The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 13.1169  Monday, 29 April 2002

From:           Robin Hamilton <
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Date:           Friday, 26 Apr 2002 17:42:23 +0100
Subject: 13.1142 Re: Accents
Comment:        Re: SHK 13.1142 Re: Accents

> From:           Michael Shurgot <
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> but what the hell in this
> latest round of laborious fuselages is "RP"?

RP stands for Received Pronunciation.  (An alternative is RSA - Received
Standard Accent).

This goes back as far (I think) as to Caxton -- the accent (sic! -
accent involves pronunciation; dialect involves semantics) of London and
Oxbridge.

The UK is one of the few places in the world which has a non-regional
"standard" (not the French of Paris or the Italian of Florence), which
is one reason it all ties into class.

Shakespeare generally (HV) usually uses traditional stage mockney
(Fluellen, MacMorris, and Jamy) for regional accents.  The exception is
probably the "I chill vor ye" speech by Edgar in King Lear.

Robin Hamilton

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