What Are The Advantages Of Received Pronunciation?
The Received Pronunciation way of speaking is easier to understand especially on TV and radio. Some argue that accents can create a bad impression. An expert, Professor Honey, said: “People ascribe competence, efficiency and even cleanliness and looks to voices which speak in RP. Accents rot the chances of people who use them.” It is also argued that if everyone used RP, there would be no misrepresentation of character. But this is simply not realistic and, it could be argued, is prejudicial. Evidence in British culture suggests that RP is associated in our culture with intelligence, authority and education. RP appears to have what is called “overt prestige” and only 3 per cent of the population it. An experiment by Howard Giles delivered two identical presentation to 6th Formers using Rp with one group and the regional accent with another. Students who heard the RP presentation rated his intelligence and status higher.
