Received Pronunciation: Speak like the Queen
If you read my blog on relative clauses last week, you will have seen the fantastic video of a 1950s BBC newsreader speaking with a ‘Received Pronunciation’ (RP) accent. This is sometimes called ‘The Queen’s English’, as it is the ‘posh’ accent used by the Queen and members of the upper classes in the UK that have been educated at schools like Eton, which cost a lot of money to attend.
Loads of students have said to me over the years that they want to ‘speak like the Queen’ or speak ‘Oxford English’. Well, the fact is that even the Queen has changed her accent over the years in an attempt to sound less aristocratic.
Look at this video of her Christmas Speech from 1957. Listen to the way the Queen says ‘often’ at 0:55. If you know phonemic symbols, then it is something like this /ɔ:fən/. It actually sounds like she might be saying another word -‘orphan’… which is a child who has no parents.
Nowadays, most people (and even the Queen) would pronounce the word ‘often’ like /ɒfən/ or /ɒftən/… both are accepted – with or without pronouncing the ‘t’
The Queen also says /lɔ:st/ at 1:55, instead of the current ‘lost’ /lɒst/ in another example of RP that sounds extremely old-fashioned these days.
You can hear how the Queen speaks now in the clip from her Christmas Speech in 2010. Her RP accent has definitely changed. Can you hear how she sounds a bit more approachable and less harsh now?
After the huge success of the film The King’s Speech at the Oscars, there is perhaps renewed interest and fascination in speaking ‘correctly’ like the King of England. This week you will be able to hear lots of ‘posh’ RP accents when Prince William takes his vows and gets married at Westminster Abbey. When you hear Kate Middleton speaking, you might even think that she speaks with a posher accent than William.
The Received Pronunciation accent is not an official way of speaking, but because school children ‘learn’ this accent at the most expensive schools in England, it used to be, and to some extent still remains, a sign of ‘a good education’ and a ‘certain social position’.
However, if you have a Received Pronunciation accent that is too posh nowadays, then people think it is ridiculous and possibly that you are a stupid aristocrat with outdated opinions.
If you don’t believe me, here’s a comedy sketch from a very popular show from a few years ago.
So, maybe it’s not the best idea to want to speak Received Pronunciation like the Queen.
However, if you want to know about phonemic script or speak understandable British English then you can learn both of these things at SGI in London this summer. See you there!
Posted by Bren Brennan on Apr 27 2011. Filed under English Tips, Pronunciation.
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[...] Did you know that he grew up in England and has a British RP accent? [...]
One thing that interests me is whether there are areas of the country where the local accent has died out and everyone [or perhaps all the young people] speak RP. I visited Winchester last year, and got the impression that the local accent around there has died.
I think that the Leicestershire accent is virtually dead as well, although of course they would say bath, class, demand, etc. differently from the Queen.
Hi Bren, you make some very valid points about how native RP speakers have to adapt to be widely understood. Still, if you have any advice on a reputable place to learn RP in the Chelsea-Westminster area I would really appreciate it.
[...] Family, in our new series of podcasts of real, unscripted, natural conversation. HRH The Queen reached 60 years on the throne last week, which is only the second time a monarch has achieved this [...]
Regrettably I think there is a common view that RP is a fixed accent based on voices of the 1950s. “Received” pronunciation is a phrase like “received” wisdom, it merely means that pronunciation which is accepted, or received, by educated people as being the norm. Over time it is constantly changing in subtle ways. The other misconception is that the phrase “the Queen’s English” refers to the way the Queen speaks; it is a phrase like “the Queen’s peace”, it merely refers to standard intelligible English as spoken and written by educated English people. In England the standards of English usage are set by a middle class intelligensia rather than by the royal house.
[...] accent dramatically over the years to sound less elitist – you can hear the results of this in my blog from last year where I look at her RP accent changes. Often holds a special place in her RP accent though. This is [...]
i had r p lessons for four years, my tutor was amazing, she said that the queens speech is not r p, can any one advise?
Well, Andy, the queen is kind of considered the epitome of the ‘Queen’s English’, which is a synonym for RP. Perhaps your tutor meant this: most RP speakers obtain their accent from going to public schools (the ones you pay for) so they ‘receive’ their accent there. The Queen, like many other RP speakers, grew up in an environment where everyone around her spoke with an RP accent, so she also had that accent before any schooling. In fact, she was privately educated, so it’s not possible to say that she went to school and received her RP accent.
That could be what your tutor was implying. However, the Queen’s accent is definitely RP in its sound. So, it’s a bit ridiculous (in my opinion) to say that she doesn’t have an RP accent.
Does that make sense?
[...] with native English speakers from Britain. In this podcast, you can hear Charlie (who has a Received Pronunciation accent) and Bren, who are SGI English teachers. Both are native English speakers of course. This is [...]
[...] baby sent the world media into a frenzy, of course. A possible heir to the throne, a future King or Queen no less) is big news! As soon as she was admitted to hospital on Monday suffering from extreme [...]
So, received pronunciation can be learned, even by adults? Would it be considered a ‘fake’ accent if someone started to learn it and apply it to their speech after they have surpassed childhood?
[...] famous Received Pronunciation accent, it’s interesting to hear how the Queen has softened her English accent over the years since her first televised Xmas Speech in 1957. Back then her accent was a lot [...]
wow! i love rp very much!
is there any actress who speak very posh accent like the queen?