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voice & speech: speech and dialects: received pronunciation

Received Pronunciation (RP)


by Eric Armstrong

Here are some example phrases for the lexical sets that I feel are most important for Received Pronunciation - you might call them "Signature Sounds," as Paul Meier does.

The links below will pop up in a new window. If you resize that window so that you can see it and this page, you should be able to go back and forth between them fairly easily.

 

Sample 1:THOUGHT

Paul talked to his naughty daughter

Sample 2:GOAT

Oh no, don't go!

Sample 3:NURSE

The Colonel's murder occurred in the church

Sample 4:STRUT

The mother came undone when she heard of the blood money

Sample 5:PRICE

The writer's flight arrived in Cyprus

Sample 6:MOUTH

The count never wore trousers around the house

Sample 7:NORTH/FORCE

They couldn't restore the notorious Lord George when they found him sleeping with a whore

Sample 8:SQUARE

I don't care that the mayor from there said a prayer

Sample 9:CURE

The furious gourmet swore the cured ham tasted like manure

Sample 10:BATH

I'd rather pass the last basket

Sample 11: PALM

After we crossed the Sahara we found a bar in the bazaar

Sample 12: NEAR

Here is where the fierce monster dove into the dreary mere

Sample 13: LOT

Stop Tom from robbing that yacht

 

 

Here are some samples of native RP speakers. These samples come from the International Dialects of English Archive (IDEA).

Sample 1

England 1

Sample 2

England 2

Sample 3

England 7

 

 

 

Links to RP resources

Contemporary RP sample/transcription (Flash)

Finally, a sample that has been broken into chunks and transcribed. You'll need the ubiquitous Flash plugin to play this stuff. Listen for elements that make this contemporary RP rather than traditional.