LELA 10082 Lecture 2 RP Received pronunciation See

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LELA 10082 Lecture 2 RP (Received pronunciation) See: J. C. Wells (1997) “Whatever happened

LELA 10082 Lecture 2 RP (Received pronunciation) See: J. C. Wells (1997) “Whatever happened to Received Pronunciation? ”, II Jornadas de Estudios Ingleses, Universidad de Jaén, Spain, p. 19 -28. Available at http: //www. phon. ucl. ac. uk/home/wells/rphappened. htm 1

Received pronunciation • “Standard” (British) English pronunciation • It’s an accent rather than a

Received pronunciation • “Standard” (British) English pronunciation • It’s an accent rather than a dialect • “received” in the old-fashioned meaning of “accepted” or “approved” (cf “received wisdom”) • Term probably coined by Daniel Jones (1917) 2

Received pronunciation • Regarded as most prestigious accent, identified with education and “breeding” •

Received pronunciation • Regarded as most prestigious accent, identified with education and “breeding” • Also known (misleadingly) as “Queen’s English”, or Oxbridge English, or (least appropriately nowadays) BBC English • In fact, one can identify a range of variants of RP 3

Received pronunciation • Unlike prestige accents in many other countries it is not the

Received pronunciation • Unlike prestige accents in many other countries it is not the accent of any particular region … • … though historically it originates in the speech of the upper classes in London and the home counties • It obviously has more features in common with southern accents … • … but it is clearly not the local accent of London, nor Oxford or Cambridge 4

Prestigious accent? • Generally the model for Br. E pronunciation • Foreign learners usually

Prestigious accent? • Generally the model for Br. E pronunciation • Foreign learners usually taught either Am. E or RP (though both Edinburgh and Dublin have a big English-language learning tourist trade) • Used to be necessary for many professions (notably, the BBC) – children had elocution lessons • Associated with upper classes, hence aloofness and snobbery, and so has become less attractive (roughly since 1960 s, perhaps in association with other social changes) • Now estimated that only 3 -5% of population of England speaks RP • Still used as a model to describe variation of non-standard accents 5

How to define RP • Sociolinguistically? – Who speaks RP? Members of a certain

How to define RP • Sociolinguistically? – Who speaks RP? Members of a certain social class (Royal family, upper-middle classes. . . ); broadcasters (not any more); educated people (but many people now have “educated regional accents”) • Subjectively? – What is correct/preferred/easiest to understand/most neutral? Always a subjective question, and no longer very reliable; in fact RP is widely denigrated nowadays • As an ideal, e. g. a model for teaching EFL 6

Variation within RP • Like all languages/dialects/accents, RP has undergone (and is undergoing) changes

Variation within RP • Like all languages/dialects/accents, RP has undergone (and is undergoing) changes • We can identify variants (“conservative”, “standard”, “modern”) in relation to resistance to certain developments: • Variation includes – – Phoneme mergers Phoneme/allophone realisation Phoneme distribution Other features 7

Phonemes • Groups of speech sounds identified by speakers as “the same”, often reflected

Phonemes • Groups of speech sounds identified by speakers as “the same”, often reflected in writing system • Phonetic realisation varies depending on context – – Clear and dark L Varieties of /t/ in top, stop, try, eighth, little, bitten, cat Use of minimal pairs to identify phonemes Also, requirement of phonetic similarity (e. g. /h/~/N/) 8

Phoneme mergers • Phoneme distinction lost, so words become homophones • /w/ ~ /

Phoneme mergers • Phoneme distinction lost, so words become homophones • /w/ ~ / / eg witch ~ which – – / / a phoneme in Scottish, Irish and American English Arguably a sequence of /hw/ (not /wh/, note) Regarded as a feature of “careful” speech Distinction not made by many RP speakers • / / ~ / / eg floor ~ flaw, four ~ for • / / ~ / / eg poor ~ paw, sure, moor, cure, tourist 9

Phoneme/allophone realisation • Phoneme remains, but its realisation changes – Allophone shift – Allophone

Phoneme/allophone realisation • Phoneme remains, but its realisation changes – Allophone shift – Allophone falls out of use • /oʊ/ → /əʊ/ eg goat, road, don’t, know • / / → /a/ eg that bad man • Loss of tapped /r/ (alveolar tap [ɾ]) as a usual realization of /r/ between vowels, as in very sorry; replaced by the ordinary approximant [ɹ]. • Glottal stop for /t/ before consonant as in football, witness, network, quite good, Gatwick, and even word-finally before a vowel: take it off, quite easy. 10

Phoneme distribution • Different phoneme is used in pronunciation of certain words – Can

Phoneme distribution • Different phoneme is used in pronunciation of certain words – Can be systematic, or apply apparently arbitrarily • / / → / / in cloth, off, lost [before voiceless fricative] • /ɪ/ →/ə/ eg possible, private, carelessness, and other words ending in -ible, -ate, -less, -ness, -ity, -ily • /t+j, d+j/ → /t. S, d. Z/ nature, graduate, perpetual, Tuesday, tune, dune • /E/ → /ɪ/ →/i/ in -y ending, happy, city, … 11

Other effects • Linking vs. intrusive r – fear of, idea of, put a

Other effects • Linking vs. intrusive r – fear of, idea of, put a comma in, saw it … • Plosive epenthesis: insertion of /t/ between nasal and fricative: fence /f. Ents/, emphasis /Empfas. Is/, answer /Ants /, mince=mints • Vocalisation of dark L /l/ → / /: milk, shelf, tables, apple, middle, little – Is this a change in phoneme distribution or change in allophone realisation? (see later) 12

Lexical changes • Individual changes in lexical pronunciation, not born before … 1923 1962

Lexical changes • Individual changes in lexical pronunciation, not born before … 1923 1962 generalisable n. Efju 51% nephew /n. Evju/ → /n. Efju/ 92% suit /sjut/ → /sut/ 47% deity /d It. I/ → /de. It. I/sut 92% zebra /z br / → /z. Ebr / de. It. I 40% • Collected by Wells (1990) for his Longman 98% Pronunciation Dicitonary z. Ebr • Comparison of preferences by respondents’ ages 65% 96% shows time-line of change – – 13

How to describe? • Note difficulty in describing changes (will also be seen when

How to describe? • Note difficulty in describing changes (will also be seen when we look at regional accents) – Ordinary phonemic analysis (endocentric) – Comparison with something else (exocentric) • Example: vocalisation of dark L – Odd to say [ ] is allophone of /l/ as it is (elsewhere) a phoneme in its own right – Historical view, backed by spelling, suggests it’s “an L” – Prescriptivists talk (often disparagingly) in terms of “vocalised L” – But endocentric analysis would say it’s a / / 14

Estuary English • The new RP? Actually a hybrid of RP and SE English

Estuary English • The new RP? Actually a hybrid of RP and SE English (London, Kent, Essex) accents • Not associated with upper class, but with socially mobile young people, even working class, hence prestigious in modern society • Expected to replace RP as “standard” • Name coined by David Rosewarne in Times Higher Ed. Supp. 1984 • Excellent website: http: //www. phon. ucl. ac. uk/home/estuary/home. htm 15

Features of Estuary English • Features of advanced RP already seen: – Use of

Features of Estuary English • Features of advanced RP already seen: – Use of intrusive R. – T glottalisation – L vocalisation • “Broad A” ([A]) in words such as bath, grass, laugh, etc. has only spread to rural areas of the south-east in the last 40 years. • Dropping of /j/ phoneme after /t, d, n/ in tune, news, knew • Dropping of /t/ in twenty, plenty etc. • Diphthong shifts, e. g. , /a. I/ → [AI], /a / →[æʊ], /e. I/ → [ ] • Rising intonation on statements 16

Estuary English and Cockney • Some features of Cockney appearing in EE too: –

Estuary English and Cockney • Some features of Cockney appearing in EE too: – replacement of /θ, ð/ with /f, v/ (e. g. [f. INk] for think [w. Ev ] for weather, free = three) – Pronunciation of -ing: RP /IN/, elsewhere /INg/, EE (and some conservative RP) /In/, and as /INk/ in thing – dropping /h/ in stressed words (e. g. [aus] for house) – Replacement of an /r/ with [ ] (eg Jonathan Ross) sufficiently widespread to be no longer seen as a speech defect! 17

Conclusion • All accents change, even RP – Interesting that it is possible to

Conclusion • All accents change, even RP – Interesting that it is possible to track changes by listening to recordings – Researchers at Macquarie U (Sydney) compared the Queen’s Christmas speeches and found that even the Queen’s English is moving towards EE! – Also interesting to see how popular press talks about language change 18

Conclusion • RP was once highly prestigious – if you had a regional accent

Conclusion • RP was once highly prestigious – if you had a regional accent you strove to lose it • On the contrary, it is now a stigmatised accent • This says more about social trends than about linguistics • Numbers of speakers diminishing, so the accent may disappear • Regional accents now more acceptable, but there are still strata – e. g. “Educated Northern” – Regional accents are associated with character traits, also subject to change • In 60 s, Scouse was witty, cheeky (now Geordie); Cockney indicated a spiv; Lancs/Yorks hard-working hard-nosed businessman • Attitudes quite different beyond England (sic) 19