I remember how difficult it was, when I was writing the IPA Specimen article on RP for publication in JIPA, to find a speaker who could be widely accepted as an authentic and contemporary RP speaker. Wikipedia has its own problems in this area: in WP's Received Pronunciation article, they chose to include a section titled 'Notable Speakers'. The contents of this section reads as follows:
John C. Wells, a notable British phonetician, has identified the following people as RP speakers:
The British Royal Family
David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London
Rowan Williams, Former Archbishop of Canterbury
Rupert Everett,
Chris Huhne, former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury
Notice anything unusual about this list? Yes, they are all male apart from some members of the Royal Family. Some Wikipedian has suggested on the Talk Page that some female names might be added to the list, but as usual it is very hard to come up with the names of speakers who would be recognized by a bona fide phonetician to be RP speakers. The comment on the Talk page reads 'I think the idea of having a list of Notable Speakers of RP is good, and it is essential that every person listed there is referenced. I am unhappy that all those listed are referenced to John Wells, particularly as all seven individuals listed are male. Do any women speak RP apart from members of the British Royal Family?'
A good question. Anyone who believes in RP is bound to answer 'yes'. But I bet you anything you like that nobody from the phonetics community will bother (or dare) to contribute any names, and will be happy to let this silly list stay as it is.
You probably know that I don't use the term RP in my own work, nor subscribe to its existence as a standard, so I am not a suitable person to propose candidates for the list!
John C. Wells, a notable British phonetician, has identified the following people as RP speakers:
The British Royal Family
David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London
Rowan Williams, Former Archbishop of Canterbury
Rupert Everett,
Chris Huhne, former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury
Notice anything unusual about this list? Yes, they are all male apart from some members of the Royal Family. Some Wikipedian has suggested on the Talk Page that some female names might be added to the list, but as usual it is very hard to come up with the names of speakers who would be recognized by a bona fide phonetician to be RP speakers. The comment on the Talk page reads 'I think the idea of having a list of Notable Speakers of RP is good, and it is essential that every person listed there is referenced. I am unhappy that all those listed are referenced to John Wells, particularly as all seven individuals listed are male. Do any women speak RP apart from members of the British Royal Family?'
A good question. Anyone who believes in RP is bound to answer 'yes'. But I bet you anything you like that nobody from the phonetics community will bother (or dare) to contribute any names, and will be happy to let this silly list stay as it is.
You probably know that I don't use the term RP in my own work, nor subscribe to its existence as a standard, so I am not a suitable person to propose candidates for the list!
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