English Pronunciation

This is Queen's English

Conservative Received Pronunciation

Conservative Received Pronunciation, the quintessential British accent of the upper-classes for hundreds of years, is the correct description of 'posh' English.  The word 'posh' is actually an acronym of Port Out Starboard Home, which derives from the upper-class seating on the P&O ships to colonial India.  'POSH' tickets guaranteed the best shade for the long journey to India.

Major Harrington is a voiceover artist, who is able to generate a wide range of British received pronunciation variants, but specialises in the Conservative RP (Received Pronunciation) he acquired at the ancient British establishments of Eton and Sandhurst. His voice is also used for milder RP variants of BBC English or Queen's English.

David Beckham's Change of Accent

"David Beckham has changed his speech over the past decade to "sound less working class", University of Manchester academics have concluded.

The study examined footage of the footballer before and after 2007, the year the Beckhams moved to Los Angeles.  The research revealed that David dropped the H in words such as "him" and "has" 80% of the time before the move to the US, but only 20% of the time afterwards.

Mr Boorman said it was "clear that Becks, once a broader Cockney, nowadays speaks with more of a standard English accent. In fact, he's even hyper-correcting himself, because he puts Hs into words when it's not really required - in America, they use the H sound more, which explains how he acquired it".

From David and Victoria Beckham 'getting posher', study finds

Interview with a young Beckham in 1994

Beckham discussing the end of his L.A. Galaxy career

BBC English

Shakespeare: Original pronunciation

British vs. American Accents

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