The Queen’s English

pronunciation of sounds and intonation:

a practical guide

The Queen makes the /æ/ vowel found in MAT, MAN, ACTIONand THANKS with a more close jaw than standard GBspeakers, closer to the /e/ found in MET & MEN.

This is a very distinctive feature of the Queen’s accent. GBspeakers start this vowel in the centre of the mouth, but theQueen starts at the front of the mouth in words like GO, FLOW.

If a word ends in a weak ‘y’, GB speakers will make a short,weak /i/ sound, but the Queen will say a more open /ɪ/.

This vowel is quite neutral in GB English, but the Queen goesfurther back than the average speaker in words like LOVE,JUSTICE and YOUNG.

In words like TYRE, SHIRE & FIRE, the Queen would use a longsingle vowel like /ɑː/ instead of the three sounds in /aɪə/, she’d dothe same for /aʊə/, so words like POWER and TOWER would alsobecome /ɑː/.

When an /r/ sound appears after a vowel and before a weakvowel, the Queen will tap her tongue, such as SORRY, SPIRIT,CORONATION.

The Queen makes her /uː/ sounds very far back in the mouth,a standard GB speaker would have the tongue furthertowards the centre in words like TOO, NEW, SOON, WHO.

The Queen makes her weak vowel /ə/ more open than manyat the end of words, like LOVER, SUMMER, SAILOR andMANOR.

A distinctive feature of the Queen’s speech is her use of ahigh-falling intonation pattern that doesn’t quite hit thebottom tone and glides down rather slowly.

It is very rare to hear the Queen speaking in a hurry, she hasno need to do so, one would imagine, so it gives her plenty oftime to articulate her sounds fully.

Thank you for your attention!

Best regards, Anna Panfilovich & Kseniya Cheretun.

SPEAK LIKE THE QUEEN!