English is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a re
Estuary English is a name given to the dialect(s) of
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
widely spoken in
South East EnglandSouth East England is one of the nine official regions of England, designated in 1994 and adopted for statistical purposes in 1999. Its boundaries include Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex...
, especially along the
River ThamesThe River Thames is a major river flowing through southern England. While best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows through several other towns and cities, including Oxford, Reading and Windsor....
and
its estuaryThe Thames Estuary is the estuary in which the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea.It is not easy to define the limits of the estuary, although physically the head of Sea Reach, near Canvey Island on the Essex shore is probably the western boundary...
. Phonetician
John C. WellsJohn Christopher Wells, MA , Ph.D. , is a British phonetician and Esperanto teacher at University College London, where until his retirement in 2006 he held the departmental chair in Phonetics.-Life:...
defines Estuary English as "Standard English spoken with the accent of the southeast of England". The name comes from the area around the Thames Estuary, particularly
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
,
KentKent , originally Cantia, is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the River Thames estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent...
and
EssexEssex is a county in the East of England region of the United Kingdom. The county town of Essex is Chelmsford.-History:In pre-Roman Britain the territories of Suffolk and Essex were home to the Trinovantes tribe, which had grown wealthy through intensive trade with the Roman Empire, contemporary...
.
The variety first came to public prominence in an article by David Rosewarne in the
Times Educational SupplementThe Times Educational Supplement is a weekly UK publication covering the world of primary, secondary and further education, as well as teaching job vacancies.-History:...
in October 1984. Rosewarne argued that it may eventually replace
RPReceived Pronunciation , also called the Queen's English and BBC English, is the accent of Standard English in England, with a relationship to regional dialects similar to that of other European languages...
(Received Pronunciation). Studies have indicated that Estuary English is not a single coherent form of English; rather, the reality behind the
constructA social construction is any phenomenon 'invented' or 'constructed' by participants in a particular culture or society, existing because people agree to behave as if it exists or follow certain conventional rules. One example of a social construct is social status...
consists of some (but not all) phonetic features of working-class London speech spreading at various rates
socially into middle-class speech and
geographically into other accents of south-eastern England.
Features
Estuary English is characterised by the following features:
- Non-rhoticity
English pronunciation can be divided into two main accent groups: A rhotic speaker pronounces the letter R in hard and water. A non-rhotic speaker does not pronounce it in hard, and may not in water, or may only pronounce it in water if the following word begins with a vowel...
.
- Use of intrusive R.
- A broad A in words such as bath, grass, laugh, etc.
- T-glottalization
T-glottalization is a process that occurs for many English speakers, that causes the phoneme to be pronounced as the glottal stop in certain positions....
: realizing non-initial, most commonly final, as a glottal stopThe glottal stop, or more fully, the voiceless glottal plosive, is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. In English the feature is represented for example by the hyphen in uh-oh! and by the apostrophe or [[ʻokina]] in Hawaii among those attempting an authentic pronunciation of...
instead of an alveolar stop, e.g. water (pronounced ).
- Yod-coalescence, i.e., the use of the affricates and instead of the clusters and in words like dune and Tuesday. Thus, these words sound like June and choose day, respectively.
- L-vocalisation
In linguistics, l-vocalization is a process by which an sound is replaced by a vowel or semivowel sound. This happens most often to velarized .-L-vocalization in English:...
, i.e., the use of , , or where RP uses in the final positions or in a final consonant cluster.
- The wholly-holy split.
- Use of confrontational question tags. For example, "We're going later, aren't we?", "I said that, didn't I?"
Despite the similarity between the two dialects, the following characteristics of
CockneyThe term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End...
pronunciation are generally
not considered to be present in Estuary English:
- H-dropping, i.e., Dropping in stressed words (e.g. for hat)
- Double negation
A double negative occurs when two forms of negation are used in the same clause. In some languages , negative forms are consistently used throughout the sentence to express a single negation. In other languages, a double negative is used to negate a negation, and therefore, it resolves to a positive...
. However, Estuary English may use never in cases where not would be standard. For example, "he did not" [in reference to a single occasion] might become "he never did".
- Replacement of
Estuary English is a name given to the dialect(s) of EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
widely spoken in South East EnglandSouth East England is one of the nine official regions of England, designated in 1994 and adopted for statistical purposes in 1999. Its boundaries include Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex...
, especially along the River ThamesThe River Thames is a major river flowing through southern England. While best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows through several other towns and cities, including Oxford, Reading and Windsor....
and its estuaryThe Thames Estuary is the estuary in which the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea.It is not easy to define the limits of the estuary, although physically the head of Sea Reach, near Canvey Island on the Essex shore is probably the western boundary...
. Phonetician John C. WellsJohn Christopher Wells, MA , Ph.D. , is a British phonetician and Esperanto teacher at University College London, where until his retirement in 2006 he held the departmental chair in Phonetics.-Life:...
defines Estuary English as "Standard English spoken with the accent of the southeast of England". The name comes from the area around the Thames Estuary, particularly London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, KentKent , originally Cantia, is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the River Thames estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent...
and EssexEssex is a county in the East of England region of the United Kingdom. The county town of Essex is Chelmsford.-History:In pre-Roman Britain the territories of Suffolk and Essex were home to the Trinovantes tribe, which had grown wealthy through intensive trade with the Roman Empire, contemporary...
.
{{TOC right}}
The variety first came to public prominence in an article by David Rosewarne in the Times Educational SupplementThe Times Educational Supplement is a weekly UK publication covering the world of primary, secondary and further education, as well as teaching job vacancies.-History:...
in October 1984. Rosewarne argued that it may eventually replace RPReceived Pronunciation , also called the Queen's English and BBC English, is the accent of Standard English in England, with a relationship to regional dialects similar to that of other European languages...
(Received Pronunciation). Studies have indicated that Estuary English is not a single coherent form of English; rather, the reality behind the constructA social construction is any phenomenon 'invented' or 'constructed' by participants in a particular culture or society, existing because people agree to behave as if it exists or follow certain conventional rules. One example of a social construct is social status...
consists of some (but not all) phonetic features of working-class London speech spreading at various rates socially into middle-class speech and geographically into other accents of south-eastern England.
Features
{{IPA notice|lang=en}}
Estuary English is characterised by the following features:
- Non-rhoticity
English pronunciation can be divided into two main accent groups: A rhotic speaker pronounces the letter R in hard and water. A non-rhotic speaker does not pronounce it in hard, and may not in water, or may only pronounce it in water if the following word begins with a vowel...
.
- Use of intrusive R.
- A broad A ({{IPA|ɑː}}) in words such as bath, grass, laugh, etc.
- T-glottalization
T-glottalization is a process that occurs for many English speakers, that causes the phoneme to be pronounced as the glottal stop in certain positions....
: realizing non-initial, most commonly final, {{IPA|/t/}} as a glottal stopThe glottal stop, or more fully, the voiceless glottal plosive, is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. In English the feature is represented for example by the hyphen in uh-oh! and by the apostrophe or [[ʻokina]] in Hawaii among those attempting an authentic pronunciation of...
instead of an alveolar stop, e.g. water (pronounced {{IPA|/wɔːʔə/}}).
- Yod-coalescence, i.e., the use of the affricates {{IPA|[dʒ]}} and {{IPA|[tʃ]}} instead of the clusters {{IPA|[dj]}} and {{IPA|[tj]}} in words like dune and Tuesday. Thus, these words sound like June and choose day, respectively.
- L-vocalisation
In linguistics, l-vocalization is a process by which an sound is replaced by a vowel or semivowel sound. This happens most often to velarized .-L-vocalization in English:...
, i.e., the use of {{IPA|[o]}}, {{IPA|[ʊ]}}, or {{IPA|[ɯ]}} where RP uses {{IPA|[ɫ]}} in the final positions or in a final consonant cluster.
- The wholly-holy split.
- Use of confrontational question tags. For example, "We're going later, aren't we?", "I said that, didn't I?"
Despite the similarity between the two dialects, the following characteristics of CockneyThe term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End...
pronunciation are generally not considered to be present in Estuary English:
- H-dropping, i.e., Dropping {{IPA|[h]}} in stressed words (e.g. {{IPA|[æʔ]}} for hat)
- Double negation
A double negative occurs when two forms of negation are used in the same clause. In some languages , negative forms are consistently used throughout the sentence to express a single negation. In other languages, a double negative is used to negate a negation, and therefore, it resolves to a positive...
. However, Estuary English may use never in cases where not would be standard. For example, "he did not" [in reference to a single occasion] might become "he never did".
- Replacement of
Estuary English is a name given to the dialect(s) of EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
widely spoken in South East EnglandSouth East England is one of the nine official regions of England, designated in 1994 and adopted for statistical purposes in 1999. Its boundaries include Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex...
, especially along the River ThamesThe River Thames is a major river flowing through southern England. While best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows through several other towns and cities, including Oxford, Reading and Windsor....
and its estuaryThe Thames Estuary is the estuary in which the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea.It is not easy to define the limits of the estuary, although physically the head of Sea Reach, near Canvey Island on the Essex shore is probably the western boundary...
. Phonetician John C. WellsJohn Christopher Wells, MA , Ph.D. , is a British phonetician and Esperanto teacher at University College London, where until his retirement in 2006 he held the departmental chair in Phonetics.-Life:...
defines Estuary English as "Standard English spoken with the accent of the southeast of England". The name comes from the area around the Thames Estuary, particularly London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, KentKent , originally Cantia, is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the River Thames estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent...
and EssexEssex is a county in the East of England region of the United Kingdom. The county town of Essex is Chelmsford.-History:In pre-Roman Britain the territories of Suffolk and Essex were home to the Trinovantes tribe, which had grown wealthy through intensive trade with the Roman Empire, contemporary...
.
{{TOC right}}
The variety first came to public prominence in an article by David Rosewarne in the Times Educational SupplementThe Times Educational Supplement is a weekly UK publication covering the world of primary, secondary and further education, as well as teaching job vacancies.-History:...
in October 1984. Rosewarne argued that it may eventually replace RPReceived Pronunciation , also called the Queen's English and BBC English, is the accent of Standard English in England, with a relationship to regional dialects similar to that of other European languages...
(Received Pronunciation). Studies have indicated that Estuary English is not a single coherent form of English; rather, the reality behind the constructA social construction is any phenomenon 'invented' or 'constructed' by participants in a particular culture or society, existing because people agree to behave as if it exists or follow certain conventional rules. One example of a social construct is social status...
consists of some (but not all) phonetic features of working-class London speech spreading at various rates socially into middle-class speech and geographically into other accents of south-eastern England.
Features
{{IPA notice|lang=en}}
Estuary English is characterised by the following features:
- Non-rhoticity
English pronunciation can be divided into two main accent groups: A rhotic speaker pronounces the letter R in hard and water. A non-rhotic speaker does not pronounce it in hard, and may not in water, or may only pronounce it in water if the following word begins with a vowel...
.
- Use of intrusive R.
- A broad A ({{IPA|ɑː}}) in words such as bath, grass, laugh, etc.
- T-glottalization
T-glottalization is a process that occurs for many English speakers, that causes the phoneme to be pronounced as the glottal stop in certain positions....
: realizing non-initial, most commonly final, {{IPA|/t/}} as a glottal stopThe glottal stop, or more fully, the voiceless glottal plosive, is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. In English the feature is represented for example by the hyphen in uh-oh! and by the apostrophe or [[ʻokina]] in Hawaii among those attempting an authentic pronunciation of...
instead of an alveolar stop, e.g. water (pronounced {{IPA|/wɔːʔə/}}).
- Yod-coalescence, i.e., the use of the affricates {{IPA|[dʒ]}} and {{IPA|[tʃ]}} instead of the clusters {{IPA|[dj]}} and {{IPA|[tj]}} in words like dune and Tuesday. Thus, these words sound like June and choose day, respectively.
- L-vocalisation
In linguistics, l-vocalization is a process by which an sound is replaced by a vowel or semivowel sound. This happens most often to velarized .-L-vocalization in English:...
, i.e., the use of {{IPA|[o]}}, {{IPA|[ʊ]}}, or {{IPA|[ɯ]}} where RP uses {{IPA|[ɫ]}} in the final positions or in a final consonant cluster.
- The wholly-holy split.
- Use of confrontational question tags. For example, "We're going later, aren't we?", "I said that, didn't I?"
Despite the similarity between the two dialects, the following characteristics of CockneyThe term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End...
pronunciation are generally not considered to be present in Estuary English:
- H-dropping, i.e., Dropping {{IPA|[h]}} in stressed words (e.g. {{IPA|[æʔ]}} for hat)
- Double negation
A double negative occurs when two forms of negation are used in the same clause. In some languages , negative forms are consistently used throughout the sentence to express a single negation. In other languages, a double negative is used to negate a negation, and therefore, it resolves to a positive...
. However, Estuary English may use never in cases where not would be standard. For example, "he did not" [in reference to a single occasion] might become "he never did".
- Replacement of {{IPA
R-labialization is a process occurring in Cockney speech where the phoneme is realized as a labiodental approximant in contrast to an alveolar approximant . To speakers who are not used to , this can sound like a ....
is not found in Estuary, and is also very much in decline amongst Cockney speakers.
However, it should be noted that the boundary between Estuary English and Cockney is far from clear-cut, hence even these features of Cockney might occur occasionally in Estuary English.
In particular, it has been suggested that th-fronting is "currently making its way" into Estuary English, for example those from Isle of Thanet often refer to Thanet as "Plannit Fannit" (Planet Thanet).
Use of Estuary English
Estuary English is widely encountered throughout the south and south-east of EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, particularly among the young. Many consider it to be a working-class accent, though it is by no means limited to the working class. In the debate that surrounded a 1993 article about Estuary English, a London businessman claimed that Received PronunciationReceived Pronunciation , also called the Queen's English and BBC English, is the accent of Standard English in England, with a relationship to regional dialects similar to that of other European languages...
was perceived as unfriendly, so Estuary English was now preferred for commercial purposes.
Some people adopt the accent as a means of "blending in", appearing to be more working class, or in an attempt to appear to be "a common man"{{ndash}} sometimes this affectation of the accent is derisively referred to as "MockneyIn British English, Mockney is an attempt to present oneself as Cockney with the intention of gaining popular credibility...
". A move away from traditional RP is almost universal among upper and upper middle class young people.{{Citation needed|date=August 2009}}
The term "Estuary English" is sometimes used with pejorativePejoratives are terms which have a negative connotation. Sometimes a term may begin as a pejorative word and eventually be adopted in a non-pejorative sense...
connotationConnotationsubjective cultural and/or emotional coloration in addition to the explicit or denotative meaning of any specific word or phrase in alanguage, i.e. emotional association with a word.-Usage:...
s: Sally GunnellSally Jane Janet Gunnell OBE is a former British Olympic champion in the 400 m hurdles...
, a former Olympic athlete who became a television presenter for Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
and the BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
, quit the BBC, announcing she felt "very undermined" by the network's lack of support after she was widely criticised for her "uninspiring interview style" and "awful estuary English".
See also
- Kentish dialect
The Kentish dialect combines many features of other speech patterns, particularly those of East Anglia, The Southern Counties and London. Although there are audio examples available on the British Library website and BBC sources, its most distinctive features are in the lexicon rather than in...
- List of dialects of the English language
- Regional accents of English speakers
The regional accents of English speakers show great variation across the areas where English is spoken as a first language. This article provides an overview of the many identifiable variations in pronunciation, usually deriving from the phoneme inventory of the local dialect, of the local variety...
External links
{{English dialects by continent}}