RP

Question 1

What happened in 1840s and onwards?

Answer 1

Emerging railway network allows geographical mobility meaning that RP can travel.

Question 2

Term RP coined by linguist A.J.Ellis in what year?

Answer 2

1869

Question 3

How would others be able to tell if you were a “public school man” in the 1870s? What are the social advantages of attending a public school?

Answer 3

Old school tie, old boys assoc registers, RP accent

Jobs, club membership and marriages

Question 4

In what year were there strong pressures on undergraduates at both university and college?

Answer 4

1880s

Question 5

1914-18 what was it possible to buy?

Answer 5

It was possible to buy a manual to correct accents. In the First World War the officer needed an RP accent.

Question 6

What term did Daniel Jones use in “pronouncing dictionary”?

Answer 6

PSP

Question 7

1924 what was the other term that Daniel Jones used in the new edition of his “English pronouncing dictionary”?

Answer 7

RP

Question 8

What happened with radio broadcasts in 1926?

Answer 8

They were being aired for thousands to listen to, meaning that they’d all be hearing the RP accent as they spoke with the accent on live radio. So listeners would’ve assumed that they were hearing the authentic sound of perfectly spoken English.

Question 9

A.C Gimson classified RP into types in 1962, what were these types?

Answer 9

Conservative, general and advanced.

Question 10

Who was using the terms “upper crust”, “mainstream” and “adoptive” to classify types of RP and in what year?

Answer 10

John Wells, Gimsons successor at UCL in 1982

Question 11

1984 what did David Roswarne used what term to describe the middle ground between RP and cockney?

Answer 11

Estuary English

Question 12

What is meant by an “adoptive” RP speaker, and how was this approach to accent regarded?

Answer 12

Deliberate change from regional to RP 
Positively, advertises identifying with public school class and willingness to change to fit in.

Question 13

By the last decade of the C19th, what sort of organisations had adopted RP as a sort of gold standard?

Answer 13

Elementary schools, teacher training colleges, central education department and government inspectors

Question 14

What impact did the expansion of railways have on accents in England?

Answer 14

Middle classes were able to send their children to boarding school by train, therefore regional accents became standardised at boarding school.
Movement of population, village-village, village-town, everywhere-London lead to changes in regional accents

Question 15

What was PSP and how was it pronounced?

Answer 15

Public school pronunciation- early linguistic form of RP

Chanting of vowel sounds each morning, elocution in grammars

Question 16

According to Rosewarne, Estuary English uses pronunciation from which region in particular?

Answer 16

From the non-regional and local south-eastern English London

Question 17

Give some examples of walks of life where EE could be heard in the 1980s

Answer 17

EE can be heard on the front and back benches of the House of Commons and used by some members of the lords. As well as in the city, business circles, local government and media etc.

Question 18

What happens to /l/ in the final position in EE?

Answer 18

An estuary speaker may use an articulation like /w/ instead of /l/ for example in “bill”, there’s an /l/ vocalisation

Question 19

Would an EE speaker use glottals if so where?

Answer 19

They’d use fewer glottal stops for /t/ or /d/ than a London speaker, but more than an RP speaker e.g words such as “butter”

Question 20

What does DR suggest about the future of Estuary English?

Answer 20

It’ll replace RP

Question 21

If we regarded EE as a social rather than a regional accent, where are its advantages?

Answer 21

EE is approachable and decreases social distance

Question 22

According to DR, why will advanced RP never be adopted as the accent of the future?

Answer 22

Because EE is more socially influential

Question 23

What does Rosewarne seem to be saying about the influence of EE?

Answer 23

EE is influenced by the telly and films. There is an imitation of an”Estuary” pronunciation reinforced by the exposure of RP speakers to American English through films and tv.

Question 24

What percentage of the English population speak RP?

Answer 24

2-3%