CURRENT CHANGES IN RP.

REALIZATIONAL CHANGES: Vowels: /i:/ and /u:/ are diphongized in final position, as in SEE or TWO. // Diphthong /oʊ / has changed its quality and became /əʊ /, its starting point now is a mid-central unrounded vowel, instead of back and rounded /o/, the transcription of the phoneme was changed in 1962// About 50 years ago /æ/ was considerably less open and tenser than is now customary. Triphthongs may lose their mid element, as in FIRE [faə], SCIENCE may be smoothed to /saəns/, POWER – to [paə]. Similarly, a diphthong will lose its second element when followed by another vowel, e.g., THROWING /ˈθrəʊɪŋ/ will become [θrɜɪŋ]. Consonants: L-vocalization. /l/ in the final position or in a final consonant cluster is now undergoing a process of vocalization (becoming a vowel). Thus in the words such as MILK, SHELF, TABLES,, the tongue tip may make no contact at all with the alveolar ridge. /w/, or rather a new kind of diphthong is used, so that MILK is [miwk] or [miok], SHELF is [∫eof] or [∫ewf], TABLES [‘teiboz], APPLE [‘æpo], ST PAUL’S CAHTEDRAL /powz/.

SYSTEMIC CHANGES: the only recent change that is now completed is the loss of /ɔə/ from the phonemic inventory, as in the words YOUR /jɔə/-/jɔ:/, POOR/pɔə/-/pɔ:/, SURE /ʃɔə/- /ʃɔ:/ TOURIST/’tɔərist/-/’tʊərist/or/’tɔ:rist/.

LEXICAL CHANGES: There is a storng trend towards selecting / ə / instead of unstressed /i/ in weak syllables. This usually occurs after /l/ and /r/, as in ANGRILY /’æŋgrili/ v. /’æŋgr ə li/, LAZILY (‘leizili/ v. (leiz ə li).

DISTRIBUTIONAL CHANGES: The most noteworthy trend concerning a change in the occurrence of a phoneme is the loss of /j/ after alveolar consonants /s/ and /l/, as in ALLUDE / ə ‘lu:d/, SUPER /’su:p ə, SUIT /su:t/. Coalescence /t+j/ and /d+j/ is increasingly common, e.g., /’edju:keit/ - /’eʤu:keit/, STATUE /’stætju:/ - /‘stætʧu:/, TUESDAY /’ʧu:zdi/

STRESS CHANGES: the changes affect adjectives ending in ‘-able’, ‘ible’. It tends now to fall later in the word, as in ‘APPLICABLE – APP’LICABLE, ‘FRAGMENTARY – FRAG’MENTARY, etc. The feminine suffex ‘-ess’ increasingly attracts primary stress in words like ‘COUN’TESS, ‘STEWARDESS. RE’SEARCH has given way to ‘RESEARCH, ‘HARASS to HA’RASS.

The most observably spreading change on the suprasegmental level occurs in sentence intonation. This is especially common among young people, but not exclusively so. The change lies in a tendency to use a rising nuclear tone on a statement where a fall might be expected. The (presumably unintended) effect may be one of reluctance to commit oneself, or of diffidence. We cannot be sure if the rising intonation conveys meaning, or is habitual

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