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Vowels

In R.P. the lips are never spread laterally in a smiling position for the front vowels  eat it end at   as is common in American English.  The jaw is dropped slightly and the sound seems to come right off the front of the lips

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The Front Vowels

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iː

1. Yeast, black treacle and wheat meal are rich in vitamin B
2. I feel it keenly; these people are too weak to intervene.
3. We must not yield to people who seek peace by appeasing aggressors.

We have a speaker in Leek
Reads a speech to us once every week.
This evening his niece
Had to read out his piece
As he’s broken his teeth and can’t speak.

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ɪ

Been  (long ee)

The word “been” is pronounced with a long iː in British period plays.

Charming ball it’s been.
I’ve been to the country, where have you been?

1. In this age of electricity children will not be able to picture the instrument from which Mr. Pickwick derives his name.
2. Instill in the young that discipline, skill and initiative are important in every sincere activity.
3. Ibsen dismissed from the theatre
   Villains, princesses and heroines.
   Instead he instituted
   Realism, intelligence and inhibitions,
   And in doing so, filled the auditorium
   With the intellectual middle class.

Stress prefixes with the short I  instead of a long ee

enourmously

extravagantly

Pronounce the suffix day with I

birthday

holiday

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e

1. Educational methods of integrity encourage respect for the experience of elders by encourage independent inquiry in the young.
2. He said he measured seven lengths of red velvet.
3. When the leopard eyes
   Your friend,
   Never jeopardize
   His end.
                   Hilliare Belloc

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Note:  There is a difference in R.P. between the fifth front vowel æ  and the last back vowel aː

I can, but you can’t
We can, she cannot, he can’t
Pass down the passage
She can’t stand on the grass
You cannot be serious about hiring a brass band

He’d a glass in his hand
As he watched the brass band,
On an grassy bank he sat,
But although the brass-band
Flashed bright on the stand,
Alas and alack it was flat.

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æ 

parrish	tarry	carriage	barrier	barren
marriage	marital	carry	barrow	barrel

Note:  There is a difference in R.P. between the fifth front vowel æ   and the last back vowel  a

• I can, but you can’t
• We can, she cannot, he can’t
• Pass down the passage
• She can’t stand on the grass
• You cannot be serious about hiring a brass band

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The Middle Vowels

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ɜː

The first middle vowel ɜː as in ‘her’ is always pronounced with no  “r” coloration.  Keep the tip of the tongue behind the lower front teeth.

1. The attorney, Mr. Hirst, heard from the connoisseur, Mr. Curtis, that the pearls were worthless.
2. Earthday purposes the birthday of the earth.
   (‘day’ is pronounced with very short i: (ee)
3. ‘The early bird catches the worm’.
   This proverb always makes me squirm,
   The early-earth worm stirring first
   Does not deserve to be so cursed.
4. Earth has no words of greater worth
   Than the worthiest words of Will Wordsworth.

To err is human, to forgive, divine.

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The schwa ə is used:

in unstressed syllables:

particular	infamous	understand	suggestion
tuppence	tomorrow	familiar	marmalade

in a word ending in ‘er’:

Parker	Arthur	other
butter	farther	darker
Potter	further	hotter

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ʌ (up)

courage

worry

hurry

scurry

Tuppy

thoroughly

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Back Vowels

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ɔː (awe)

The third back vowel ɔː is very rounded with the upper lip rather stiff and pulled forward.

awl	awful	autumn	awkward
shawl	caught	sauce	clawed
saw	gnaw	law	honest

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ɒ

The fifth back vowel ɒ is used for word that are pronounced with either the fourth back vowel on the sixth back vowel

odd	bond	body	follow	column
bottom	dominate	grog	hollow	John
lock	monster	pomp	rot	sod
tonsil	tot	wand	yonder	honest
crock	trob	chop	scholar	nostril

All I want is a proper cup of coffee
Made in a proper copper coffee pot
I may be off my dot
But I want a cup of coffee in a proper coffee pot.
Tin coffee pots and iron coffee pots
they’re no use to me
If I can’t have a proper cup of coffee
In a proper copper coffee pot
I’ll have a cup of tea.

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ɑː

In R.P. the back vowel ɑː is much more rounded than in American English

fast dance	last chance
class master	Derby clerk
half chance	passed Berkshire
nasty giraffe	banana sample
grass mask	draughty castle
ghastly blast	demanding dance
brass plaque	Alexander’s laughter
ask Charles	commando’s khaki