Regional types of pronunciation
Date: 2015-10-07; view: 406.
It is generally considered that the orthoepic norm of British English is “Received Pronunciation” (RP), though as many scholars state, it is not the only variety of British English pr-n that is recognized as the orthoepic norm in present-day Britain. RP was accepted as the phonetic norm of English about a century ago. It is mainly based on the Southern English regional type of pr-n, but it has developed its own features. Though RP is carefully preserved by the public schools & the privileged class in England, the RP of today differs in some respects from the former refined RP used half a century ago. A.Gimson claims that the exclusive purity of the classic RP has been diluted, as some features of regional types of speech are “received” now, though some 50 years ago those features were considered to be regional, non-RP.
The main changes that have recently taken place in RP are as follows:
1. The diphthongization of the RP /i:/ & /u:/ which in final position are often
pronounced with a glide (e.g. “see” - /sij/, “who” – /h u / ).
2. Monophthongization of /ai / & /a/ when followed by /ә/(e.g.”tower”-
/ta ә/ >/taә/,“fire”-/ ' faiә / > / ' faә /).
3. The centering of former /o / to / /. E.g. the word “November” had three possible pr-ns the recommended /o / (/no ' vembý /), shortened monophthongal form /o / (/no' vembә/), or, in rapid speech /ә /(/nә'vembә/). Now, there is a tendency to pronounce / / in careful speech (/n 'vembý/),
& /ә/in rapid speech (/nә'vembә/).
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