接收发音，通常缩写为RP，是一种曾经享有盛誉的英国英语变体，没有可识别的地区方言。它也被称为英式发音、英国广播公司英语、女王英语和时髦口音。标准英式英语有时用作同义词。语音学家亚历山大·埃利斯（Alexander Ellis）在其著作《早期英语发音》（1869）中介绍并描述了“接受发音”一词。

方言史

语言学家大卫·克里斯托（DavidCrystal）说：“人们接受的发音只有200年左右的历史。”。“它在18世纪末以上流社会口音出现，并很快成为公立学校、公务员和大英帝国的声音”（每日邮报，2014年10月3日）。

作者Kathryn LaBouff在她的大部头著作《用英语唱歌和交流》中介绍了一些背景知识：

"It was standard practice until the 1950s for university students to adjust their regional accents to be closer to RP. RP was traditionally used on stage, for public speaking, and by the well-educated. In the 1950s, RP was used by the BBC as a broadcast standard and was referred to as BBC English. Since the 1970s, the BBC label has been dropped and RP has slowly been more inclusive of regional influences throughout the United Kingdom. By the turn of the twenty-first century RP was spoken by only 3 percent of the population. Today BBC broadcasters do not use Received Pronunciation, which actually today now sounds out of place; they use a neutralized version of their own regional accents that is intelligible to all listeners." (Oxford University Press, 2007)

rp的特性

并不是英国的每一种方言都有一个发音为h的音，这是它们之间元音差异的一个区别。David Crystal解释说：“被称为“收到的发音”（RP）的英国口音在单词的开头发h音，如在HERT中，避免在arm等词中发h音。说伦敦口音的人则相反；我伤害了自己。”。“世界上大多数英语口音的发音中，car和heart等词都带有可听见的r；RP是少数几个不带r的口音之一。在RP中，bath等词的发音都带有‘长a’（‘bahth’）；在英格兰北部，它是一个“短a”。方言变体主要影响一种语言的元音。”（“想想我的话：探索莎士比亚的语言。”剑桥大学出版社，2008年）

威望与反冲

与不同阶层有联系的方言或说话方式称为社会方言。对一种说话方式有尊重或社会价值被称为语言声望。硬币的另一面叫做口音偏见。

作者林达·马格尔斯通（Lynda Mugglestone）在《说话得体：作为社会象征的英语口音的兴衰》一书中写道，“从这个意义上说，过去的一个共同特征是采用RP，这在现代语言使用中越来越少见，因为许多人拒绝接受这样一个前提，即只有这种口音才是成功的关键。进一步扭转两极，RP。。。经常为那些在迪斯尼电影《狮子王》和《泰山》中被描绘成恶棍的人提供服务”（牛津大学出版社，2007年）

Afua Hirsch在《卫报》上写到加纳的反弹：

"[A] backlash is growing against the old mentality of equating a British accent with prestige. Now the practice has a new acronym, LAFA, or 'locally acquired foreign accent,' and attracts derision rather than praise. "'In the past we have seen people in Ghana try to mimic the Queen's English, speaking in a way that doesn't sound natural. They think it sounds prestigious, but frankly it sounds like they are overdoing it,' said Professor Kofi Agyekum, head of linguistics at the University of Ghana. "'There has been a significant change now, away from those who think sounding English is prestigious, towards those who value being multilingual, who would never neglect our mother tongues, and who are happy to sound Ghanaian when we speak English.'" ("Ghana Calls an End to Tyrannical Reign of the Queen's English." April 10, 2012)