Standard: Received Pronunciation – (Received = accepted or approved)

Received Pronunciation is referred to as Standard English. It is an accent, not a dialect, which means that speakers avoid grammatical structure and specific features of regional dialects. It is heard all over Britain and it is also overwhelmingly the first choice for foreign learners²; it probably is the most known variety of spoken English in the world. Recent estimates suggest that only 2% of residents of the UK speak RP³. Because it is barely spoken in Northern Ireland and Scotland and  it is possibly losing its influence in Wales, one could say that RP is an English accent, rather than a British one. Speakers of Received Pronunciation (RP) do not reveal their geographic background, but social and/or educational background can become obvious. It can be considered as the speech of the modern educated speaker².

Linguist A.J. Ellis used the term Received Pronunciation in 1869. In 1924 phonetician Daniel Jones chose the phrase to describe the accent of the social elite in the second edition of the English Pronouncing Dictionary³. The speech pattern is loosely based on the accent of London, Oxford and Cambridge and people started to connect this accent with aristocracy. In 1922, Lord Reid, the first General Manager of the BBC³, decided PR had to be the broadcasting standard. RP is still called BBC English nowadays. Reid chose this accent of English in order to serve all his listeners, in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, but in fact this form of English was only spoken by a small minority of the English speaking world. There has been a negative view on the regional dialects of English, probably the BBC participated in creating this view because of the choice to broadcast RP only.

Of course there have been a lot of changes in the UK, as in the rest of the world. This has influenced the development of language as well. Nowadays, there are many more regional accents heard in all kinds of places, even in the City and academia. Less people feel that they are expected to adapt their speech to RP. Nevertheless I do want to compare dialects to RP. I certainly do not want to suggest that Received Pronunciation is of more value than any other British dialect or accent, but since it is still considered standard, it is an obvious example to compare dialects to.