Editing Received Pronunciation (section)

===Consonants===

* For speakers of Received Pronunciation in the late 19th century, it was common for the consonant combination {{angbr|wh}} (as in ''which'', ''whistle'', ''whether'') to be realised as a [[voiceless labio-velar fricative]] {{IPA|/ʍ/}} (also transcribed {{IPA|/hw/}}), as can still be heard in the 21st century in the speech of many speakers in Ireland, Scotland and parts of the US. Since the beginning of the 20th century, however, the {{IPA|/ʍ/}} phoneme has ceased to be a feature of RP, except in an exaggeratedly precise style of speaking ([[Pronunciation of English ⟨wh⟩#Wine–whine merger|the wine-whine merger]]).{{sfnp|Wells|1982|pp=228–229}}
* There has been considerable growth in [[glottalisation]] in RP, most commonly in the form of [[Glottalization#Glottal reinforcement|glottal reinforcement]]. This has been noted by writers on RP since quite early in the 20th century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ward |first1=Ida |title=The Phonetics of English |date=1939 |pages=135–136, para 250 |edition=3rd}}</ref> Ward notes pronunciations such as [njuːʔtrəl] for ''neutral'' and [reʔkləs] for ''reckless''. Glottalization of /tʃ/ is widespread in present-day RP when at the end of a stressed syllable, as in ''butcher'' [bʊʔtʃə].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Collins |first1=Beverley |last2=Mees |first2=Inger |title=Practical English Phonetics and Phonology |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-138-59150-9 |page=67 |edition=4th}}</ref>
* The realisation of /r/ as a [[Tap and flap consonants|tap or flap]] [ɾ] has largely disappeared from RP, though it can be heard in films and broadcasts from the first half of the 20th century. The word ''very'' was frequently pronounced [veɾɪ]. The same sound, however, is sometimes pronounced as an allophone of /t/ when it occurs intervocalically after a stressed syllable – the [[Flapping|"flapped /t/"]] that is familiar in American English. Phonetically, this sounds more like /d/, and this pronunciation is sometimes known as /t/-voicing.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Collins |first1=Beverley |last2=Mees |first2=Inger |title=Practical English Phonetics and Phonology |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-138-59150-9 |page=69 |edition=4th}}</ref>