'public school accent'

Posted by David FG on September 23, 2004

In Reply to: 'public school accent' posted by SR on September 22, 2004

: : The accent of one who has been through the elite school system in the UK is distinctive. The question is -- how can this accent replace the original accent of boys from all over the country who presumably have developed their speech patterns when they get to school?

: Do we really want to replace the colourful accents that are the spices of any language? I was noting the previous discussion on the Irish accent, yet there are so many different Irish accents as there are English accents as there probably are in any country. I grew up in east Cork in Ireland and just a few miles away, across the Blackwater River in Waterford, the accents were entirely different. I have always marveled at how one language can be spoken, written and perpetuated in so many different colourful ways. Homogenized milk and language anyone?

I have to declare an interest here, in that I am the product of Eton College and am Irish. My accent (which I do not regard as stereotypically 'upper crust' - I think it is rather neutral) was acquired long before I went to school. I think you will find that most people who attend British public schools will come from families who themselves have been to public schools, and thus will speak 'RP'. I think we gather our accents from our parents/siblings/friends long before we ever get to school.

DFG

• Lock-jawed Groton accent ESC 23/September/04
  • Clenched jaw? Brian from Shawnee 24/September/04
    • Clenched jaw? Lotg 24/September/04