Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1. Received Pronunciation

1.1.The History of RP

1.2.Descriptions of RP

1.3.Summary

Chapter 2. Change and Variation in RP

2.1.Phonetic System

2.2. Speech Dynamics

2.3.Summary

Chapter 3. An Artificial Standard: BBC English

3.1. The Advisory Committee on Spoken English

3.2.BBC English as RP

3.3. Summary

Chapter4. Estuary English

4.1. Descriptions of Estuary English

4.2. Estuary English as RP

4.3. Summary

Conclusions and Outlook

Literature

Introduction

English is the most widely spoken language next to Spanish. Over fifty-two countries have English as their official language. English is spoken in countries like India, Singapore and small islands nations like Fiji Islands. There is strong indication that English will continue to dominate the business world and other social functions which further reinforced the concept that English is a widespread language indeed.

The English language today is being spoken globally and there are several explanations why this is so. The first and well-known reason for its prevalence is that English is the official language of England. England or Great Britain built one of the largest empires in this world and in the height of their dominance, they spread their language and customs to the people they ruled. Another factor for the language’s ascendancy is that other non-English speaking nations have officially made English as their second language. They have come to realize that English is very useful in business affairs and beneficial to their country as far as beckoning visitors and for that, the English language is regarded one of the successful contributions that England made to the world’s various cultures and races.

With globalization of English under way, there is concern expressed that this tendency might result in the loss of cultural identity by speakers of “global English”. The fear is that inhabitants of the Global village will have lost in the long run their proof of belonging to their original social culture.

Here is some data about Global English:

• Today one out of five of the world population speaks English

• Over 70% of the world’s scientists read English

• About 85% of the world’s mail is written in English

• 90% of all information in the world’s electronic retrieval systems is stored in English

• The process of globalization does not obliterate the cultural identity of global English speakers but, on the contrary, it shows the cultural resilience of language communities to “standardization”.

The English language is spoken in many different forms or dialects. Each dialect is unique due to the pronunciation of the words, the special terms added, and in some cases, the grammatical rules that were applied. The opinion of most people have of this subject is that it is an incorrect method of speaking English which couldn’t be further from the truth. In cases like these, it was just a matter of the English language being altered to accommodate the speaker’s culture or environment.

This paper proposes to look at the phenomenon ‘Received Pronuciation’ (RP) from different perspectives, trying to pin it down. Numerous descriptions of this speech style have been published, and endless material has been produced on its status, significance, and ongoing changes. In spite of this is has not been possible to define it in a meaningful way. Descriptions have almost exclusively been of the segmental order, and it is debatable whether this does justice to any speech style.Recently, another label was made available to the public: 'EstuaryEnglish' ('EE') stands for an accent or a range of accents, which is definitely regarded as downmarket from RP but has similar regional origins as the latter (London and the South-East) and which, because of its ever growing popularity, is thought to pose a serious threat to the hegemony of RP as the standard or reference accent for British English [41;1]. Every now and again, 'public opinion' goes into an emotional spasm about the states of the language.

It has not always been clear what exactly the standard is that people have made appeal to, but 'RP' has served as one label among others for a speech style that is considered educated, non-regional and generally desirable, and taken to denote a standard, although officially there is no such a standard. Indeed, it is highly questionable whether there can be such a thing as a standard of pronunciation, since a standard must by definition be constant, whereas the pronunciation of any language is subject to fashion and change and thus forever elusive. That which is labelled 'RP' in particular is subject to numerous manifestations.

A number of arguments has become stock-in-trade for the pro-RP, prostandard,faction. They are, not only that it is widely understood, but also that it is the only accent that can be generally understood at all; that it is more universally accepted and less offensive to the majority of people than any other English accent; that it is more articulate, clearer, and even more pleasing aesthetically than any other form of spoken English; conversely, others have maintained that RP is a degenerate and debased form of English, unfit to be a world language. Some of these arguments will be discussed.

The study of the accent as a class marker and the evaluation of different styles of speech is really a matter for social psychology, but since so much work has been done on this aspect of RP, and since it is really at the heart of the linguistic debate also, it will be extensively treated in this paper.

The first part of this paper is dedicated to the history of RP, its origin and the speculative theories concerning it. In the second part change and variation in RP are under consideration. Chapter 3 deals with various ideas about the standard of pronunciation and the role of the BBC in particular. Following that, chapter 4 discusses what Estuary English is.

In this paper comparative and selective methods of the research are used.

1. Received Pronunciation

1.1. The History of RP

The first use of the epithet 'received' for the polite pronunciation current in the educated classes is usually attributed to A.J. ELLIS, but FISHER traces it back to John WALKER's Critical Pronouncing Dictionary and Expositor of the English Language. Walker claims that London pronunciation is 'undoubtedly the best... that is, not only the best by courtesy, and because it happens to be the pronunciation of the capital, but best by a better title, that of being more generally received' [59;211].

FISHER showed that this pronunciation (of the court and the central administration in London) had always been a class accent, but had also been a regional accent until the 18th century, in other words that it was confined to London and the South-East of England.

Although this speech had thus acquired early prestige, it was for a long time still nothing unusual even for courtiers to speak with a provincial accent.

English writings with an interest in pronunciation began to appear in the 16th century, at a time when the pronunciation, after what was later to become known as the 'Great Vowel Shift', had diverged so much from the spelling that the latter ceased to be a guide to the former and alternative orthographic systems were being sought.

The first systematic pronouncing dictionaries, however, did not appear until the 18th century, which was also the century of the great normative grammarians. WALKER was preceded by Thomas Sheridan's edition of Dr Johnson's dictionary marked for pronunciation . Dr Johnson himself had refrained from including pronunciation in his dictionary because he found himself unable to 'ascertain' pronunciations that were generally accepted. It may be noted that Sheridan, as other compilers of pronouncing dictionaries after him, based his dictionary on his own pronunciation [13;47]. Dr Johnson, on the contrary, had apparently sought the opinion of people who could be assumed to be good speakers and had abandoned hope in the face of widely divergent testimonies.

Sheridan and Walker were elocution teachers or, as they were called at the time, orthoepists, a profession that became progressively more important with a particular form of speech. No doubt the Industrial Revolution was instrumental in bringing to fame and fortune 'new men', who were not able to converse and write in any other language than English.

According to FISHER, the speech of educated London ceased to be a regional dialect when London became more important as a centre; this is presumably bound up with increased mobility (physical and social) as a consequence of improved infrastructure and in the course of progressive industrialisation, which created fast growing industrial conurbations, the places that have produced the most notorious accents.

The name 'received pronunciation' was used by ELLIS to describe the speech of educated and polite society. 'Received' here means 'agreed upon by those fit to judge'. The word is sometimes taken to mean 'received socially', as in the leading drawing rooms. This interpretation tempts MACAULAY to ridicule it as 'a rather absurd, almost comic term, [...] with the implication that lacking it one [...] would not be welcome at court' [36;112]. It is similarly glossed by SCOTT as 'English suitable to be received by royalty in court' [48;40]. This interpretation is the one current today. At the time when it was first introduced, it may be noted, it makes no claim for the accent so described to be a general model.

It should, however, be clear that 'received' was originally an epithet that expressed exactly what it meant to express. It has become increasingly unpopular in the last few decades, because it is felt that it is indicative of the sort of class prejudice that modern society prides itself on having shed. WYLD indic

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Резюме

Язык существует и развивается как единство среди разнообразия его вариантов. Языковая ситуация в Англии существенным образом изменилась за последние десятилетия. В середине XX в. признавалось, что если говорящий пользуется Queen’s Englsih, т.е. строго нормированным национальным литературным языком с орфоэпическими нормами RP(Received Pronunciation), то это свидетельствует о его достаточно высоком социальном положении и хорошем образовании. В современную эпоху все быстрее происходит размывание норм RP. Они перестаю быть престижными, прежде всего в молодежной среде, где они приобретают ярко выраженные негативные коннотации. В современном обществе использование в речи «чистого»RP может восприниматься как проявление недружелюбия и даже враждебности.

Произносительные нормы Queen’s English постепенно уступают место иным типам произношения, и, прежде всего типу произношения Estuary English, которое некоторые исследователи определяют как RP будущего.

Estuary English не только широко распространился географически, но и быстро завоевывает социальные позиции-проникает в речь министров и других государственных деятелей. Эта языковая разновидность воспринимается британцами как демократическая языковая форма, выражающая дружелюбие и симпатию к собеседнику. Быстрое распространение Estuary English исследователи связывают с влиянием средств массовой информации, поскольку многие дикторы в той или иной степени являются его носителями.

Тем не менее, RP остается нормой произношения, а Literary English лежит в основе обучения английскому как иностранному языку за пределами Великобритании.

Примечаний нет.