On pronunciation and posh accent

[Sylph]

I was wondering whether the GMG members could tell me whether they have a person who they associate with posh, upper received pronunciation (UPR) accent, someone whose pronunciation they especially admire together with the timber of his or her voice? Any actors, news readers, voice-over artists, politicians, celebrities...?

Obviously, I mean British people.

Also, how careful are you in enunciating your vowels and consonants and do you have any pet peeves pronunciation-wise? For example, I loathe it when Bush says Iraq – /aɪˈræk/. Indigestible.

[Opus106]

Link to comic's page

[knight66]

Received pronunciation has modified over the last 50 years. Even the Queen has altered her accent noticeably.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBRP-o6Q85s

Listen to the words 'happy', 'often', 'now', 'lives' 'lost'. These words have all been modified.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oldI0UrizQM&feature=related

Of course this is still a somewhat different delivery from even the very few radio announcers who would now be regarded as utilising RP.

Now the norm is to use the regional accents, with that the mode of speech has become much more colloquial.

My wife has what might be termed as a modern RP delivery....but take her to London and suddenly she has her parents London accent.....so I don't take her there often.

Mike

[Scarpia]

If you mention a posh British accent Kristen Scott Thomas comes to mind.

[mahler10th]

There was an Actor, American I think, who appeared in the 80's series MAGNUM with Tom Selleck.  He was Sellecks butler or assistant ot something.  His UPR accent was spot on.
Most politicians in the UK assume what I call a BBC accent.
The best accent in the UK, is of course, the Glasgow accent, which if yapped at street level, very few will understand.  For some of the most interesting UPR accents on television, tune into BBC News 24 (which I think is available in America?)

Also, if you really want to hear a somewhat different UPR, look no further than the fabulously eccentric Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5WfFTo8IvA&feature=player_detailpage

[(poco) Sforzando]

I was wondering whether the GMG members could tell me whether they have a person who they associate with posh, upper received pronunciation (UPR) accent, someone whose pronunciation they especially admire together with the timber of his or her voice? Any actors, news readers, voice-over artists, politicians, celebrities...?

Obviously, I mean British people.

Also, how careful are you in enunciating your vowels and consonants and do you have any pet peeves pronunciation-wise? For example, I loathe it when Bush says Iraq – /aɪˈræk/. Indigestible.

Henry Higgins might do.

As for Bush and Iraq, it was not his pronunciation that bothered me.

[The Diner]

There was an Actor, American I think, who appeared in the 80's series MAGNUM with Tom Selleck.  He was Sellecks butler or assistant ot something.  His UPR accent was spot on.

In the show, Higgins looked after the mansion for a famous writer. Magnum just lived in the guest house. The dude with the posh accent is from Texas. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSKFBt1hW4Q

[Sylph]

I think Brian Sewell has an überposh accent:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBt0ER43trc

[knight66]

He is a national treasure, but is certainly posher than the Queen. This is more typical of him, though he is completely engrossing when he discusses art history. I have him explaining the decoration and purpose of Saint Chapelle in Paris; a masterclass given in cut-glass. However, it does not seem to be on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq9IInCfNrs&feature=fvw

Mike

[Cato]

Many years ago I was told by a Linguistics professor that "pure zero-grade English" is spoken not in England, but here in Ohio (!)  and specifically in the "posh" suburbs of Cleveland (e.g. Shaker Heights), Columbus (e.g. Upper Arlington), Dayton (e.g. Oakwood and Kettering), Toledo (Sylvania and Ottawa Hills) and northern Cincinnati (e.g. West Chester).   0:)

[Sadko]

Since English is not my first language I don't know whether I'm allowed to speak here - I always like John Thaw's English as Inspector Morse. After listening to American gangster slang in Hollywood films it feels like a breeze of pure  air.

[knight66]

John Thaw had quite an interesting accent. In the 'Morse' detective series he adopted a sort of posh accent with something of a drawl and long vowels. I assume this was so the character could seemingly deal with Oxford Dons and luminaries as supposed equals. However, an underlying Northern accent kept creeping in. I always though this was inadvertant and that he simply was unable to sustain the accent he was adopting.

In other programmes he had a good London accent or a heavy West Country accent.

Mike

[MDL]

Received pronunciation has modified over the last 50 years. Even the Queen has altered her accent noticeably.

Is there a more horrible noise than Lizzie's speaking voice? It sounds like a reluctant fart being squeezed through a clenched bumhole.

My wife has what might be termed as a modern RP delivery....but take her to London and suddenly she has her parents London accent.....so I don't take her there often.

Mike

[MDL]

The water in Majorca...

Everything you need to know about RP and linguistics.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4VFqbroi1I

[matti]

Another furriner lurking here. How would you Brits and Scots rate Stephen Fry's accent? How many points on posh-o-meter?

[knight66]

Probably eight out of ten with Prince Charles and Brian Sewel on a 10.

Mike

[Lethevich]

He has a very un-localised "sophisticated" accent: he doesn't seem to try particularly hard to speak formally, however it is very clear that he has had a privileged upbringing. It is a pleasant voice to listen to because he speaks natually and tends to have adapted his manner towards lucidity over formality, but without compromising that core measured, well-considered and presented effect. As a result it doesn't sound too "posh", but does ooze intelligence.

[Sylph]

Before I reply to certain interesting things in the posts above, how about Clarissa Dickson Wright and Jennifer Paterson?

http://www.youtube.com/v/Vn3soBViAj4 

[mahler10th]

Another furriner lurking here. How would you Brits and Scots rate Stephen Fry's accent? How many points on posh-o-meter?

Stephen Fry is one of my favourite UK broadcasters. 10/10.

Brits and Scots

'Brits', 'Great Britain' etc, refer to all the home nations of the United Kingdom, England, Wales, N. Ireland and Scotland as one.  Scots and Brits need not be sepreated in this context, only in National boundaries - the English, the Scots, the Welsh, etc.

[Sylph]

Received pronunciation has modified over the last 50 years. Even the Queen has altered her accent noticeably.

Yes, it has. You are right. Not only has it changed, it also isn't a homogenous accent, made of just one, correct way to pronounce words. One division the phoneticians today use is the division into conservative, mainstream and contemporary RP.

Several changes occurred during the last century, and beyond. For example, the phoneme /hw/, still taught by RADA, is pretty much lost. Brian Sewell, however, and some other "speech-conscious" people still use it. To them, whine and wine are not homophones.

The long vowel of words such as lost, soft, cloth is now a short one, /ɒ/, just like in words such as hot, pot, lot (and here I'm referring to the British pronunciation, Americans use a different vowel).

Laundry and launch aren't /ˈlɑːndri/ and /ˈlɑːnʧ/ anymore. /ɔə/ merged into /ɔː/ in words such as four, cores, shore so shore and Shaw are homophones.

The so-called alveolar tap (very, sorry, merry, spirit, lurid) in intervocalic positions is gone to. It has become an approximant.

/ʊə/ almost disappeared in words such as tourist and moor.

The yod coalescence is wide-spread. No one, well almost no one says /ˈgrædjueɪt/. Instead, it's /ˈgrædʒueɪt/.

Some vowels, like the /æ/, for example, are a lot more open now than they used to be. Notice it when Clarissa Dickson Wright says a good dash of Worcester sauce.

Many other things as well. Even Prince Charles was caught using a glottal stop.