Speaking clearly. Improving voice and articulation: Фонетический практикум. Фомиченко Л.Г. - 88 стр.

P A R T II ___________________
     Ìîæíî ëè ïðåîäîëåòü ðóññêîé àêöåíò ïðè èçó÷åíèè àíã-
ëèéñêîãî ÿçûêà? Ìîæíî ëè ýòî ñäåëàòü, íå âûåçæàÿ çà ïðåäåëû
ñâîåé ñòðàíû? ×òî ÿâëÿåòñÿ ïîìåõîé â ïðèîáðåòåíèè áðèòàíñêîãî
èëè àìåðèêàíñêîãî àêöåíòà ïðè èçó÷åíèè àíãëèéñêîãî ÿçûêà â
óñëîâèÿõ òàê íàçûâàåìîãî èñêóññòâåííîãî áèëèíãâèçìà? Âî âòî-
ðîé ÷àñòè íàøåãî ïðàêòèêóìà ïîñòàðàåìñÿ ðàçîáðàòüñÿ â ïðè÷è-
íàõ âîçíèêíîâåíèÿ ôîíåòè÷åñêîãî àêöåíòà è îòâåòèòü íà ïîñòàâ-
ëåííûå âîïðîñû.

                   DOES ACCENT MATTER?
      «The trouble with the British is that they accept and enjoy the
nice distinctions of social class. They love hierarchy and see nothing
wrong in the deferential attitude that it breeds.» So says a leading
educationalist and nowhere is this clearer than in the question of
speech. For the way the English is spoken gives away not only re-
gional identity but class status too.
      Since the days of Shakespeare, the English of south-east En-
gland has been considered the «standard», for no better reason than
that the south-east is the region of economic and political power. The
upper and upper-middle-class mode of speech, «received pronuncia-
tion» (RP), derived from the public school system attended by the
boys of wealthier families. RP remains the accent of the elite.
      Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of RP. One is «unmarked»
RP, which suggests no more than that the speaker is well-educated.
This is the dialect of the BBC, and thus it has a kind of authority.
Through radio and television unmarked RP is becoming a more widely
spoken accent. Then there is «marked» RP, which indicates high social
class and is spoken, for example, by many army officers who come
from upper-class families. Although spoken by less than 5 per cent of
the population, RP has immense influence and social authority.