Received Pronunciation: what RP is and how Modern RP sounds today

Ask people what a British accent sounds like and many will describe the same voice: clipped, measured and a little formal. That voice has a name, Received Pronunciation, and most people shorten it to RP.

RP is the accent that textbooks and dictionaries use to describe British pronunciation, so it is a good place to start. It also has a history, and the version you hear today has moved on from the films that made it famous. This article explains both, then shows you how the accent sounds today.

What the name means

“Received” is an old word for accepted or generally approved. The name was chosen to describe the accent that educated speakers in southern England were expected to use. Phoneticians picked it as a label, not a verdict on how English should be spoken.

That distinction matters. In Accents of English (1982), the standard reference on the subject, J. C. Wells treats RP as one accent among many spoken in Britain. Glaswegian, Geordie and London speech are all British, and none of them is RP. RP describes how a particular group of speakers says words. It is not a higher grade of English. To hear how the others differ, read this guide to the types of British accents.

Where the name came from

The name took shape in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Phoneticians needed a term for the accent of the public schools and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, where many of the country’s leaders were educated. Daniel Jones called it “Public School Pronunciation” in the first edition of his English Pronouncing Dictionary (1917), and switched to “Received Pronunciation” in the 1926 edition. For a long time, a learner who opened a British dictionary met that accent in every transcription. The Wikipedia entry on Received Pronunciation traces the history in more detail.

The prestige came from the people who spoke it. When the BBC began broadcasting in the 1920s, its announcers were expected to speak RP, and the accent became familiar in British homes. It shaped the picture many people still have of a British voice.

Old RP and Modern RP

The RP in old films is an older form of the accent. It was clipped, with very precise vowels and a formal rhythm that sounded deliberate even in casual speech. Geoff Lindsey, in English After RP (2019), shows how far the accent’s vowels have moved since then. He calls today’s accent Standard Southern British. This article uses the more familiar name, Modern RP.

When this article says RP, it means Modern RP. The features below are the ones you can hear on a current recording, and they are the ones worth learning. You can compare them with the older films later, once you know what to listen for.

What Modern RP sounds like

Seven features give Modern RP much of its sound. You can hear every one of them in ordinary speech, and you can learn them one at a time.

The first is the one you will hear most. In Modern RP, an r is only pronounced when a vowel comes straight after it. Red and very keep their r, but car, park and water do not. The vowel before the silent r simply holds its length. You can hear the UK pronunciation of car in the Cambridge Dictionary. The full rule, including the r that comes back before a vowel, is set out in the British vs American accent article.

The second is the t. In Modern RP it stays a clean, fully released t, so water does not become a tapped d. Everyday London speech often swaps that middle t for a small catch in the throat, but Modern RP keeps the t.

The third is the set of words that take a long “ah”, such as bath, after, ask and can’t. In Modern RP they share the vowel of father. Words such as cat, gas and hand keep the short vowel, so this is a list to learn, not a rule the spelling will give you.

The fourth is the vowel in hot. It is short, with the lips gently rounded, and it is not the open “ah” that many other accents use.

The fifth is the vowel in caught. Modern RP keeps it longer, the same vowel as in thought, lawand more. Many speakers of other accents say hot and caught alike, but they stay separate in Modern RP.

The sixth is the vowel in no. In Modern RP it starts on a relaxed “uh” and glides towards “oo”, as one smooth movement rather than a pure “oh”. Keep the start short, so the word is closer to “NUH-oo” than to a drawn-out “NOH”.

The seventh is the small y before an “oo” sound. Modern RP keeps it after n, so news becomes “NYOOZ”. After t and d it blends with the consonant: tune is “CHOON” and due is “JOO”. The older “TYOON” is still heard in careful speech, and both are standard. The y is kept after most other consonants too, as in music and cute. After r it is dropped, so rule has none.

How to say it: start with the feature you can already hear, not the one you find hardest. If you can already hear the silent r in other people’s speech, begin there, and add the next feature only when the first one feels natural.

Is RP still worth learning?

Yes, for most learners who want a clear, widely understood accent. RP is the accent that dictionaries and textbooks describe, so the pronunciations you look up will match what you are learning.

One honest note. RP is one accent among many in Britain, and it is not the everyday accent of most people in England. If you mostly talk with people from one city, their accent may be the one you want to learn instead.

Choose RP for a model that reference books use. Choose another British accent for the one you hear around you. Either way, the features above will help you whichever you pick.

How to practise Modern RP

Practise one feature at a time, so each change is easy to hear and easy to keep.

1. Pick five words from the table and say each one into your phone’s voice recorder. Play it back and listen for the one feature you are working on.
2. Work on the silent r first. Try car park, first floor and more water without a single r, then add a vowel after an r, as in far away, and hear the r come back.
3. Add the crisp t, then the long “ah”. Say water with a clean t, then bath and can’t with the long vowel.
4. Read a short paragraph aloud and mark every r that has no vowel straight after it. Read it again and keep each marked r silent.

Sterling is your AI-powered accent coach that teaches you how to speak English with a British accent confidently and clearly. For the wider picture of how to build the accent step by step, read how to do a British accent, or take the free accent test to see where your accent stands today.