British and American English 15/04/2009 1 British and American English They are considered international standards. An international standard is the most prestigious variety of a language. 15/04/2009 2 1
British and American English Their prestige is not intrinsic: it does not derive neither from their structure nor from their comprehensibility. Their prestige derives from external factors of a social nature, such as the role and importance of their speakers. 15/04/2009 3 Standard British English (SBE) This is the variety to which the people living in the UK attaches the greatest prestige Its prestige increases when it goes together with RP (Received Pronunciation) 15/04/2009 4 2
SBE - History SBE s origins go back to the late Middle Ages, when the court was moved from Winchester to London Subsequently, SBE s history became closely intertwined with that of London The area contributing the most to the development of the language was the region between London, Oxford and Cambridge. 15/04/2009 5 Fifteenth Century London was a rich political, cultural and economic centre It was the seat of the Chancellery, producing official documents in a uniform style (written language) It hosted the first printing house (press), located near the court and Westminster, printing the variety spoken there, which soon became a standard for printers across the whole country (written language) 15/04/2009 6 3
Sixteenth Century First attempts to systematise the spoken language under Queen Elizabeth I The model for speech was the English spoken at court and in London 15/04/2009 7 Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century London became larger and larger and held 10% of the whole population of England and Wales Beside the variety spoken by the court, universities and the upper classes (in West End), a sociolect spoken by the lower classes in east End began to emerge cockney Public schools became popular among the wealthy and started to embody aristocratic values, and language was one of them. 15/04/2009 8 4
Nineteenth and Alexander J. Ellis, On Early English Pronunciation (1867): Received Pronunciation used by the court, the Church and law courts in the whole country (no longer linked to a place but to social groups sociolect) Daniel Jones, English Pronouncing Dictionary (1917): Public School Pronunciation (not better than others, but very useful) 15/04/2009 9 Henry C. Wyld: received standard as the form to be considered the best, being spoken by the upper classes all over the country and having clear and distinctive sounds BUT the same sounds are also used in different varieties with a different distribution; the upper classes are a very small group 15/04/2009 10 5
BBC presenters and announcers used only RP/Public School Pronunciation until the 60s, when other accents were introduced The Church also employed RP exclusively 15/04/2009 11 Today RP is used by 5% of the population and SBE by 15% However, the gap between geographical and social varieties has been reduced thanks to the spreading of education and the media English is therefore becoming more democratic as more varieties are considered acceptable 15/04/2009 12 6