For
many years, especially during the late 19th century and the 20th
century up to about 1980 or so, there was a “right” way and a “wrong” way to
speak English. At least, this was what many “educated” people believed,
particularly those living in south-east England . The “Received
Pronunciation” of English was exported to the Empire via civil servants who had
been to the best English schools, and it was reinforced when the BBC began
broadcasting to the nation and the Empire, recruiting announcers and others whose
voices fitted a standard that became known as “BBC English”.
Received
Pronunciation (or RP) is therefore English without an appreciable regional
accent and which abides by certain stylistic rules. It is therefore a
standardised form of English. But how did it come about?
It
was very largely a social phenomenon, in that people who had been educated to a
certain level tended to consider themselves superior to those who had not. This
generally meant a split along class lines, with the upper and middle classes
forming the educated echelon and the working class being the semi-literate
underclass whose communication was almost exclusively with others of their own
class who spoke in the same way that they did. They also tended not to travel
much, so they had no need to adapt their speech to suit the needs of anyone
from outside their region.
The
Education Act of 1870 threw open many of the great schools of the country, such
as Eton, Harrow and Winchester, to the general public, which is why they are
still known as “public schools”, although the term is confusing to American
readers because it does not equate to “free”. Indeed, it was only the
better-off members of the middle class who could afford the fees. However, for
those who were able to attend these schools, and the “preparatory” schools that
prepared boys (and it was mostly boys, not girls) for the exams that would gain
them entry to the senior schools, a cultural clash took place between the sons
of the aristocracy and the “nouveau riche” social climbers of the middle class.
Before
this change, it was quite normal for upper class people to speak with regional
accents. Gladstone and Peel, for example, despite their Eton/Harrow and Oxford University
educations, never lost their Northern English accents. However, from about 1890
onwards it became a stigma to have a regional accent, and schoolmasters who had
themselves been through the new educational mill passed on their prejudices to
their middle class pupils.
The
social climbers also appreciated the advantage of copying the manners and
accents of those above them in the social hierarchy, and so Received
Pronunciation was born. It spread via the Army and the colonial service
throughout the Empire and therefore became a symbol of authority for those who
used it. You were unlikely to gain advancement, whether British or “native”, if
your accent did not match that of those with the power to make or break you in
career terms.
When
the BBC began broadcasting in 1921, its recruits came from the same educated middle
class that had been either to public schools or the new tranche of “grammar
schools” that in many ways sought to imitate the public schools. There were
strenuous efforts to standardise broadcast speech, including a committee that
decided how certain words were to be pronounced on the BBC. The early BBC form
of RP sounds to a modern ear to be almost comical, with its “far back”
renditions of words and phrases. If you can imagine “rolling stones” pronounced
as “railing stains” you will get a good idea!
However,
RP has had a much worse press in more recent years. It is now regarded by many
as symptomatic of elitism and snobbery, and it is noticeable how few “far back”
voices you will hear today, even among people who have no regional accent. A
good example is Her Majesty the Queen, of whom many recordings exist of
broadcasts made when she was much younger, such as during the 1950s. Half a
century later, although she is still clearly an aristocrat in her speech, there
are none of the knife-sharp edges to her vowels that typified RP.
The
decline of RP has also had much to do with social attitudes towards people from
the regions beyond the south-east of England . It is no longer acceptable
for talented people to be denied careers in broadcasting just because of the
way they speak, thus many newsreaders and reporters heard today have regional
accents from throughout the United
Kingdom and beyond.
It
is no longer the case that “getting on” depends on conforming to a given
pattern of behaviour, whether in speech or anything else. Received
Pronunciation has, fortunately, become a thing of the past in our more
accepting society.
© John Welford
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