Editing Received Pronunciation (section)

===Vowels and diphthongs===

* Words such as {{sc2|CLOTH}}, ''gone'', ''off'', ''often'', ''cross'' were formerly pronounced with {{IPA|/ɔː/}} instead of {{IPA|/ɒ/}}, so that ''often'' and ''orphan'' were [[homophone]]s (see [[Lot–cloth split|''lot''–''cloth'' split]]). The Queen continued to use the older pronunciations,<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HnePKE9AAE&t=280s The Queen's speech to President Sarkozy], "often" pronounced at 4:40.</ref> but it is now rare to hear this on the BBC.
* There used to be a [[Horse–hoarse merger|distinction between ''horse'' and ''hoarse'']] with an extra diphthong {{IPA|/ɔə/}} appearing in words like ''hoarse'', {{sc2|FORCE}}, and ''pour''.{{sfnp|Wright|1905|p=5|ps=, §12}} The symbols used by Wright are slightly different: the sound in ''fall, law, saw'' is transcribed as {{IPA|/oː/}} and that in ''more, soar,'' etc. as {{IPA|/oə/}}. [[Daniel Jones (phonetician)|Daniel Jones]] gives an account of the /ɔə/ diphthong, but notes "many speakers of Received English (''sic''), myself among them, do not use the diphthong at all, but replace it always by /ɔː/".{{sfnp|Jones|1967|p=115, para 458}} This distinction had become obsolete in RP by the late 20th century.<ref name="Wells">{{cite web |last=Wells |first=John |title=Whatever happened to Received Pronunciation? |url=http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/rphappened.htm |date=27 January 1994 |access-date=24 August 2011}}</ref>
* The vowel in words such as ''tour'', ''moor'', ''sure'' used to be {{IPA|/ʊə/}}, but this has merged with {{IPA|/ɔː/}} for many contemporary speakers. The effect of these two mergers (horse-hoarse and moor-more) is to bring about a number of three-way mergers of items which were hitherto distinct, such as ''poor'', ''paw'' and ''pore'' ({{IPA|/pʊə/}}, {{IPA|/pɔː/}}, {{IPA|/pɔə/}}) all becoming {{IPA|/pɔː/}}.
* The {{sc2|DRESS}} vowel and the starting point of the {{sc2|FACE}} diphthong has become lowered from mid {{IPA|[e̞]}} to open-mid {{IPA|[ɛ]}}.<ref>{{cite web |first=Geoff |last=Lindsey |url=http://englishspeechservices.com/blog/funny-old-vowels/ |title=Funny old vowels |date=3 June 2012 |access-date=2 October 2016}}</ref>
* The starting point of the {{sc2|choice}} diphthong has raised from {{IPA|[ɔɪ]}} to {{IPA|[oɪ]}}.<ref>{{cite web |first=Geoff |last=Lindsey |url=https://www.englishspeechservices.com/blog/british-vowels/ |title=The British English vowel system |date=8 March 2012 |access-date=22 December 2024}}</ref>
* Before the Second World War, the vowel of ''cup'' was a back vowel close to [[Cardinal vowel|cardinal]] {{IPA|[ʌ]}}. It then shifted forward to {{IPAblink|ɐ}}, but {{IPAblink|ʌ}} is increasingly used in modern RP to avoid the clash with the lowered variety of {{IPA|/æ/}} in the {{IPAblink|a}} region (the [[trap-strut merger]]).{{sfnp|Roca|Johnson|1999|pp=135, 186}}{{sfnp|Cruttenden|2014|p=122}}{{sfnp|Lindsey|2019|p=22}}
* There has been a change in the pronunciation of the unstressed final vowel of ''happy'' as a result of a process known as [[Phonological history of English close front vowels#Happy-tensing|happY-tensing]]: an older pronunciation of ''happy'' would have had the vowel /ɪ/ whereas a more modern pronunciation has a vowel nearer to /iː/.{{sfnp|Trudgill|1999|p=62}} In pronunciation handbooks and dictionaries it is now common to use the symbol /i/ to cover both possibilities. 
* In a number of words where contemporary RP has an unstressed syllable with schwa {{IPA|/ə/}}, older pronunciations had {{IPA|/ɪ/}}, for instance, the final vowel in the following: ''kindness'', ''doubtless'', ''witness'', ''witless'', ''toilet'', ''fortunate''.<ref name="Robinson, Jonnie 2019">Robinson, Jonnie (24 April 2019). "Received Pronunciation". The British Library. Retrieved 16 December 2019.</ref>
* The {{IPA|/ɛː/}} phoneme (as in ''fair'', ''care'', ''there'') was realised as a centring diphthong {{IPA|[ɛə]}} in the past, whereas most present-day speakers of RP pronounce it as a long monophthong {{IPAblink|ɛː}}.<ref name="Robinson, Jonnie 2019"/>
* The {{IPA|/ɪə/}} (as in ''near'', ''serious'') and {{IPA|/ʊə/}} (as in ''cure'', ''rural''; when not merged with {{IPA|/ɔː/}}) phonemes are also becoming monophthongised to {{IPA|[ɪː]}} and {{IPA|[ʊː~ɵː]}}, though this is not yet as widespread as for {{IPA|/ɛː/}}.{{sfnp|Cruttenden|2014|p=85}}{{sfnp|Lindsey|2019|p=60-62}}
* A change in the symbolisation of the GOAT diphthong reflects a change in the pronunciation of the starting point: older accounts of this diphthong describe it as starting with [ö̞], moving towards [u].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Daniel |title=An outline of English phonetics |date=1957 |publisher=Heffer |isbn=978-0521210980 |page=101, para 394 |edition=9th}}</ref> This was often symbolised as /ou/ or /oʊ/. In modern RP the starting point is unrounded and central, and is symbolised /əʊ/.<ref name="Wells"/>
* The vowels in {{sc2|LOT}} and {{sc2|THOUGHT-NORTH-FORCE}}, traditionally transcribed as {{IPA|/ɒ/}} and {{IPA|/ɔː/}}, have shifted upwards, and are now close to {{IPAblink|ɔ}} and  {{IPAblink|oː}}, respectively, in quality.{{sfnp|Wikström|2013|p=45|ps=. "It seems to be the case that younger RP or near-RP speakers typically use a closer quality, possibly approaching Cardinal 6 considering that the quality appears to be roughly intermediate between that used by older speakers for the LOT vowel and that used for the THOUGHT vowel, while older speakers use a more open quality, between Cardinal Vowels 13 and 6."}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.englishspeechservices.com/blog/morgen-a-suitable-case-for-treatment/ |title=Morgen – a suitable case for treatment |last=Lindsey |first=Geoff |date=15 July 2012}}</ref>{{sfnp|Roach|2004|p=242}}{{sfnp|Cruttenden|2014|pp=126, 133}}
* The vowels in {{sc2|FOOT}} and {{sc2|GOOSE}}, traditionally transcribed as {{IPA|/ʊ/}} and {{IPA|/uː/}}, have undergone fronting and reduction in the amount of lip-rounding{{sfnp|Collins|Mees|2013|p=207}} (phonetically, these can be transcribed {{IPAblink|ʊ̈|ʊ̜̈}} and {{IPAblink|ʉː|ʉ̜ː}}, respectively). 
* As noted above, the {{sc2|TRAP}} vowel {{IPA|/æ/}} has become more open, near to cardinal {{IPAblink|a}}.{{sfnp|de Jong|McDougall|Hudson|Nolan|2007|pp=1814–1815}}{{sfnp|Roach|2011}}<ref name="Wells"/>

{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Keyword
!Older RP
!Traditional

RP
!Modern

RP
|-
!commA
| colspan="3" rowspan="2" |ə
|-
!lettER
|-
!TRAP
| colspan="2" |æ
|a
|-
!BATH
| colspan="3" rowspan="3" |ɑ̟ː
|-
!PALM
|-
!START
|-
!LOT
| colspan="2" |ɒ
| rowspan="2" |ɔ
|-
!CLOTH
| rowspan="3" |ɔː
| rowspan="4" |o̞ː
|-
!THOUGHT
| rowspan="3" |o̞ː
|-
!NORTH
|-
!FORCE
|(ɔə~)ɔː
|-
!STRUT
|ʌ̈
|ɐ
|ɐ~ʌ̈~ɑ̈
|-
!FOOT
| colspan="2" |ʊ
|ɵ
|-
!GOOSE
|uː
|ʊu̟
|ʊ̈ʉ~ɪ̈ɨ
|-
!CURE
| colspan="2" |ʊə
|o̞ː
|-
!DRESS
| colspan="2" |e̞
|ɛ
|-
!KIT
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" |ɪ
|ɪ̞
|-
!happY
| rowspan="2" |ɪi
|-
!FLEECE
|iː
|ɪi
|-
!NEAR
| colspan="2" |ɪə
|ɪə~ɪː
|-
!NURSE
| colspan="3" |əː~ɜː
|-
!FACE
| colspan="2" |e̞ɪ
|ɛɪ
|-
!SQUARE
| colspan="2" |ɛə
|ɛː
|-
!GOAT
|ö̞ʊ
|əʊ
|əʉ
|-
!PRICE
|aɪ
|äɪ
|ɑ̟ɪ
|-
!MOUTH
|äʊ
|ɑ̟ʊ
|aʊ
|-
!CHOICE
|ɔɪ
|ɔ̝ɪ
|oɪ
|}