Topic 4

Today English is a major language spoken in the world. In every part of the world English is spoken with different pronunciations, but the original and right pronunciations can be heard only in England and it’s called The King’s or Queen’s English. The King’s or Queen’s English is a good correct English, as it should be spoken. The standard form of English used in England is called the RP – Received Pronunciation and it is also called the BBC English as it is used be the BBC. RP or BBC English is the accent of the South-east of England. It has been associated with power and high social class since the 14^th century. At the time of the King, the Royal court and the government settled in London, and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, both settled in the Southeast, provided higher education for the whole country. People who wanted to be part of that powerful world had to use the same language and accent. In the 19^th century RP was used in public schools and universities, the government and the army to form small groups who would run the empire. It was even impossible to get any kind of high position if you did not speak the right way. The best advise to those who wish to become proficient in English was given in 1906 by the Fowler brothers in the famous book “the king’s English”. It is still sound advice for any student of English, whether English is his mother tongue or whether it is foreign language: prefer the familiar word to the far-fetched, Prefer the concrete word to the abstract, Prefer the short word to the long, Prefer the Saxon word to the Romance. Above I’ve mentioned accent and now I want to explain the right meaning and the role of it in England. Accent is the sound of a person’s pronunciation of the English language. It is very important in Britain. It shows where the person comes from and, to an extent, what class he or she belongs to. And I also want to mention that in London you can meet another way of speaking English, which is called Cockney. Cockney is typical among people who live in the eastern area of London and it also known as London dialect. Cockney has some differences. For example in cockney TH is pronounced as f and didn’t become didn. And nowadays English is considered to be the major language in the world. To my mind English language has reached such a great popularity thanks to the expansion of British colonial power and the emergence of the US as the leading economic power of the 20^th century. English is the language of the international air traffic control, policing and emergency services. It is also used as the language of international business and academic conferences and the leading language of international tourism. A lot of video games, broadcasting and computers use English language. World famous computer net, I mean Internet is based on English language. So from my point of view English language is the major language and its really great to learn and to know this language as gives you opportunities to travel abroad, to learn more, to get a better job.