let's take a look at the British accent
so I'm going to call this RP which is
received pronunciation and it's sort of
your more upper class British accent
it's not really spoken today on the
streets of London unless you were born
maybe before 1950 but it's a really
important accent to have especially as
an actor because RP is used for a lot of
period dramas so let's take a look at
the oral posture for RP British English
so the jewel is raised and brought
forward a little and the tongue is up
but never pulled back so some people
find it useful to put their finger in
between their teeth and they find the
oral posture of the RP accent like that
so you can give that a try if that's
helpful to you but the tongue is so far
up in the mouth that words like little
and Dept are easier to pronounce then in
the general American oral posture where
your jaw is open where we'd say little
or Department we wouldn't get those T
sounds so let's take a look at some RP
sound changes so the first one I want to
look at is the e to the is sound and
this again is a very upper-class almost
an antiquated sound you will hear it
sometimes in people speaking today but
it's a good distinction to make so in
the phrase Betty is really silly e-e-e
in the American accent in the RP accent
we'd go Betty is really silly Betty a
silly hmm take a look at that American
ah sound it's just another humdrum day
turns into something a little more
forward in the mouth it's just another
humdrum day it's just another humdrum
day uh ah just a really important
distinction there let's take a look at
some a our words so we got married in
Paris is how I would say it I have a
little bit more are coloring than most
people I was raised in Florida so we got
married in Paris is a little lighter
American accent for you but in the RP
accent we we would go we got married in
Paris it's a more pure sound it's one
vowel as opposed to a diphthong which is
two vowels Mayer married Paris in my
accent and then married and Paris one
vowel sound this is a kicker for British
English and this is actually the way I
jump into it I would say in my accent
thought thought but in RP I would say
thought you bring the lip corners
forward thought thought Saul's daughter
studied law Saul's daughter studied law
as opposed to Saul's daughter studied
law in my American accent you want
seoul's daughter studied law and then
there's the shorter version of that same
sound so in American English it would be
Roger lost his dog in your RP accent you
would say Roger lost his dog again these
er sounds in American English turn into
a more pure sound in the RP accent I
don't dare wear my hair like Mary turns
into I don't dare wear my hair like Mary
Mary
I don't dare wear my hair like Merritt
same thing with the word sure in
American English you'll be sure you get
those two beats sure and in your RP
accent would be shoe and same thing with
the word far far it's like two syllables
diphthong R and in your British English
it would be fall sometimes you get
another diphthong created with words
like here in American English it's here
here in your RP it would be here so a
little bit of a soir at the end a little
bit of an up here give a shot so you've
already noticed that in British English
or RP there aren't a lot of ours it's a
non-rhotic accent as what we call it
except when a word ends with an R and
the next word begins with a vowel it's
called elision in my American accent the
phrase my brother owns a number of them
my brother owns a number
in British English you wouldn't say my
brother owns a number of them you would
say my brother owns a number of them my
brother owns a number of them
I love the liquid you in RP Duty tuta
and especially if you're in a
Shakespeare play you want to say Duke
and not Duke words ending in ary or Oro
I like preliminary and unnecessary
become shortened so it's preliminary
unnecessary if you're going for a very
high-class British accent you want to
try to tap the arse instead of hurry you
would say hoodie and very vetti vet
Yvette Yvette II I was very much in a
hurry the phrase there's a chance the
class will laugh turns into there's a
chance the class will love now this does
not happen all the time so take a look
at native speakers and notice when that
change happens from ah - ah so what is
the musicality of the RP accent so you
find a lot more pitch variation than in
American English so pitch variation and
length but don't take my word for it
like I said listen to native speakers
and notice the musicality for yourself
so there's some tips on the RP or
British accent