Task 2 · Listening · Variant 19

John: Penelope, hi! I was in the middle of an email to my scientific advisor. Anyway, I got here as soon as I read your text message. Has anything happened?

Penelope: Yes and no. It's definitely not a life-and-death situation, yet it does make me miserable.

John: Tell me.

Penelope: I know that you have your own agenda, John, so, to make a long story short, I failed my English history exam, little brother.

John: And how can I be of any help to you? I haven't even started this course yet.

Penelope: Even though you haven't, you know more than I do. You're keen on accents and dialects and for me it's all Greek.

John: Wow, not everything is as black as you paint it if you quote Shakespeare.

Penelope: Whatever. Will you help me or not?

John: Sure, I will.

Penelope: Before we start, tell me, honestly, why should I even care about the way words were pronounced centuries ago?

John: Well, surprising as it may sound, it is useful to know how they would have been pronounced as it changes your appreciation of the texts. Apart from that, it helps to understand why English spellings and pronunciations are so inconsistent today. For instance, for Shakespeare 'love' and 'prove' would have rhymed perfectly well; for us it doesn't work as we pronounce them differently.

Penelope: So weird. This doesn't sound posh at all.

John: That's another mystery which I don't get myself. Shakespearean English is associated with high status and education, but when he was writing his works it was everyday speech. Nothing special. Even Elizabeth I, who was the queen then, didn't pronounce words in a way we'd see as upper-crust today.

Penelope: I see. John, you mentioned the correlation between pronunciation and spelling. I'd love to hear more on that, if you don't mind.

John: It's quite simple. As at the time there were no rules and standards on how to write words, texts were written phonetically. So, in Queen Elizabeth I's letters the word 'together' is written as 'togither' — t-o-g-i-t-h-e-r, and 'servant' as 'sarvant' with two a's.

Penelope: So, she had a very down-to-earth manner of speaking in contrast to the one she is portrayed with in a recent movie.

John: That super silly historic fiction you are so fond of, you mean?

Penelope: The documentary.

John: Then a biographical period drama film, to be precise.

Penelope: Oh, it's so confusing. Whatever the genre, I love that movie. Anyway, could you please tell me about the difference between OP and RP?