Estuary English Thesis by Christina Schmid

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Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................... III

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1

1 ACCENTS IN ENGLAND...........................................................................................................4

1.1 ESTUARY ENGLISH: THE TERM AND ITS MEANING........................................................................7

1.2 ACCENT ANALYSIS OF ESTUARY ENGLISH...................................................................................9

1.2.1 The use of RP as a basis for description................................... ..........................................11

2 ESTUARY ENGLISH PHONOLOGY..................................................................................14

2.1 THE VOWEL SYSTEM IN ESTUARY ENGLISH...............................................................................14

2.1.1 Vowels plus [-r].................................................................................................................22

2.1.2 Vowels plus [-l] .................................................................................................................23

2.1.3 A typology of the RP and EE vowel system.........................................................................24

2.1.4 Conclusion: the Estuary English vowel trend........................... ..........................................27

2.2 THE CONSONANT SYSTEM INESTUARYENGLISH............................................................................28

2.2.1 L Vocalisation....................................................................................................................30

2.2.2 Plosives: affrication and glottaling....................................................................................32

2.2.3 The phoneme /r/....................................................................... ..........................................37

2.2.4 Labio-dental and dental fricatives......................................................................................38

2.2.5 Yod Dropping and Yod Coalescence ..................................................................................40

2.2.6 H Dropping........................................................................................................................42

2.2.6.1 H Dropping and R Insertion........................................ ................................ ............................... 43

2.2.7 Conclusion: the Estuary English consonant trend ..............................................................43

2.2.8 Hyper-correctness in Estuary English................................................................................44

2.3 SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF ESTUARY ENGLISH...............................................................................45

2.3.1 Words and expressions typical of Estuary English..............................................................47

2.4 STRESS AND INTONATION............................................................................................................50

2.5 ARTICULATORY SETTING ............................................................................................................52

3 ESTUARY ENGLISH - REGIONAL LEVELLING

IN THE SOUTHEAST OF ENGLAND........................................................................................53

3.1 MAPPING ESTUARY ENGLISH...................................................................................................53

3.2 THE ORIGIN OF ESTUARY ENGLISH ..............................................................................................54

3.3 THE SPREAD OF

ESTUARY

ENGLISH

.............................................................................................563.3.1 R Dropping and L Vocalisation..........................................................................................58


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3.4 THE PHENOMENON DIALECT LEVELLING ...................................................................................62

3.4.1 Milton Keynes....................................................................................................................63

3.5 THE POPULARITY OFESTUARYENGLISH........................................................................................64

4 ESTUARY ENGLISH - SOCIAL LEVELLING IN THE SOUTHEAST OF ENGLAND70

4.1ESTUARYENGLISH- A CLASSLESS ACCENT ....................................................................................70

4.2 ATTITUDES TOWARDSESTUARYENGLISH......................................................................................73

4.3ESTUARYENGLISH- A CONTEXT-RELATED ACCENT .......................................................................78

4.4 ESTUARY ENGLISH - TOMORROWS RP.....................................................................................83

5 PROJECT RESEARCH IN CANTERBURY............................................................................84

5.1 METHODOLOGY .........................................................................................................................84

5.1.1 Informants .........................................................................................................................85

5.1.2 Recordings.........................................................................................................................88

5.2 ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................................................90

5.2.1 Male adult informants........................................................................................................91

5.2.2 Female adult informants ..................................................................................................102

5.2.3 Comparison: male and female informants........................................................................ 112

5.2.4 Girls ................................................................................................................................114

5.2.4.1 The fifth form..........................................................................................................................114

5.2.4.2 The sixth form.........................................................................................................................119

5.2.5 Boys.................................................................................................................................130

5.2.5.1 The fifth form..........................................................................................................................130

5.2.5.2 The sixth form.........................................................................................................................134

5.2.6 Comparison: male and female pupils ...............................................................................142

5.3 INTERPRETING THE RESULTS .....................................................................................................145

CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................153

BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................................156


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Acknowledgements

This thesis would have never been written without the help and encouragement of a

number of people who have assisted me through discussion or correspondence. First

of all I am grateful to Prof. Dieter Kastovsky (University of Vienna) for first

suggesting that I write my thesis on Estuary English - not to mention Dr. Christiane

Dalton for having been a helpful guide along the way.

For further encouragement and linguistic device I especially want to thank Dr.

Bryan Jenner (phonetician at the University of Vienna) who persuaded me to consider

alternative approaches when I was too engrossed in my own ideas. In this regard I

would also like to mention Dr. Paul Coggle, a senior lecturer at the University of

Kent, who always willingly answered my questions on this topic and kept sending me

up-to-date articles from England.

For the successful carrying out the research project in Canterbury I am

indebted to Mr Tim Armstrong and Mrs Gwen Armstrong and Mrs Hilary Wade for

giving the permission of recording their pupils and introducing me to other useful

informants. At the same time I have to say thank you to all the pupils and informants

who were willing to be recorded.

Finally, I want to thank all my other friends, especially my fellow students,

Sabine and Birgit, and my very good friend Markus who not only has supplied the

computer but who was always prepared to listen to me when I was discouraged.

Vienna, January 1999. Christina Schmid


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Introduction

The present century has seen great changes both in the internal social structure of

Britain and in the position of Britain in the world. The world-wide extension of

English and its use as a lingua franca demand a relatively uniform and stable language

pronunciation model, a reference system and yardstick, not only for English native

speakers, but also for the rest of the world. For historical reasons the standard accent

Received Pronunciation (RP) still serves as a homogeneous model. However, like any

other accent variety throughout history, the standard pronunciation of the south-east

of England cannot resist the inevitable and continuous process of change. Since 1950

the phonetic distinctiveness ofRPhas been becoming blurred, the result of a change

in the feelings and subconscious attitudes of speaker and listener towards the non-

linguistic homogeneity of the RP speaking group. Thus, despite Daniel Jones

eagerness to makeRPappear a clinically uniform and unvarying linguistic system, the

pronunciation ofRP has always been susceptible to personal variation, and has

produced many subvarieties which have actually led far away from what people used

to associate with the original notion ofRP. Today, there are only a small numberRP

speakers left, and it may only be a question of time before RPcompletely ceases to

exist. Thus, as a matter of fact,RPis slowly but surely on its way out.

One reason for the gradual decline of RP is changes within Britain:

improvements in communication of every kind, which have produced a more fluid

society in which social and geographical barriers have been progressively weakened,

and the sharp divisions between classes have begun to disappear. In fact, a new

English middle class with different conceptions and attitudes towards accents has

emerged. As the research in this thesis will demonstrate, the variety spoken by thesespeakers can no longer be recognised as a variety ofRP, because it simply no longer

exhibits the characteristics ofRP. In fact, RP is in the process of being replaced by

Estuary English (EE), the prevailing accent in the South-east of England.

Estuary English is spreading so quickly from one community to another that it

is strongly influencing the formerly great diversity in the spoken realisations of the

English language, in terms of the sounds used in different parts of the country and by

different sections of the community. Thus, the thesis will concentrate on the extent to


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which one can maintain thatEstuary English,socially as well as regionally, is levelling

England.

It is true that Estuary English is the trendy and fashionable accent of the

younger generations.Estuary English, as the advanced speech of the young, has been

characterised by the older generation as slovenly and debased. Although, at any one

time, there have always been disparities between the speech sounds of the younger

and older generations, the new accent has managed to become increasingly accepted

by a majority of English society. Most people are actually content to see RP finally

wither because they regard it as a 140 years old, southern and public school

(Radford - Wainwright, The Guardian: 10.9.1998) accent which is a class thing and

an excluding thing (ibidem). They have therefore already voted forEstuary English

by preferring to speak it.

Unfortunately, until recently linguists have not seemed willing to accept and

take the new popular accent seriously, but have persisted in judging this accent variety

as a recent development ofRP. Therefore, I was keen to face the challenge, and

venture to realise the existence ofEstuary English. This thesis offers a reasonably

comprehensive account of the pronounciation ofEstuary English. I have of course

relied upon my own familiarity with this accent. But I have also endeavoured to make

appropriate use of different kinds of scholarly treatment, wherever they have been

available to me and to whatever tradition they belong. My aim has been to describe

this variety with reference to the already existing description of the accepted accents

RPand Cockney. Since I have had to rely partly on my own findings and impressions,

the reader must bear in mind that some of my statements I make are for this reason

necessarily tentative.

The structure of my thesis is as follows: chapter 1 focuses on accents in the

south-east of England in general terms; chapter two endeavours to describe the

phoneme inventory for vowels and consonants in Estuary English,highlighting how

this accent variety is phonetically and phonologically different from the standard

accentRP; the linguistic nature ofEstuary English will be seen against its social and

geographical background in chapters three and four which will acknowledge its

popularity among English speakers; and finally chapter 5 will discuss the results of thefieldwork I undertook in Canterbury. In the course of the thesis it will become clear


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why and to what extent one is actually justified in calling Estuary English the regional

standard of the south-east of England.


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1 Accents in England

English has many dialect varieties all of which are structured, complex, rule-governed

systems. They are therefore equally good as linguistic systems and wholly adequate

for the needs of their speakers. (cf. Trudgill 1974: 20) There is one superposed

variety of English that is used in print, and which is normally taught in schools.

Standard English1 is the standard dialect2 which is used throughout the country for

institutional purposes, such as publishing, education, government, or commercial

correspondence. It is codified by dictionaries and grammar books. Standard English

can be accompanied by any accent3. However, there is one accent which only occurs

together with Standard English, Received Pronunciation4, the accent variant which

has always been regarded as the accent of the best-educated and most prestigious

members of English society, and is used by educated speakers in southern England.

(cf. Strevens 1985: 7) The public school -Oxbridge- education system in the

nineteenth century created a linguistically homogeneous and distinctive governing

class which spent its formative years well away from London in geographically

decentralised institutions. Its distinctive accent,RP, lost any regional connotation, but

became an extremely significant marker of social class in all parts of England, being

opposed everywhere to the broad dialects of working-class folk who continued to live

restricted, local lives.

In the present century the standard accent RP, often referred to as The

Queens English or BBC English, is unusual, in that the relatively small number of

speakers who use it do not identify themselves as coming from any particular region.

Katie Wales (cf. 1994: 4) concludes that RPis an accent variant of a rather exclusive

1Historically speaking, the standard dialect developed out of the English dialects used in

and around London as these were modified through the centuries by the speakers at court, by

scholars from the universities and other writers, and, later, by the public schools. As time passed, the

English used in upper classes of society in the capital city came to be regarded as the model for all

those who wished to speak and write well. (cf. Trudgill 1974: 17)2

The term dialect refers to varieties which are grammatically and lexically as well as

phonologically different from other varieties. (cf. Petyt 1980: 16)3

Accents, on the other hand, concern solely differences of pronunciation. (cf. Chambers -

Trudgill 1980: 5)4

The first use of the termReceived Pronunciation is attributed to A.J. Ellis in 1869, with

linguists settling on this usage in the 1930s. The label originates from the accent which wasreceived at the royal court, which is hence generally accepted and approved as true and good. (cf.

Wright 1996: 261)


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group; it is estimated that only 3 to 5% of the whole English-speaking population

speak it. Its dissemination as a class pronunciation throughout the country caused it to

be recognised as characteristic of a non-regional and social accent. Since then

pronunciation has been two things in England: a vertical indicator of geographicalorigins, and a horizontal caste-mark separatingRPspeakers from the rest. (cf. Wright

1996: 260)

The accent situation is usually compared to a triangle or a pyramid (cf. Wells

1982a: 14) whose horizontal dimension represents geographical variation, regionality,

and its vertical dimension social variation. At the base there is a considerable degree

of regional differentiation, widest among groups on the lower social levels; there are

striking linguistic differences, especially by region but also by sex and other factors.

The most stigmatised broad accent associated with the area in and around London is

the nonstandard dialect Cockney.5 The accent pyramid rises to a narrow point at the

apex, since upper-class accents exhibit no regional variation within England. RP, the

accent of those on the higher social levels, is relatively uniform. However, RP

comprises some sub-varieties. The conservative RP or U-RP (upper-crust RP) is

associated with the upper class and is especially used by the older generation. Gimson

(cf. 1989: 88) distinguishes another U-RP form, namely advanced RP which is

adopted by young people of exclusive social groups. These three varieties ofRP are

often judged to be affected and fall into the category ofmarked RP, which is on the

way to becoming extinct. Three decades ago it was the standard accent on television

and radio. Nowadways it is often ridiculed.6 The neutral version ofRPis unmarked

RPwhich embracesgeneral RPormainstream RP, a variety which is said to be most

commonly used and is the norm for England in the media; another unmarked RP

variety is adoptive RP which is learnt by someone as an adult rather than as a child;

5The label Cockney suggests really broad variety allied with the least educated. Historically,

Cockney speakers were born within the sound of Bow Bells, that is, about a quarter of a mile from

the church of St. Mary-le-Bow in Cheapside near London Bridge and the Billingsgate fish market.

The term originally was a compound meaning cocks egg, and was used for a pampered child, then

for a city person, and finally for a Londoner. Cock o the walk associations still cling to the term,

for Cockney is seen as a strutting, show-off variety of language, admired by those who use it and the

object of amused interest by others. (cf. Algeo 1992: 169)6In the lecture Paul Coggle held on January 26 in 1996 he called marked RPa kind of

strangulated form ofRPwhich evokes the feeling of speaking with a plum in the mouth.


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finally, near RP is an accent without strong regional identity which is generally

regarded as educated, middle classRP. (cf. Algeo 1992: 161)

Although it is still legitimate to placeRPat the top and Cockney at the bottom

of the accent hierarchy in the southeast of England, it is necessary to broaden the

perception of this continuum and to consider the middle classes in further detail. It is

true that, before World War II, those who wished to make their way in the world had

to speakRP, which provided the apex to the pyramid. Any other accent marked the

speaker as unsuitable for admission to the inner circles that provided security and the

opportunity for advancement. At the beginning of the nineteenth century middle class

speakers were less mobile, and their children were likely to attend school in their

regions whose teachers themselves probably used the regional accent. Lower-paid

workers were the least mobile of all, the most geographically and culturally bound to

their home areas, and they thus tended to lead the most local lives. Today their

dialects continue to form the base of the pyramid, and it is still to some extent true

that among the lower middle classes the geographical variation is greater than in the

upper middle class, but less than in the working class. (cf. ibidem 166; cf. Petyt 1980:

29) However, it is certainly true to say that, after World War II, the position ofRPin

British public life began to yield, and attitudes towards accents in England started to

become modified.

There has been a blurring of the once sharply stratified divisions between

different social classes in English society in the twentieth century. Regional accents

have gradually become accepted in the BBC and are even heard from leading

politicians. In general, people are now much more mobile, spend some ten years at

school, are subject to the continuous pressure of mass communication media, and are

increasingly centred on large cities. Thus, the base of the pyramid is much eroded.

Middle-class intellectuals move about a great deal in the course of their professional

lives and tend to form a homogeneous group of increasing numbers and importance.

Owing to the emergence of the new English middle classes, the intermediate varieties

within the London accent triangle have been becoming more and more influential and

powerful. These varieties are summarised by the term mesolect. The standard accent

RPis called theacrolect, while the dialect variety Cockney is called basilect because it

deviates most extensively from the acrolect. (cf. Wells 1982a: 18) Thus, one is faced


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with a continuum of phonetic variation as one passes along the continuum of social-

class gradation.

Although pronunciation is still a class marker in England, and those desirous

of getting ahead are likely to modify their native speech styles strongly in the direction

ofRP, the majority of the middle class speakers prefer a mesolectal variety. Most of

them are original dialect speakers who have received a higher education in the state

system and assimilate their speech to RP to the extent which they feel to be

appropriate to their status without rejecting their dialectal background. (cf. Trim

1961/62: 31) However, this is not RP as people knew it some decades ago, but a

newly evolved accent variety which has established itself as a compromise voice

betweenRPand Cockney. The English middle class in the south-east of England has

chosen to adopt a prevailing accent which is now common, even fashionable on radio

and TV. (cf. Abercrombie 1992: 9) Unlike Cockney, speakers of this non-standard

accent variety are speakers of the Standard English Dialect. (cf. Francois Chevillet

1992: 28) In fact, J.C. Wells (9 Nov. 1998c) defines it as standard English spoken

with an accent that includes features localizable in the southeast of England. Some

linguists like Tom McArthur (cf. Newsweek: 26.4.1993) call this accent variety the

New London Voice, other linguists like David Rosewarne (cf. TES: 19.10.1984)

and Paul Coggle (cf. 1993a: 23) refer to it asEstuary English.

1.1 Estuary English: the term and its meaning

Estuary English is the most influential accent in the south-east of England. The term

Estuary English was coined by David Rosewarne who first referred to this accent in

the article Estuary English in the Times Educational Supplement (19 October

1984). He described Estuary English as a mixture of non-regional and local south-

eastern English pronunciation and intonation. Already in 1983 David Rosewarne was

aware of the fact that existing descriptions of pronunciation varieties had made no real

mention of accents intermediate between the standard accentReceived Pronunciation

(RP) and non-standard localisable accents in London and the South-east. A database

composed of recordings from radio and televison eventually confirmed his


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supposition: There appeared to be a particularly important gap in the descriptions of

accent varieties in London and the South-East of England. (Rosewarne 1994b: 3)

The estuary referred to is the Thames estuary7, which indicates that the first

speakers of this variety of language were not restricted to London but included the

inhabitants of the neighbouring provinces: parts of Kent and Essex. Thus, the

heartland of this variety lies by the banks of the Thames and its estuary; Estuary

English is most evident in suburban areas of Greater London and the adjacent home

counties, comprising Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hertfordshire and Essex, lying north and

south of the Thames estuary. (cf. Coggle 1993a: 23)

It is possible to classifyEstuary English in the light of the regional and social

criteria mentioned in chapter 1. Features of regional pronunciation are distinguished

as educated regional when found in highly educated speech such as RP, and popular

regional in less educated speech such as Cockney. Because of the large degree of

gradation amongst the popular regional forms in the speech of the Greater London

population noted by David Rosewarne, Estuary English may be termed a modified

regional accent, because it is a mixture of educated regional,RP, and popular regional

pronunciation, Cockney,which is typical of the suburban districts. (cf. Gimson 1989:

88) Therefore, linguists such as Tony Bex, Paul Coggle and David Rosewarne place

Estuary English in the middle of a continuum with the standard accent Received

Pronunciation and the non-standard accent Cockney at either end. In an interview

with Newsweek Tom McArthur puts it the following way:

Were dealing with a continuum. People are strung out along it like beads on a

string between RP and Cockney. (McArthur,Newsweek: 26.4.1993)

Consequently, the new accent varietyEstuary English shares features of bothRPand

Cockney. This linguistic classification reflects the social hierarchy in England; Estuary

English speakers are said to be the representatives of a newly emerging middle class

bridging the upper and lower classes;Estuary English speakers are hence grouped in

the middle ground (Rosewarne 1994b: 3).

7

Keith Battarbee (13 Nov. 1996) mentions the regional arrogance of the South-east taking itfor granted that Estuary means the Thames estuary, although there are many estuaries in Great

Britain.


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1.2 Accent analysis of Estuary English

Phonetic and phonemic analysis will occupy an important place in the study of the

sound system ofEstuary English. Its complete description must provide information

not only on the phonetic characteristics of the sounds, but also on the phonological

level which analyses the patterning of sounds, including their functional, phonemic

behaviour. SinceEstuary English has not yet been defined as an accent, it must be

seen against a background of its related accents, Cockney and General RP.

On the level of phonemes, Estuary English exists in a continuum containing

characteristics of both forms, Cockney and General RP, in varying degrees.It is only

by means of constantly referring to these two accents that a proper description of the

EEphoneme inventory is achieved. Thus, the phonemic analysis ofEEwill shed light

on the different coexistent phonemic systems ofRPand Cockney, because the number

of phonemes differs in the sound systems ofRP, Cockney andEstuary English.

The fact that the standard accent RP is the best-known manifestation of the

Southern British Standard dialect is one reason for choosingRPas a reference accent.

Section 1.2.1 gives a brief introduction to its phoneme inventory of both consonants

and vowels. While the consonant system of English is relatively uniform throughout

the standard accentRPand the non-standard accentEE, the vowel system ofEEand

the phonetic realisations of vowel phonemes in EE are more interesting to discuss.

Therefore, chapter 2 establishes the phoneme inventory for vowels in EE,attempting

to characterise the basic aspects of its phoneme inventory as a structured system of

vowel contrasts. By doing this one will find out how the reference accent RPand the

non-standard accentEEdiffer and what they have in common.

The phonemes will be represented by the phonemic or impressionistic

transcription with the alphabet of theInternational Phonetic Association8.(cf. Roach

1991: 42) Symbols referring to phonemes are enclosed in slanted brackets, whereas

8

The phonetic symbols are part of the set suggested by the International PhoneticAssociation (IPA), a body founded in 1886 by a group of leading phoneticians from France,

Germany, Britain, and Denmark. (cf. Ladefoged 1975: 25)


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symbols referring to allophones are enclosed in square brackets.9 Since the vocalic

sounds in the EE vowel system may be considered allophonic variants of RP

phonemes the use of allophonic symbols is justified. Furthermore, it is only logical to

make a firm distinction between the phonetic qualities of RP and EE vocalicphonemes. There are several possible ways of transcribing the vocalic sounds

phonemically10. The solution used in this thesis is the one Wells has adopted in his

LPD (1990), because it gives explicit information in the notation about the phonetic

realisation of the vowel phonemes in the matter of quality and quantity. The

transcription of consonants is less difficult because EE differs less in its use of

consonants. For representations believed to include more functional phonetic detail,

an allophonic, systematic or broad phonetic transcription is used which will emphasisea particular feature ofEE, like the glottal reinforcement [?] or the rounded back

vocoid [V]. (cf. Crystal, 1997: 393; cf. Ladefoged 1975: 59)

Finally, English phonology is always undergoing change over time. Therefore,

there are two ways to set about describing differences between RP and EE; both

approaches, the diachronic approach, comparing their different historical

development, and the synchronic approach, describing the existing accents as they are,

are equally appropriate. Although this paper is based on the investigation of the

synchronic differences in phonetic detail, focusing on a comparison of the different

sound systems ofRP and EE, it will sometimes be necessary and interesting to go

back in the history of the English language in order to explain certain tendencies of

Estuary English. (cf. Wells 1982a: 72)

9 Throughout the thesis I shall use square brackets to represent phonemes different inquantity or quality from the correspondingRP vowels. The category of quality is indicated by

different symbols, for example [u:, ]; moreover, the category of length is highlighted by the sign[:].

10There are different ways, all equally legitimate, of allocating the English vowels to

phonemic categories. Daniel Jones lays emphasis upon the distinctive importance of length

distinguishing long and short members of five phonemes [i:, , a:, a, o:, o, u:, , W:, W], wherethe sign [:] indicates not only length but also a related quality. Sivertsens analysis, on the otherhand, is based on the short vowel phonemes /, e, a, o, , U, W/; the remaining sounds areregarded either as sequences of these elements or as compounds of one of these elements + /j/ or /w/:[i:] is interpreted as / + / or /j/, [u:] is interpreted as / + / or / w/ and so on. (cf. Gimson1989: 98)


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1.2.1 The use of RP as a basis for descrip t ion

SinceRPis one of the most extensively described English accents11, it is a necessary

yardstick to describe any accent of English. Linguists have mainly used Received

Pronunciation as a descriptive guide to the contrasts and similarities between accents.

It enables us to epitomize the differences between different English accents which are

therefore described in terms of their distance from the standard accent Received

Pronunciation. In this context of linguistic description RP is an essentially abstract

and ideal model of the sound system of English. For this reason, this thesis follows

suit in using RP as a system of reference, interpreting its phonemes as highly

conventionalised. (cf. Wright 1996: 260)

The phoneme inventory for the vowels in RP consists of twenty phonemes

(excluding the two reduced vowels [i, u] associated with weak syllables). Giegerich

(cf. 1992: 49) suggests that we group the vowel phonemes in contrasting pairs. The

main argument for such pairing is the similar qualities of the members of such pairs

and their complementary behaviour. Thus, theRPvowel system constitutes a system

by being pairwise related. Following the criteria of the long-short opposition ofvowels and taking the dimensions of high-low and front-back into consideration, the

RPvowel inventory may be structured in terms of pairs (1.a):

1.a

/i:/ - // peat - pit

/e/ pail /e:/ - /e/ bay - pet

/A:/ - // father - dad

/u:/ - / / pool - put

/W / pole /o:/ - /U/ boat - putt

11Daniel Jones, widely considered to be the leading phonetician in the first part of the

twentieth century, attempted to describe the sounds of English; however, he was essentially

describing his own accent. Thus, his 1907 volumePhonetic Transcription of English Prose giving adescription ofReceived Pronunciation was based on his own speech. It was only in later works that


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/O:/ - // caught - pot

/:/ - /W/ pearl - banana

/e/ and /W / are diphthongal realisations of /e:/ and /o:/ and are therefore different

from the true diphthongs which are invariably of a diphthongal quality. The true

diphthongs are therefore not members of the symmetrical vowel pairs (1.b):

1.b

/a/ pile

/a / foul

/O/ foil

Bryan Jenner (cf. 1996: 129) and Heinz Giegerich (cf. 1992: 63) treat the centring

diphthongs /W, W, eW/ as surface and untrue diphthongs12 and regard them as

allophonic variants of an underlying vowel plus [-r]. Because RP is a non-rhotic

accent the three phonemes are not realised as //, /e/ and / / plus /-r/. Therefore, these

three sounds are not diphthongal but consist of a simple vowel + /-W/ as a variant of /-

r/ in non-rhotic accents such asRPandEE(cf. Jenner 1996: 121; cf. Johansson 1973:66) (1.c):

1.c

/W/ pier

/ W/ poor

/eW/ pear

the definition was expanded to cover the pronunciation used by the educated classes in southern

England. (cf. Wright 1996: 259)12

Jenner (cf.1998: 3) justifies this reclassification of the vowel system comparing the three

phonemes /W, W, eW/ with the German vowels in `hier, `nur and `Herr. The vocalic sequencesin the German words are also not considered diphthongs but are conditioned realisations of anunderlying vowel plus consonant.


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Thus, one differentiates between seven short vowels /, e, , U, , , W/, which are

labelled checkedbecause they do not occur in stressed monosyllables with no final

consonant, and their five long counterparts /i:, e, A:, W , O:, u:, :/, the true

diphthongs /a, au, O/, and three diphthongal glides /W, eW, uW/ which are labelled

free, since they occur free of any checking consonant. (cf. Roach - Hartman 1997:

viii-ix) As far as the phoneme inventory for consonants is concerned, there are

twenty-four consonantal phonemes which are classified in two general categories:

firstly, the fortis and lenis obstruents /p, b, t, d, k, g, TS, dJ , f, v, Q, D, s, z, S,J , h/

and secondly, the fortis and lenis sonorants /m, n, , l, w, r, j/.


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14

2 Estuary English phonology

2.1 The vowel system in Estuary English

The description of vowel sounds has always presented considerable difficulty because

vowels differ in the ways in which they divide up a particular continuum. Vowel

qualities inEstuary English are a compromise between unmodified regional forms and

those ofgeneral RP. Thus, each EEvowel has a wide range of values. Therefore,

one should bear in mind that the description of the vowel system inEEwill only be an

abstraction. Subtle differences in the pronunciation of the same phoneme, as it occurs

in different words or as it is pronounced by different speakers, cannot be captured.

Applying the criteria established in section 1.2.1 for the formation of vowelpairs, the vowels in the vowel system ofEEcan also be organised in pairs. By means

of Wellss vowel system of London English (cf. 1982b: 303), which reflects varieties

intermediate betweenRPand Cockney, David Rosewarnes list (cf. 1996a: 15) of the

vowels inEstuary English, and my observations based on the research done in 1998

in Canterbury, the EE vowel realisations may be structured in terms of pairs (2.a),

along with theEEallophones of the trueRPdiphthongs (2.b). Thus, the pairs may be

realised as follows:

2.a

[W] - [] peat - pit

[U] - [E] bay - pet

[A:] - [, e] father - dad

[W] - [ ] pool - put

[U ] - [U] boat - putt

[OW] - [] caught - pot

[:] - [W] pearl - banana


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15

The close vowels /i:/ and /u:/ are habitually glided to [W] and [W] in the speech of

EE13. It is due to the Diphthong Shift (discussed below) thatRPvowels /e/, /W / and

/O:/ have resulted to [U], [U ] and [OW].

2.b

[A] price

[ ]14 house

[aw] foil

Estuary English has six short vowels [, E, U, , , W]15. Considering the systemic

differences in the phoneme inventory for the vowels in RPand EE, one notices the

loss of short // which has glided to a diphthongal realisation. The varying realisations

are phonemically represented by David Rosewarne (cf. 1994a: 5) as [, e]; for

example, the RPversion /}bd/ for `bad is in EEpronunciation [}bed] or [}bd].

There are two reasons that could explain this phenomenon. Firstly, it is probably due

to the lowering of the shortRP/e/ to [E], giving [}bEd]16 for /}bed/, that the qualitative

distinction toRP// was changed; consequently // glided to [, e]. Secondly,EE

vowels in general are said to be longer in their pronunciation and are hence potential

glides which offers a further explanation for the development of // to [, e].17 As

13Jenner (cf. 1996: 122) claims that all long vowels are currently articulated with as ittle

articulatory effort as possible.14

The data and my personal impression consider [ ] the most frequent realisation of theRPvowel /a / next to the also commonEEallophones [W, U , UW, EW , E ].

15Although Wells (cf. 1984: 61) states that the short vowels of southern accents are

systemically the same as those ofRP, Rosewarne mentions the loss ofRP //in theEEvowelsystem.

16As far as my research onEEis concerned, I cannot share Gimsons assumption (cf. 1989:

107) on the diphthongization of /e/ in the direction of [] in popular London speech, so that /}bed/would be pronounced [}bed].

17Jenner (cf. 1996: 122) claims that the degree of lip-spreading or rounding is considerably

reduced or delayed which is characteristic of the speech of the younger generation; vowels are


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16

a result, the duration of the // glides in Estuary English show up contrastive

degrees of length andvary considerably according to their phonetic environment.

One has to take the difference in the phonetic realisation of a given phoneme

into consideration; although the number of phonemic terms of RP and Estuary

English are sometimes the same, the phonetic realisations of these phonemes are often

different. For example, the longRPvowel /A:/ in `bath has undergone a realisational

difference, becoming relatively back. 18 The realisation of the EEvowel [U] in `cup,

`love or `hut is much more front than the RP /U/19: [}kUm tWm}hUt fWW}kUp Wv

}tW, }lUv] Come to my hut for a cup of tea, love! (cf. Coggle 1993a: 32)

The final RPvowel // in words such as `happy, `lucky, `coffee is realisedwith a closer quality in EE. Also in general RP one can notice this trend which is

called Happy Tensing. (cf. Wells 1982a: 258) InEE, however,this [i] in final post-

consonantal position may sometimes be lengthened to [i:]. Consequently, [}veri }prti]

for `very pretty may also be pronounced [}vEri: }prti:]. In final position the vowel /i/

is not only longer inEstuary English than inRPbut may also tend towards the quality

of a diphthong. (cf. Rosewarne 1994a: 5)

In a large set ofEEwords, the initial syllable of the stem is pronounced [ri:],

although inRPit would be pronounced /r/. Consequently, inEEthe prefix of `rebut,

`recant, `refuse, `regret or `remove is pronounced with the long vowel /i:/.

However, this pronunciation is given as a non-RPvariant in the current edition of the

LPD (cf. Wells 1990: 586, 590, 591, 593). David Rosewarne (1994a: 5) claims that

this is indicative of the growing influence ofEE in the last ten years. Similarly, the

prefix `de- as in `default or `deter is pronounced /d/ inRPand [di:] inEEand is

currently articulated with as little articulatory movement as possible. The reason for this is to be

found in a general trend towards overall laxity in the articulatory setting.18

Gimson (cf.1989: 89) suggests that advanced RPforms may indicate the way in which

theRPsystem is developing. However, the realizational change in the quality of several vowels in

general RPdoes not reflect the vowel quality inEE. Different toEE, theRP /e/ is more open andmore retracted and the // is closer.

19It is interesting to mention that Paul Rastall has noted some vowel fluctuations in the

south-east of England which he interprets as reactions to the Estuary Englishpronunciation by a


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17

again added as a non-RP variant in the LPD (cf. Wells 1990: 192, 202). (cf.

Rosewarne 1994a: 5) A further example of vowel lengthening in Estuary English can

be seen in word-final [u:] such as [}ju:] `you whereRPwould have either short / / or

strong form with /u:/. Both versions, however, are shorter than the EE [u:]. (cf.Rosewarne 1994: 5)

The accentEEvaries in the phonemes it selects for the lexical representation

of particular words or morphemes and therefore differs in the incidence of phonemes

in a given lexical item. One wide-ranging lexical change concerns the incidence of /i/

and /W/ in weak syllables. The use of /W/ rather than the RPunstressed /i/ in suffixes

such es `-ed and `-es leads to categorical homophony of lexical pairs such as

`tended and `tendered being pronounced [}tEndWd]; RPpronunciation of /}si:krt/

`secret becomes [}sWkrWt] in EE or [}ma:kWtN], the EE pronunciation for

`marketing. (cf. Rosewarne 1994a: 5) This trend is also gaining ground amongst

traditionalRPspeakers. (cf. Wells 1970a: 245)

The main difference between the phoneme inventory for vowels in RP and

Cockney is the vowel shift affecting long vowels and diphthongs. This diphthong shift,

which exhibits a set of phonetic changes almost as fundamental as the Great Vowel

Shift20, has penetrated into Estuary English and extends a long way across the

spectrum. The following two tables are an attempt to outline the present diphthong

younger generation fromEEspeakers on the one hand and older standard speakers on the other. One

example is [] for the expected /U/ in [}sm] `some. (cf. Rastall 1994: 7)20

At this point it is interesting to consider the diachronic aspect of language change. As a

matter of fact, the Great Vowel Shift from Middle English to Early Modern English, was a

systematic chain reaction affecting the long vowels of English. They became closer and those thatwere already close were diphthongised. The raising of the vowels is often diagrammed as a bottom-

top movement (cf. Wright 1996: 272); low vowels were systematically raised. The Diphthong Shift

that affects many local accents nowadays is diagrammed in a simplified form as a countershift, long

vowels and diphthongs being lowered from the top to the bottom. (cf. Wells 1982a: 256)

The vowel shifts took different lengths of time to affect different regions of England; this

process is referred to as lexical diffusion. One could claim that the Great Vowel Shift has never

stopped operating and its continuation is revealed in the Diphthong Shift affecting not only the long

vowels and diphthongs in Cockney,but also to some extent the vowels inEstuary English.

It was the people in the southeastern part of the country who were first influenced. The

movement of wealthy and affluent people from East Anglia and Kent to London in the fifteenth

century facilitated the spread of the innovative pronunciation to London accents. The spread of

Estuary English has been initiated by a kind of countermovement; since World War II lower and

middle class Londoners have been moving to the neighbouring counties of London. Thus, one could


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18

shift which affects Cockney and Estuary English in varying degrees.

argue that the Great Vowel Shift has had a considerable impact on the pronunciatiation ofEstuary

English. (cf. Wright 1996: 273)


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19

`tea RP/i:/ => EE[W],C[e]

`say RP/e/ => EE[E,U, A],

C[a]

`time RP/a/ => EE[, A],

C[O]

`boy RP/O/ => EE [, aw],

C[o]

`food RP/u:/ => EE[W], C

[W ]

`road RP/W / => EE[U , a ],

C[ ]

`house RP/a / => EE

[UW,U ,E ,

EW , W,

], C[a:]

`park RP/A:/ => EE[a:, A:], C

[O:]

(cf. Barnickel: 1980: 172)

The phoneme inventories for vowels in EE and in Cockney consist of more

diphthongal phonemes than the vowel system ofRP.It is due to the Diphthong Shift

that the number of vowel oppositions is greater in RPthan it is inEstuary English or

Cockney; for example the RP / / - /u:/ and // - /i:/ opposition is not present in

Estuary and Cockney forms. The diphthongisation of monophthongs, one major

characteristic of the Cockney vowel system, entails the loss of the category of length


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20

between /u:, / and /i:, /; /u:/ diphthongises to [W ] in [}fW d] (food) and /i:/ to [e]

in [te] (tea). (Klaus-Dieter Barnickel 1980: 172) In Estuary English, however, /i:/ is

glided to [W] in [}sW] (sea) and theEEequivalent of /u:/ is [W], as in [}blW ].

The vowel in the word `face shows considerable variation in the standard

accent RP,where it is realised as /e/, and the non-standard accent Estuary English

which realises this vowel as [U]. (cf. Wright 1996: 266) Thus, the RPdiphthong /e/

becomes [a] or just [U] in EE, the altered vowel quality being followed by a

lengthened glide as in [}sU] `say which is homophonous in EEwith `sigh. The EE

vowel in `price is realised differently compared to its RPequivalent /a/ in having a

nasalised starting vowel and a longer glide; both EEvariants [U] and [A] are possible

allophones ofRP /a/, the latterEEpronunciation variant [A], however, is more

common. Thus, RP /e/ and /a/ merge into [U], as with [}wU] for `wayand `why.

(cf. Rosewarne 1994a: 5)

Another realisational difference is the vowel /O:/ becoming less open and

increasingly closer, similiar to the quality of the cardinal vowel 7 [o:]. (cf. Roach

1991: 13) For a long time London speech has tended to generalise the glide [OW] inword-final position, which is [O:] preconsonantally; also inRPthe vowels /OW/ and /O:/

have recently been merged as [OW], making `court and `caught homophones /}kOWt/.

Also inEEand to some extent in near RPthe /O:/is shortened and centres as a glide

[OW] as in [}flOW] which stands for both `floor and `flaw. Thus, in a free syllable the

vowel /O:/ in `saw is pronounced [}sOW] and in a checked syllable the vowel is closing

to [O ] as in [}bOd] `board or [}wO ?W] `water. Wells (cf. 1982b: 311) therefore

distinguishes two distinct phonemes /OW/ and /o: %O / and refers to this process as

the Thought Split. (cf. Wells 1982a: 236)

In medial positions the vowel /O:/ in /}O:QW/ àuthor, /}O:gWnaz/ òrganise or

/}O:fWl/ àwful becomes a nasalised sound [OWw] inEE: [}OWwQW] (author). (cf. Coggle

1993a: 32) Similarly, the diphthong /O/ in `choice, is matched by the triphthong

[aw] in EE, whereas in Cockney the vowel in `boy becomes closer from /O/ to [o]

resulting in [}bo].


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21

TheRPvowel /W / in words such as `coat, `nose or `ghost has first fronted

to [ ] and then, owing to the Diphthong Shift which involved the gradual lowering

of the first element (cf. Peter Trudgill - Tina Foxcroft 1979: 72), become [a ] or

[ ] in Cockney and [U ] inEE;thus, /W / in `no becomes [a ] or just [U ] and is

equivalent to the RP speakers pronunciation of /}na / `now, /}ra / `row and

/}ta n/ `town. Thus, for an Estuary English speaker the words `no, `row (meaning

`series), `now, `row (meaning `quarrel) are pronounced with the diphthong [U ].

(Coggle 1993a: 32)

The diphthong /a / exhibits a considerable range of social variation. The word

`mouth may be pronounced with vowel qualities as diverse as [UW], [EW], [E ], and

[EW ], as well as the more familiarEE types [ ], and [U ]; the quality of [U ]

seems to be becoming gradually backer. (cf. Rosewarne 1994a: 5) David North (cf.

1985: 81), who has done research on the phonetic development of the /a / phoneme

in Kent, also mentions several similar qualitatively different realisations of /a /

ranging from the ones already listed to [ ] and [W]. Thus, the Estuary English

pronunciation varies from [}hEW s] and [}hUs] to [}hUWs], [}hEWs], [}hE s] or [}h s]

and [}hWs] for `house, depending on the speakers social background. Similarly, the

diphthong /a/ changes to [O] in Cockney and inEEjust to [A] or [], so that [}tAm]

or [}tm] areEEpronunciation options for `time.

The diphthongs /a / and /a/ can also undergo a monophthonging process,

called Smoothing, which has always been typical ofCockney.However, it has also

penetrated into Estuary English and even into general RP. This gives /a / and /a/

the realisation [a:] with qualities ranging from front [a:] to centralised-back [A:]. For

RP-influenced EE speakers the quality of the monophthong is that of the starting-

point of the underlying diphthong; Cockney-influenced EE speakers, on the other

hand, regularly have a back starting-point. Thus, `shower and `shire become

homophones and are pronounced [}SA:W]21. These centring diphthongs [aW, AW] which

21 It is interesting to note at this point that this particular monophtongisation of the

diphtongs /a / and /a/ to /a:/ is also characteristic ofadvanced RP, and David Jowitt (cf. 1995: 14)


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22

derived from /aW, auW/ may sometimes become monophthongal, giving `fire [}fA:]

and `tower [}tA:].22 This monophthongisation of /aW/ and /a W/ and their coalescence

with [A:] is one of the most striking sound changes in the twentieth century.(cf. Wells

1982a: 239)

Estuary English differs in the incidence of phonemes in the lexical items

`either and `neither. Every speaker has at his disposal, both an /i:/ and an /a/. It is

typical of anEEspeaker to prefer the /i:/ to the diphthong /a/, producing [}WDW] and

[}nWDW]. (cf. Wells 1982a: 78; cf. Rosewarne 1994a: 6)

2.1.1 Vowels p lus [ -rr]

Those sequences traditionally regarded as centring diphthongs /W/, /eW/ and / W/ are

listed in section 1.2.1 (1.c) as allophonic variants of an underlying vowel plus [-r]. It is

interesting to note that conservative RPhas one more member /OW/ in `soared. The

disappearence of /OW/ as an independent phoneme reduces the system characteristic of

general RP. The peculiarity of the RPandEEvowel system for having these vowel

phonemes was caused by the loss of /-r/.23 Thus, general RP and EE do not

pronounce the /r/ in words like `here, `sure, `sport, etc. To simplify matters, the

resulting glides will not be included in the typology of vowel systems presented below

(cf. section 2.1.3).

There is a development under way in Estuary English which is called the

Second force Merger or also cure lowering, whereby the / W/ in /pW/ `poor

undergoes a lowering, sometimes via intermediate stages such as [oW] and [OW] to [O:],

has noted that in royal speech the first element in /a / is sometimes a fronted /a:/. Since this featureis not typical ofEstuary English, it is of no importance here.

22Prince Charles is found to be the most enthusiastic exponent of this feature; the sentence

`There is a mousedown at the house would be rendered as /DeWzW}mA:s }dA:n Wt DW}hA:s/.Stuart Wavell describes the upward mobility ofCockney in his article Those royals dont arf talk

common (ST: 14.12.1997). He claims that the lower class speech and upper-class speech coincide.23

These vowel phonemes occur in non-rhotic accents likeRPandEE; Scottish Standard

English and General American have the historic /-r/ and are therefore termed rhotic accents. (cf.Giegerich 1992: 62)


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23

so that the realisation of RP / W/ in `sure becomes [O:]. The word `poor is

homophonous with `pore, `pourand `paw, all being pronounced [}pO:]. According to

Wells (cf. 1982b: 287) there are already plenty ofRP speakers who merge / W/ of

`tour and /O:/ of `tore and pronounce some or all of `poor, `moor, `your and `sure

with [O:]. One reason for this tendency is that the frequency of occurrence and

functional load of / W/ is extremely low. (cf. Gimson 1984: 49) The EPD gives both

the / W/ and the /O:/ as pronunciation possibilities, which proves that both versions

are already accepted. However, it is characteristic ofRP that words in which the

vowel / W/ is preceded by a consonant plus yod are relatively resistant to the shift

from / W/ to [O:], e.g. `pure, `furious and `cure. Thus, while in RP there is a

tendency to make [ W] a positional allophone of /O:/, restricted to the environment

Cj_, Estuary English has gone one step further so that [ W] becomes [O:] when

preceded by a consonant plus yod, pronouncing `cure [}kjO:]. (cf. Rosewarne 1994:

5) A further development is that [ W] can be monophthongised through Smoothing of

the sequence [u:W], such as `fewer, `steward; however, the [ W] from Smoothing of

[u:W] is not subject to the possibility of Lowering to [O:]; hence, pronouncing `fewer

[}fjO:] does not occur.

Furthermore, Estuary English gives evidence of a development towards

triphthongization.RP/W/ becomes the triphthong [W] inEEas in [}nW] `near. The

otherEE triphthong is [EW] as in [}skwEW], which would be /}skweW/ in RP for

`square. Thus, the systemically equivalent variant for /W/ is [W] inEE, and /eW/ has

the variant [EW] which in rapidEEspeech is merged with /:/ in a long vowel, [}n:]

and [}skw:] (cf. Rosewarne 1994a: 5). This subsequent development of

monophthonging a centring diphthong to a long monophthong is quite common and is

often found in the southern part of theEstuary English area. (cf. Wells 1982a: 216)

2.1.2 Vowels p lus [ -ll]

Although the voiced lateral sound /l/ is phonetically vowel-like and may therefore be

regarded as a vocoid, its function is actually consonantal because it is marginal in the


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24

syllable. Therefore the /l/ is treated as a consonant and is dealt with in further detail in

section 2.2.1. However, it is worth mentioning that the vocalised /l/ results in new

vocalic glides which are regarded as allophonic variants of an underlying vowel plus [-

l]. Thus the EEvowel glides [ , E , , ] in e.g. EE [}m k] `milk, [}Se f]

`shelf, [}d w] `doll and [}v ] `vowel will not be included in the part-systems of

Estuary English in section 2.1.3.

2.1.3 A typo logy of the RP and EE vow el system

It is convenient to subdivide vowel systems of English into four part-systems. (cf.

Wells 1982a: 168) Part-system A comprises the checked short vowels. In both

accents, RPandEE, part-system Ahas seven members. One systemically notational

variant includes /E/ for `dress which can be interpreted as the consequence of the

systemic change giving the phoneme // diphthongal realisations [, e]. (cf. section

2.1)

RP

e W

U

EE

E W

, e U

Part-system B comprises the traditional long vowels, the two closing

diphthongs /a, O/ and the diphthongal realisation of /e:/. Consequently, in RP the

part-system B includes four members /i:, e, a, O/. In EEhowever, it is due to the

Diphtong Shift that part-system B has systemically equivalent notational variants

including /W/ for `fleece, /U/ for `face and for `price and /, aw/ for `choice.(cf.

Wells 1982a: 171)

RP

i:

EE

W


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e

a O

U

A, , U aw,

Part-system C comprises the long vowel /u:/, the diphthongal realisation of /o:/

and the true diphthong /a /. Therefore, inRPpart-system C includes three members.

InEEthe vowel [W] for `goose is a diphthongal realisation of /u:/; [U ] is another

variant of the vowel in `goat, and the same holds true for the glide [ ] in `mouth.

Like inRP, this gives a three-term C system inEE. (cf. ibidem 174)

RP

u:

W

a

EE

W

U

U , EW , UW, EW, E , ,

W

Traditionally (cf. ibidem 176) part-system D comprises the long vowels and

the centring diphthongs. Since the three diphthongs /W, W, eW/ are treated as the

allophonic variants of an underlying vowel plus [-r], they are not included in the D

system. Thus, inRPpart-system D includes three long vowels. Similar toRP, EEhas

also three phonemes introducing the vowel glide [OW] as an allophonic variant of /O:/.

RP

: O:

A:

EE

: OW

A:, a:


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The RP vowel system comprises seven phonemes in part-system A, four

phonemes in part-system B and three in part-system C. If the treating of centring

diphthongs as allophonic variants of an underlying vowel plus [-r] is considered

sufficient grounds for excluding the /W, eW, W/, the three-term part-system D isjustified. Thus, theRPvowel system is 7-4-3-3, as set out in the following table. (cf.

ibidem 119)


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e W

U

i:

e O

a

u:

W

au

: O:

A:

Although the EE vowel system comprises the same number of phonemes as

the RP system, one must take into account considerable variation within one

phoneme; there are often many allophonic variants of one phoneme. However, theEE

vowel system is 7-4-3-3, as set out in the following table.

E W

, U

W

U

A, , U aw, A

W

U

EW ,UW,EW,E , ,W

: OW

A:, a:

2.1.4 Conclus ion: the Estuary Engl ish vow el t rend

There is a certain regularity of pattern in the behaviour of the vowels, and

observations about recent changes in RPconfirm these findings. Latest examinations

(cf. Henton 1983: 365) concerning changes in the vowels ofRPshow that /, e, , O:,

u:/ are relatively more central among younger speakers. Hentons findings reflect the

description of theEEvowels in this thesis. She lists the lowering and centring of //

as well as the fronting of /U/. Moreover, /i:/ and /u:/ are rather centralised and

markedly diphthongal, and // is approaching /W/ in unaccented syllables. The long

front-tending vowels undergo a counterclockwise shift, the long back-tending vowels

a clockwise shift, compared withRP.


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In conclusion, it has become clear that the close back and front vowels /, i:,

, u:/ are moving towards the centre, and those already front, like the phoneme /e/,

are being lowered, which gives the following vowel trapezium:

2.2 The consonant system in EstuaryEngl ish

It is legitimate to regard Estuary English as having the same phoneme inventory for

consonants asRP. However, there is a notable difference between the two accents in

the realisation of the alveolar lateral /l/, which becomes vocalised in EE (section

2.2.1).There is also a difference in the realisation of /t/ whereEE in many positions

favours an unreleased stop (section 2.2.2). Compared with RP, the quality of /r/ is

also different inEE(section 2.2.3).A further phonemenon called TH Fronting will be

a matter of discussion in section 2.2.4. Yod Dropping and its competitive

development, Yod Coalescence, is another feature characteristic ofEstuary English

discussed in section 2.2.5. Finally H Dropping is a noteworthy shibboleth in EE

(section 2.2.6).


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30

2.2.1 L Vocal isat ion

Inspection of the distribution of the non-accommodatory allophones of /l/ in RP

shows that the clear variety occurs before a vowel and /j/, while the dark variety

occurs after a vowel, before a consonant, /w/ or a pause. The Estuary English

equivalent of theRPdark [K] is non-alveolar, hence tongue-tip contact does not occur

and therefore the allophone [K] has a vocoid realisation. This development, called L

Vocalisation, converts [K] into a non-syllabic back vocoid [V]24 or, even more often,

into its rounded equivalent [ ] in all environments whereRPhas the lateral velarised

[K], e.g.EE[}m k],RP[}mKk],EE[}SE f],RP[}SeKf].

It is probably due to the lateral sound /l/ being voiced and frictionless, and

therefore, linguistically speaking, in many respects vowel-like, that the [K] can be

completely absorbed by the preceding vowel. At the Cockney end of the Estuary

English spectrum the vocalised /l/ is entirely absorbed by a preceding /O:/, as in `salt

RP /sO:lt/, EE [}sO:t]. This phenomenon causes a set of homophones; `faulty books

results in [}fO:ti }b ks] and can be easily mistaken for `forty books. Another example

would be àwful and àll full which are homophones pronounced [}O:f ]. Therefore,the sentence Ìm afraid our single rooms are [}O:f ] could be confusable in rapid

speech. Similarly, `Pauls, `pulls, `pause and `paws are also homophones [}pO:z],

and likewise `fault, `fought and fort resulting in [}fO:t]. (cf. Rosewarne 1996b: 17)

With the remaining vowels the vocalised /l/ is not absorbed, but remains

present as a back vocoid. But in the environment of a following non-prevocalic [K]

most vowels are subject to neutralisation. The vowels /, W/ in `rill and `real falltogether in EE as [}rV], while the vowels / , u:/ in `full and `fool are also

neutralised to [}f ]. Also the vowels // in `Val, /e/ in `veil and /a / in `vowel

are neutralised resulting in [}vV].

24Some investigators report the unrounded [V] after front vowels, as [fV] `fill. (cf. Wells

1982b: 313)


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It is interesting to note that David Rosewarne (cf. 1994a: 3) suggests the use

of the phonemic symbol [w] in word-final positions after a vowel, in order to

emphasise the strong degree of lip-rounding in the EE rendering of the RPdark [K].

Therefore, theRPpronunciation /}i:l/ for `eel is matched byEE[}i:w]and likewise

in `doll which is realised as [}d w]. It is obvious that L Vocalisation offers the

prospect of phonemic status for new diphthongs such as [ ], [E ],[ ], and [ ].

Thus,Estuary English is much further along the continuum of diphthongisation than

RP.

From a functional viewpoint, the velarized [K] can also fulfil a syllabic function;

the vocalisation of this syllabic [K1] being realised by a monophthongal vocoid isparticularly common in Estuary English, e.g. in `middle, `apple or `drizzle: EE

[md ], RP [}mdK1], EE [}p ], RP [}pK1] and EE [}drz ], RP [}drzl1].(cf. Wells

1982a: 258)

L Vocalisation is a sound change still very much in progress; speakers are by

no means consistent. They fluctuate between using a lateral consonant and a vocoid; if

they use a vocoid it may be unrounded or rounded; and they may restrict L

Vocalisation to preconsonantal environment (i.e._ (#)C `fall down) and absolute final

environments (i.e._A `fall) or they may extend it to word-final prevocalic

environments (i.e. _#V `fall off). (cf. Wells 1982b: 313) Although L Vocalisation is

overtly stigmatised, Wells (cf. 1982a: 259) shares David Rosewarnes assumption (cf.

TES: 19.10.1984), saying that L Vocalization is beginning to seep into RPand will

become entirely standard in English over the course of the next century.25 It extends

from Cockney towards theRPend of the scale. Not only politicians but also Princess

Diana and Prince Edward have been caught vocalising the /l/. (cf. Hymas ST:

10.4.1994)

25Paul Rastall (cf. 1997: 7) who sporadically heard vowel fluctuations on the television and

on radio in the southeast of England, did not encounter L Vocalisation in the words `Malvern and

`told. Instead, he heard [a] for the expectedEE[O:] in [}malvWn] `Malvern,EE[}mO:vWn]; and[O:] forEE[W ] in [}tO:ld] `told,EE[}tW d].


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2.2.2 Plosives: af f r icat ion and glot ta l ing

Among the most revealing of all the features inEstuary English is the replacement of

the voiceless stops /p, t, k/, especially the /t/,by a glottal stop. Glottalisation consists

either of a full glottal realisation [?], or of a combined glottal and oral plosive [?p, ?t,

?k] which is called preglottalisation. The term glottal reinforcement is used to cover

both types. (cf. Higginbottom 1964: 129) In the case of a glottal plosive, the

obstruction of the air-stream is formed by the closure of the vocal folds, thereby

interrupting the passage of air into the supra-glottal organs. The air pressure below

the glottis is released by the sudden separation of the vocal folds. The compression

stage of its articulation consists of silence, its presence being perceived auditorily by

the sudden cessation of the preceding sound. (cf. Gimson 1989: 168) The glottal

plosive is articulatorily unique in its being a plosive-allophone that is not articulated

orally. (cf. Pointner 1996: 2)

The glottal stop is an important sound in the English sound-inventory. It

occurs as a means to strengthen vowels and plosives in many varieties of English, and

even, in some respects especially in the standard accent RP. Thus, although the

glottal stop is not a significant sound in the general RP system, the [?] sometimesserves as a syllable boundary marker, when the initial sound of the second syllable is a

vowel, e.g. `co-operate [kW }?pWret] or `reaction [r}?kSn]; any initial accented

vowel may be reinforced by a preceding glottal onset in RP, e.g. `its empty

[ts}?empti]. In these instances the glottal stop only modifies an oral plosive or vowel

by adding a glottal component. In this position it is sometimes regarded as posher

than mere oral realisations. (cf. ibidem 35)

The voiceless plosives /p, t, k/ and also the affricate /tS/ are often preceded in

syllable-final environments by a glottal stop [?]. This sound is inserted before the oral

closure is effected and is referred to as preglottalisation. This reinforcement of final

fortis plosives is increasingly typical ofRPspeech; final /p, t, k/ have the oral closure

reinforced by a glottal closure, e.g. `shop [}S?p], `shot [}S?t] or `shock [}S?k]. (cf.

Gimson 1989: 169) Also the usage of glottal reinforcement occuring in utterance-

medial position is sufficiently widespread among RPspeakers. This is the case when

the word medial or final stop is made by /tS/ and is followed by a vowel, e.g.


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[}m?tSz] `matches; where /p/ and /k/ precedes /tS/, glottal stop occurs before /p,k/,

e.g. [}p?ktSW] `picture. (cf. OConnor 1952: 216)

SomeRPspeakers and mostEEspeakers replace word-final /p, t, k/ by a bare

[?] when the following consonant is homorganic, i.e. /t, d, tS, dJ / or non-syllabic /l/

and /n/ as in `that table [}D?}tEbl1], `get down [}gE?}d n], `that chair [}D?}tSEW],

`that joke [}D?}dJU k], `witness [}w?nWs] or possibly unreleased [}wt nWs],

`Upminster [}U?mnstW] and `Scotland [}sk?lWnd]. The replacement of final /p, k/ by

[?] is less frequent inEE, except where it is followed by a homorganic consonant, e.g.

`soappowder [}sW ?pUdW].

The [?] is also heard for /t/ before other plosives, e.g. in `football [}f ?bK]

and sometimes before nasals, e.g. `nutmeg [}nU?mEg]. While inRPthe replacement of

/p, t, k/ by [?] is rare in final position, it is typical ofEE; thus, `have a look RP

/}hvW}l k/, EE [}vW}l ?] or `get up RP /get}Up/, EE [gEd}U?] or towards the

Cockney end of scale [gE?}U?]. Cockney [?] can also function as the realisation of /d/

followed by a syllable boundary or word boundary, e.g. [}brE? n1}bU?W] `bread and

butter, [}g ?}gOWd] `good god.

Where word-final /p, t, k/ are preceded by a nasal, a [?] may occur inEE, as in

[}lm?] `lamp, [}wEn?] `went. In fact, glottaling of /p/ and /k/ seems to be

commonest after a nasal, thus [}dJUm?] `jump, [}pN?] `pink. However, EEspeakers

seem to glottal /t/ much more readily than /p/ and /k/ in this environment. The same

applies intervocalically where Cockney speakers use a full [?] for /t/ in [}lE?W] `later,

but only a preglottalised [?p] in [}pE?pW] `paper. (cf. Wells 1984: 56)

Commonly, a pure [?] is to be heard for /t/ before all non-syllabic consonants

except /h/. ForRPspeakers the [?] is very common before a stressed syllable, e.g. `at

last [W?}lA:st], while EE speakers would also use a glottal stop after a stressed

syllable, e.g. `Scotland [}sk?lWnd]. Often inEE, an unaccented /t/ is replaced by [?]

between vowels or /n,l/ and vowel, e.g. in `daughter [}dO:?W], `butter [}bU?W],


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`Saturday [}sU?Wde],26 or within a phrase as in `not in [n?}n]. Glottal replacements

of /p, k/ also occur in similar situations, e.g. in `supper [}sU?W] or `paper [}pe?W].

The use of [?] for word-final /t/ before a word beginning with a vowel is one

characteristic distinguishing theEEaccent from traditionalRP, e.g. [D?}z] `that is,

[kwa?}z] `quite easy. The most obvious /t/ glottaling occurs in syllable-final

position, as with [bU?] `but, [h?] `hit or [kEn?] `Kent. In Cockney, `whip, `wit and

`wick might be pronounced homophonously as [}w?]. However, the bare glottal stop

is more common as a realisation of underlying /t/ than /p/ or /k/ inEE.

The glottal stop occurs frequently before syllabic nasals and sonorants, i.e.

before unstressed /Wm, Wn, WN, Wl/. (cf. Sivertsen 1960:113) Where the nasal or lateral

following /t/ is syllabic, T Glottaling is subject to sharply differing social evaluations

according to whether the syllabic sonorant is in fact nasal or lateral. In the

environment of a following syllabic nasal, pronunciations such as [}bU?n1] `button,

`cotton [}k?n1], [}h?m1] `happen may be considered to extend intoRP.Glottaling of

/k/ in the environment of a following nasal /n/ means that broad Cockney neutralises

the opposition between /k/ and /t/ in this position: [}rE?n1] `reckon and [}QrE?n1]`threaten.

Where it is before a lateral, the use of [?] is felt to be strongly Cockney-

flavoured, and subject to a similar evaluation to that of intervocalic [?]. This applies

independently of whether the underlying /Wl/ is realised as one segment or two,

vocalised or not; e.g. [}b? z] `bottles or [}l? ] `little. Therefore, only Cockney

speakers would pronounce words such as `hospital and `little as [}sp? ] and[}l? ]; an Estuary English speaker, however, would aspirate the voiceless alveolar

plosive /t/ so that `hospital and `little result in a pronunciation such as [}hspts ]

26Not characteristic ofEE,but ofCockney is the voiced tap that is used in this

environment. It is characteristic of a casual style in many accents and also in Cockney, where

peculiarly enough, it is regarded by Cockney speakers as a correct variant, e.g. [}m\W] `matter,[}bU\W] `butter. (cf. Siversten 1960: 119)


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and [}lts ]27. It is due to the considerable prominence given to the phoneme /t/ that

the vocalic quality of the [K] is enforced and hence vocalised. 28

Aspirated [p, k, t] are considered the RP influenced EE norm. Paul Coggle

(cf. 1993a: 43) calls this feature the breathy t. The contact of the tip and the blade

of the tongue is relaxed so that the airstream escapes through a narrow groove

formed in the centre of the tongue, causing a friction between the tongue and the

alveolar ridge. The escape of air is more diffuse than for the articulation of the

voiceless alveolar stop /t/, and can be compared with the fricative /s/. The resulting

affricate is represented as [ts] by David Rosewarne (cf. 1994a: 4) and Paul Coggle (cf.

1993a: 43): [}t

s

i:] `tea, [}t

s

p] `top, [}t

s

E ] `tell. This feature is typical ofEstuaryEnglish speakers coming from the Cockney end of the spectrum. Additionally, David

Rosewarne (cf. 1994a: 4) reports of an EEspeaking informant who rendered words

with intial /t/ followed by a semi-vowel /w/ like in `twenty as [tSw] as in [}tSwEnti:];

similarly, in EE /st/ in initial and in postvocalic medial position is pronounced

sometimesas /St/ as in [}SteSWn] for `station and [}EStSeWri:] for `estuary.

Usually, affrication is encountered in initial, intervocalic and final position in

EE. In the latter it is usually preglottalised, such as in [}A:?ts] `art. Word-initially, /t/

and /d/ are often affricated in EE, thus [}tsEn] `ten, [}dzg] `dog; in intervocalic

environment /p, t, k/ arealso usually aspirated, like [}bEtsW] for `better or [}lEtsW] for

`letter which is considered by most informants the correct and normal variant, while

[}bE?W] or [}lE?W] is regarded as stigmatised. (cf. Wells 1982b: 325). It is, however, by

no means a feature ofEE to use the zero variant; in intervocalic environments one

finds [}lo] for `little or [}bEW] for `better which is typical of broad Cockney, but

which has not so far penetrated theEEspectrum.

As far as the pronunciation of /t/ across the speech spectrum is concerned, it is

certainly true to say that RP speakers tap the phoneme /t/ most often and Cockney

speakers tap the fewest. Estuary English speakers find themselves in the middle

27

Wells (cf.1982b: 326) calls this feature typical of posh Cockney.


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range; Paul Coggle demonstrates this with the following example-sentence: `In

Scotland the butter and the water are absolutely outstanding. This sentence contains

five times the phoneme /t/. AnRPspeaker may tap all or only four or three of the five

/t/ phonemes: /}sktlWnd/ or [}sk?lWnd], /}bUtW/, /}wO:tW/, /bsW}lu:tli/ and/a t}stndN/ or [1au?}stndN]; a Cockney speaker realises the five /t/ phonemes by

producing a glottal stop: [}sk?lWnd], [}bU?W], [}wOW?W], [bsW}lW ?li] and

[U ?}stndN]. Similarly, forRP influenced EE speakers preglottalisation applies to

cases when /p, t, k/ are in syllable-final position followed by consonants or a pause,

whereasEEspeakers closer to the Cockney end of the social scale, would also favour

a glottal stop when /p, t, k/ are preceded by a vowel, a liquid, or a nasal. Peter Roach

(cf. 1973: 21) finds this trend extraordinary, taking into consideration the different

types of glottalisations with sometimes exclusive distributions for different speakers.

According to Frank Pointner (cf.1996: 3) the minimal requirements, as far as

the speech organs are concerned, for the articulation of the glottal plosive, and its

resulting ability to adjust to almost any environment, is responsible for its wide spread

to some extent inRP, quite commonly inEEand especially in Cockney.Peter Roach

(cf. 1973: 21) maintains, on the other hand, that the glottal reinforcement contradicts

the principle of least effort because it clearly involves more rather than less

articulatory complexity and effort.

Beyond any doubt, T Glottaling is one of the most heavily stigmatised features

ofEstuary English pronunciation because it marks Cockney speech, and is hence a

feature found at the bottom of the Estuary English continuum: [}bU?W] `butter or

[}wOW?W] `water. The bare [?] as the realisation of word-internal intervocalic /t/ is one

of the most stereotyped characteristics ofCockney, and hence it suffers some degree

of overt stigmatisation; e.g. [}wOW?Wl Wn }s?W lAn] `Waterloo and City line.

However, in consonantal environments T Glottaling is considered current mainstream

RP.But despite its unenviable reputation, the glottal stop is now widely perceived as

a stereotype of urban British speech which can be heard almost throughout the social

28The rounded back vocoid [ ] is the result of the development called L Vocalisation.

(see 2.2.1)


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scale in the South-east. Thus, glottaling has spread very fast in the course of the

present century. (cf. Milroy 1994: 5)

2.2.3 The phoneme /rr/

Another shibboleth ofEstuary English is the sound [] which has a special quality in

this accent. David Rosewarne (cf. 1994b: 5) was the first to draw attention to this

sound which is to be found neither in RPnor in Cockney. It seems to be somewhat

closer in pronunciation to the American /r/.

The [] is a voiced post-alveolar frictionless continuant articulated with the tip

of the tongue lowered and the central part raised close to the soft palate. The air-

stream is allowed to escape freely, without friction, over the centre of the tongue.

This allophone of the RPphoneme /r/ is, therefore, phonetically vowel-like, but,

having a non-central situation in the syllable, it functions as a consonant. (cf. Gimson

1989: 208)

The degree of labialisation may vary considerably when producing [].

Although lip position of /r/ is determined by that of the following vowel, most EE

speakers labialise the allophone [] whatever the following vowel. Consequently, lip-

rounding is so extreme that the [] is replaced by [ ], and homophones of the type

`wed and `red are produced. This w-quality is similar to the one discussed above

under L Vocalisation (2.2.1). In fact, the relationship between the phonemes /l/ and /r/

is seen in standard variants of Christian names like `Terry and `Derek which become

`Teland `Del when written, and which are pronounced [}tE ] and [}dE ]. (cf.

Coggle 1993a: 48) This labio-dental frictionless continuant [ ] is referred to as a

substitute for [] in defective speech not only by Paul Coggle (cf. ibidem 48) but also

by A.C.Gimson (cf. 1989: 209). Finally, as far as the degree of retroflexion of the

tongue is concerned,EE[], despite its similarities to the American /r/, does not have

retroflection.

Such pronunciation, which was considered a fashionable affectation in the late

eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, is now apparently again smart among


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Estuary English speakers. Media personalities like Jonathan Ross, Derek Jameson and

David Bellamy provide clear examples of this phenomenon, the funny r, as Paul

Coggle calls it (cf. 1993a: 48).

2.2.4 Labio-dental and dental fr icat ives

Another heavily stigmatized Cockney feature which is slowly penetrating intoEstuary

English is TH Fronting. It involves the replacement of the dental fricatives /Q, D/ by

labiodentals /f, v/ respectively. Thus, the voiceless dental fricative /Q/ is slowly

merging into the labio-dental phoneme /f/; for example, [}fNk] for /}QNk/ or [}frU t

}smf] for `throw it, Smith. The same holds true for the voiced dental fricative /D/,

which merges with /v/ such as [}fA:vW] for /}fA:DW/ or [}mUvW}brWv}n] for `mother,

breathe in.29 (cf. Wells 1984: 57) Wells (cf. 1982a: 96) links this phenomenon to the

articulatory complexity of the dental fricatives /Q, D/ which has probably led to their

replacement by labio-dental fricatives /f, v/. Compared with /Q, D/, the labio-dentals

/f, v/ are more natural.

While TH Fronting affects the voiceless fricative in all environments, it appliesto the voiced one only in non-initial position; the lenis /D/ in `this, therefore, does not

become [vs], but more commonly [ds]. Thus, for the lenis /D/ EE speakers choose

other alveolar articulations. A very common alternative is the coalescence of an

alveolar plus /D/ into a single dental consonant, e.g. `got the [}gdW] or into the

original alveolar one, e.g. ìn the [}nW] (cf. Gimson 1989: 185; cf. Wells 1982b: 329);

one phrase that occured very often in the interviews was ànd then which the majority

of my informants realised as [Wn}nEn].

Moreover, [}fNk] is not only used for /}QNk/ but also for `-thing in

combination with `some-, àny- and `no-: [}gv m}sUmfNk]. This phenomenon is

typical ofCockney in which /N/ is phonemic. AlthoughEEspeakers are said not to be

29

Wells (cf. 1982a: 96) considers this feature persistent infantilism, because it is oftenfound the speech of children who tend to replace complex sequences with simpler or more natural

ones.


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likely to adopt the -[Nk] for `-ing feature, I, myself, often heard this feature from

different speakers in Canterbury. These people, most of whom coming from a lower

working class background, pronounced `anything else as [}nfnkh E s], aspirating

the phoneme /k/ very strongly. It is interesting to mention at this point that aspiration

of the final sound /k/ becomes increasingly common in England today.

Additionally, the verbal termination `-ing may be either /-N/ or /-n/ without

/k/ inEstuary English. Some speakersat the Cockney end of the social scale prefer /-

n/ in words like `working [}wWkn] (see section 5.2.1, speaker: Eric Fisher)

Although this feature is today considered a characteristic of vulgar speech, the

pronunciation /-n/ for the termination `-ing was common in

Estuary English Thesis by Christina Schmid

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