You want to learn an RP accent?
It's a risky mission but I can help you. Come with me.
Okay welcome to 'RP HQ.' Agent, are you ready for your briefing? Okay we
on't have a lot of time so let's get started.
The first letter of extreme importance in the RP accent
is the R write that down, R! Received pronunciation is a non-rhotic
accent. Repeat after me agent, non-rhotic. Very good.
We do not pronounce the R if it's after a vowel
only if it's before a vowel. We do have some examples of a rather
successful agent of how to pronounce an R
if it comes after a vowel. Take a look. It's all part of the learning curve.
It's all a part of the learning curve: Three R's
that are not to be said because they do not come
before a vowel. Let's take the two words learning
curve we do not say learning curve if you do you will sound American and
your cover will be blown, agent. Watch me very carefully learning curve
do you see how my chin drops to create the R.
It does not 'RR' 'RR' learning curve. It is an open R sound.
My tongue is lightly touching my bottom teeth
the back of my bottom teeth very lightly and slightly raised at the back but it
is not flicked upwards or bunched it is very
calm and almost flat. We do not create a bunched
R in these words and a bunched R is when the sides of your tongue
curl upwards towards your top teeth learning curve. If you feel your tongue
going upwards flatten it down learning curve. Say it
with me: it's all a part of the learning curve.
Lovely you're almost ready. It's all part of the learning curve.
Let's move on agent we've got a lot of things to go through. Now let's look at
an example of an r that comes before a vowel
aren't you a little overqualified to be delivering messages
delivering messages we have to pronounce the r
in this word otherwise it sounds like deleoing
messages which makes no sense for this r it is all in the lips deliver ring
messages deliver ring messages i want to see those lips out tongue
curved upwards lips pursed out delivering
messages i think you've got it a little over qualified
to be delivering messages okay moving swiftly on we can't waste time
i'm not wearing a watch the letter a in certain words like bath
past and grass we pronounce the a as an r like you're an opera singer
or you're at the dentist ah bath grass half do not be tempted to do a
a sound ah here's an example of this from the boss
so before you declare us irrelevant ask yourselves
ask yourselves ask yourselves however this is not the case for words
like hat track and back for these words we do use a
harsh a sound almost like you're biting into
an apple ah a very common word you will
definitely need to say what this word contains the letter a however
it is not what or what it's what
a shorter version of the or sound what oh what
and when the letter a is included in a word that is followed by the letter e
for example fame game name the letter a becomes a diphthong
a a game fame name make sure you keep that
a moving from an a to an e sound let's hear an example of
this you know the rules of the game you've
been playing it long enough now pay attention
because this next thing is the most important thing
you will need for an rp accent on your mission the most important thing you
will need is a schwa it's fun to say
now the schwa is the most important sound in received pronunciation
let me explain first of all it sounds like this
almost like a caveman oh it is a very neutral sound i'm not
moving my tongue my lips my teeth it is just what comes out
naturally i'm not going
relax your jaw now believe it or not this sound is very popular in rp for
example taken alone the in those three words
the schwa is present
it's not alone or alone alone and of course the word the
it's simply a schwa with a put in front of it the i told you it was
important the schwa is also commonly used to
pronounce this letter a friend a mission a game
a glass of wine and it can also be used to replace this word
of a piece of cake very rarely would an rp speaker say a piece of cake
a piece a cake now let's look at some examples of the schwa
james honey penny sir money penny
see i told you it's everywhere next up evening coming
let's look at another no i like what you're done with the place
with the place with the place schwa and one more
no thanks i'm not staying it's a shame that's
a shame that's a shame not that's a shame
that's a shame master this skill agent it's very important
the schwa is your best friend okay moving on i finish work at six
the liquid you for example duty we do not say duty duty let's hear an
example o7 reporting for duty reporting for duty
it is called a liquid u because the u sounds a bit like liquid
u duty or singing a tune i hope you're taking notes moving on in
rp we do not say ordinary military
and momentary we say ordinary military and momentary the a r
y becomes a simple re okay i have one more vowel sound i want to tell you
about e very commonly in rp when an e
is found on its own for example expect we pronounce the e like an e expect
some more examples pet regret and bed however when we see two e's very
commonly we pronounce those as e for example meet greet
and feet let's see an example i want to meet your employer i want to
meet your employer and finally agent diction
is everything we never drop the letter h for example happy birthday never
happy birthday the t is always pronounced
very clearly almost like rain tapping on a window
or a tap dancer as a general rule of thumb in
rp if you see a letter pronounce it okay i've given you all the skills you'll
need let's try a practice sentence vodka martini shaken not stirred
martini make that tea crisp and the r is an open
r it is not vodka martini vodka martini shaken
and we use an a because of the e in the word shaken
not stirred not should rhyme with what stirred
open r sound stirred vodka martini shaken not stirred
okay agent i think you're ready remember receive pronunciation is not the only
british accent the british isles are filled with a
multitude of accents and dialects rp is simply one of them i hope i have
been able to help you on your course to achieving this
rp accent stay safe out there agent and i heard from the lovely lady that
runs this channel that you should subscribe
thank you very much for your time tata you