A recent edit of the Wikipedia article on Received Pronunciation added in as an alternative name "The Queen's/King's English". This has been removed by another editor on the grounds that no reference was given to establish that this term is really an alternative to "Received Pronunciation". I suspect that this may lead to a lengthy argument, but to me it is beyond question that the "Queen's/King's English" name refers to a set of grammatical, lexical and phonological characteristics of one variety of English, while "Received Pronunciation" is only concerned with phonetic and phonological characteristics of the standard accent.
(Sept 26th) I am not surprised to see that the person who added the term "The Queen!s/King's English" has put it back in, with a reference. Not surprisingly, the reference is to the British Library web article that seems to have become the default reference on the subject of RP (apart from the Wikipdia article) and this is one of a number of ways in which the BL article seems to me unsatisfactory. I still believe that it is incorrect to say that the term "The Queen's/King's English" is an alternative name for RP.
(Sept 26th) I am not surprised to see that the person who added the term "The Queen!s/King's English" has put it back in, with a reference. Not surprisingly, the reference is to the British Library web article that seems to have become the default reference on the subject of RP (apart from the Wikipdia article) and this is one of a number of ways in which the BL article seems to me unsatisfactory. I still believe that it is incorrect to say that the term "The Queen's/King's English" is an alternative name for RP.
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