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Received Pronunciation
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==Use== ===Media=== In the early days of British broadcasting, speakers of English origin almost universally used RP. The first director-general of the [[BBC]], [[John Reith, 1st Baron Reith|Lord Reith]], encouraged the use of a 'BBC accent' because it was a "style or quality of English which would not be laughed at in any part of the country". He distinguished the BBC accent from the 'Oxford accent', to which he was "vehemently opposed".<ref>{{Citation |title=1967: John REITH explains the "BBC ACCENT" {{!}} Lord Reith Looks Back {{!}} BBC Archive |date=28 September 2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwBQLoa3E_Y |language=en |access-date=7 October 2022}}</ref> In 1926 the BBC established an [[BBC Advisory Committee on Spoken English|Advisory Committee on Spoken English]] with distinguished experts, including [[Daniel Jones (phonetician)|Daniel Jones]], to advise on the correct pronunciation and other aspects of broadcast language. The Committee proved unsuccessful and was dissolved after the [[Second World War]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198736738.001.0001/acprof-9780198736738 |title=Dictating to the Mob: The History of the BBC Advisory Committee on Spoken English |year=2016 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198736738.001.0001 |last1=Schwyter |first1=JΓΌrg R. |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-873673-8}}</ref> While the BBC did advise its speakers on pronunciation, there was never a formalised official BBC pronunciation standard.<ref>Sangster, Catherine, 'The BBC, its Pronunciation Unit and 'BBC English' in Roach, P., Setter, J. and Esling, J. (eds) ''Daniel Jones' English Pronouncing Dictionary'', 4th Edition, Cambridge University Press, pp. xxviii-xxix</ref> A notable departure from the use of RP came with the Yorkshire-born newsreader [[Wilfred Pickles]] during the Second World War; his accent allowing listeners to more clearly distinguish BBC broadcasts from German propaganda, though Pickles had modified his accent to be closer to RP.<ref>Discussed in {{harvtxt|Mugglestone|2003|pp=277β278}}, but even then Pickles modified his speech towards RP when reading the news.</ref><ref>Zoe Thornton, ''The Pickles Experiment β a Yorkshire man reading the news'', Transactions of the Yorkshire Dialect Society 2012, pp. 4β19.</ref> Since the Second World War RP has played a much smaller role in broadcast speech. RP remains the accent most often heard in the speech of announcers and newsreaders on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4, and in some TV channels, but non-RP accents are now more widely encountered.<ref> {{cite book |last1=Roach |first1=Peter |last2=Setter |first2=Jane |last3=Esling |first3=John |title=Daniel Jones' English Pronouncing Dictionary |date=2011 |publisher=Cambridge |page=xii}} </ref> ===Dictionaries=== Most English dictionaries published in Britain (including the [[Oxford English Dictionary]]) now give phonetically transcribed RP pronunciations for all words. Pronunciation dictionaries represent a special class of dictionary giving a wide range of possible pronunciations: British pronunciation dictionaries are all based on RP, though not necessarily using that name. Daniel Jones transcribed RP pronunciations of words and names in the [[English Pronouncing Dictionary]]. Cambridge University Press continues to publish this title, as of 1997 edited by [[Peter Roach (phonetician)|Peter Roach]]. Two other pronunciation dictionaries are in common use: the ''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary'',{{sfnp|Wells|2008}} compiled by [[John C. Wells]] (using the name "Received Pronunciation"), and [[Clive Upton]]'s ''Oxford Dictionary of Pronunciation for Current English'',{{sfnp|Upton|Kretzschmar|Konopka|2001}} (now republished as ''The Routledge Dictionary of Pronunciation for Current English'').<ref>{{cite book |last1=Upton |first1=Clive |last2=Kretzschmar |first2=William |title=The Routledge Dictionary of Pronunciation for Current English |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781138125667}}</ref> ===Language teaching=== Pronunciation forms an essential component of language learning and teaching; a ''model accent'' is necessary for learners to aim at, and to act as a basis for description in textbooks and classroom materials. RP has been the traditional choice for teachers and learners of [[British English]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/case-studies/received-pronunciation/ |title=Case Studies β Received Pronunciation |publisher=British Library |date=13 March 2007 |access-date=27 January 2019 |quote=As well as being a living accent, RP is also a theoretical linguistic concept. It is the accent on which phonemic transcriptions in dictionaries are based, and it is widely used (in competition with General American) for teaching English as a foreign language. |archive-date=22 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722181432/http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/case-studies/received-pronunciation/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> However, the choice of pronunciation model is difficult, and the adoption of RP is in many ways problematic.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Adam |title=Pronunciation Models |date=1991 |publisher=Singapore University Press |isbn=9971-69-157-4}}</ref>{{sfnp|Cruttenden|2014|pp=325β352}}
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