The jet set: Modern RP and the (re)creation of social distinction
Publisher
Publisher URL
DOI
10.1017/S0954394524000097
Journal
Language Variation and Change
ISSN
0954-3945
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
While the loss of regional distinctiveness across the southeastern UK is well studied and largely undisputed, there is less consensus about class-based divisions. This paper investigates this question through an updated analysis of the variety emblematic of Britain’s upper class: Received Pronunciation (RP). While previous studies have suggested levelling in RP to a broader standard southeastern norm, our findings indicate that the most recent advances in the variety show it (re)differentiating itself from other varieties in the region. Investigating both individual vowel movements and broader system-wide properties, we argue that the changes observed in RP today result from speakers adopting a particular articulatory setting (lax voice), which has subsequent ramifications on vowel realisations. We suggest that speakers make strategic use of this articulatory setting as a way of embodying an elite persona in the British context, an interpretation that resonates with the social distributions of similar changes in other varieties.
Authors
Holmes-Elliott, S; Levon, ECollections
- Linguistics [251]