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Received Pronunciation (RP) is the accent of Standard English in the United Kingdom, with a relationship to regional accents similar to the relationship in other European languages between their standard varieties and their regional forms. RP is defined in the ''Concise Oxford English Dictionary'' as "the standard accent of English as spoken in the south of England", although it can be heard from native speakers throughout England and Wales. Peter Trudgill estimated in 1974 that 3% of people in Britain were RP speakers. Although nothing intrinsic about RP marks it as superior to any other variety, sociolinguistic factors have given RP particular prestige in parts of Britain. It has thus been seen as the accent of those with power, money, and influence, though it has in recent times been perceived negatively by some as associated with undeserved privilege. Since the 1960s, a greater permissiveness towards regional English varieties has taken hold in education. The study of RP is concerned exclusively with pronunciation, whereas "Standard English", "the Queen's English", "Oxford English", and "BBC English" are also concerned with matters such as grammar, vocabulary and style. An individual using RP will typically speak Standard English, although the reverse is not necessarily true (e.g. the standard language may be pronounced with a regional accent, such as a Yorkshire accent; but it is very unlikely that someone speaking RP would use it to speak the Yorkshire dialect). ==History== The introduction of the term 'Received Pronunciation' is usually credited to Daniel Jones. In the first edition of the ''English Pronouncing Dictionary'' (1917), he named the accent "Public School Pronunciation", but for the second edition in 1926, he wrote, "In what follows I call it Received Pronunciation (abbreviation RP), for want of a better term." However, the term had actually been used much earlier by Alexander Ellis in 1869 and P. S. Du Ponceau in 1818 (the term used by Henry C. K. Wyld in 1927 was "received standard"). According to ''Fowler's Modern English Usage'' (1965), the correct term is "'the Received Pronunciation'. The word 'received' conveys its original meaning of 'accepted' or 'approved', as in 'received wisdom'."〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=British Library )〕 RP is often believed to be based on the accents of southern England, but it actually has most in common with the Early Modern English dialects of the East Midlands. This was the most populated and most prosperous area of England during the 14th and 15th centuries. By the end of the 15th century, "Standard English" was established in the City of London. A mixture of London speech with elements from East Midlands, Middlesex, and Essex became what is now known as Received Pronunciation. By the 1970s, an estimated 3% of British people were RP speakers.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Received Pronunciation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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