This thesis focuses on the phonetic features of the so-called Theater Speech, a cultivated accent\ud
that was considered standard for North American actors in the 1930s and 1940s. While there has\ud
been extensive research on the phonetics of many regional dialects of English, the accents used\ud
in performances are often overlooked by linguists. As an accent designed for the purpose of\ud
performances, Theater Speech presents an excellent opportunity for linguists to study the\ud
phonetic features of a cultivated accent and the sociolinguistic influences that shaped it.\ud
I will begin this thesis with an exploration of the history, usage, perception of Theater\ud
Speech and related research. I will also provide a brief introduction of Katharine Hepburn, the\ud
speaker whose speech exemplifies Theater Speech, as well as the films I chose for the analysis.\ud
Then, I will describe my methods for data collection and analysis. In the results section, I will\ud
examine the phonetic features of Hepburn's pronunciation and analyze Theater Speech's\ud
relationship with General American English, with cultivated speech in New England, and with\ud
the British Received Pronunciation at the time. My findings show that Theater Speech has many\ud
similarities to Received Pronunciation and the cultivated Eastern New England dialects. I will\ud
conclude the thesis by offering some explanations to the development and perception of Theater Speech from a sociolinguistic perspective, and try to make a case that the changes in the\ud
perceived prestige status of the cultivated speech of Eastern New England caused the changed perception of Theater Speech
