ENGLISH

PHONETICS AND
PHONOLOGY
Introduction. Models of
Pronunciation.
Aims and objectives

1. To describe how English is spoken today by those for whom it

is a mother tongue
2. To introduce some of the main ideas and terminology relating
to the teaching and learning of English pronunciation, some
core readings, practical and reference materials
3. To discuss pronunciation problems experienced by Bulgarian
learners of English
4. To provide basic training in the transcription of English words,
phrases and connected speech
Exam format
1.A Describe fully all sounds in the following words:
things, …., ….
B. Discuss potential problems experienced by Bulgarian learners of
English.

2. Explain the following (pairs of) terms and give examples:

(i) phonetic and phonemic transcription;
(ii) ……………
(iii) …………...
(iv) ……………
(v) ……………

3. Submit your transcription of 10 lines of an English text of your own

choice. (Choose a text and transcribe its pronunciation in a standard native
English accent (RP, GA, other) using IPA symbols and showing weak forms,
assimilation, elision, linking and any other phenomena typical of connected
English speech.)
Compulsory reading

■ [Link]/elt/peterroach
 Further reading

[Link]

■ [Link]
Pronunciation dictionaries
Online dictionaries showing
standard British and American
pronunciation
■ Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English online:
[Link]

■ Cambridge English Dictionary online:

[Link]
Models of pronunciation

How do we choose a pronunciation model?

■ “The decisive criteria in the choice of any teaching
model must be that it has wide currency, is widely and
readily understood, is adequately described in
textbooks, and has ample recorded material available
for the learner.” (Gimson & Cruttenden 1994: 271)
■ British RP (Received Pronunciation) and American GA
(General American) – the most obvious candidates
Received Pronunciation (RP)
■ “received” = accepted, approved
■ in England, associated with the south-east, but
can be heard anywhere
■ D. Jones, An Outline of English Phonetics (1918) –
the first to codify it
■ alternatively called “BBC English”, “Southern
Standard Pronunciation” (SSP), “Southern
Standard British English” (SSBE), “Non-Regional
Pronunciation”(NRP), “General British” (GB), etc.
■ the model traditionally taught to NNSs who learn
British English
Received Pronunciation (RP):
some early uses
■ received (adj.) – seldom used today except in set phrases, e.g.
“received wisdom/opinion” (= accepted or considered correct by most
people (LDOCE 2009, p. 1451)
■ D. Jones’s English Pronouncing Dictionary (EPD 1917… 18th edn. 2011,
ed. by Roach et al.) and An Outline of English Phonetics (1918 … 8th
edn. 1960) established the term “Received Pronunciaion (RP)” with
reference to standard spoken British English. Both books were widely
used until the 1960s, and most other books at the time described the
same standard pronunciation, and also used the term “RP”.
■ A major reason for the spread of a standard pronunciation in the early
20th C – the beginning of broadcasting in 1926 by the BBC: although it
never explicitly adopted RP as its standard, most of its announcers
and newsreaders in the early years spoke with an RP accent.
 The spread of RP

■ Trudgill (1974) claims that in Britain, RP speakers constitute “only 3% of the

population”.
■ “The figure of 3% may be correct if a dated version of RP is used as the model
and if not one single regional feature is allowed. But even a figure as low as 3% is
almost certainly higher than that for any other established variety, and no other
accent is so widely spread (hence appropriate for foreign learners).” (Cruttenden,
2014: 77-78)
■ RP has changed considerably in the latter half of the 20th C, and has been called
by many “Modern RP”. However, some authors have failed to acknowledge the
changes, and described (the older version(s) of) RP as “class-ridden”, “outdated”,
“gradually lessening in social prestige”, “upper crust and dying”, etc.
Other names for RP
■ “RP is not dead but very much alive, provided we understand by RP the
successor to that accent described as RP in the middle of the 20th C. But it
remains true that many people, laymen, linguists and phoneticians, object to the
term in a variety of ways: either it is posh, it is an imposed standard, it is too
regionally limited, or it is outdated. If we accept that the accent we are
describing is one which we feel should continue to be the standard, can we call it
something better than RP?” (Cruttenden 2014, pp. 78-79)
■ In the past, “Oxford English” and “the Queen’s / King’s English” have been
popular; but most of Oxford dons (and people) today do not speak the accent
described by Jones in the early 20thC; the speech of the Queen has also changed
over the years, and the speech of younger royals is much more modern.
■ “BBC pronunciation” (e.g., Roach, since the 15th edn. of CEPD and the 3rd edn. of
English Phonetics and Phonology); but more and more regional speech
characteristics can be heard on the BBC today.
■ (Standard) Southern British - (S)SB; but the south is not homogeneous,
whereas it has always been claimed that “RP” is not geographically limited.
“General British” (GB)
■ “non-phoneticians and even some British
linguists and phoneticians, persist in identifying
RP as a type of posh, outdated, falsely
prestigious accent … Because of this narrow use
by many of the name RP, and the frequent
hostility to it, the name of the accent described
in this book has been changed to General
British (GB)”.
(Cruttenden 2014:
80)
General American (GA,
GenAm)
■ A (usually non-coastal) accent which does not show
any eastern or southern features
■ Used by the majority of the US population
■ Frequently heard on major national network news
and information programmes – hence sometimes
also called “Network American”
■ The model taught to EFL learners who want to
speak American English
RP and GA compared:
The North Wind and the Sun
The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which
was the stronger, when a traveller came along
wrapped in a warm cloak. They agreed that the one
who first succeeded in making the traveller take his
cloak off should be considered stronger than the
other. Then the North Wind blew as hard as he
could, but the more he blew the more closely did
the traveller fold his cloak around him, and at last
the North Wind gave up the attempt. Then the Sun
shone out warmly, and immediately the traveller
took off his cloak. And so the North Wind was
RP and GA compared: Accents
of English website by J. C. Wells
■ [Link]

Listen to the test passage read by an RP and a GA speaker (sound clips 1

and 3).
References

■ Roach 1 (Introduction)
■ Dimitrova Unit 9
Additional reading (for those interested in other
English accents):
■ Cruttenden Ch 7
■ Collins & Mees C1 - C4
■ Wells, J. C. Accents of English website:
[Link]
ects/