Received Pronunciation (RP)

Here is the PDF file of the handout from class of the Lexical Set changes, RP Features. The audio for the handout is available here.

The complete collection can be downloaded as a zip file, or you can click individual files below.

1. fleece
2. happy
3. dress
4. trap
5. bath
6. lot cloth
7. thought
8. goose
9. duke music
10. strut
11. comma letter
12. nurse
13. face
14. price
15. choice
16. mouth
17. goat
18. near
19. square
20. start
21. north force
22. orange
23. oral
24. cure
25. fire
26. tower
27. hw
28. dark L
29. initial R
30. medial R
31. linking R
32. Intrusive R
33. Initial T
34. medial T
35. final T
36. Lateral Release TL
37. Nasal Plosion TN
38. Plosive Epenthesis
39. Yod Coalescence
40. Placement, Articulation, Resonance, Pitch

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

• Received Pronunciation on the English Usage Site
• Received Pronunciation English on the Varieties of English Site
• Why RP? from an On-line Phonology Course (now offline, so we're accessing that page via the "Way Back Machine")
• Dialect leveling and RP from Andrew Moore's Universal Teaching site (now offline)
• Routes of England Special - Talking Posh on the BBC site (features excellent sound samples of RP and heightened RP)

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.

• Contemporary RP Flash   (full screen, click here)