The RP Accent
Updated: Oct 16
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 used to speak 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).
The most common mistakes are mixing the two eras in one character (a tapped /r/ next to a glottal stop), playing Conservative RP as a swallowed, "plum-in-the-mouth" caricature, and giving a modern character the back, rounded GOOSE and FOOT vowels of 1955.
So focus on the differences; make it specific and drink your tea with your pinky in the air! What, what, oh rather!
Phonetic Sentences
Check out the bottom of the article for the Phonetic Sentences script!
Accent Key Features
Check out our article on Mastering IPA for Accents if you are new to the International Phonetic Alphabet and its symbolsǃ
Each feature is given as Conservative → Contemporary. If you can switch these six on and off at will, you can place any RP character in time.
TRAP is raised vs. open. Conservative [æ], raised towards [ɛ] in the oldest speakers — that man [ðæ̝t mæ̝n]. Contemporary is a fully open [a] — [ðaʔ man].
HAPPY is lax vs. tense. Conservative ends happy, city, money with short [ɪ] — [ˈhæpɪ]. Contemporary uses a tense [i] — [ˈhapi].
GOOSE and FOOT are back vs. fronted. Conservative keeps them back and rounded — food [fuːd], good [ɡʊd]. Contemporary fronts and unrounds them — [fʉːd], [ɡɵd].
/t/ before a consonant is released vs. glottal. Conservative never replaces /t/ with a glottal stop — not now [nɒt̚ naʊ]. Contemporary does, routinely — [nɔʔ naʊ]. Both keep water /ˈwɔːtə/ with a released [t].
Yod is kept vs. coalesced or dropped. Conservative: Tuesday /ˈtjuːzdɪ/, suit /sjuːt/, lute /ljuːt/. Contemporary: /ˈtʃuːzdeɪ/, /suːt/, /luːt/.
Centring diphthongs vs. long monophthongs. Conservative NEAR, SQUARE and TOUR glide to schwa — [nɪə], [skwɛə], tour [tʊə]. Contemporary flattens them to [nɪː], [skwɛː], and merges TOUR with THOUGHT — tour [tɔː].
Accent Phonetics
Diaphoneme | Keyword | Example | Conservative | Contemporary |
VOWELS | ||||
æ | TRAP | ham | æ~æ̝ | a |
æ | TRAP | bad | æ~æ̝ | a |
æ | TRAP | lad | æ~æ̝ | a |
ɑː / æ | BATH | pass | ɑ̟ː | ɑ̈ː~ʌ̞ː |
ɑː | PALM | father | ɑ̟ː | ɑ̈ː~ʌ̞ː |
ɒ | LOT | not | ɒ | ɔ |
ɒ / ɔː | CLOTH | off | ɔː~ɒ | ɔ |
ɔː | THOUGHT | law | ɔː~ɔ̝ː | o̞ː |
ɔː | THOUGHT | pause | ɔː~ɔ̝ː | o̞ː |
ə | COMMA | about | ə | ə |
ɪ | KIT | bit | ɪ | ɪ̞ |
ɪ | KIT | kit | ɪ | ɪ̞ |
i | HAPPY | city | ɪ | ɪi̯~iː |
iː | FLEECE | see | iː~ɪi̯ | ɪi̯~iː |
eɪ | FACE | date | e̞ɪ̯ | e̞ɪ̯ |
eɪ | FACE | day | e̞ɪ̯ | e̞ɪ̯ |
ɛ | DRESS | bed | e̞ | ɛ̝ |
ɛ | DRESS | pen | e̞ | ɛ̝ |
ɛ | DRESS | length | e̞ | ɛ̝ |
ʌ | STRUT | run | ʌ̈~ɐ | ɐ~ʌ̈~ɑ̈ |
ʊ | FOOT | put | ʊ | ɵ~ɤ̈ |
ʊ | FOOT | hood | ʊ | ɵ~ɤ̈ |
uː | GOOSE | through | ʊu̯ | ʊ̈ʉ̯~ʉː~ɨ̞ɯ̯̈ |
uː | GOOSE | threw | ʊu̯ | ʊ̈ʉ̯~ʉː~ɨ̞ɯ̯̈ |
juː | GOOSE | cute | jʊu̯ | jʊ̈ʉ̯~jʉː~jɨ̞ɯ̯̈ |
aɪ | PRICE | flight | äɪ̯ | ɑ̈ɪ̯~ʌ̞ɪ̯ |
aɪ | PRICE | my | äɪ̯ | ɑ̈ɪ̯~ʌ̞ɪ̯ |
ɔɪ | CHOICE | boy | ɔɪ̯ | oɪ̯ |
oʊ | GOAT | no | əʊ̯~ɛʊ̯ | əʉ̯ |
oʊ | GOAT | tow | əʊ̯~ɛʊ̯ | əʉ̯ |
oʊ | GOAT | soul | əʊ̯ | ɒʊ̯~ɔʊ̯ |
aʊ | MOUTH | about | ɑ̟ʊ̯ | aʊ̯ |
aʊ | MOUTH | now | ɑ̟ʊ̯ | aʊ̯ |
ɑːr | START | arm | ɑ̟ː(ɹ) | ɑ̈ː(ɹ)~ʌ̞ː(ɹ) |
ɪər | NEAR | deer | ɪə̯(ɹ) | ɪ̞ː(ɹ)~ɪə̯(ɹ) |
ɛər | SQUARE | mare | ɛə̯(ɹ) | ɛː(ɹ)~ɛə̯(ɹ) |
ɜːr | NURSE | burn | əː(ɹ)~ɐː(ɹ) | əː(ɹ) |
ɜːr | NURSE | bird | əː(ɹ)~ɐː(ɹ) | əː(ɹ) |
ɜːr | NURSE | earth | əː(ɹ)~ɐː(ɹ) | əː(ɹ) |
ər | LETTER | winner | ə(ɹ) | ə(ɹ) |
ər | LETTER | donor | ə(ɹ) | ə(ɹ) |
ɔːr | NORTH | sort | ɔː(ɹ)~ɔ̝ː(ɹ) | o̞ː(ɹ) |
ɔːr | FORCE | tore | ɔː(ɹ)~ɔə̯(ɹ) | o̞ː(ɹ) |
ʊər | CURE | tour | ʊə̯(ɹ) | ɵː(ɹ)~ɤ̈ː(ɹ), o̞ː(ɹ) |
jʊər | CURE | pure | jʊə̯(ɹ) | jɵː(ɹ)~jɤ̈ː(ɹ), jo̞ː(ɹ) |
CONSONANTS | ||||
r | RHOTICITY | car, letter | Non-rhotic — R only before a vowel. Linking R used (far away /fɑːɹ əˈweɪ/); intrusive R avoided as "incorrect" — law and order /ˈlɔː ənd ˈɔːdə/ | Non-rhotic. Linking R and intrusive R both common — far away /fɑːɹ əˈweɪ/, law and order /ˈlɔːɹ ən ˈɔːdə/, drawing /ˈdɹɔːɹɪŋ/ |
r | R-QUALITY | three, very, red | Approximant [ɹ], with a tapped [ɾ] between vowels and after TH in very old-fashioned speech — very /ˈveɾɪ/, sorry /ˈsɒɾɪ/, three /θɾiː/ | Approximant [ɹ]. Labiodental [ʋ] growing among younger speakers — red /ɹed/~/ʋed/. No tap |
t | T-MEDIAL | water, butter | Fully released [t], often lightly aspirated — water /ˈwɔːtə/, butter /ˈbʌtə/. No flapping, no glottal stop | Released [t] between vowels inside a word — water /ˈwɔːtə/, butter /ˈbʌtə/; a glottal stop here is still stigmatised. Across a word boundary before a vowel, [ʔ] is now common — not even [nɒʔ ˈiːvn̩], a lot of [ə ˈlɒʔ əv]. No flapping |
t | T-FINAL | what, cat | Released [t] before a vowel or pause — what /wɒt/, cat /kæt/. Before a consonant, unreleased [t̚], sometimes with light glottal reinforcement [ʔt̚] — that man [ðæt̚ mæn]. Never full glottal replacement | Glottal replacement before consonants — that man [ðæʔ mæn], what time [wɒʔ taɪm]. Also common before a pause — what? [wɒʔ]. Fully released [t] in careful or emphatic speech |
p k | P/K GLOTTALLING | happy, park | Fully released and aspirated — park /pɑːk/, happy /ˈhæpɪ/. No glottalisation | Glottal reinforcement before consonants — napkin /ˈnæʔpkɪn/, actually /ˈæʔktʃuəli/. Released before vowels — park /pɑːk/, happy /ˈhæpi/ |
θ | TH | thin, maths | [θ] — thin /θɪn/, maths /mæθs/ | [θ] — thin /θɪn/, maths /mæθs/ |
ð | DH | they, brother | [ð] — they /ðeɪ/, brother /ˈbɹʌðə/ | [ð] — they /ðeɪ/, brother /ˈbɹʌðə/ |
h | H | happy, house | Always kept — happy /ˈhæpɪ/, house /haʊs/. Older speakers drop it in hotel and historic: an 'otel /ən əʊˈtel/ | Kept — happy /ˈhæpi/, house /haʊs/. Dropped in unstressed function words: tell him /ˈtel ɪm/ |
l | L | light, milk, bottle | Clear [l] before vowels, dark [ɫ] before consonants and at the end — light /laɪt/, milk /mɪɫk/, bottle /ˈbɒtɫ̩/. Never vocalised | Clear [l] before vowels, dark [ɫ] elsewhere. Vocalisation creeping in among younger speakers — milk /mɪɫk/~/mɪʊk/, bottle /ˈbɒtɫ̩/~/ˈbɒtʊ/ |
ŋ | -ING | running, nothing | [ɪŋ] — running /ˈɹʌnɪŋ/, nothing /ˈnʌθɪŋ/. The oldest aristocratic speech has [ɪn]: huntin', shootin' and fishin' | [ɪŋ] — running /ˈɹʌnɪŋ/, nothing /ˈnʌθɪŋ/. [ɪn] only in very casual speech |
ŋ | NG | singer, sing | No G — singer /ˈsɪŋə/, sing /sɪŋ/. G kept in finger /ˈfɪŋɡə/, longer /ˈlɒŋɡə/ | No G — singer /ˈsɪŋə/, sing /sɪŋ/. G kept in finger /ˈfɪŋɡə/, longer /ˈlɒŋɡə/ |
j | YOD | tune, news, Tuesday | Yod kept everywhere, never coalesced — tune /tjuːn/, news /njuːz/, Tuesday /ˈtjuːzdɪ/. Also after L and S: lute /ljuːt/, suit /sjuːt/ | Coalesced after T and D — tune /tʃuːn/, Tuesday /ˈtʃuːzdeɪ/, dune /dʒuːn/. Kept after N — news /njuːz/. Dropped after L and S — lute /luːt/, suit /suːt/ |
ʍ | WH | which, whale | Sometimes kept as [ʍ] in careful or elocution-trained speech — which /ʍɪtʃ/ vs witch /wɪtʃ/. Most speakers born after c. 1900 merged it with W | Merged with W — which = witch /wɪtʃ/, whale = wail /weɪl/ |
k | K | kick, back | Aspirated and fully released — kick /kʰɪk/, back /bæk/ | Aspirated at the start of stressed syllables — kick /kʰɪk/. Often glottally reinforced before consonants — back door /ˈbæʔk ˈdɔː/ |
tʃ dʒ | CH/J | change, just | Standard [tʃ], [dʒ]. No coalescence in tune or dune: /tjuːn/, /djuːn/ | Standard [tʃ], [dʒ], plus extra ones from yod-coalescence — tune /tʃuːn/, during /ˈdʒʊəɹɪŋ/ |
OTHER | Anything else | Every consonant articulated, including in clusters. Syllabic N and L kept clear — button /ˈbʌtn̩/, little /ˈlɪtɫ̩/ | Syllabic consonants — button /ˈbʌtn̩/~/ˈbʌʔn̩/, little /ˈlɪtɫ̩/. A glottal stop before syllabic N is now standard | |
ABOUT THIS ACCENT | ||||
SIGNATURE FEATURES | Top 3–5 tells | 1) Non-rhotic, no intrusive R. 2) Crisp released T — water /ˈwɔːtə/. 3) Yod kept — Tuesday /ˈtjuːzdɪ/, suit /sjuːt/. 4) Long BATH — pass /pɑːs/. 5) Old-fashioned touches: tapped R in very, off /ɔːf/, HAPPY with [ɪ] | 1) Non-rhotic, with linking and intrusive R. 2) T released between vowels, glottal before consonants — water /ˈwɔːtə/, that man /ðæʔ mæn/. 3) Yod-coalescence — Tuesday /ˈtʃuːzdeɪ/. 4) Long BATH — pass /pɑːs/. 5) Fronted GOOSE and tense HAPPY — goose [ɡʉːs], happy /ˈhæpi/ | |
PLACEMENT | Resonance & mouth set | Forward and high in the mouth, with a lifted soft palate. Firm lip rounding on rounded vowels and precise tongue-tip work. Very little jaw movement | Relaxed, mid-mouth placement: less forward and less tense than Conservative RP. Moderate lip rounding with a looser jaw. Tongue pushed forward for GOOSE and FOOT | |
RHYTHM & INTONATION | Stress, pitch, tune | Wide pitch range with dramatic falls and fall-rises. Measured, deliberate pace. Strong stressed–unstressed contrast, with full use of weak forms. Statements end on a clear fall | Narrower pitch range than older RP, with gentler falls. Stress-timed, with strong vowel reduction. Rising tones on statements are increasingly common among younger speakers | |
COMMON PITFALLS | What actors get wrong | Over-tapping R — only between vowels and after TH, and rare even then. Adding intrusive R — avoid "idea-r-of". Letting glottal stops creep in — keep every T. Playing it as a caricature with a plum in the mouth — keep the sound forward, not swallowed. Modern vowels — HAPPY is [ɪ], not [i] | Sounding like Conservative RP — don't tap R, don't keep the yod in suit, and off is /ɒf/, not /ɔːf/. Too many glottal stops between vowels — keep water /ˈwɔːtə/. Sliding into Estuary — no TH-fronting, and no L-vocalisation in careful speech. Losing the long BATH — bath is /bɑːθ/, not /bæθ/ | |
KEY SENTENCE | One line, all the tells | I'm awfully sorry, but the new tutor's half an hour late for Tuesday's dance class. /aɪm ˈɔːfəlɪ ˈsɒɾɪ bət ðə ˈnjuː ˈtjuːtəz ˈhɑːf ən ˈaʊə ˈleɪt fə ˈtjuːzdɪz ˈdɑːns ˈklɑːs/ | Actually, the new tutor's late for Tuesday's dance class — the idea of it! /ˈæʔktʃuəli ðə ˈnjuː ˈtʃuːtəz ˈleɪʔ fə ˈtʃuːzdeɪz ˈdɑːns ˈklɑːs ðə aɪˈdɪəɹ əv ɪt/ |
Side-by-side: the words that give each era away
Use this as a warm-up list. Read down one column, then the other, and listen for the difference. Transcriptions are phonetic.
WORD | Conservative | Contemporary |
that man | [ðæ̝t̚ mæ̝n] | [ðaʔ man] |
happy | [ˈhæpɪ] | [ˈhapi] |
lot | [lɒt] | [lɔt] |
off | [ɔːf] (oldest) ~ [ɒf] | [ɔf] |
thought | [θɔːt] | [θoːt] |
bed | [bed] | [bɛd] |
food | [fuːd] | [fʉːd] |
good | [ɡʊd] | [ɡɵd] |
no | [nəʊ] ~ [nɛʊ] | [nəʉ] |
goal | [ɡəʊɫ] | [ɡɒʊɫ] |
near | [nɪə] | [nɪː] |
tour | [tʊə] | [tɔː] |
Tuesday | [ˈtjuːzdɪ] | [ˈtʃʉːzdeɪ] |
suit | [sjuːt] | [sʉːt] |
very | [ˈveɾɪ] (oldest) ~ [ˈveɹɪ] | [ˈvɛɹi] |
the idea of it | [ðɪ aɪˈdɪə əv ɪt] | [ði ɑɪˈdɪəɹ əv ɪʔ] |
Syllable Stress & Emphasis
Both varieties share standard British stress patterns: strong reduction of unstressed vowels to [ə] or [ɪ], and syncope in -ary/-ory words — secretary /ˈsekɹətɹi/, dictionary /ˈdɪkʃənɹi/ — where American English keeps a secondary stress. The era difference shows up in a group of words that have been shifting stress from the first syllable to the second. Conservative speakers keep the older initial stress; contemporary speakers increasingly move it.
WORD | Conservative | Contemporary |
controversy | /ˈkɒntɹəvɜːsɪ/ | /kənˈtɹɒvəsi/ |
kilometre | /ˈkɪləmiːtə/ | /kɪˈlɒmɪtə/ |
harass | /ˈhæɹəs/ | /həˈɹæs/ |
applicable | /ˈæplɪkəbl̩/ | /əˈplɪkəbl̩/ |
One shift runs the other way: contemporary speakers often stress the noun research on the first syllable — /ˈɹiːsəːtʃ/ — where conservative speakers keep /ɹɪˈsəːtʃ/ for both noun and verb.
For emphasis, Conservative RP leans hard on the stressed syllable with a steep pitch movement and a lengthened vowel ("it was quite extraordinary"). Contemporary RP emphasises with less pitch movement and more loudness, and is happier to let function words reduce almost to nothing.
Rhythm & Cadence
Shared: both are firmly stress-timed. Stressed syllables come at roughly regular intervals and unstressed syllables are compressed between them, with full use of weak forms — and /ənd/ → [ən], to /tuː/ → [tə], of /ɒv/ → [əv]. Statements normally end on a fall.
Conservative RP: a wide pitch range, starting phrases high and stepping down. Emphasis comes from steep high falls, and politeness or reservation from a marked fall-rise ("well, I suppose so"). The pace is measured; stressed vowels may be drawn out in upper-class speech, but every consonant stays crisp, so the effect is deliberate rather than lazy. Sentence-final falls are decisive and reach low in the voice.
Contemporary RP: a narrower, flatter pitch range with gentler falls and a quicker tempo. Connected-speech processes are used freely — assimilation (handbag [ˈhambaɡ]), elision (next door [ˈnɛks ˈdɔː]) and glottal stops before consonants. Younger speakers may use rising intonation on statements. Keep that for characters under about 35; on an older SSBE speaker it sounds borrowed.
Tips for Authenticity
Pick an era before you pick a sound. Decide roughly when your character was born and schooled. Born before about 1940 and establishment-bred: Conservative. Born after about 1970 and educated in the south: Contemporary. Characters in between sit on a sliding scale; take most of their vowels from Contemporary and keep two or three Conservative markers (released /t/, lax HAPPY, diphthongal CURE).
Never mix eras within one character. A tapped [ɾ] in ‘very’ next to a glottal stop in ‘that man’ is the single most common giveaway. If you use one Conservative marker, check the rest of the line belongs to the same decade.
Set the mouth, not just the vowels. Conservative: firm lip rounding on THOUGHT and GOAT, a fairly still jaw, active tongue tip, sound kept forward and bright. Contemporary: looser jaw, lips spread rather than rounded on GOOSE and FOOT, a more relaxed mid-mouth resonance.
Ration the tapped R. In Conservative RP the tap [ɾ] occurs only between vowels after a stressed syllable (very, sorry) and after /θ/ (three). Even then it is optional. One or two per paragraph is plenty; on every /r/ it turns into parody.
Use smoothing for upper-class Conservative characters. Triphthongs collapse — fire /faɪə/ → [fɑː], tower /taʊə/ → [tɑː], hour → [ɑː]. Leave it out for a merely educated character.
For Contemporary, learn the one /t/ rule that separates SSBE from Estuary. Glottal stop before a consonant or a pause: yes. Glottal stop between vowels inside a word (water, butter): no. Get this right, and your SSBE will never drift into London.
Pitfall — the "plum in the mouth". The cliché is a swallowed, dark, back-of-the-throat voice. Real Conservative RP is the opposite: forward, bright and precisely articulated. Listen to the 1957 broadcast below. The voice is high and clear, not muffled.
Pitfall — the 1950s newsreader playing a 2020s graduate. Back GOOSE [uː], lax HAPPY [ɪ] and over-careful /t/s make a contemporary character sound like a period piece. Front the GOOSE, tense the HAPPY and relax the jaw.
For American performers: both varieties are non-rhotic. Watch for /r/ leaking back into NURSE, START and LETTER. Both have the long BATH vowel — dance /dɑːns/, can't /kɑːnt/.
Tips for a Slight Accent
RP is itself a standard, so "drifting towards RP" only makes sense for the Conservative variety. Contemporary RP drifts the other way, towards a regional accent. The cases are handled separately.
Slight Conservative RP: drifting towards Contemporary RP
This is the best-documented accent drift there is. Queen Elizabeth II's vowels moved steadily towards the modern southern standard between the 1950s and 1980s, without ever fully arriving. Use this pattern for an older establishment figure who has softened with the times: a senior academic, a modern-minded aristocrat, a retired diplomat.
Drop first: tapped [ɾ], the long CLOTH vowel [ɔːf], fronted GOAT [ɛʊ], smoothing ([fɑː] for fire), and [ʍ] in which.
Modernise: lower TRAP to [a]–[æ]; let HAPPY tense to [i]; front GOOSE partway, to [ʉː]–[uː]; flatten SQUARE to [ɛː].
Keep — these survive longest: released /t/ before consonants (no glottal replacement); yod after /s/ and /l/ in careful words (suit /sjuːt/); diphthongal CURE in sure and tour [ʃʊə], [tʊə]; and, above all, the wide pitch range with steep high falls. Intonation is the last thing to go.
Slight Contemporary RP: drifting towards a regional accent
A Contemporary RP speaker has no "more standard" British target, so the realistic drift is sideways or downwards, towards a regional accent. Two character types cover most casting briefs, and they move in opposite directions. In the first, RP sits on top of a regional base and the regional base shows through. In the second, an RP base takes on features from the people around it. In both, the rule from dialect-contact research holds: the most socially salient, stigmatised features change first, and the low-salience ones survive longest.
Case 1: Northern roots, RP polish (the wealthy Northerner who went to Oxford)
A comfortably-off Northern family rarely speaks broad local dialect to begin with. Their home accent is closer to General Northern English: a pan-regional, middle-class Northern standard that has levelled away most city-specific features. Oxford adds an RP layer on top. What is left is a speaker who sounds like educated RP until a handful of words place them north of Birmingham.
Gone first — the stigmatised layer: the unsplit FOOT–STRUT vowel, so cup is no longer [kʊp]; H-dropping; monophthongal local FACE and GOAT ([eː], [oː]); definite-article reduction; and broad local vocabulary.
Half-gone — the compromise STRUT: many Northerners who acquire RP never land on the southern [ɐ]. They settle on a mid-central [ə]~[ɤ], so cup is [kəp] and luck is [lək]. This quietly "unsouthern" STRUT is one of the most realistic details you can give the character.
Kept — short BATH: bath [baθ], grass [ɡɹas], dance [dans], last [last]. This is the most tenacious Northern feature in educated speech and is often kept on principle as a marker of identity. PALM words stay long: father /ˈfɑːðə/. Some speakers split the difference word by word, with long [ɑː] in can't and half but short [a] elsewhere. Decide on your character's list and stick to it.
Kept — less fronting: GOOSE and FOOT stay further back than southern SSBE — food [fuːd]~[fʉ̠ːd] rather than [fʉːd], good [ɡʊd] rather than [ɡɵd]. GOAT has a rounder, backer onset — no [nɔʊ]~[noʊ] rather than [nəʉ].
Kept — low-salience local clues (choose by home city): HAPPY is tense [i] for Merseyside or Tyneside roots, but lax [ɪ]~[ɛ] for much of Yorkshire. Velar nasal plus applies for Manchester, Liverpool or the North-West Midlands — singer [ˈsɪŋɡə], thing [θɪŋɡ]. Voicing assimilation applies for Yorkshire — Bradford [ˈbɹatfəd], that day [ðat teɪ]. Regional identity survives in details like these, which listeners do not consciously notice.
Kept — intonation: a slightly flatter, more level delivery than southern SSBE, with fewer swooping falls. Avoid the high rising contour of Liverpool or Newcastle unless the character grew up there.
Pitfall: treating "Northern" as one accent. A short BATH vowel is shared across the North, but HAPPY, -ING and NG are city-specific. Pick a hometown and take your residue only from that city's guide.
Case 2: RP roots, London edges (the upper-class speaker living among middle-class Londoners)
This is downward convergence: an RP speaker adopting features of the educated London speech around them, usually Estuary English at its lighter end. It is socially motivated, so it is uneven. The features that shift are the ones already creeping into young SSBE, and the most stigmatised London features are almost never adopted unless the speaker is deliberately performing.
Adopt first — extend what SSBE already does: more glottal stops. Glottal replacement before consonants and pauses is already standard. Now extend it before vowels across words — not a lot of it [nɒʔ ə lɒʔ əv ɪʔ] — and before syllabic N — button [ˈbʌʔn̩], Britain [ˈbɹɪʔn̩].
Adopt — London vowels, lightly: L-vocalisation in casual words — milk [mɪʊk], people [ˈpiːpʊ], help [hɛʊp]. GOAT before L [ɒʊ] — goal [ɡɒʊ]. Wider diphthongs — FACE [ɛɪ]~[æɪ], MOUTH [æʊ]. Even more fronted GOOSE [ʏː]~[ɨː]. Longer, closer HAPPY [iː]. Yod-dropping after /n/ — news [nuːz].
Adopt in casual moments only: word-internal glottal stops between vowels — getting [ˈɡɛʔɪŋ], whatever [wɒʔˈɛvə]. Use these sparingly; they are the edge of what an RP speaker will take on.
Avoid — too far for this character: TH-fronting (think [fɪŋk], brother [ˈbɹʌvə]), H-dropping, a glottal stop in water or butter in careful speech, and multicultural London English features. On a speaker with an RP upbringing these read as put on. That is fine if the character is consciously "slumming it", and wrong if they are not.
Keep — the class tells: fully released, crisp consonants in formal or emphatic moments; yod after /t/ and /d/ coalesced as standard but never dropped (Tuesday [ˈtʃuːzdeɪ], not [ˈtuːzdeɪ]); careful vowels in less frequent words; and a confident, decisive final fall. Vocabulary and register (loo, sofa, supper) often give the speaker away long before the vowels do.
Performance tip — style-shifting is the giveaway. This character switches registers. Relaxed with friends, they lean London. On the phone to their parents, at a job interview, or when angry and wanting authority, the RP snaps back. Scripting one or two of those switches does more to sell the backstory than any single vowel.
YouTube Examples
Conservative RP
Queen Elizabeth II — The Christmas Broadcast, 1957 (scripted, read). The reference recording for mid-century Conservative RP: raised TRAP, fronted GOAT [ɛʊ], lax HAPPY, wide pitch range. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBRP-o6Q85s
Brian Sewell, art critic — Web of Stories interview (unscripted). A refined, ultra-conservative speaker born in 1931: listen for his smoothing, released /t/s and very wide intonation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IF7fJf3xH1A
Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire — talking about her life (unscripted). The youngest Mitford sister, born in 1920: aristocratic Conservative RP in relaxed conversation, a useful contrast to the formal broadcast style. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSAbSRcsUcY
Contemporary RP (SSBE)
Dr Geoff Lindsey, phonetician — "Why these English phonetic symbols are all WRONG" (semi-scripted). Lindsey speaks SSBE and explains, with examples, exactly how it differs from the older RP these symbols were designed for. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtnlGH055TA
Catherine, Princess of Wales — Shaping Us National Symposium speech (scripted, read). Polished, formal Contemporary RP: fronted GOOSE, monophthongal SQUARE and NEAR, glottal /t/ before consonants. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG2VBzGz9mg
Emma Watson — HeForShe speech at the United Nations, 2014 (scripted, read). An actor, but speaking as herself; a clear model of younger SSBE with a narrower pitch range. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wegx26dJoO8
Bridging both
Dr Geoff Lindsey — "The King's Speech: Charles III's accent". Lindsey analyses clips of King Charles III, a speaker who sits between the two varieties, against modern SSBE — ideal for hearing the differences named feature by feature. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT16yUEh7-0
Conclusion
Conservative RP is precise, bright and forward, with released consonants, rounded back vowels and a voice that rises and falls through a wide range. Contemporary RP keeps the same non-rhotic, BATH-broad skeleton but relaxes everything on top of it: fronted, unrounded vowels, glottal stops before consonants and a flatter tune. Choose the decade first, keep every feature within that decade, and the accent will place your character in time as well as in class.
Phonetic Sentences Script
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 [ɐ~ʌ̈~ɑ̈]
Conservative [ʌ̈~ɐ]
ʊ - FOOT Put the good cook book on the hook.
Contemporary [ɵ~ɤ̈]
iː - FLEECE The sea machine, made fleece, trees and bees.
Contemporary [ɪi̯~iː]
Conservative [iː~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 - [ʊ̈ʉ̯~ʉː~ɨ̞ɯ̯̈], cute - [jʊ̈ʉ̯~jʉː~jɨ̞ɯ̯̈]
Conservative - through - [ʊu̯], cute - [jʊu̯]
oʊ - GOAT No! The goat show cannot throw out the bow-tied doe.
Contemporary - no - [əʉ̯], soul - [ɒʊ̯~ɔʊ̯]
Conservative [əʊ̯~ɛʊ̯]
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 [ɔː~ɔ̝ː]
ʊər - TOUR The poor jury had a tour to help with the cure.
Contemporary - tour - [ɵː(ɹ)~ɤ̈ː(ɹ), o̞ː(ɹ)], pure - [jɵː(ɹ)~jɤ̈ː(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 [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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