Received Pronunciation

Received Pronunciation (RP) is an accent of British English that is widely perceived as the stereotypical accent of the British aristocracy and, to some extent, middle-class people from the south of England, especially those who have attended public schools such as Eton or Harrow. Politically, it is associated with members of the Conservative Party, many of whom have been products of the public school system.

For much of the 20th century, RP was the standard accent used in British film, radio and television, especially in programmes broadcast by the BBC. It is still, in many cases, the accent taught to learners of English as a second language. RP and the dialect known as 'Standard English' are sometimes called 'BBC English' or 'the King's English'.

A variant identified by language specialists is Upper Received Pronunciation (URP) which is the accent used by the Royal Family, especially Elizabeth II, and other aristocrats. An example is the pronunciation of Cadogan Square as Cadogan "Squaur".

Teaching and usage

Lord Reith, director-general of the BBC in the 1920s, insisted that his announcers must all "speak properly" and sound the same, using RP. A similar attitude prevailed in schools and universities. The belief primarily arose from the now-outdated idea that RP was a "universal" accent which the vast majority of English speakers could understand. Indeed, RP's connection with the educated and aristocratic came from it being taught in the public schools, which were responsible for its establishment from the early 19th century, and at Oxbridge. In the 18th century, even the gentry spoke with regional accents. While RP is mostly associated with middle-class people from the south of England, it is spoken by a limited number of people throughout the country.

People learning English as a second language are still often taught to speak using RP. They are told that to do so is speak 'BBC English' or 'the King's English' as the "correct" form of speech. This also applies to the variety known as 'Standard English'.

British films

Through much of the 20th century, RP was the standard British accent for use on film. In British films about the Second World War, officers always spoke with an RP accent while "other ranks" would use a regional accent. For example, The Way Ahead was about a group of army recruits from all over Great Britain who, through training, bond with their officer into an effective fighting unit. The officer, David Niven, speaks RP but the soldiers including the Scot John Laurie and the London East Ender Stanley Holloway all have regional accents. The distinction extends to scenes in which their wives get together. Penelope Ward as the officer's wife speaks RP but the others, including Eileen Erskine and Esme Cannon, are regional.

Actors would vary their accent between RP and regional depending on the rank they were portraying. John Mills was especially noted for this. He would speak RP in films like The Way to the Stars and The Colditz Story, in which he played officers, in contrast to the "working class accent" he had when playing an able seaman in This Happy Breed and a platoon corporal in Dunkirk.

There were films in which RP was actually mocked. In The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), William Holden sarcastically uses stock RP phrases like "Jolly good show, what?" in response to the British officers who insist on him joining their sabotage mission.

Another noted war film is In Which We Serve, written and produced by Noël Coward and starring himself with John Mills, Bernard Miles and Celia Johnson. Coward, a naval officer, and Johnson are a distinctly RP married couple while Miles and Mills are working-class seamen serving on Coward's ship. Melvyn Bragg highlights Coward and Gertrude Lawrence as speakers of "fine UPR, every syllable is sounded but some letters (the main vowels) are clipped".

Politics

Since so many of them went to the public schools, members of the Conservative Party are especially associated with RP. In former times, some felt a need to take voice training in order to modify their natural accent into one that sounded more like RP. Margaret Thatcher is the best-known example. In recent decades, many Tories have realised a need to appeal to the populace and have tried to taper their accents. An extreme case of this tendency is Johnson who has a pronounced RP accent but tries to be "common" by talking like some kind of bumbling buffoon. This distinction should not be exaggerated, of course, there have been Conservative politicians with strong regional accents, such as Eric Pickles, and Labour ones speaking RP, such as their current leader, Sir Keir Starmer.

Decline and satirisation of RP

All accents change over time, and RP is no exception. It was noted that even the URP accent of Elizabeth II changed since her accession. Charles III speaks a noticeably older form of RP than his sons. Across the south-east of England, RP has merged with other local accents, particularly the non-standard accent of London, to form so-called 'Estuary English', an accent which mingles some aspects of RP and others with its own innovations.

Use of RP has fallen significantly in recent years, due to more relaxed attitudes towards broadcasting non-RP dialects on radio and television, a reduction in the teaching of RP at schools and less social insistence on it being proper. Indeed, refined RP is now viewed as outdated, posh, stuffy and somewhat ridiculous. This is exemplified in the TV comedy The Windsors, starring Harry Enfield, which parodies the Royal Family. Among its targets are Charles' nieces, Eugenie and Beatrice, depicted as a couple of idiotic Sloane Rangers who, speaking URP, mangle the English language into something almost incomprehensible. That tallies with Melvyn Bragg's comment in 2001 that such an "archaic type of speech can lead to cringingly embarrassing situations where the speaker is simply not understood".