what is the story of the recieved pronounciation in Britian?

Answer 1

I dunno, but "received" is always spelled with the "e" following the "c".....

Answer 2

There is no 'story' to received pronunciation' in Britain. The term merely means the accent which is thought to be 'proper' or 'nice' It sometimes equates with how so called 'well bred' southerners talk. It sometimes means 'BBC English' or the way BBC newsreaders sounded up until about the 1960s and before the BBC allowed regional accents to be heard.It certainly doesn't include and regional accents. It has changed over the years - just listen to the way the commentators spoke on cinema newreels from as recently as the 1950s.

A long article on RP can be found here:-http://www.yaelf.com/rp.shtml