British English Pronunciation Standards

Received pronunciation is a kind of a social marker, a prestige accent of an Englishman. It appeared in the XVII century, and the term received was understood as accepted in the best society in the XIX century. That was the speech of aristocracy and court. To be more exact, the speech of the London area. Later the accent lost its local characteristics and was accepted as a ruling class accent. It was also taught and spoken in public schools. It was also called King’s English. Nowadays received pronunciation is regionless. But they say that only 3-5 % of the population of England speak received pronunciation. According to British phoneticians Charles Barber, Alfred Charles Gimson (7 June 1917 – 22 April 1985), Arthur Hughes and Peter Trudgill (born 7 November 1943, Norwich, England), it’s not homogeneous. Some scientists find three types of RP:

1) the conservative (used by older generation, by certain professions or social groups);

2) the general (it’s considered to be adopted by the BBC);

3) the advanced (it is said to be used by the younger generation of upper classes).