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The RP Accent

Writer's picture: Kevin KempKevin Kemp


The RP accent is the 'posh' accent of England. When the world thinks of a 'Posh British Chap', this is the accent they are thinking of.


There is the Contemporary RP accent, a more relaxed and modern RP, and the Conservative RP accent, which the Royal family speaks and you can hear in old films and TV shows.


Once you have this down, you can practice dropping some of the 'T's and 'H's, this will relax the accent (towards an Estuary Accent, though there are still some differences - check out THIS link for more on Estuary). This is great if you want a more 'normal bloke' British accent, think more along the lines of Harry Potter!


Phonetic Sentences


Use this link if you would like to hear the individual IPA symbols pronounced


Contemporary and Conservative




Dia-phoneme

and Keyword Sentence


ɪ - KIT Bin the hymn kit and sit a minute Sid.


ɛ - DRESS Many a Ted has dressed in bed to find that he's fallen asleep instead.

Conservative [e]


æ - TRAP The bad man trapped the rat, who wore the ridiculously tattered hat.

Contemporary [a]


ɒ - LOT The hot and bothered lot, had the odd wash, to stop the smell hitting the top!

Contemporary [ɔ]


ʌ - STRUT Under the hut the cow loved to strut in the mud to show off her udders.

Contemporary [ʌ̈]

Conservative [ɐ]


ʊ - FOOT Put the good cook book on the hook.

Contemporary [ɵ]


 

iː - FLEECE The sea machine, made fleece, trees and bees.

Contemporary [ɪi̯~iː]

Conservative [ɪi̯]


eɪ - FACE At day break, the face of Dave lay in the hay.


aɪ - PRICE Fly higher said the kite that tried, but he cried the price and lied. 

Contemporary [ɑ̈ɪ̯~ʌ̞ɪ̯]


ɔɪ - CHOICE The boy had a choice, one toy or to annoy another coy boy. 

Contemporary [oɪ̯]


 

uː - GOOSE A goose with two blue eyes, was in a group that swooped and flew. 

Contemporary - through - [uː], cute - [juː]

Conservative - through - [ʊu̯], cute - [jʊu̯]



oʊ - GOAT No! The goat show cannot throw out the bow-tied doe.

Contemporary - no - [əu], soul - [ɒʊ̯~ɔʊ̯]

Conservative [əʊ̯]


aʊ - MOUTH The loud mouth of the south town, now frowned, because he wore a gown. 

Conservative [ɑ̟ʊ̯]


 

ɪər - NEAR Near here we are weary and shed a tear of fear.

Contemporary [ɪ̞ː(ɹ)~ɪə̯(ɹ)]

Conservative [ɪə̯(ɹ)]


ɛər - SQUARE At the fair there were various pairs of rare square hairs. 

Contemporary [ɛː(ɹ)~ɛə̯(ɹ)]

Conservative [ɛə̯(ɹ)]


ɑː / æ - BATH The task of the guard dog was to answer with a bark, alarm the yard and if he can’t, to calm the last of the barn dancers.

Contemporary [ɑ̈ː~ʌ̞ː]

Conservative [ɑ̟ː]


ɔː - THOUGHT Thor thought the north war was against the law.

Contemporary [oː]

Conservative [oː]


ʊər - TOUR The poor jury had a tour to help with the cure. 

Contemporary - tour - [ɵː(ɹ)~o̞ː(ɹ)], pure - [jɵː(ɹ)~jo̞ː(ɹ)]

Conservative - tour - [ʊə̯(ɹ)], pure - [jʊə̯(ɹ)]


ɜːr - NURSE The nurse learned to stir and refer to her book.

Contemporary [əː(ɹ)]

Conservative - can be - [əː(ɹ)~ɐː(ɹ)]


 

ə - COMMA The common actor, the standard writer and the about author all sat in the upper gallery.


i - HAPPY It was a happy, glorious time that radiated. 

Conservative [ɪ]


u - YOU You influenced the situation, thank you! 


 

n - TIN Suddenly cotton was everywhere!


l and t - 

BELL/BETTER The little metal bottle stood in the middle. 

Contemporary - t = same or very gentle [t]



 

BBC Announcers Test





One hen

Two ducks

Three squawking geese

Four corpulent porpoises

Five limerick oysters

Six pairs of Don Alverzo's tweezers

Seven thousand Macedonians in full battle array

Eight brass monkeys from the ancient, sacred, crypts of Egypt

Nine apathetic, sympathetic, diabetic, old men on roller skates, with a marked

propensity towards procrastination and sloth

Ten lyrical, spherical, diabolical denizens of the deep who all stall around the

corner on the quo of the quay of the quivvey, all at the same time.



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