, Alfred Charles ( 2014 ), Cruttenden, Alan, ed., Gimson 's Pronunciation of English ( 8th ed. ), Routledge, ISBN 9781444183092 Gupta, Anthea Fraser ( 2005 ), `` Baths and becks '', English Today, 21 ( 1 ) : 21 -- 27, doi : 10.1017 / S0266078405001069, ISSN 0266 - 0784 Halle, Morris ; Mohanan, K.P. ( 1985 ), `` Segmental Phonology of Modern English '', Linguistic Inquiry, The MIT Press, 16 ( 1 ) : 57 -- 116, JSTOR 4178420 Hudson, Richard ( 1981 ), `` Some Issues on Which Linguists Can Agree '', Journal of Linguistics, 17 ( 2 ) : 333 -- 343, doi : 10.1017 / S0022226700007052 International Phonetic Association ( 1999 ), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association : A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978 - 0521637510 Jenkins, Jennifer ( 2000 ), The Phonology of English as an International Language, Oxford Jones, Daniel ( 1917 ), English Pronouncing Dictionary ( 1st ed. ), London : Dent Jones, Daniel ( 1926 ), English Pronouncing Dictionary ( 2nd ed. ) Jones, Daniel ( 1967 ), An Outline of English Phonetics ( 9th ed. ), Heffer Jones, Daniel ( 2011 ), Roach, Peter ; Setter, Jane ; Esling, John, eds., Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary ( 18 ed. ), Cambridge University Press de Jong, Gea ; McDougall, Kirsty ; Hudson, Toby ; Nolan, Francis ( 2007 ), `` The speaker discriminating power of sounds undergoing historical change : A formant - based study '', the Proceedings of ICPhS Saarbrücken, pp. 1813 -- 1816 Ladefoged, Peter ( 2004 ), Vowels and Consonants, Thomson Lodge, Ken ( 2009 ), A Critical Introduction to Phonetics, Continuum McArthur, Tom ( 2002 ), The Oxford Guide to World English, Oxford University Press McDavid, Raven I. ( 1965 ), `` American Social Dialects '', College English, 26 ( 4 ) : 254 -- 260, doi : 10.2307 / 373636, JSTOR 373636 Mugglestone, Lynda ( 2003 ), ' Talking Proper ' : The Rise of Accent as Social Symbol ( 2nd ed. ), Oxford University Press Newbrook, Mark ( 1999 ), `` West Wirral : norms, self - reports and usage '', in Foulkes, Paul ; Docherty, Gerald J., Urban Voices, pp. 90 -- 106 Pearce, Michael ( 2007 ), The Routledge Dictionary of English Language Studies, Routledge Pearsall, Judy, ed. ( 1999 ), The Concise Oxford English Dictionary ( 10th ed. ) Petyt, K.M. ( 1985 ), Dialect and Accent in Industrial West Yorkshire, John Benjamins Publishing Ramsaran, Susan ( 1990 ), `` RP : fact and fiction '', Studies in the Pronunciation of English : A commemorative volume in honour of A.C. Gimson, Routledge, pp. 178 -- 190 Roach, Peter ( 2004 ), `` British English : Received Pronunciation '', Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 ( 2 ) : 239 -- 245, doi : 10.1017 / S0025100304001768 Roach, Peter ( 2009 ), English Phonetics and Phonology ( 4th ed. ), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0 - 521 - 40718 - 4 Roach, Peter ( 2011 ), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary ( 18th ed. ), Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521152532 Roca, Iggy ; Johnson, Wyn ( 1999 ), A Course in Phonology, Blackwell Publishing Rogaliński, Paweł ( 2011 ), British Accents : Cockney, RP, Estuary English, Łódź, ISBN 978 - 83 - 272 - 3282 - 3 Schmitt, Holger ( 2007 ), `` The case for the epsilon symbol ( ɛ ) in RP DRESS '', Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 37 ( 3 ) : 321 -- 328, doi : 10.1017 / S0025100307003131 Shockey, Linda ( 2003 ), Sound Patterns of Spoken English, Blackwell Trudgill, Peter ( 1999 ), The Dialects of England, Blackwell Upton, Clive ( 2004 ), `` Received Pronunciation '', A Handbook of Varieties of English, Walter de Gruyter, pp. 217 -- 230 Upton, Clive ; Kretzschmar, William A. ; Konopka, Rafal ( 2001 ), Oxford Dictionary of Pronunciation for Current English, Oxford : Oxford University Press Wells, John C. ( 1970 ), `` Local accents in England and Wales '', Journal of Linguistics, 6 ( 2 ) : 231 -- 252, doi : 10.1017 / S0022226700002632 Wells, John C. ( 1982 ), Accents of English I : An Introduction, Cambridge, New York : Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0 - 521 - 29719 - 2 Wells, John C. ( 2008 ), Longman Pronunciation Dictionary ( 3rd ed. ), Longman, ISBN 9781405881180 Wiik, K. ( 1965 ), Finnish and English Vowels, B, 94, Annales Universitatis Turkensis Wikström, Jussi ( 2013 ), `` An acoustic study of the RP English LOT and THOUGHT vowels '', Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 ( 1 ) : 37 -- 47, doi : 10.1017 / S0025100312000345 Wise, Claude Merton ( 1957 ), Introduction to phonetics, Englewood Cliffs Wright, Joseph ( 1905 ), English Dialect Grammar Wyld, Henry C.K. ( 1927 ), A short history of English ( 3rd ed. ), London : Murray External links BBC page on Upper RP as spoken by the English upper - classes Sounds Familiar ? -- Listen to examples of received pronunciation on the British Library 's ' Sounds Familiar ' website ' Hover & Hear ' R.P., and compare it with other accents from the UK and around the World. Whatever happened to Received Pronunciation ? -- An article by the phonetician J.C. Wells about received pronunciation Sources of regular comment on RP John Wells 's phonetic blog Jack Windsor Lewis 's PhonetiBlog Linguism -- Language in a word, blog by Graham Pointon of the BBC Pronunciation Unit Audio files Blagdon Hall, Northumberland Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk Harrow Hexham, Northumberland London Newport, Pembrokeshire Teddington Dialects and accents of Modern English by continent Europe United Kingdom England Varieties by common name Barrovian Black Country Brummie Bristolian Cheshire Cockney `` Mockney '' Cornish Cumbrian East Anglian East Midlands Essex Estuary Geordie Kentish Lancastrian Mackem Mancunian Multicultural London Norfolk Northern Pitmatic Potteries Received Pronunciation Scouse Southern Suffolk Sussex West Country `` Mummerset '' West Midlands Yorkshire Varieties by geographic location East of England Essex Norfolk Suffolk East Midlands North Cheshire Cumbria Barrow Lancashire Manchester Merseyside Sunderland Tyneside Yorkshire South Kent Thames Estuary ; London Multicultural London Sussex West Country Bristol Cornwall Dorset West Midlands Black Country Birmingham Stoke - on - Trent Northern Ireland Mid Ulster Ulster Scots Scotland Glasgow Highlands Wales Cardiff Gower Port Talbot Ireland Dublin D4 South - West Cork Supraregional Ulster Channel Islands Alderney Guernsey Jersey Elsewhere Gibraltar Isle of Man Malta North and South America United States Varieties by common name African American Appalachian Boston Cajun California Chicago ; Detroit ; Great Lakes Chicano Mid-Atlantic Philadelphia ; South Jersey Baltimorese General American High Tider Maine Miami Midland Midwestern New England New Mexican New York Old Southern Pacific Northwest Pennsylvania Dutch Pittsburghese Rhode Island Southern Texan Upper Midwestern Western Vermont Yat Yeshivish Yooper Varieties by geographic location Delaware Valley ; Mid-Atlantic Pennsylvania Dutch Philadelphia ; South Jersey Baltimore Midland Midwest Great Lakes ; Inland North Upper Midwest Upper Peninsula of Michigan New England Boston Maine Rhode Island Vermont New York City ; Northeastern New Jersey New York Latino North South Acadiana Appalachia Chesapeake ; Pamlico Miami New Orleans Texas West California New Mexico Pacific Northwest Western Pennsylvania Canada Aboriginal Atlantic Cape Breton Newfoundland Lunenburg Standard Ottawa Valley Pacific Northwest Quebec Caribbean Bahamas Barbados Dominican Republic Jamaica Puerto Rico Trinidad Elsewhere Bermuda Falkland Islands Guyana Oceania Australia Aboriginal Broad ; Strine General South Australian Torres Strait West Australian Elsewhere Fiji New Zealand Palau Solomon Islands Other continents Africa Cameroon Ghana Kenya Liberia Malawi Namibia Nigeria Sierra Leone South Africa White Cultivated General Broad Cape Flats Black Indian Uganda Asia Bangladesh Brunei Burma or Myanmar Hong Kong India Malaysia Nepal Pakistan Philippines Singapore Sri Lanka Phonologies of the world 's languages Abkhaz Afrikaans ASL Arabic Modern Standard Egyptian Hejazi Levantine Tunisian Avestan Belarusian Bengali Bulgarian Catalan Chinese Mandarin Cantonese Old Historical Czech Danish Dutch Standard Orsmaal - Gussenhoven dialect English Australian General American New Zealand Regional North American Received Pronunciation South African Standard Canadian Old Middle Esperanto Estonian Faroese Finnish French Parisian Quebec Galician German Standard Bernese Chemnitz dialect Greek Standard Modern Ancient Koine Gujarati Hawaiian Hebrew ( Modern ) Hindustani Hungarian Icelandic Inuit Irish Italian Japanese Kiowa Konkani Korean Kurdish Kyrgyz Latgalian Latin Latvian Limburgish Hamont Lithuanian Luxembourgish Macedonian Malay Maldivian Marathi Navajo Nepali Norwegian Occitan Odia Ojibwe Old Saxon Oromo Ottawa Pashto Persian Polish Portuguese Proto - Indo - European Ripuarian Colognian Romanian Russian Scots Scottish Gaelic Serbo - Croatian Slovak Slovene Somali Sotho Spanish Spanish dialects and varieties Swedish Tagalog Tamil Taos Turkish Ubykh Ukrainian Upper Sorbian Uyghur Vietnamese Welsh West Frisian Yiddish Zuni Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Received_Pronunciation&oldid=815661587 '' Categories : English language in England Standard English Standard languages Hidden categories : Use dmy dates from December 2017 Articles with hAudio microformats All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from December 2017 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Brezhoneg Deutsch Eesti Español فارسی Français Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Magyar Македонски Nederlands 日本 語 Polski Português Русский Simple English Türkçe Українська 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 16 December 2017, at 06 : 44. 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Question: where does the posh english accent come from
Answer: it actually has most in common with the Early Modern English dialects of the East Midlands