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Estuary English

March 22, 2023

This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Estuary English is an English accent associated with the area along the River Thames and its estuary, including London. Phonetician John C. Wells proposed a definition of Estuary English as "Standard English spoken with the accent of the southeast of England".[1] He views Estuary English as an emerging standard accent of England: an "intermediate" between the 20th-century higher-class non-regional standard accent, Received Pronunciation, and the 20th-century lower-class local London accent, Cockney. There is some debate among linguists as to where Cockney speech ends and Estuary English begins.[1][2][3][4]

Name

Cruttenden uses the term London Regional General British[5][6] in preference to the popular term 'Estuary English'.

The names listed above may be abbreviated:

  • Estuary English → EE
  • London Regional General British → London RGB[7]

Wells has used different names for an accent closer to Cockney (Popular London) or closer to Received Pronunciation (London Regional Standard or South-Eastern Regional Standard).[8] Cruttenden uses the name Popular London to refer to Cockney pronunciation itself.[9]

Status as accent of English

The boundaries between RP (Received Pronunciation), Estuary English and Cockney are far from clear-cut.[10][11] Wells cites Rosewarne as locating EE in the middle of "a continuum that has RP and London speech at either end".[12] Several writers have argued that Estuary English is not a discrete accent distinct from the accents of the London area. The sociolinguist Peter Trudgill has written that the term "Estuary English" is inappropriate because "it suggests that we are talking about a new variety, which we are not; and because it suggests that it is a variety of English confined to the banks of the Thames estuary, which it is not. The label actually refers to the lower middle-class accents, as opposed to working-class accents, of the Home Counties Modern Dialect area".[13] Roach comments, "In reality there is no such accent and the term should be used with care. The idea originates from the sociolinguistic observation that some people in public life who would previously have been expected to speak with an RP accent now find it acceptable to speak with some characteristics of the London area... such as glottal stops, which would in earlier times have caused comment or disapproval".[14]

Foulkes & Docherty (1999) state "All of its [EE's] features can be located on a sociolinguistic and geographical continuum between RP and Cockney, and are spreading not because Estuary English is a coherent and identifiable influence, but because the features represent neither the standard nor the extreme non-standard poles of the continuum".[15] In order to tackle these problems put forward by expert linguists, Altendorf (2016) argues that Estuary English should be viewed as a folk category rather than an expert linguistic category. As such it takes the form of a perceptual prototype category that does not require discrete boundaries in order to function in the eyes (and ears) of lay observers of language variation and change.[16]

Collins et al. state that "In the 1990s and the first few years of the 2000s, this putative new variety was fiercely debated both in the media and academia, but since then interest in Estuary English has waned and been replaced by discussion of the capital's latest linguistic innovation – Multicultural London English".[17]

Features

Published accounts of EE describe it mainly in terms of differences from contemporary RP and from Cockney. Wells (1994) states that "Estuary English (EE) is like RP, but unlike Cockney, in being associated with standard grammar and usage". Differences are found at phonemic and allophonic levels.

Features distinguishing EE from RP

Wells identifies a small number of key features that may distinguish EE from RP: these features may be summarized as follows:

Features suggested by other studies

/l/-vocalization

It has been widely observed that EE exhibits vocalization of preconsonantal/final /l/, perhaps with various vowel mergers before it (an informal example being miwk-bottoo 'milk-bottle'). Wells cites the specific case of allophony in GOAT (> [ɒʊ] before dark /l/ or its reflex), leading perhaps to a phonemic split ('wholly' vs. 'holy'). This topic is usually referred to as L-vocalization. There is said to be alternation between the vocalized [o ~ ʊ ~ ɯ], dark non-vocalized [ɫ] and clear non-vocalized [l], depending on the word.[18] These alternation happen in final positions or in a final consonant cluster, e.g. sold (pronounced [sɔʊd]). In London, that may even occur before a vowel: girl out [ɡɛo ˈæoʔ].[19] In all phonetic environments, male London speakers were at least twice as likely to vocalize the dark l as female London speakers.[19] According to Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), the vocalized dark l is sometimes an unoccluded lateral approximant, which differs from the RP [ɫ] only by the lack of the alveolar contact.[20]

/l/-vocalization can lead to loss of distinctions between some vowels and diphthongs. Examples of vowel mergers before historic /l/ found in EE are:

  • /iːl/ (as in REEL) merges with /ɪəl/ (as in REAL).[12]
  • /ɔɪl/ (as in OIL) merges with /ɔɪəl/ (as in ROYAL).[12]
  • /aʊl/ (as in OWL) merges with /aʊəl/ (as in VOWEL).[12]
  • Other possible mergers include the following:
    • /iːl/ (as in FEEL) can merge with /ɪl/ (as in FILL).[12] Since /ɪəl/ merges with /iːl/,[12] it also participates in this merger.
    • /uːl/ (as in POOL) can merge with both /ʊl/ (as in PULL) and /ɔːl/ (as in PAUL).[12]
    • /eɪl/ (as in VEIL) can merge with both /æl/ (as in VAL) and /aʊəl/ (as in VOWEL).[12]
    • /ɛl/ (as in WELL) can merge with /ɜːl/ (as in WHIRL).[12]
    • /aɪl/ (as in CHILD'S) can merge with /ɑːl/ (as in CHARLES).[12]
    • /ɒl/ (as in DOLL) can merge with /ɒʊl/ (as in DOLE).[12]

Przedlacka (2001) found coda /l/ pronounced as clear [l], as in most accents of Irish English, in some speakers: she notes that in her study, "all four Essex speakers have a clear [l] in pull."[18]

/l/-vocalization appears to be spreading into RP (or GB, the similar accent referred to by some writers). Collins et al say "Traditional RP speakers tend to stigmatize this feature, which is nevertheless one of the most striking changes going on in present-day GB English".[21]

/t/-glottalization

The term glottalization has several different meanings: the most important are glottal reinforcement (or pre-glottalization), where a glottal closure accompanies an oral closure, and glottal replacement, where a glottal closure is substituted for an oral consonant.

Although glottalization of /t/ has been singled out for attention in discussion of EE features, pre-glottalization of /p/, /k/ and /tʃ/ is also widespread in RP, particularly when another consonant follows. Examples are 'popcorn' ['pɒʔpkɔːn], 'electric' [ɪ'leʔktrɪk], 'butcher' ['bʊʔtʃə].[22][23] Wells proposes that in transcribing EE, the glottal stop symbol [ʔ] could be used in contexts where the consonant in question is preceded by a vowel and followed by a consonant or the end of a word: examples are 'bit' [bɪʔ], 'football' [ˈfʊʔbɔo], 'belt' [beoʔ], 'Cheltenham' [ˈtʃeoʔnəm], 'bent' [benʔ], 'Bentley' [ˈbenʔli]. Pre-glottalization of /t/ therefore appears to be present both in RP and in EE.

Glottal replacement of /t/ may be found when /t/ occurs before another consonant. Examples from RP where /t/ is replaced by a glottal stop are: 'that table' [ðæʔ 'teɪbəl], 'Scotland' ['skɒʔlənd], 'witness' ['wɪʔnəs].[24] The most extreme case of glottal replacement is when a glottal stop takes the place of /t/ between vowels (normally when the preceding vowel is stressed). Examples are 'not on' [ˌnɒʔ 'ɒn], 'bottle' ['bɒʔo]. Wells says "glottalling word-internally before a vowel is well-known as a 'rough' pronunciation variant: thus EE water ˈwɔːtə, but Cockney ˈwɔʊʔə".[12] However, in work published twenty years later, Cruttenden (p 184) remarks that such glottal replacement "was until recently stigmatized as non-GB but all except [ʔl̩] are now acceptable in London RGB" (i.e. EE). He continues "Use of [ʔ] for /t/ word-medially intervocalically, as in water, still remains stigmatized in GB".

Diphthong shift

EE is said to exhibit diphthong shift, particularly of the FACE, PRICE, MOUTH and GOAT vowels (informal example: "nime" for "name").

  • /əʊ/ (as in GOAT) may be realised in a couple of different ways. According to Przedlacka (2001), it is any of the following: [əʊ], [ɐʊ], [əʏ] or [ɐʏ]. The last two are more often used by females.[25] She also notes a fully rounded diphthong [oʊ] (found in some speakers from Essex),[25] as well as two rare monophthongal realizations, namely [ɐː] and [o̞ː].[25]
  • /eɪ/ (as in FACE), according to Przedlacka (2001), can be realised as [ɛ̝ɪ], [ɛɪ], [ɛ̞ɪ] or [æɪ],[25] with [ɛɪ] and [ɛ̞ɪ] being predominant.[25] According to Wells (1994), it can be realised as [eɪ], [ɛɪ], [æɪ], [ɐɪ] or [ʌɪ].[12]
  • /aɪ/ (as in PRICE) can be realised as [aɪ], [a̠ɪ], [ɑ̟ɪ], [ɒ̟ɪ], [ɑɪ] or [ɒɪ].[25]
  • /aʊ/ (as in MOUTH) can be realised as [aʊ], [aʏ], [æə], [æʊ] or [æʏ].[25] [a] denotes a front onset [a], not a central one [a̠].[25]
  • board /bɔːd/ may be pronounced differently from bored /bɔəd/.[26] /ɔː/ (phonetically [ɔʊ] or [oː])[26] appears before consonants, and /ɔə/ (phonetically [ɔə] or [ɔː])[26] appears at a morpheme boundary.[26] However, Przedlacka (2001) states that both /ɔː/ and /ɔə/ may have the same monophthongal quality [ɔː].[27]

Yod-coalescence

yod-coalescence is found in EE: the use of the affricates [d͡ʒ] and [t͡ʃ] instead of the clusters [dj] and [tj] in words like dune and Tuesday results in the words sounding like June and choose day, respectively. Although at the time when most studies of EE were carried out, yod-coalescence was not common in RP, it has now become so widely accepted that RP-based pronunciation dictionaries include it. Thus the latest edition of the Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary gives /dʒuːn/ and /tʃuːz.deɪ/ as the preferred pronunciations;[28] the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary and the Oxford Dictionary of Pronunciation give /djuːn/ and /tjuːzdeɪ/ as their first preference, but give /dʒuːn/ and /tʃuːz.deɪ/ as second preference.[29] [30] It cannot be said that the presence of yod-coalescence distinguishes EE from RP.

th-fronting

It has been suggested that th-fronting is "currently making its way" into Estuary English, for example those from the Isle of Thanet often refer to Thanet as "Plannit Fannit" (Planet Thanet).[31] However, this feature was also present in the traditional dialect of Essex before the spread of Estuary English.[32]

Other vowel differences

  • /iː/ (as in FLEECE) can be realised as [iː], [ɪi] or [əi],[27] with the first two variants predominating.[33] Before the dark l, it is sometimes a centering diphthong [iə].[27]
  • /uː/ (as in GOOSE) can be realised in many different ways, such as monophthongs [ʏː], [ɪ̝ː], [ʉː], [ɨː], [ʉ̠ː], [u̟ː][27] and diphthongs [ɘɵ], [ɘʏ], [ʏɨ] and [ʊu].[34] Front pronunciations ([ʏː], [ɪ̝ː], [ɘʏ] and [ʏɨ]) are more often encountered in female speakers.[27] Before the l, it is always back.[12]
  • /ʊ/ can be central (rounded [ʊ̈] or unrounded [ɪ̈])[35] near-front [ʏ],[36] or simply near-back [ʊ], as in RP. Only the last variant appears before the dark l.
  • /ɔː/ (as in THOUGHT), according to Przedlacka (2001), can be pronounced in two different ways: diphthongal [oʊ] in closed syllables and [ɔə] or [ɔ̝ə] in open syllables[27] and monophthongal [ɔː].[27] According to Parsons (1998), it is either [ɔʊ] or [oː] before consonants, and either [ɔə] or [ɔː] at a morpheme boundary.[26]
  • /ʌ/ (as in STRUT) can be realised as [ɒ], [ʌ], [ɐ], [ɐ̟] or [æ],[27] with [ɐ] being predominant.[27] The first two variants occur mostly before /ŋ/.[27] The last two variants are more often used by females.[27]
  • /æ/ (as in TRAP) can be realised as [a], [a̝], [æ], [ɛ̞] or [ɛ].[27][37] A somewhat retracted front [a̠] has been reported for some speakers in Reading.[38]

Features distinguishing EE from Cockney

Wells suggests that EE differs from Cockney in a few key features.

  • EE differs from Cockney in usually not being characterized by h-dropping before stressed vowels (informal example: " 'and on 'eart" for "hand on heart")
  • Th-fronting (e.g. "I fink" for "I think", but see above)
  • Cockney may have monophthongal realization of the MOUTH vowel ("Sahfend" for "Southend").

Use

Estuary English is widely encountered throughout southeast England, particularly among the young. It is considered to be a working-class accent,[citation needed] although often used by the lower middle classes too. In the debate that surrounded a 1993 article about Estuary English, a London businessman claimed that RP was perceived as unfriendly, so Estuary English was now preferred for commercial purposes.[39] Some adopt the accent as a means of "blending in" to appear to be more working class or in an attempt to appear to be "a common man". That affectation of the accent is sometimes derisively referred to as "Mockney". A move away from traditional RP accents is almost universal among middle-class young people in the South-East of England.[40]

19th-century Rural Estuary English

Main article: English language in Southern England § 19th-century Essex, Kent, Sussex, and Surrey English

Older rural dialects of the Estuary region survived longest in areas like Kent and the east of Essex, which early on showed features of, as well as some features distinct from, the modern Estuary dialect that has since become regionally widespread.[41][42] Notably, rhoticity was a feature of older rural English in most of the Estuary counties, now largely replaced by non-rhoticity.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Estuary English Q and A - JCW". Phon.ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
  2. ^ Joanna Ryfa (2003). "Estuary English - A controversial Issue?" (PDF). Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  3. ^ "Rosewarne, David (1984). Estuary English. Times Educational Supplement, 19 (October 1984)". Phon.ucl.ac.uk. 21 May 1999. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
  4. ^ A handout by Wells, one of the first to write a serious description of the would-be variety. Also summarised by him here [1].
  5. ^ Cruttenden (2014:81–82)
  6. ^ "Phonetics at Oxford University". Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  7. ^ Cruttenden (2014:82)
  8. ^ Wells (1982:302–303)
  9. ^ Cruttenden (2014:89)
  10. ^ Maidment, J.A. (1994). "Estuary English: Hybrid or Hype?". Paper presented at the 4th New Zealand Conference on Language & Society, Lincoln University, Christchurch, New Zealand, August 1994. University College London. Retrieved 21 April 2009.
  11. ^ Haenni, Ruedi (13 July 1999). The case of Estuary English: supposed evidence and a perceptual approach (PDF) (dissertation). University of Basel. Retrieved 21 April 2009.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wells (1994)
  13. ^ Trudgill (1999:80)
  14. ^ Roach (2009:4)
  15. ^ Foulkes & Docherty (1999:11)
  16. ^ Altendorf (2016)
  17. ^ Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger; Carley, Paul (2019). Practical English Phonetics and Phonology (4th ed.). Routledge. p. 6.
  18. ^ a b Przedlacka (2001:45)
  19. ^ a b Ashby (2011)
  20. ^ Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:193)
  21. ^ Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger; Carley, Paul (2019). Practical English Phonetics and Phonology (4th ed.). Routledge. p. 73.
  22. ^ Roach, Peter (1973). "Glottalisation of English /p,t,k,tʃ/: a re-examination". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 3: 10–21. doi:10.1017/S0025100300000633. S2CID 145061712.
  23. ^ Ward, Ida (1945). The Phonetics of English (3rd ed.). Heffer. pp. 135–6.
  24. ^ Cruttenden (2014), p. 184.
  25. ^ a b c d e f g h Przedlacka (2001:44)
  26. ^ a b c d e Parsons (1998:39)
  27. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Przedlacka (2001:43)
  28. ^ Jones, Daniel; Roach, Peter; Setter, Jane; Esling, John (2011). Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (18th ed.). Cambridge.
  29. ^ Wells, John (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Longman.
  30. ^ Upton, Clive; Kretzschmar, William; Konopka, Rafal (2001). Oxford Dictionary of Pronunciation for Current English.
  31. ^ Altendorf (1999)
  32. ^ Britain, David; Cheshire, Jenny, eds. (2003). "Dialect levelling and geographical diffusion in British English". Social Dialectology: In Honour of Peter Trudgill. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. p. 233. ISBN 9781588114037.
  33. ^ Przedlacka (2001:42)
  34. ^ Przedlacka (2001:43–44)
  35. ^ Lodge (2009:174)
  36. ^ Altendorf & Watt (2004:188 and 191–192)
  37. ^ Altendorf & Watt (2004:188). They list [a], [a̝] and [æ].
  38. ^ Altendorf & Watt (2004:188)
  39. ^ Crystal (2003:327)
  40. ^ Crystal, David. "RP and its successors". BBC. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
  41. ^ Benham, Charles Edwin (23 October 2017). "Essex ballads and other poems". Colchester : Benham – via Internet Archive.
  42. ^ Gepp, Edward (1920). "A contribution to an Essex dialect dictionary". London G. Routledge – via Internet Archive.

Bibliography

  • Altendorf, Ulrike (1999), "Estuary English: is English going Cockney?" (PDF), Moderna Språk, 93 (1): 1–11
  • Altendorf, Ulrike (2016), "Caught between Aristotle and Miss Marple… – A proposal for a perceptual prototype approach to 'Estuary English'", Complutense Journal of English Studies (24): 131–154
  • Altendorf, Ulrike; Watt, Dominic (2004), "The dialects in the South of England: phonology", in Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Kortmann, Bernd; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive (eds.), A handbook of varieties of English, Vol. 1: Phonology, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 181–196, ISBN 3-11-017532-0
  • Ashby, Patricia (2011), "The l-vocalization trend in young London English speech: growing or declining?", English Phonetics, English Phonetic Society of Japan (14–15): 36–45
  • Bauer, Laurie; Warren, Paul; Bardsley, Dianne; Kennedy, Marianna; Major, George (2007), "New Zealand English", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 37 (1): 97–102, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002830
  • Cruttenden, Alan (2014), Gimson's Pronunciation of English (8th ed.), Routledge, ISBN 9781444183092
  • Crystal, David (2003), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, ISBN 978-0521530330
  • Foulkes, P; Docherty, G (1999), Urban Voices, ISBN 0-340-70608-2
  • Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-631-19815-4.
  • Lodge, Ken (2009), A Critical Introduction to Phonetics, Continuum International Publishing Group, ISBN 978-0-8264-8873-2
  • Parsons, Gudrun (1998), From "RP" to "Estuary English": The concept 'received' and the debate about British pronunciation standards (PDF), Hamburg
  • Przedlacka, Joanna (2001), "Estuary English and RP: Some Recent Findings" (PDF), Studia Anglica Posnaniensia, 36: 35–50
  • Roach, Peter (2009), English Phonetics and Phonology (4th ed.), ISBN 978-0-521-71740-3
  • Trudgill, Peter (1999), The Dialects of England (2nd ed.), ISBN 0-631-21815-7
  • Wells, John C. (1982), "4.2 London", Accents of English 2: The British Isles, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 301–334, ISBN 0-521-24224-X
  • Wells, John C. (1994), "Transcribing Estuary English: a discussion document", Speech Hearing and Language: UCL Work in Progress, 8: 259–267

Further reading

  • Altendorf, Ulrike (2003), Estuary English: Levelling at the Interface of RP and South-Eastern British English, Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag, ISBN 3-8233-6022-1
  • Rogaliński, Paweł (2011), British Accents: Cockney, RP, Estuary English, Łódź, ISBN 978-83-272-3282-3
  • Wells, John C. (2008), Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.), Longman, ISBN 9781405881180

External links

  • Sounds Familiar? – Listen to regional dialects of the UK.
  • Estuary English from University College London

March 22, 2023
estuary, english, this, article, contains, phonetic, transcriptions, international, phonetic, alphabet, introductory, guide, symbols, help, distinction, between, brackets, transcription, delimiters, english, accent, associated, with, area, along, river, thames. This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet IPA For an introductory guide on IPA symbols see Help IPA For the distinction between and see IPA Brackets and transcription delimiters Estuary English is an English accent associated with the area along the River Thames and its estuary including London Phonetician John C Wells proposed a definition of Estuary English as Standard English spoken with the accent of the southeast of England 1 He views Estuary English as an emerging standard accent of England an intermediate between the 20th century higher class non regional standard accent Received Pronunciation and the 20th century lower class local London accent Cockney There is some debate among linguists as to where Cockney speech ends and Estuary English begins 1 2 3 4 Contents 1 Name 2 Status as accent of English 3 Features 3 1 Features distinguishing EE from RP 3 1 1 l vocalization 3 1 2 t glottalization 3 1 3 Diphthong shift 3 1 4 Yod coalescence 3 1 5 th fronting 3 1 6 Other vowel differences 3 2 Features distinguishing EE from Cockney 4 Use 5 19th century Rural Estuary English 6 See also 7 References 8 Bibliography 9 Further reading 10 External linksName EditCruttenden uses the term London Regional General British 5 6 in preference to the popular term Estuary English The names listed above may be abbreviated Estuary English EE London Regional General British London RGB 7 Wells has used different names for an accent closer to Cockney Popular London or closer to Received Pronunciation London Regional Standard or South Eastern Regional Standard 8 Cruttenden uses the name Popular London to refer to Cockney pronunciation itself 9 Status as accent of English EditThe boundaries between RP Received Pronunciation Estuary English and Cockney are far from clear cut 10 11 Wells cites Rosewarne as locating EE in the middle of a continuum that has RP and London speech at either end 12 Several writers have argued that Estuary English is not a discrete accent distinct from the accents of the London area The sociolinguist Peter Trudgill has written that the term Estuary English is inappropriate because it suggests that we are talking about a new variety which we are not and because it suggests that it is a variety of English confined to the banks of the Thames estuary which it is not The label actually refers to the lower middle class accents as opposed to working class accents of the Home Counties Modern Dialect area 13 Roach comments In reality there is no such accent and the term should be used with care The idea originates from the sociolinguistic observation that some people in public life who would previously have been expected to speak with an RP accent now find it acceptable to speak with some characteristics of the London area such as glottal stops which would in earlier times have caused comment or disapproval 14 Foulkes amp Docherty 1999 state All of its EE s features can be located on a sociolinguistic and geographical continuum between RP and Cockney and are spreading not because Estuary English is a coherent and identifiable influence but because the features represent neither the standard nor the extreme non standard poles of the continuum 15 In order to tackle these problems put forward by expert linguists Altendorf 2016 argues that Estuary English should be viewed as a folk category rather than an expert linguistic category As such it takes the form of a perceptual prototype category that does not require discrete boundaries in order to function in the eyes and ears of lay observers of language variation and change 16 Collins et al state that In the 1990s and the first few years of the 2000s this putative new variety was fiercely debated both in the media and academia but since then interest in Estuary English has waned and been replaced by discussion of the capital s latest linguistic innovation Multicultural London English 17 Features EditPublished accounts of EE describe it mainly in terms of differences from contemporary RP and from Cockney Wells 1994 states that Estuary English EE is like RP but unlike Cockney in being associated with standard grammar and usage Differences are found at phonemic and allophonic levels Features distinguishing EE from RP Edit Wells identifies a small number of key features that may distinguish EE from RP these features may be summarized as follows l vocalization t glottalization diphthong shift yod coalescenceFeatures suggested by other studies th fronting other vowel differences l vocalization Edit It has been widely observed that EE exhibits vocalization of preconsonantal final l perhaps with various vowel mergers before it an informal example being miwk bottoo milk bottle Wells cites the specific case of allophony in GOAT gt ɒʊ before dark l or its reflex leading perhaps to a phonemic split wholly vs holy This topic is usually referred to as L vocalization There is said to be alternation between the vocalized o ʊ ɯ dark non vocalized ɫ and clear non vocalized l depending on the word 18 These alternation happen in final positions or in a final consonant cluster e g sold pronounced sɔʊd In London that may even occur before a vowel girl out ɡɛo ˈaeoʔ 19 In all phonetic environments male London speakers were at least twice as likely to vocalize the dark l as female London speakers 19 According to Ladefoged amp Maddieson 1996 the vocalized dark l is sometimes an unoccluded lateral approximant which differs from the RP ɫ only by the lack of the alveolar contact 20 l vocalization can lead to loss of distinctions between some vowels and diphthongs Examples of vowel mergers before historic l found in EE are iːl as in REEL merges with ɪel as in REAL 12 ɔɪl as in OIL merges with ɔɪel as in ROYAL 12 aʊl as in OWL merges with aʊel as in VOWEL 12 Other possible mergers include the following iːl as in FEEL can merge with ɪl as in FILL 12 Since ɪel merges with iːl 12 it also participates in this merger uːl as in POOL can merge with both ʊl as in PULL and ɔːl as in PAUL 12 eɪl as in VEIL can merge with both ael as in VAL and aʊel as in VOWEL 12 ɛl as in WELL can merge with ɜːl as in WHIRL 12 aɪl as in CHILD S can merge with ɑːl as in CHARLES 12 ɒl as in DOLL can merge with ɒʊl as in DOLE 12 Przedlacka 2001 found coda l pronounced as clear l as in most accents of Irish English in some speakers she notes that in her study all four Essex speakers have a clear l in pull 18 l vocalization appears to be spreading into RP or GB the similar accent referred to by some writers Collins et al say Traditional RP speakers tend to stigmatize this feature which is nevertheless one of the most striking changes going on in present day GB English 21 t glottalization Edit The term glottalization has several different meanings the most important are glottal reinforcement or pre glottalization where a glottal closure accompanies an oral closure and glottal replacement where a glottal closure is substituted for an oral consonant Although glottalization of t has been singled out for attention in discussion of EE features pre glottalization of p k and tʃ is also widespread in RP particularly when another consonant follows Examples are popcorn pɒʔpkɔːn electric ɪ leʔktrɪk butcher bʊʔtʃe 22 23 Wells proposes that in transcribing EE the glottal stop symbol ʔ could be used in contexts where the consonant in question is preceded by a vowel and followed by a consonant or the end of a word examples are bit bɪʔ football ˈfʊʔbɔo belt beoʔ Cheltenham ˈtʃeoʔnem bent benʔ Bentley ˈbenʔli Pre glottalization of t therefore appears to be present both in RP and in EE Glottal replacement of t may be found when t occurs before another consonant Examples from RP where t is replaced by a glottal stop are that table daeʔ teɪbel Scotland skɒʔlend witness wɪʔnes 24 The most extreme case of glottal replacement is when a glottal stop takes the place of t between vowels normally when the preceding vowel is stressed Examples are not on ˌnɒʔ ɒn bottle bɒʔo Wells says glottalling word internally before a vowel is well known as a rough pronunciation variant thus EE water ˈwɔːte but Cockney ˈwɔʊʔe 12 However in work published twenty years later Cruttenden p 184 remarks that such glottal replacement was until recently stigmatized as non GB but all except ʔl are now acceptable in London RGB i e EE He continues Use of ʔ for t word medially intervocalically as in water still remains stigmatized in GB Diphthong shift Edit EE is said to exhibit diphthong shift particularly of the FACE PRICE MOUTH and GOAT vowels informal example nime for name eʊ as in GOAT may be realised in a couple of different ways According to Przedlacka 2001 it is any of the following eʊ ɐʊ eʏ or ɐʏ The last two are more often used by females 25 She also notes a fully rounded diphthong oʊ found in some speakers from Essex 25 as well as two rare monophthongal realizations namely ɐː and o ː 25 eɪ as in FACE according to Przedlacka 2001 can be realised as ɛ ɪ ɛɪ ɛ ɪ or aeɪ 25 with ɛɪ and ɛ ɪ being predominant 25 According to Wells 1994 it can be realised as eɪ ɛɪ aeɪ ɐɪ or ʌɪ 12 aɪ as in PRICE can be realised as aɪ a ɪ ɑ ɪ ɒ ɪ ɑɪ or ɒɪ 25 aʊ as in MOUTH can be realised as aʊ aʏ aee aeʊ or aeʏ 25 a denotes a front onset a not a central one a 25 board bɔːd may be pronounced differently from bored bɔed 26 ɔː phonetically ɔʊ or oː 26 appears before consonants and ɔe phonetically ɔe or ɔː 26 appears at a morpheme boundary 26 However Przedlacka 2001 states that both ɔː and ɔe may have the same monophthongal quality ɔː 27 Yod coalescence Edit yod coalescence is found in EE the use of the affricates d ʒ and t ʃ instead of the clusters dj and tj in words like dune and Tuesday results in the words sounding like June and choose day respectively Although at the time when most studies of EE were carried out yod coalescence was not common in RP it has now become so widely accepted that RP based pronunciation dictionaries include it Thus the latest edition of the Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary gives dʒuːn and tʃuːz deɪ as the preferred pronunciations 28 the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary and the Oxford Dictionary of Pronunciation give djuːn and tjuːzdeɪ as their first preference but give dʒuːn and tʃuːz deɪ as second preference 29 30 It cannot be said that the presence of yod coalescence distinguishes EE from RP th fronting Edit It has been suggested that th fronting is currently making its way into Estuary English for example those from the Isle of Thanet often refer to Thanet as Plannit Fannit Planet Thanet 31 However this feature was also present in the traditional dialect of Essex before the spread of Estuary English 32 Other vowel differences Edit iː as in FLEECE can be realised as iː ɪi or ei 27 with the first two variants predominating 33 Before the dark l it is sometimes a centering diphthong ie 27 uː as in GOOSE can be realised in many different ways such as monophthongs ʏː ɪ ː ʉː ɨː ʉ ː u ː 27 and diphthongs ɘɵ ɘʏ ʏɨ and ʊu 34 Front pronunciations ʏː ɪ ː ɘʏ and ʏɨ are more often encountered in female speakers 27 Before the l it is always back 12 ʊ can be central rounded ʊ or unrounded ɪ 35 near front ʏ 36 or simply near back ʊ as in RP Only the last variant appears before the dark l ɔː as in THOUGHT according to Przedlacka 2001 can be pronounced in two different ways diphthongal oʊ in closed syllables and ɔe or ɔ e in open syllables 27 and monophthongal ɔː 27 According to Parsons 1998 it is either ɔʊ or oː before consonants and either ɔe or ɔː at a morpheme boundary 26 ʌ as in STRUT can be realised as ɒ ʌ ɐ ɐ or ae 27 with ɐ being predominant 27 The first two variants occur mostly before ŋ 27 The last two variants are more often used by females 27 ae as in TRAP can be realised as a a ae ɛ or ɛ 27 37 A somewhat retracted front a has been reported for some speakers in Reading 38 Features distinguishing EE from Cockney Edit Wells suggests that EE differs from Cockney in a few key features EE differs from Cockney in usually not being characterized by h dropping before stressed vowels informal example and on eart for hand on heart Th fronting e g I fink for I think but see above Cockney may have monophthongal realization of the MOUTH vowel Sahfend for Southend Use EditEstuary English is widely encountered throughout southeast England particularly among the young It is considered to be a working class accent citation needed although often used by the lower middle classes too In the debate that surrounded a 1993 article about Estuary English a London businessman claimed that RP was perceived as unfriendly so Estuary English was now preferred for commercial purposes 39 Some adopt the accent as a means of blending in to appear to be more working class or in an attempt to appear to be a common man That affectation of the accent is sometimes derisively referred to as Mockney A move away from traditional RP accents is almost universal among middle class young people in the South East of England 40 19th century Rural Estuary English EditMain article English language in Southern England 19th century Essex Kent Sussex and Surrey English Older rural dialects of the Estuary region survived longest in areas like Kent and the east of Essex which early on showed features of as well as some features distinct from the modern Estuary dialect that has since become regionally widespread 41 42 Notably rhoticity was a feature of older rural English in most of the Estuary counties now largely replaced by non rhoticity See also EditList of dialects of the English language Regional accents of English speakers English language in southern England Multicultural London English Sussex dialectReferences Edit a b Estuary English Q and A JCW Phon ucl ac uk Retrieved 16 August 2010 Joanna Ryfa 2003 Estuary English A controversial Issue PDF Retrieved 2 April 2015 Rosewarne David 1984 Estuary English Times Educational Supplement 19 October 1984 Phon ucl ac uk 21 May 1999 Retrieved 16 August 2010 A handout by Wells one of the first to write a serious description of the would be variety Also summarised by him here 1 Cruttenden 2014 81 82 Phonetics at Oxford University Retrieved 17 May 2015 Cruttenden 2014 82 Wells 1982 302 303 Cruttenden 2014 89 Maidment J A 1994 Estuary English Hybrid or Hype Paper presented at the 4th New Zealand Conference on Language amp Society Lincoln University Christchurch New Zealand August 1994 University College London Retrieved 21 April 2009 Haenni Ruedi 13 July 1999 The case of Estuary English supposed evidence and a perceptual approach PDF dissertation University of Basel Retrieved 21 April 2009 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wells 1994 Trudgill 1999 80 Roach 2009 4 Foulkes amp Docherty 1999 11 Altendorf 2016 Collins Beverley Mees Inger Carley Paul 2019 Practical English Phonetics and Phonology 4th ed Routledge p 6 a b Przedlacka 2001 45 a b Ashby 2011 Ladefoged amp Maddieson 1996 193 Collins Beverley Mees Inger Carley Paul 2019 Practical English Phonetics and Phonology 4th ed Routledge p 73 Roach Peter 1973 Glottalisation of English p t k tʃ a re examination Journal of the International Phonetic Association 3 10 21 doi 10 1017 S0025100300000633 S2CID 145061712 Ward Ida 1945 The Phonetics of English 3rd ed Heffer pp 135 6 Cruttenden 2014 p 184 a b c d e f g h Przedlacka 2001 44 a b c d e Parsons 1998 39 a b c d e f g h i j k l Przedlacka 2001 43 Jones Daniel Roach Peter Setter Jane Esling John 2011 Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary 18th ed Cambridge Wells John 2008 Longman Pronunciation Dictionary 3rd ed Longman Upton Clive Kretzschmar William Konopka Rafal 2001 Oxford Dictionary of Pronunciation for Current English Altendorf 1999 Britain David Cheshire Jenny eds 2003 Dialect levelling and geographical diffusion in British English Social Dialectology In Honour of Peter Trudgill Amsterdam John Benjamins Publishing p 233 ISBN 9781588114037 Przedlacka 2001 42 Przedlacka 2001 43 44 Lodge 2009 174 Altendorf amp Watt 2004 188 and 191 192 Altendorf amp Watt 2004 188 They list a a and ae Altendorf amp Watt 2004 188 Crystal 2003 327 Crystal David RP and its successors BBC Retrieved 12 April 2011 Benham Charles Edwin 23 October 2017 Essex ballads and other poems Colchester Benham via Internet Archive Gepp Edward 1920 A contribution to an Essex dialect dictionary London G Routledge via Internet Archive Bibliography EditAltendorf Ulrike 1999 Estuary English is English going Cockney PDF Moderna Sprak 93 1 1 11 Altendorf Ulrike 2016 Caught between Aristotle and Miss Marple A proposal for a perceptual prototype approach to Estuary English Complutense Journal of English Studies 24 131 154 Altendorf Ulrike Watt Dominic 2004 The dialects in the South of England phonology in Schneider Edgar W Burridge Kate Kortmann Bernd Mesthrie Rajend Upton Clive eds A handbook of varieties of English Vol 1 Phonology Mouton de Gruyter pp 181 196 ISBN 3 11 017532 0 Ashby Patricia 2011 The l vocalization trend in young London English speech growing or declining English Phonetics English Phonetic Society of Japan 14 15 36 45 Bauer Laurie Warren Paul Bardsley Dianne Kennedy Marianna Major George 2007 New Zealand English Journal of the International Phonetic Association 37 1 97 102 doi 10 1017 S0025100306002830 Cruttenden Alan 2014 Gimson s Pronunciation of English 8th ed Routledge ISBN 9781444183092 Crystal David 2003 The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language ISBN 978 0521530330 Foulkes P Docherty G 1999 Urban Voices ISBN 0 340 70608 2 Ladefoged Peter Maddieson Ian 1996 The Sounds of the World s Languages Oxford Blackwell ISBN 978 0 631 19815 4 Lodge Ken 2009 A Critical Introduction to Phonetics Continuum International Publishing Group ISBN 978 0 8264 8873 2 Parsons Gudrun 1998 From RP to Estuary English The concept received and the debate about British pronunciation standards PDF Hamburg Przedlacka Joanna 2001 Estuary English and RP Some Recent Findings PDF Studia Anglica Posnaniensia 36 35 50 Roach Peter 2009 English Phonetics and Phonology 4th ed ISBN 978 0 521 71740 3 Trudgill Peter 1999 The Dialects of England 2nd ed ISBN 0 631 21815 7 Wells John C 1982 4 2 London Accents of English 2 The British Isles Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 301 334 ISBN 0 521 24224 X Wells John C 1994 Transcribing Estuary English a discussion document Speech Hearing and Language UCL Work in Progress 8 259 267Further reading EditAltendorf Ulrike 2003 Estuary English Levelling at the Interface of RP and South Eastern British English Tubingen Gunter Narr Verlag ISBN 3 8233 6022 1 Rogalinski Pawel 2011 British Accents Cockney RP Estuary English Lodz ISBN 978 83 272 3282 3 Wells John C 2008 Longman Pronunciation Dictionary 3rd ed Longman ISBN 9781405881180External links EditSounds Familiar Listen to regional dialects of the UK Estuary English from University College London Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Estuary English amp oldid 1145355850, 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