Page 278 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Linguistics Digvijay Pandya, Lovely Professional University

Notes
Unit 20: Difference in R.P. and Indian English

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
20.1 The Standard of Pronunciation
20.2 The Emergence of a Standard in England
20.3 Received Pronunciation
20.4 Indian English is not Always Intelligible to British Listener
20.5 Difference between General Indian English and British R.P.
20.6 Suggestions for the Improvement of Indian English
20.7 Summary
20.8 Key-Words
20.9 Review Questions
20.10 Further Readings

Objectives

After reading this Unit students will be able to:
• Understand the difference in R.P. and Indian English.
• Explain the Emergence of Standard in English.
Introduction

We already know, what are consonants sounds, how they are produced, and on what basis they are
classified. Apart from above we also need to know, how consonant sounds are usually; identified
according to their symbolic representation. Most of the dialect of English language use twenty four
distinctive consonant sounds. Let us examine these sounds and their symbolic representation and
also their detailed description.
In England, one accent has traditionally stood out above all others in its ability to convey associations
of respectable social standing and a good education. This “prestige” accent is known as Received
Pronunciation, or R.P. It is associated with the south-east, where most R.P. speakers live or work, but
it can be found anywhere in the country. Accents usually tell us where a person is from; R.P. tells us
only about a person’s social or educational background.
In due course, R.P. came to symbolic a person’s high position in society. During the 19th century, it
became the accent of public schools, such as Eton and Harrow, and was soon the main sign that a
speaker had received a good education. It spread rapidly throughout the Civil Service of the British
Empire and the armed forces, and became the voice of authority and power. Because it was a regionally
‘neutral’ accent, and was thought to be more widely understood than any regional accent, it came to
adopted by the BBC, when radio broadcasting began in the 1920s. During WW2, it became linked in
many minds with the voice of freedom, and the notion of a “BBC pronunciation” grew.
The Phonetic Symbols: Look at the chart of twenty four consonant sounds and notice how some of
the sounds are very different from the letters of English alphabet. These phonetic symbols for consonant
sounds are same as it appears in Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary of Current English by
A.S. Hornby, and Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. This chart also gives the uses of these
sounds in initial, middle and final positions.

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