It is clear that this accent will eventually lose its pre-eminent status in broadcasting as a result of the wish to broaden the social base of broadcast speech, but it will take a long time for this to happen. It is also frequently heard on the BBC World Service, though that service appears to have adopted the policy of sometimes using newsreaders and announcers with noticeable foreign accents.

The accent is most familiar as that used by most official BBC speakers of English origin (newsreaders and announcers on Radio 4 and Radio 3, and most television channels). The majority of speakers of this accent live in, or originate from, the south-east of England. This does not mean that the accent cannot be acquired by others: the present author (who attended a state school in the Midlands) originally spoke with an accent with noticeable regional features, but has over many years of teaching the phonetics of English acquired an accent not far from the standard one described here. The great majority of native speakers of this accent are of middle-class or upper-class origin, educated at private schools and (if of appropriate age) university.

It is an accent spoken by some English people. The number of native speakers of this accent who originate in Ireland, Scotland and Wales is very small and probably diminishing, and it is therefore a misnomer to call it an accent of BRITISH English. The most important aspects of this accent should, however, be made clear: a. The definition of this accent is a matter of heated debate and frequent controversy: the arguments will not be rehearsed here, but the interested reader is recommended to look at Jones (1917 and subsequent) and Wells (2000). 1 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE IPA British English: Received Pronunciation Peter Roach School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies University of Reading The accent described here is the present-day version of the accent that has been used as the standard in phoneticians description of the pronunciation of British English for centuries.

British English Pronunciation Rules Pdf