In England, one accent has traditionally stood out above all others in its ability to convey associations of respectable social standing and a good education. This “prestige” accent is known as RECEIVED PRONUNCIATION, or RP. It is associated with the south-east, where most RP-speakers live or work, but it can be found anywhere in the country. Accents usually tell us where a person is from; RP tells us only about a person’s social or educational background.
In due course, RP came to sybolize a person’s high position in society. During the 19th century, it became the accent of public schools, such as Eton and Harrow, and was soon the main sign that a speaker had received a good education. It spread rapidly throughout the Civil Service of the British Empire and the armed forces, and became the voice of authority and power. Because it was a regionally ‘neutral’ accent, and was thought to be more widely understood than any regional accent, it came to adopted by the BBC, when radio broadcasting began in the 1920s. During WW2, it became linked in many minds with the voice of freedom, and the notion of a “BBC pronunciation” grew.
Today, with the breakdown of rigid divisions between social classes and the development of the mass media, RP is no longer the preserve of a social elite. It is best described as an “educated” accent – though “accents” would be more precise, for there are several varieties. The most widely used is that generally heard on the BBC; but there are also conservative and trend-setting forms. The former is found in many older establishment speakers. The latter is usually associated with certain social and professional groups – in particular, the voice of the London upwardly mobile (“the Sloane Rangers”) in the 1980s.
Nonetheless RP continues to retain considerable status. It has long been the chief accent taught to foreigners who wish to learn a British model, and is thus widely used abroad (by far more peole, in fact, than have it as a mother-tounge accent in the UK).
Reference:
Received Pronunciation: http://www.yaelf.com/rp.shtml retrieved on 16/05/09
