Estuary English

UNIVERZA V MARIBORU FILOZOFSKA FAKULTETA MARIBOR ODDELEK ZA ANGLISTIKO IN AMERIKANISTIKO

ESTUARY ENGLISH

MENTOR: AVTOR: PROF. DR. NADA ŠABEC JASNA SVENŠEK

MARIBOR, JANUAR 2009

Jasna Svenšek: Estuary English ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to thank my mentor, Prof. Dr. Nada Šabec, for all her support, guidance and time she spent helping me to write this paper properly, for every information and advice she has given me and for her encouragement when I needed it.

A special ‘thank you’ goes to my family, my husband and my son, who have believed in me and my success and have always been very understanding and were there for me whenever I needed them.

2 Jasna Svenšek: Estuary English IZJAVA

Podpisana Jasna Svenšek, rojena 14.06.1981 v Mariboru, študentka Filozofske fakultete v Mariboru, smer angleški jezik s književnostjo, izjavljam, da je diplomsko delo z naslovom

ESTUARY ENGLISH

pri mentorici prof. dr. Nadi Šabec avtorsko delo. V diplomskem delu so uporabljeni viri in literatura korektno navedeni; teksti niso prepisani brez navedbe avtorjev.

Jasna Svenšek

3 Jasna Svenšek: Estuary English CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ...... 6 2. METHODOLOGY...... 10 3. ESTUARY ENGLISH (EE) ...... 11 3.1. THE ORIGINS OF THE TERM ‘ESTUARY ENGLISH’ ...... 11 3.2. THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE TERM ...... 12 3.3. THE MAIN REASONS FOR THE SPREAD OF EE...... 17 3.3.1. OVERCOMING THE CLASS BARRIERS...... 17 3.3.2. INFLUENCE OF LONDON...... 18 3.3.3. GEOGRAPHICAL MOBILITY ...... 19 3.3.4. SOCIAL MOBILITY...... 19 3.3.5. INFLUENCE OF PEER GROUPS ...... 20 3.3.6. THE SPREAD OF COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOLS...... 21 3.3.7. INFLUENCE OF THE MEDIA AND ROLE MODELS ...... 21 3.4. ‘BETWEEN COCKNEY AND RP’ ...... 24 3.5. THE FUTURE OF ESTUARY ENGLISH...... 26 4. ESTUARY ENGLISH VS. RECEIVED PRONUNCIATION ...... 28 4.1. THE HISTORY OF RECEIVED PRONUNCIATION (RP) ...... 28 4.2. SOME PHONETIC FEATURES OF RP...... 35 4.2.1. VOWELS ...... 35 4.2.2. CONSONANTS ...... 39 4.2.3. PHONETIC CHANGES IN RP...... 40 4.3. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ESTUARY ENGLISH ...... 47 4.3.1. SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN RP AND EE ...... 50 5. ESTUARY ENGLISH ON TELEVISION...... 52 5.1. EASTENDERS ...... 53 5.1.1. HISTORY OF THE SERIES ...... 53 5.1.2. CRITIQUES...... 54 5.1.3. CHARACTERS...... 55 6. LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS ...... 57 6.1. FEATURES OBSERVED...... 57 6.2. THE RESULTS...... 60

4 Jasna Svenšek: Estuary English 6.3. INTERPRETATION ...... 62 7. CONCLUSION...... 65 LITERATURE...... 66 SUMMARY...... 69

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“Language is a city to the building of which every human being brought a stone.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

1. INTRODUCTION

Language is a living thing. It changes constantly as do people who speak it. Some of the changes are rapid and some take a lot of time to be accepted by the speakers; some changes may even never be accepted. Recently (in the past few decades), changes in languages are even quicker because of the increased mobility of people. They move from one city to another, between counties, states, countries, etc., in order to find better living conditions, better jobs or other reasons. Among other things, people take their language with them and that language changes in interaction with other languages. There are also other reasons for language change. One of them is to increase one’s popularity. Teenagers, for example, in order to be accepted by their peers, change their language habits according to the given situation. Politicians change their language in order to be accepted by a broader range of people, to “get to their hearts”. The same is true of media. Language is a powerful tool. Using it in a right manner means getting you where you want to be.

For many students of English as a second language and English as a foreign language, the Received Pronunciation (RP, also called Oxford English, Standard English or Queen’s English) represents the target variety. Teachers of English all over the world frequently choose the Received Pronunciation as the model for their students. The changes in the Received Pronunciation are therefore very important for them, if they do not want to sound “posh”, “old-fashioned” or “conservative”.

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As any other world language, the English language has many accents too, and they are not all treated equally – some of the accents are thought of as more desirable than others and some are despised and low-estimated. It could be said that the way you speak determines who you are.

The situation concerning accents in the English language was described as early as in 1916 by George Bernard Shaw in the preface to Pygmalion : “It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him.” (Shaw, 1916).

More recent description of the same situation is provided by Neal Ascherson (1994). He describes the power of the accents in Britain in the following way, “For at least a century, accent in England has been two things: a vertical indicator about geographical origins, and a horizontal caste-mark separating ‘top people’ from the rest.” (Neil Ascherson, 1994)

With the term “top people” Ascherson refers to those speaking with Received Pronunciation, without an accent, and those having accents are “the rest”. However, having no accent might sometimes be really confusing. Ascherson describes the reaction of an RP speaker when someone asks him or her a simple question “Where do you come from”:

“/…/ the result, in this case, is a slight, very awkward silence. Eventually there may be a sort of reply: ‘I spent a lot of my holidays in Leicestershire, as a child’, or something like that. /…/ Only people with accents come from places: from Bristol, or Hertfordshire, or Walsall.” (Ascherson, 1994)

The variety of English pronunciation that has recently been discussed the most, by linguists and other people, is Estuary English (EE).

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Since the term was first mentioned in David Rosewarne’s article Estuary English in 1984, a lot has been said about the variety, many articles have been written and many discussions have been held, but there still remain many questions, assumptions and hypotheses. Some people see it as a “cancer” that is poisoning especially young English speakers,

“We are plagued with idiots on radio and television who speak English like the dregs of humanity, to the detriment of our children. Like the Ko-Ko in The Mikado, I have a ‘little list’, except that is not so little, of those who should be banned for inflicting their barbaric accents and misuse of English language on viewers and listeners.” (Connelly, 1993, quoted in Altendorf, 2003: 1)

Others see the development of Estuary English as an opportunity for a society where a person will not be judged according to their accent: “At best, it could mean a quite different society in which a voice carries authority by its words, not by its vowels.” (Ascherson, 1994)

Although different authors do not agree in defining what Estuary English is (an accent, a dialect, etc.), they all agree on one thing: that it is spreading rapidly, becoming more and more popular and it will at least continue to change today’s Received Pronunciation considerably if it can not substitute it.

The paper will focus on general characteristics of Estuary English: its history, who spoke it and where it was spoken in the past, who speaks it today and how it is different from and similar to Received Pronunciation.

The second part will focus on the use of Estuary English today. I decided to find out how often (if at all) Estuary English is used in the media, in my case on television.

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I will analyse six episodes of a popular TV soap EastEnders where I will try to find features of Estuary English. The main aim of the paper is not to discover something new about Estuary English, but to present the topic of Estuary English to those who find it interesting.

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2. METHODOLOGY

I first came across the term Estuary English during my fourth year of study, in the sociolinguistics’ class. To find out more about the variety, I first checked the internet, where you can get any information you are looking for. After discovering that the topic of Estuary English is discussed a lot and that this is a variety of English pronunciation which is sometimes considered to be the Received Pronunciation of the future, I decided to find out what people think about it and what are its main characteristics.

To learn more about the characteristics of Estuary English and to establish where exactly it is spoken and who speaks it, a number of works that deal with the issue of Estuary English were considered and carefully studied. There is not a lot of literature dealing with the topic of Estuary English, especially not in Slovenia, so most of this study relies on the articles that were written by different authors in different magazines and newspapers in Britain and were later posted on the internet.

Since there is a lot of disagreement regarding Estuary English (e.g. what Estuary English is, it will substitute Received Pronunciation or not, etc.), different authors and their opinions/discussions have been considered and will be presented. A conclusion whether it is possible that Estuary English will completely substitute Received Pronunciation was drawn from that study.

To estimate how often Estuary English is used on television (e.g. in TV soap EastEnders ), six episodes of EastEnders were analysed. Each episode was listened to several times to provide as accurate results as possible. Features of Estuary English noticed were written down and counted how often each of them appears in the speech of the observed characters. The characters observed are all working-class and they differ by gender and age.

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3. ESTUARY ENGLISH (EE)

3.1. THE ORIGINS OF THE TERM ‘ESTUARY ENGLISH’

The father of the name Estuary English is David Rosewarne. In his article, published in October 1984 in The Times Educational Supplement , he describes it as “/…/ a variety of modified regional speech. It is a mixture of non-regional and local south-eastern English pronunciation and intonation.” (Rosewarne, 1984)

Geographically, Rosewarne locates Estuary English in the south-east of England, more precisely by the banks of the river Thames and its estuary; this is the reason why the variety is called Estuary English. He also claims that Estuary English is integrated in all levels of British society in the south-east of England – politics, business, education, media and advertising,

“It is to be heard on the front and back benches of the House of Commons and is used by some members of the Lords, whether life or hereditary peers. It is well established in the City, business circles, the Civil Service, local government, the media, advertising as well as the medical and teaching professions in the south-east.” (Rosewarne, 1984)

Estuary English is supposed to be “the middle ground” between regional varieties on one side and Received Pronunciation on the other, which is why it is attractive to so many people. The future of Estuary English is hard to predict. When Rosewarne wrote his article in 1984, he was quite optimistic; he predicted that Estuary English could become the RP of the future,

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“For many, RP has long served to disguise origins. ‘Estuary English’ may now be taking over this function. For large and influential sections of the young, the new model for general imitation may already be ‘Estuary English’, which may become the RP of the future.” (Rosewarne, 1984)

Later, several linguists argued against this hypothesis and claimed that Estuary English can only change RP in some way, but can never substitute it completely. However, the changes have already begun and many of the features of Estuary English have already been accepted into RP.

Soon after the publication of Rosewarne’s article, Estuary English became the main subject of discussion in many magazines and newspapers as well as on television and radio. People started to divide into two groups: those who saw Estuary English as a positive development and those who saw it as something that is to be demolished, erased and despised.

3.2. THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE TERM

Ever since the term was coined, its relevance and appropriateness have been discussed over and over again. Many linguistic critics agree that the name is not appropriate. There are several reasons for that.

Firstly, the name Estuary English suggests that this accent is spoken only around the Thames Estuary, which is not true. The variety is spread beyond Essex and Kent - the Home Counties that border on the Thames Estuary - to the parts or all of Surrey, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Berkshire, which do not border on the estuary in question (picture 1).

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Picture 1: The spread of Estuary English from greater London to the surrounding counties (From http://www.letslinkuk.net/london/London-1.gif)

In 1994, ten years after the first mention of Estuary English, Rosewarne himself wrote that,

“[t]he heartland of this variety still lies by the banks of the Thames and its estuary, but it seems to be the most influential accent in the south-east of England. In the decade since I started research into it, Estuary English has spread northwards to Norwich and westwards to

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Cornwall, with the result that it is now spoken south of a line from the Wash to the Avon.” (Rosewarne, 1994: 4)

Several linguists offered alternative names that seem to be more appropriate but none of them has been accepted. It seems that the name Estuary English is so well established that it can not be changed anymore.

John Wells suggested that the variety could be named simply “London English, although obviously its ambit is much wider than the GLC area, covering at least most of the urban south-east. Other names we could refer to it by might include General London (GL), McArthur’s New London Voice and Tebbitt-Livingstone-speak.” (Wells, 1994b)

Another alternative was suggested by J.A. Maidment. According to him, the perception of formality and informality has changed over the past few decades and in this post-modern age it is quite acceptable to pick and mix accents, so we could simply use the term Post-modern English instead of Estuary English. (Maidment, 1994)

The second reason for discussing the term Estuary English is the name itself: The river Thames is not mentioned in the name. How do we know then that the estuary in question is that of the river Thames? After all this is not the only large and well known estuary in England.

Keith Batarbee (1996) in his post to the Linguist list comments that taking for granted that ‘Estuary’ in the term Estuary English refers to the Thames Estuary is only another example of regional arrogance of the South-East England within the UK since “there are many estuaries in Great Britain, and several of the emerging regional mega-accents are estuarially based /.../.” (Batarbee, 1996)

Thirdly, the newspapers reporters made an impression that Estuary English is some new, recent development.

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While the name might be new, Rosewarne explains that the changes started to happen a long time ago,

“It appears to be a continuation of the long process by which London pronunciation has made itself felt. This started in the later Middle Ages when the speech of the capital started to influence the Court and from there changed the Received Pronunciation of the day.” (Rosewarne, 1984)

That Estuary English is not a new development is also suggested by John Maidment and John Wells,

“All this leads to the possibility that EE is no more than slightly poshed up Cockney or RP which has gone “down market” in appropriate situations and rather than there being a newly developed accent which we should call EE, all that has happened over recent years is that there has been a redefinition of the appropriateness of differing styles of pronunciation to differing speech situations.” (Maidment, 1994)

“Estuary English is a new name. But it is not a new phenomenon. It is the continuation of a trend that has been going on for five hundred years or more – the tendency for features of popular London speech to spread out geographically (to other parts of the country) and socially (to higher social classes). The erosion of the English class system and the greater social mobility in Britain today means that this trend is more clearly noticeable than was once the case.” (Wells, 1997)

How to explain then to someone where Estuary English comes from? A definition of the term which I found on the internet seems (at least to me) a good description of the variety, since it explains the width of the influence that EE has on RP,

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“Estuary English is a name given to the formulation(s) of English widely spoken in South East England and the East of England; especially along the River Thames and its estuary, which is where the two regions meet. Estuary English is commonly described as a hybrid of Received Pronunciation (RP) and South Eastern Accents, particularly from the London, Kent and Essex area — i.e., the area around the Thames Estuary.” (Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estuary_English).

Although there are many arguments for changing the name Estuary English into something that would be more accurate and appropriate, the term is so well established among people that it would be unwise to change it now.

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3.3. THE MAIN REASONS FOR THE SPREAD OF ESTUARY ENGLISH

3.3.1. OVERCOMING THE CLASS BARRIERS

As stated, the British are very sensitive about their language. For quite a long time the accent was the main determinant by which people judged each other. Accent tells other people who you are, where you are from and what your social status is. With the spread of Estuary English it seems that the barriers between the social classes started to fall, since Estuary English is used by lower-class people, middle-class people and also by the members of the upper-class who a while ago still spoke only with RP. Estuary English is supposed to be a neutral accent, “a middle ground between all types of RP on one side and regional varieties on the other” (Rosewarne, 1984)

If in the past people with accents would never have been seen in positions of power, the situation in England over the last two decades has changed considerably. In 1994, Rosewarne observed that Estuary English is,

“/…/ also to be heard on the front and back benches of the House of Commons and is used by some members of the Lords, whether life or hereditary peers. Ken Livingstone M.P. was given in the first article in The Sunday Times on 14 March 1993 as an example of an Estuary speaker. /…/ Tony Banks M.P., interviewed on the B.B.C. radio programme ‘Word of Mouth’ on 29 June 1993 reported that Estuary English is now spoken by Conservative members of Parliament as well as Labour. Lord Tebbit, cited by The Sunday Times as an Estuary speaker, reports in his recent biography Upwardly Mobile that Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan had referred to him as a Cockney speaker.” (Rosewarne, 1994: 4)

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Paul Kerswill observes that while thirty years ago it would be an exception to hear doctors, scientists, lawyers, teachers, lecturers, industrialists or politicians who appear in the media, speak with an accent, now they all use mild Estuary English or another mild regional accent. He further gives two examples: Jamie Shea, who was NATO spokesman during the 1999 Kosovan war and was entrusted with this highly responsible presentation job although he speaks quite marked Estuary English with a number of London features in his pronunciation, and Greg Dyke, an Estuary speaker who was in 2000 appointed as Director General of the BBC. (Kerswill, 2000)

3.3.2. INFLUENCE OF LONDON

London has always influenced other parts of the country and its immediate neighbourhood, linguistically and in other aspects. The capital is a trend- setter: trends concerning fashion, what is ‘in’ and what is ‘out’, spread from the capital to other parts of the country. Similar is the situation in the field of linguistics. Wells, Coggle and Rosewarne see this influence as an important factor for the spread of Estuary English to other parts of the country,

“Rosewarne (1984, 30), Coggle (1993, 24) and Wells (1997a, 47) consider this influence as one important factor for the spread of London-based EE variants to other parts of the country and to higher classes of society. Both trends are reported to be enhanced by an increase in social and geographical mobility.” (Altendorf, 2003: 24- 25).

Here we should not forget to mention the fact that the majority of the media is also centred in London and that influence from the capital is transmitted to other parts of the country even more easily.

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3.3.3. GEOGRAPHICAL MOBILITY

After World War II, many Londoners started to move out of the centre to the towns that were built outside London. In order to accommodate they modified their accents and during the years, the result of this accommodation is a compromise variety that is a mixture of the accents of the newcomers and the original residents of these towns. David Crystal claims that “their numerical presence (as well as their economic standing) may even have influenced the original residents to accommodate in their direction.” (Crystal, 1995: 327)

3.3.4. SOCIAL MOBILITY

As people can move from one part of the country to another or from one city to another, they can also change their social status. Social mobility is defined as: “[the] process by which individuals move between occupations and social groups, either between generations, or over the course of a lifetime.” (Miles, 1999: 1)

Similar as when people move from one town to another or from one country to another is the situation when they move from one social class to another. In order to accommodate to their new environment, they change not only their living habits, but also linguistic ones and that includes changes in their way of using the language and changes in their accents.

Rosewarne sees that the reason why Estuary English is attractive to many is because it means adaptation by compromising and not by loosing individuals’ original linguistic identity. Because Estuary English is a compromise accent between many accents (i.e. RP and other regional accents) this means that although people can accommodate to the new environment, which is very important to them, they can still retain something that is only theirs (and even if that means that they can retain some of the features of their regional accents).

19 Jasna Svenšek: Estuary English The motivation, often unconscious, to “fit in” includes both those who are falling and those who are rising socio-economically. If we take for example a student of a private school, who has recently become a lawyer and got his job in a society, where the majority of people speak Estuary English, he would (over the time) lower his RP (or near-RP) accent in order to be accepted, to get closer to his clients and to better serve his job.

The formula works the other way around too: a working-class member, who would suddenly become a member of middle-class or upper-class society, would change the accent in order to be accepted by other members of the society.

3.3.5. INFLUENCE OF PEER GROUPS

Similar to adaptation when people move geographically or socio- economically is adaptation in school, work and in social life. Teenagers, in order to be a part of the group, change their linguistic habits. In comprehensive schools, for example, children with different accents are brought together. In desire to be accepted by their peers, students speaking with RP pronunciation (or rather, near RP) would lower their accent in order not to sound “posh” and those speaking with local accents would heighten their accent in order to sound more sophisticated. Since Estuary English is “the middle ground”, that would be the result of this adaptation.

Tom McArthur (1998) explains that Estuary English is also used by

“both upwardly mobile working-class south-easterners and younger people from public (that is, private) schools who wish to adapt away from the RP traditionally valued by their social class, perhaps, as both Rosewarne and Coggle suggest, in order to increase their ‘street-cred’ (slang abbreviation for street credibility , easy and confident familiarity with fashionable urban and especially youth culture)”. (McArthur, 1998)

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3.3.6. THE SPREAD OF COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOLS

According to Rosewarne, an important role in the development of Estuary English played the spread of comprehensive schools throughout the country in the 1960s. These schools were established in order to break down the old British barriers between academic and vocational schooling. In comprehensive schools, people from different social and linguistic backgrounds are brought together and this is the reason why changes in their language start to happen. The changes take place in both directions: those speaking with RP (or near RP) would lower their accent and those speaking with one of the local accents would heighten it.

3.3.7. INFLUENCE OF THE MEDIA AND ROLE MODELS

Since it was first mentioned, the topic of Estuary English was widely covered in the media and this could be one of the reasons for the spread of the variety.

As Haenni (1999) observes, journalists, always on a hunt for new stories which sell newspapers,

“dwelled on the prospect of embarking on another discussion of language standards. Nearly all major ‘broadsheets’ in Britain, but also other papers around the world (e.g. The New York Times or the South China Morning Post ) have published one or more articles on EE in recent years. And once the term had been discovered by the media, the public’s fierce reaction – against what was thought to be yet another example of the steady decay of society – was not very long in coming. Even politicians felt compelled to join in the public outcry: Gillian Shephard, the former British Education Secretary, called EE „a bastardised version of Cockney dialect“ and used it as an opportunity to launch her ‘Better English Campaign’.” (Haenni, 1999: 2)

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The situation in media today is quite different than twenty or thirty years ago. While in the past the only pronunciation that could be heard on television or radio was RP, today we can hear other accents as well, among them Estuary English. It is used by announcers, celebrities, politicians, in interviews, TV shows, series (e.g. EastEnders ) and also in advertising. To give only a few examples of those who are supposed to be Estuary English speakers: Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister, David and Victoria Beckham and Sir Michael Caine.

People, who regularly occur in the media, whether on TV, radio or in the newspapers, i.e. actors, politicians, television and radio presenters, are also important for the rise and spread of Estuary English. They are regularly presented in the media and their linguistic behaviour has an impact on the spectators. Their behaviour, including linguistic one, is often imitated by ordinary people for all kind of reasons. For example, children imitate their cartoon heroes, teenagers their favourite singers, actors, etc.

On the other hand, it is questionable whether the influence of the television and radio is really so powerful that it could cause a permanent change in individuals’ pronunciation.

Trudgill does not believe that media could have an impact on the individuals’ linguistic habits since the innovations do not happen throughout Britain simultaneously,

“/…/ the electronic media are not very instrumental in the diffusion of linguistic innovations, in spite of widespread popular notions to the contrary. The point about the TV set is that people, however much they watch and listen to it, do not talk to it (and even if they do, it cannot hear them!), with the result that no accommodation takes place.

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If there should be any doubt about the vital role of face-to-face contact in this process, one has only to observe the geographical patterns associated with linguistic diffusion. Were nationwide radio and television the major source of this diffusion, then the whole of Britain would be influenced by a particular innovation simultaneously. This of course is not what happens /…/.” (Trudgill, 1986, quoted in Ryfa, 2003: 18)

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3.4. ‘BETWEEN COCKNEY AND RP’

Estuary English is supposed to be the middle ground between RP at the one end of continuum and Cockney at the other end. This explanation given by Rosewarne about the position of Estuary English is too simplistic. It suggests that Estuary English is somehow isolated from both ends of the continuum, RP and Cockney by rigid boundaries. (Maidment, 1994)

Linguists have argued against this definition because the boundaries between all three accents of British English (RP, EE and Cockney) are very fuzzy. Attempts to describe Estuary English in a simple and precise way all ended without any eye-popping results since the characteristics of Estuary English overlap with characteristics of both, RP and Cockney.

As Maidment observes, RP speakers can also be heard to produce glottal replacement of [t], which is a characteristic of Estuary English, as well as it can be heard in many other cities that are far away from the homeland of Estuary English, for example in Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and even New York. On the other hand, H-dropping, a characteristic of a Cockney speaker can also be used by Estuary English speaker in a relaxed, informal style. (Maidment, 1994)

John Wells, in a similar way, describes the use of word cheers for thank you/goodbye which is, according to Rosewarne, feature of Estuary English. He explains that this is surely part of contemporary casual RP/Standard English and that he also uses it but still does not consider himself to be an Estuary English speaker. (Wells, 1994b)

This leads us to the fact that a single identified linguistic characteristic does not automatically mean that we are dealing with an Estuary English speaker.

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However, is there any feature at all for which we can say with a 100 % certainty that belongs to Estuary English? Or is Estuary English really, as Maidment suggests, “no more than slightly poshed up Cockney or RP which has gone ‘down market’ in appropriate situations”? (Maidment, 1994)

In an answer to a MA student in France, provided by Paul Coggle (1999), he explained, that we have to take into consideration the idea of continuum which is very important for EE. There are some speakers who are really quite close to RP at one end and others who are quite close to Cockney at the other, while the main body of the speakers is somewhere in between the two. Estuary English shares many characteristics with both, RP and Cockney, but the most distinguishing aspect of EE is the pronunciation. (Coggle, 1999)

To conclude, although Estuary English shares many characteristics with both RP and Cockney it is still considered a regional accent in its own right, playing an important role in English society.

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3.5. THE FUTURE OF ESTUARY ENGLISH

While Rosewarne (1984) saw Estuary English as a possible RP of the future, others believe that it will only change the standard pronunciation (RP) considerably, but will not replace it. The linguistic changes, whether people consider them good or bad, will continue to happen because language is a living thing.

Trudgill (2001) explains that the newspaper reporters, always in need to write about something that sells newspapers well, usually write about two scenarios concerning RP: (1) that RP is disappearing and (2) that it is being replaced by a new, potentially non-regional accent. Trudgill claims that these two scenarios are largely myths. Among reasons for this misperception he enumerates:

- The appearance of non-RP accents in situations from which they would have been excluded only a few decades ago. This leaves an impression that there are fewer RP speakers than there used to be.

- There are fewer RP speakers since people, who in earlier generations would have been speakers of adoptive RP, no longer are.

- The change of RP itself. RP has acquired forms that before were part of local, notably southeast of England accents.

Trudgill continues to explain that this reasons lead journalists to report that Public School pupils now “speak Cockney”. Nevertheless, one single feature (e.g. /t/-glottaling, which is already accepted into RP) does not make a new accent and certainly does not mean that a standard accent like RP is disappearing.

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That RP is not disappearing, but has just change over time, as all accents do, was also shown in the research carried in 2000 by Anne Fabricius, where she concluded that the younger generations who are supposed to be RP speakers, still are RP speakers. Their RP is slightly different than RP of their parents, but students at universities such as Eton or Cambridge University, who are former pupils at the big Public Schools, are still for the most part RP speakers. Although their RP has new features, for example /t/-glottaling, it still is RP. (Trudgill, 2001)

As far as the popularity of Estuary English is concerned, there will always be people who will find it as an interesting and positive linguistic influence and there will always be those who will see it as “an ogre which threatens the imagined static, pure condition of English language.” (Maidment, 1994)

Since the influence of the capital London has always been significant, Estuary English may continue to influence the accents of the surrounding counties and accent of other parts of the country as well.

The young may continue to use it to fit into their peer groups and others may use it to increase their street credibility or simply in order to adapt to their new environment, geographical or social. In media, the topic will be discussed since it increases the profit. Politicians, celebrities and other people exposed in media may use it to increase their popularity, to reach broader range of “common people” and to sound more down to earth. In the end, however, every individual will decide which variety of Estuary English (or any other accent) serves him or her best, according to the given situation.

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4. ESTUARY ENGLISH VS. RECEIVED PRONUNCIATION

4.1. THE HISTORY OF RECEIVED PRONUNCIATION (RP)

Received Pronunciation (RP) is the standard variety of English pronunciation in Great Britain. It is

“[t]he regionless upper-class and upper-middle-class accent of British – mainly English – English which is associated with the BBC and is usually taught to foreigners learning ‘British English’.” (Trudgill, 1992: 64-65)

There is some disagreement when the question comes to the origins of the term received . Two works are usually mentioned: A.J. Ellis’ On early English Pronunciation (1869-1889) and John Walker’s Critical Pronouncing Dictionary and Expositor of the English Language (1791). In The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English Language, David Crystal (1995) also mentions,

"The British phonetician Daniel S. Jones was the first to codify the properties of RP. It was not a label he much liked, as he explains in an Outline of English Phonetics (1918): ‘I do not consider it possible at the present time to regard any special type as ‘Standard’ or as intrinsically ‘better’ than other types. Nevertheless, the type described in this book is certainly a useful one. It is based on my own (Southern) speech, and is, as far as I can ascertain, that generally used by those who have been educated at ‘preparatory’ boarding schools and the ‘Public Schools’.... The term ‘Received Pronunciation’... is often used to designate this type of pronunciation. This term is adopted here for want of a better.’ (1960, 9th edn, p. 12). The historical linguist H. C. Wyld also made much use of the term 'received' in A Short History of English (1914):

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‘It is proposed to use the term Received Standard for that form which I would probably agree in considering the best, that form which has the widest currency and is heard with practically no variation among speakers of the better class all over the country.’ (1927, 3rd edn, p. 149)” (Crystal, 1995: 365)

The original meaning of the word received therefore is “that which is generally accepted” or “that accepted by the best society”.

RP was (and still is) the accent of public schools and until recently, it also served as the standard model for other countries of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. In media, RP was, until the 1970s, the required accent for announcers on BBC television and radio stations. This is why RP is also called BBC English. Those speaking with RP were considered educated and intelligent and British would refer to them as “people who speak without an accent”. Occupations that have been traditionally most typically associated with an RP accent include barristers (attorneys in the superior courts), stockbrokers and diplomats. RP speakers were, until recently, also privileged – they had opportunity to get better jobs and consequently, their social status was higher:

“The speaker of this form of English has, as is well-known, many social and economic advantages. There are, for example, many posts for which he will automatically be preferred over a candidate who does not speak it. If there are any posts for which the opposite is true, as is sometimes claimed, these are posts which are not likely to arouse serious competition.” (Halliday/McIntosh/Strevens, quoted in Altendorf, 2003: 29)

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RP is the most typical pronunciation model for students of English as a foreign/second language and is supposed to be the accent that is the most understandable for other English speakers, e.g. Americans. It is an accent that is not localizable geographically, but is very recognizable as being the standard.

To be considered “a standard”, a variety has to have certain characteristics and needs to fulfil certain requirements. Altendorf (2003) explains that more requirements a variety fulfils, the higher “the degree of standardness” is. The characteristics which a variety has to have in order to be considered a standard are shown in the following table:

Dimension Characteristics of standard varieties 1. Minimal variation in form : Standard varieties aim at providing one form for one meaning (Haugen 1966, 931). Alternative forms are considered as Linguistic “incorrect” (notion of ‘correctness’) (Stein 1994, 3). 2. Maximal variation in function : Standard varieties must accommodate the linguistic needs of various functions. (Haugen 1966, 931). Appropriate for use in “high functions” : The standard variety is used in situations of official or formal Functional character, such as language of education, science, administration and the national media (Görlach 1988, 133). Supra-local or supra-regional : A standard must have Geographical at least supra-local currency (Milroy 1994, 19). Prestigious : The standard is accepted and used by members of high-status social groups and is a Social prerequisite for social recognition, power and wealth. (Haugen 1966, 932)

30 Jasna Svenšek: Estuary English Scores high on the status dimension : The standard variety is qualified as correct, pure and pleasant. The Attitudinal speaker of this variety is characterized as educated and intelligent. (Bartsch 1987, 243) The standard variety has gone through a process of standardization consisting of the following stages: Historical selection, codification of form, elaboration of function and acceptance . (Haugen 1966, 933)

Table 1: Characteristics of standard varieties

(From Altendorf, 2003: 27-28, deduced from a discussion of different notions of standard varieties by Stein, 1994)

From that point of view RP is a variety with a high degree of standardness – it fulfils all the requirements listed above. According to Altendorf, two most striking characteristics of RP are (1) the total lack of tolerance for regional variation and (2) its social exclusiveness.

These two characteristics are closely connected – since the variety does not tolerate any regional variation at all, it is necessary that a child, in order to learn RP, attends one of the non-regional boarding schools, which are usually far away from home, are expensive and therefore available only to those with enough money to afford it. A less exclusive and less expensive alternative is to attend a grammar school, which were until recently also very RP-oriented. The ones who, after grammar school, make it to the University (such as Oxford or Cambridge) can continue to acquire RP there.

Trudgill (2001) also sees the reason for the total lack of regionality of RP in the boarding schools,

“What is unusual about RP /…/ is that it is the accent of English English with the highest status and that it is totally non-regional. It is a defining characteristic of the RP accent that,

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while it is clearly a variety that is associated with England, and to a certain extent also with the rest of the United Kingdom, it otherwise contains no regional features whatsoever. Of course, typologically it has its origins in the southeast of England. Unlike accents from the southwest of England, for example, it is a non-rhotic accent. And

unlike the accents of the north of England, it has / / rather than /æ/ in the lexical sets of bath and dance . The point is, however, that it is not possible to ascribe any geographical origins to a genuine native RP speaker other than that they are almost certainly British, and probably English. This peculiar lack of regionality must be due to a peculiar set of sociolinguistic preconditions, and has in fact often been ascribed to its origin in British residential and therefore also non-regional, schools for the children of the upper-classes, the so- called Public Schools.” (Trudgill, 2001)

In Britain, the accent is geographical and also social determinant. The relationship between individual’s social status and accent is usually presented by a diagram which has a form of equilateral triangle:

Highest class: RP speakers

Social class variation Social class

Lowest class: broad local accents

Picture 2: Social status according to the accent (From http://www.ic.arizona.edu/~lsp/BritishEnglish.html)

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The base of the triangle is broad and represents different regional accents, spoken by the lower social classes. Here the amount of phonological variation is high. Going upwards, the narrowness of the triangle increases, implying that the higher we go on the social scale, the lower the amount of phonological variation is. The point at the top of the triangle implies no phonological variation at all, which is one of the main characteristics of RP. (Trudgill, 2001)

Even more interesting is that Trudgill claims anyone with enough linguistic knowledge can recognize people from different social classes as coming from different parts of the country:

“Thus, an unskilled manual worker might be recognisable by anybody having the appropriate sort of linguistic knowledge as coming from Bristol, a non-manual worker as coming from the West Country, a middle-class professional person as coming from somewhere in the south of England, and an upper-middle class RP speaker as coming simply from England, even if all of them had their origins in Bristol. Equally, a typical middle-class person from Birmingham will obviously have an accent which is phonetically and phonologically different from that of middle-class person from Bristol, but the differences between the accents of two working-class speakers from the same places will be even greater.” (Trudgill, 2001)

RP is not spoken by a large percentage of population. Despite the fact that it is a variety with no or minimal variation in form, there are some distinctions within the variety that have been observed by several linguists and over the years a number of names such as Near-RP, Advanced RP, Mainstream RP and Conservative RP emerged to distinguish different sub-varieties.

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John Wells describes Near-RP as an accent that does not fall within the definition of RP but includes very little in the way of regionalisms which would enable listener to localize the speaker within England or as coming from Australia, New Zealand or South Africa. The speaker of Near RP is still thought of as “educated”, “well-spoken” and “middle class” by the majority of population. (Wells, 1982)

There is also a difference between RP of younger and older generation. While young speak so called Advanced RP, older people usually speak what is called Conservative RP – RP that was spoken in the 1940s and 1950s.

Conservative RP speakers usually do not tolerate changes within the standard accent and look at these changes as a threat to their precious RP. Mainstream RP is considered neutral regarding age, occupation and lifestyle of a speaker.

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4.2. SOME PHONETIC FEATURES OF RECEIVED PRONUNCIATION

The features of Received Pronunciation, described below are all retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_Pronunciation.

4.2.1. VOWELS a) MONOPTHONGHS

Monophthongs

Front Central Back

long short long short long short

Close

Mid

Open

Table 2: Monophthongs of RP

Picture 3: Monophthongs of RP. (From Roach, 2004: 242)

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Examples of short vowels:

• // in kit and mirror ,

• // in put, • /e/ in dr ess and merry ,

• // in str ut and curry , • /æ/ in tr ap and marry ,

• // in lot and orange , • /ə/ in ago and sof a.

Examples of long vowels:

• /i / in fl ee ce ,

• /u / in goo se ,

• // in nur se ,

• // in nor th and th ou ght,

• / / in father and st ar t.

‘Long’ and ‘short’ are relative to each other. Because of phonological process affecting vowel length, short vowels in one context can be longer than long vowels in other context. For example, a long vowel following a fortis (voiceless) consonant sound, e.g. /p/, /k/, /s/, etc. is shorter; therefore reed is pronounced [ ] while heat is [ ]. On the other hand, the short vowel /æ/ becomes longer when followed by a lenis (voiced) consonant: bat is therefore pronounced [ ] and bad is pronounced [ ]. If the plosives /t/ and /d/ are unreleased utterance-finally, the distinction between these words rests mostly on the length of the vowel.

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The length of a vowel also depends on the stress. Therefore, unstressed vowels are both shorter and more centralized than stressed ones. In unstressed syllables occurring before vowels and in final position, contrasts between long and short high vowels are neutralized and short [i] and [u] occur. b) DIPHTHONGS

Diphthong Example

Closing

/e / /be / bay /a / /ba / buy

/ / /b / boy ə ə beau / / /b / /a / /b az/ browse Centring

/ə/ /b ə/ beer

/e ə/ /be ə/ bear

ə ə boor / / /b /

Table 3: Diphthongs of RP

Picture 4: Diphthongs of RP. (From Roach, 2004: 242)

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Before World War II, /ə/ appeared in words like door but was later substituted with /:/ similar is situation with /ə/, which is also beginning to merge with / :/. In the closing diphthongs, the glide is often so small as to be undetectable so that day and dare can be narrowly transcribed as [de:] and [d:] respectively. c) TRIPHTHONGS

RP also possesses two triphthongs: /aə/ as in ire and /aə/ as in hour . The realizations presented in the following table are not phonemically distinctive, though the difference between /aə/, /aə/, and / / may be neutralised to become [ ] or [a:].

Triphthongs

As Triphthong Loss of mid- Further simplified two syllables element as

ə [a .ə] [a ə] [a: ] [a:]

[.ə] [ə] [ ə] [ ]

Table 4: Triphthongs of RP

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4.2.2. CONSONANTS

Bilabial Labio- Dental Alveolar Post- Palatal Velar Glottal dental alveolar

Nasal 1

Plosive

Affricate

Fricative

Approximant

Lateral

Table 5: Consonants of RP

1. Nasals and liquids may be syllabic in unstressed syllables. 2. /ð/ is more often a weak dental plosive; the sequence /nð/ is often realized as [n n].

3. /h/ becomes [ ] between voiced sounds.

4. // is postalveolar unless devoicing results in a voiceless fricative articulation (see below). 5. /l/ is velarized in the syllable coda.

When consonants appear in pairs, fortis consonants (voiceless) appear on the left and lenis consonants (lightly voiced or voiced) appear on the right.

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Unless preceded by /s/, fortis plosives (/p/, /t/, and /k/) are aspirated before stressed vowels; when a sonorant /l/, / /, /w/, or /j/ follows, this aspiration is indicated by partial devoicing of the sonorant.

Syllable final /p/, /t/, /t /, and /k/ are preceded by a glottal stop; /t/ may be fully replaced by a glottal stop, especially before a syllabic nasal ( button

[). RP’s long vowels are slightly diphthongized, especially the high vowels /i / and /u / which are often narrowly transcribed in phonetic literature as diphthongs [ ] and [ ].

4.2.3. PHONETIC CHANGES IN RP

Accents change over time and RP is no exception. The RP spoken in the 1950s was different from the RP spoken today. Linguists that have compared the Queen’s speeches from the first that was broadcast on BBC and up until today found out that her pronunciation has changed over the years. Changes in RP can also be observed on BBC. The RP in the 1950s was different from todays and is easily recognizable as such; today this RP is often used in TV or radio programmes which want to satirize social attitudes that are out of date.

Before World War II, the vowel of cup was a back vowel close to cardinal

[] but has since shifted forward to a central position so that [] is more accurate; phonetic transcription of this vowel as <> is common partly for historical reasons. Some old-fashioned forms of RP, still occasionally heard from older speakers, have other variations in their phonology including words like off , cloth , gone being pronounced with / / instead of

// and a distinction between horse and hoarse with an extra diphthong

/ə/ appearing in words like hoarse , force , and pour .

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RP is becoming more and more influenced by popular English accents. In his discussion paper The Cockneyfication of RP? , Wells has identified some characteristics of non-standard accents, including Cockney (the working-class speech of London) that (1) have been resisted by RP and also some changes that (2) have been accepted into RP:

1. CHANGES RESISTED BY RP:

• H-dropping , which is a failure to pronounce /h/ sound in positions where RP speakers would pronounce it, e.g. [ ] instead of [ ] for hand , [] instead of [] for hedge , [ ] instead of [ ] for behind .

One has to be careful when defining h-dropping, because it does not include the loss of historical /h/ in words spelled wh-, e.g. what [ ], where [ ǝ] and the omission of /h/ in the weak-forms of function words, as in tell him [].

Wells also notes that current trend towards pronouncing [h] in many weak- forms as for example in tell him [ ] might be an answer to non- standard h-dropping.

• G-dropping , which is the pronunciation of the –ing ending with an alveolar rather than a velar nasal: [] instead of [ ] for walking , [] instead of [ ] for reading . The name refers to the spelling device sometimes used to signal this pronunciation, thus walkin', readin' . Again, a bourgeois reaction against this lower-class usage can be detected in the squeezing out of g-dropping from its former prevalence in aristocratic speech ( huntin', shootin' and fishin' ).

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• Realization of /æ/ in that man has changed during this century, as this has often been noted. The tendency towards an opener quality may be seen as a reaction against the Cockney [] type, leading to an / /-like [a] which just happens to resemble variants long associated with provincial accents (northern, Welsh, Scottish).

• Weakening of you to /j ǝǝǝ/ which is a device of non-standard accents. RP generally avoids this form at least in prominent positions such as utterance-final. While Cockney has [ sǝi j ǝ] for see you , where the final vowel of you is very open and /V/-like (which is in spelling shown as yer or ya ), RP on the other hand has [ si: ju], where [u] stands for a vowel that is shorter than that of the strong-form /ju:/, but in quality is certainly no more central than the [ ] of good . The same applies to your and you’re , where

RP generally retains / / (or the older /j ǝ/), eschewing the vulgar / /.

Once again, we note the disappearance of the old -RP / /. A similar tendency, though perhaps not so marked, can be observed in the weak syllables of words such as ambulance, educate, manufacture , where RP continues to prefer [ ] over the popular [ ]. The popular weakening to [ ǝ] of the final vowel in window, pillow , and similar words, is similarly resisted by RP, where these items end in unstressed [ ]. While pillow and pillar may be homophonous in Cockney, in RP they are not.

2. CHANGES ACCEPTED INTO RP:

• Decline of weak [ ]. The vowel [ ] is becoming less frequent in weak syllables. For example, visibility that would be earlier pronounced

[ ], now is mostly pronounced [ǝǝ ].

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Traditional RP [ ] is yielding ground on the one hand to [i], in final and prevocalic positions, and on the other hand, in pre-consonantal positions, to [ ǝ]. By [i] Wells refers to the / ~ i:/ neutralization that may eventuate as

[], [i:], or as something in between the two, or inconsistently fluctuating, as final /i/ in happy [ ], coffee [ ], and prevocalically in various

[ǝǝ] and radiate [ ].

The opposite trend of development, substitution of traditional [I] with [ ǝ] in pre-consonantal position, can be detected particularly in the endings -less, -ness, -ily, -ity and adjectival -ate , and to some extent also in -ed, -es, -et, -ace .

While in 1967 this substitution was not acceptable (in 1967, Jones’ English

Pronunciation Dictionary (EPD) continued to state that [-ǝǝ] in carelessness ‘cannot properly be regarded as coming within the limits of what should be included in this Dictionary’ (1967: xxxi)), ten years after, in 1977, Gimson in his revision of EPD already described the trend towards

[ǝ] as ‘firmly established’ and ‘an acceptable variant’ (1977: xvi). In 1990,

Wells in his LPD put [ ǝǝ ] in the first place, leaving the traditional

[-] in the second.

While the trend towards final/prevocalic [i] might be attributed to the influence of Cockney, where [ ] is still often to be heard in the question endings, the trend towards pre-consonantal [ ǝ] can be attributed to provincial England, particularly the north and east (including Essex, just outside London), and perhaps even more to North America, Australia, and Ireland.

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• T-glottalling is the switch from an alveolar to a glottal articulation of /t/, where /t/ is realized as / / in syllable-final environments. T-glottalization can, in casual RP, be heard:

1.) Before obstruents, where it is firmly established (e.g. in football

[ ] or in it’s quite good [ ])

2.) Before other consonants (as in atmosphere [ǝǝ ],

Gatwick [ ] or in partly [ ])

3.) Among younger RP-speakers it can even be heard finally

before vowels (e.g. in pick it up [ ]) or in absolute final

position (e.g. in Let's start! [ ]).

T-glottalization remains firmly excluded from RP when occurring intervocalically within a word, while in Cockney it is also acceptable when occurring in that position (e.g. in city [ ]). Nevertheless, the increased use of glottal stops within RP can be attributed to influence from Cockney and other working-class urban speech.

• L-vocalization, where the ‘dark’ allophone /l/ loses its alveolar lateral nature and becomes a vowel of the [ ] or [ ] type. L-vocalization occurs only in pre-consonantal and word-final positions (with exception when the following word begins with a vowel), as in milk [ ] or middle [ ].

Many RP speakers use it in labial environments, as in myself [ ] or in tables [ ].

• R-intrusion is the insertion of an r-sound at the end of a word ending in a non-high vowel (usually one of / ə, ə, , /) when the next word begins with a vowel,

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as in put a comma [r] in , the idea [r] of it, Leamington Spa [r] and Warwick, I saw [r] it happen .

R-intrusion is generalization of the non-rhotic linking-r principle (e.g.

[ ] for better , but [ ] in better off ) to cases that are phonetically analogous but historically and orthographically different. Instead of earlier rule of deleting [r] except before vowels, RP and Cockney now both have a rule of inserting [r] across a hiatus involving a mid or open vowel in the left-hand environment. R-intrusion can also operate within a word before a suffix, as magenta [r] ish, Kafka [r] esque, withdraw [r]al, saw [r] ing .

Despite the extended use of intrusive [r] in RP (and other non-rhotic accents), it still remains the object of overt stigmatization.

One of the reasons that it is heard more frequently lately is the fact that

/ / merging with / / has caused the spread of r-intrusion to the environments from which it was previously excluded. While in RP, manner and manor have been homophonous with manna for some two hundred years, sore and soar have become phonetically identical with saw only in the present century. Hence the analogy for r-intrusion after / / has arisen only quite recently, which explains two things: first, why there are many RP speakers who intrude after / ə/ but not after / /, and secondly, why intrusive [r] in withdrawal or sawing seems to trigger complaints from today’s purists more readily than [r] in sonata in G .

• Yod coalescence where /tj/ is realized as / / and /dj/ is realized as

//. It occurs in several different environments:

1.) In casual RP, yod coalescence is well established when

involving clitic you or your , as in what you want [ ],

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would you mind [ ] or in put your (things down)

[] and is avoided in careful or mannered style. Sometimes it is classified as Cockneyism.

When /t/ is involved (as in what you …), it faces a rival in t-glottaling and eventually one development or the other prevails. Other cross-word- boundary sequences are less likely to exhibit coalescence: Soviet Union, hundred yards .

2.) Within a word, with an unstressed vowel in the right-hand environment, RP sometimes accepts yod coalescence and sometimes not. While in some words it is used for a long time now (e.g. in picture or soldier ), in other words its use is more recent and subject to stylistic variation. While in the 1960s only /tj/ was acceptable in perpetual and only /dj/ in graduate , today

everyday RP variants involve / / and / /, while /tj/ and /dj/ are considered as careful pronunciation. Similar is situation for

statue and virtue where Wells in LPD gives / / as first choice.

3.) Within a stressed syllable (e.g. in tune or duke ), yod coalescence is still considered as non-RP. Still, traditional RP

[ ] and [ ] face strong rivals in [ ] and [ ]. In near-RP, the first syllable of Tuesday sounds like choose and the last syllable of reduce just like juice . What is seems to be happening is that within few decades, yod coalescence will prevail in those situations, too.

• Other changes. That RP changes constantly, is also evident from the opinion poll findings reported in LPD for British English, which often reveal preferences differing from those of earlier generations.

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These changes include changes in stress, as is example in controversy , where con’troversy is now preferred over initially stressed ‘ controversy and in contribute , which can now be also initially stressed – a variant, which in the past was not admitted.

Here we can also mention changes in pronunciation like in suit , where

/ / is now preferred over / / and in accomplish , where the variant with / / is preferred over that with / /.

Wells also explains that it is important not to lose sight of the fact that “accents, and more generally varieties of language, are not objective entities so much as mental constructs” and that he prefers a “sociolinguistic definition of RP, which entails recognizing the possibility of change. Some of those changes can reasonably be attributed to influence from Cockney – often overtly despised, but covertly imitated.” (Wells, 1994a)

4.3. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF ESTUARY ENGLISH

Rosewarne describes Estuary English as a mixture of “London” and General RP forms which has the following characteristics:

1.) Phonetic:

• Use of /w/ where RP uses /l/ in the final position or in a final consonant cluster (for example milk – miwk), • Greater use of glottal stop in the place of RP’s /t/ or /d/, as for example in such words as Sco’land, sta’ement, etc., • Yod dropping, although this is also established in RP (for example /nu:s/ and not /nju:s/ for news), • Realization of /r/: the tip of the tongue is lowered and the central part raised to a position close to, but not touching, the soft palate,

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• Vowel quality is a compromise between unmodified regional forms and those of General RP; • Vowels in final positions (such as /i:/ in me and second /I/ in city) are longer than normally found in RP and may tend towards the quality of a diphthong.

2.) Stress and intonation:

• Intonation falls onto the prepositions and auxiliary verbs which are normally not stressed in General RP (Let us get TO the point.), • Greater use of question tags such as “isn’t it?” and “don’t I?” , • The pitch of intonation patterns is in a narrower frequency band than RP.

3.) Vocabulary:

• Cheers used instead of thank you but it can also mean goodbye • There you go is used instead of more standard Here you are • Frequent use of word basically • There is is used as in both singular and plural contexts • Extensive use of Americanisms ( excuse me instead of sorry ; in the context of the telephone busy instead of engaged ; who’s this? instead of who’s speaking? or who’s that? ). (Rosewarne, 1994: 4-6)

As we can see, Rosewarne characterizes Estuary English not only in terms of an accent but also in terms of a dialect – according to Rosewarne, the changes do not happen only on the level of phonetics and phonology, but also on the level of vocabulary, including stress and intonation.

The characteristics presented by Rosewarne have been (as every other aspect of Estuary English) discussed by different linguists and many of them have been criticized.

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John Maidment, for example, rejected almost all characteristics that Rosewarne claimed to belong to Estuary English: glottal replacement, realization of /r/, tone and pitch features, yod coalescence and the place of intonation. (Maidment, 1994)

David Crystal claims that Estuary English is distinctive also as a dialect, not only as an accent; to support this claim he enumerates several grammatical characteristics of Estuary English:

• The ‘confrontational’ question tag (e.g. I said I was going, didn’t I?) • Certain negative forms such as never referring to a single occasion (e.g. I never did, no I never.) • The omission of the –ly adverbial ending (e.g. They talked very quiet for a while.) • Certain prepositional uses (e.g. I got off of the bench.) • Generalization of the third person singular form especially in narrative style (e.g. I gets out of the car.) and also the generalized past tense use of was (e.g. We was walking down the road.). (Crystal, 1995: 327)

In 1991, Wells has identified many of the features of Estuary English as already accepted into RP and in 1998 he therefore proposes following definition for Estuary English: Estuary English is a “standard English spoken with an accent that includes features localizable in the southeast of England.” (Wells, 1998)

Wells (1998, quoted in Altendorf, 2003: 13) claims that phonetic and phonological features of Estuary English are:

• Non-intervocalic T-glottaling (e.g. but [ ]) • L-vocalization (e.g. milk [miok])

• Yod coalescence after /t/ and /d/ in stressed syllables (e.g. tune [ ])

• ST palatalization (e.g. stew [ ])

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• Happy tensing (e.g. happy ])

• Diphthong shift in FACE – [ ]

• Diphthong shift in PRICE – [ ]

• Diphthong shift in GOAT – [ ]

• GOAT – GOAL split: [g ] vs. [g ].

4.3.1. SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN RP AND EE

According to Wells, Estuary English is similar to RP in that it is associated with standard grammar and usage. Many of the features that were considered as features of Estuary English in the past are now completely or partially accepted into RP. These features are:

• L-vocalization • T-glottalization • Happy tensing • Yod coalescence.

The main difference between Estuary English and RP according to Wells is the localizability of Estuary English. While RP can not be localized within England, Estuary English can be localized as belonging to the southeast of England. (Wells, 1994)

There are also some features where Estuary English is different from RP, but similar to Cockney:

• Diphthong shift in FACE and PRICE • GOAT – GOAL split.

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On the other hand, Estuary English is also different from Cockney. Features that are still considered Cockney and are not part of EE phonetics are:

• TH-fronting (e.g. [ ] for I think , [ ] for mother )

• H-drop ([ ] for hand )

• Monophthongal MOUTH vowel ([ ] for mouth )

• Intervocalic word-internal glottal replacement ([ ] for forty , [ ] for water ).

As we can see, it is hard to establish which features, if any at all, belong exclusively to Estuary English. This problem has already been described by Paul Coggle in 1993:

“It should now be clear that Estuary English cannot be pinned down to a rigid set of rules regarding specific features of pronunciation, grammar and special phrases. A speaker at the Cockney end of the spectrum is not so different from a Cockney speaker. And similarly, a speaker at the RP end of the spectrum will not be very different from an RP speaker. Between the two extremes is a quite range of possibilities, many of which, in isolation, would not enable us to identify a person as an Estuary speaker, but which when several are present together mark out Estuary English distinctively.” (Coggle, 1993: 70)

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5. ESTUARY ENGLISH ON TELEVISION

The accent on television that we can hear today is considerably different from the accent heard twenty or thirty years ago. While in the past the only acceptable accent was RP, today announcers, reporters and other people presented on television, use other accents as well. Language changes constantly and those changes have found their way to the media as well as to other aspects of individual’s life.

The reason why different broadcasting networks use other accents than RP, lies in the simple fact that all TV stations depend on their spectators and in order to get closer to them, to get their attention and consequently to raise their popularity, different accents are used, including Estuary English. Although today use of different accents on TV is accepted by the majority of people, there are still some, who find this quite unacceptable. For those people, the only accent that should be used is RP, while all the other accents are worthless and are considered a ‘sloppy speech’. However, there are still certain professions (e.g. teaching, TV and radio announcing, news reporting, etc.) and certain radio and TV programmes where RP is still the only pronunciation accepted.

In this part of my paper the main objective is to find out how often Estuary English is used in the popular TV soap EastEnders , where I will try to find as many features of Estuary English as I can.

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5.1. EASTENDERS

The following data is taken from the web site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EastEnders.

5.1.1. HISTORY OF THE SERIES

EastEnders is a popular BBC television soap opera, which was first broadcasted in the UK in 1985 and continuing to date. The story is set in the fictional London Borough of Walford. The central focus of the show is that of the equally fictional Victorian square of terraced houses, a pub, a street market and various small businesses in the East End of London, named Albert Square. It was built around the early 20 th century and was named after Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria.

EastEnders’ storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in Albert Square. The idea for a new soap opera on BBC1 was conceived in 1983. the job of creating this new soap was given to script writer Tony Holland and producer Julia Smith. They created twenty-four original characters for the show, based upon Holland’s family and people they remembered from their own experiences in the East End. The show with a working title of East 8 was renamed Eastenders , when Smith and Holland realised they had been phoning casting agencies for months asking whether they had “any real East Enders” on their books. Julia Smith thought ‘ Eastenders ’ “looked ugly written down” and capitalised the second ‘e’ and the name EastEnders was born.

The series is one of the UK’s highest-rated programmes, often appearing near or at the top of the week’s BARB (Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board) ratings.

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The series has won many awards: five BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Awards, as well as eight National Television Awards for ‘Most Popular Serial Drama’ and five awards for ‘Best soap’ at the British Soap Awards. It has consistently won the Inside Soap Award for ‘Best Soap’ for ten years running.

EastEnders is aired around the world in many English-speaking countries: Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, The Netherlands and Canada. The series was also aired in the United States and it is shown on BBC Prime in Europe and Africa. It was also shown on BBC Prime in Asia.

The series proved highly popular, which was reflected in Aprecciation Indexes rising from 55 – 60 at the launch to 85 – 95 later on, a figure, which was nearly ten points higher than the average for a British soap opera. Research suggested that people found characters true to life, the plots believable and, important in the face of criticism of the contents, people watched as a family and regarded it as viewing for all the family.

5.1.2. CRITIQUES

EastEnders has received both praise and critiques for most of its storylines, which have dealt with difficult themes, such as violence, rape and murder. In the 1980s, the series featured gritty storylines involving drugs and crime, representing the issues faced by working-class Britain. The show also dealt with prostitution, mixed-race relationships, shoplifting, sexism, divorce, domestic violence and mugging.

In 1997, several episodes were shot and set in Ireland and were later criticised for portraying the Irish in a negatively stereotypical way.

Mary Whitehouse (a British campaigner for the values of morality and decency) criticised at the time that the series represented a violation of “family viewing time” and that it undermined the watershed policy. She

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regarded EastEnders as a fundamental assault on the family and morality itself.

The storyline about HIV was very successful in raising awareness about the disease. In 1999, the National Aids Trust survey revealed that teenagers got most of their information about HIV from the soap.

The child abuse storyline in the soap made calls to NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) go up by 60 %. The chief executive of the NSPCC praised the storyline for covering the subject in a direct and sensitive way, coming to the conclusion that people were more likely to report any issues related to child protection because of it.

The birth of a baby girl, diagnosed with Down’s syndrome, has attracted a lot of criticism. The storyline has been criticised by the Royal College of Midwives, who claimed that it was unrealistic and inaccurate.

The Down’s syndrome Association said that the way the parents found out about their baby’s condition in the series is not the best practice model, but is still a realistic situation. Conversely, learning disability charity Mencap has praised the soap, saying it will help to raise awareness.

Aside from this soap opera deals with storylines about youthful romance, jealousy, domestic rivalry, gossip and extra-marital affairs, while high- profile storylines occur several times a year.

5.1.3. CHARACTERS

The majority of EastEnders’ characters are working-class. Middle-class characters do occasionally become regulars, but have been less successful and rarely become long-term characters. The series was built around the idea of ‘clans’ and strong families, with each character having a place in the community.

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This theme encompasses the whole Square, making the entire community a family of sorts, prey to upsets and conflicts, but all pulling together in times of trouble.

EastEnders has always featured a culturally diverse cast which has included African-american, Asian, Turkish and Polish characters. Despite this the programme has been criticised for not giving a realistic presentation of the East End’s “ethnic make-up”.

The Commission for Racial Equality suggested that the average proportion of visible minority faces on EastEnders was substantially lower than the actual ethnic minority population in East London boroughs and it therefore reflected the East End of the 1960s not the East End of today. The programme has since attempted to address these issues. A sari shop was opened and various characters of different ethnicities were introduced in 2006 and 2007 in order to make EastEnders more “up to date”.

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6. LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS

Six episodes of EastEnders were analysed. My attempt was to find out how many times (if at all) different features of Estuary English are used in this soap. Since all the characters are working-class people, their Estuary English was most of the time closer to Cockney than to RP, but still was not pure Cockney. Since I am not a professional phonetician, I listened to each episode several times to ensure the relevance of the results. During the listening I also noticed some features of Cockney, but they were excluded from my observation, since the focus of this paper is Estuary English.

6.1. FEATURES OBSERVED

The following features of Estuary English were observed:

• Non-intervocalic T-glottaling

This is a feature, where a voiceless alveolar plosive /t/ is realised as a voiceless glottal plosive / /. Although glottalization is a process that can also affect other voiceless plosives than /t/ (/p/ and /k/ as well), in my study I focused only on glottalization of /t/. Despite the fact that today T- glottalization is widespread throughout England, it is still stigmatized.

Examples: department / /, but / /, pick it up / /.

• L-vocalization

This is a feature, where RP’s /l/ is realised either as /o/, / / or /w/. Although not as widespread as T-glottalization, today it is generally accepted into RP.

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Similar as T-glottalization, L-vocalization was for a long time a subject of social stigmatization and even today, despite the fact that it is already accepted into RP, is still esteemed low and associated with London English.

Examples: middle / /, hill / /.

• Yod coalescence after /t/ and /d/ in stressed syllables

Yod coalescence is a feature, where /tj/ and /dj/ in stressed syllables are pronounced as / / and / /.

While yod coalescence is accepted into RP when occurring in unstressed syllables within a word (e.g. in nature [ ] and across word boundaries (e.g. in would you [ ], it is still not fully accepted when occurring in stressed syllables (e.g. in tune [ ] or duke [ ]).

Although yod coalescence is not as stigmatized as T-glottalization or L- vocalization, it is also the subject of the complaint tradition:

“I am tired of hearing presenters – from weather girls to news readers – refer to ‘Chewsday’ [Tuesday] ... and to ‘Alec Shtewart’ [Stewart] (who keeps wicket for England) and using ‘jew’ as a word to replace many others, as in ‘Jew agree?’ [Do you agree] or ‘Jew [due] to rain there was no play at Chrent [Trent] Bridge today’ ... The insidious degradation of spoken English saddens me and someone ought to stand up and say ‘enough’.” (P. Skellern, quoted in Kerswill, 2000)

• ST palatalization

This is a feature, where RP’s [st] is substituted with [ ], like in stew [ ].

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Altendorf explains that despite relative frequent occurrence, this feature is rarely mentioned in already exisiting literature. A discussion Altendorf found on the internet, prompted by Harrison in February 1999, reveals that palatalization of /str/ clusters has been noted in south-east England, New Zealand and in the United States. (Altendorf, 2003: 69.)

• Happy tensing

A feature, where the final sound of words like happy or coffee is rather similar to the [ ] of reed than to the [ ] of hit . Wells explains that the precise quality of the final vowel in happy is not so important:

“Many recent works on English phonetics transcribe this weak vowel as [i], which can then be interpreted in various ways according to the speaker’s accent. In strong syllables (stressed, or potentially stressed) it is crucial to distinguish tense long [i:] from lax short [I], since green must be distinct from grin and sleep from slip . But in weak syllables this distinction does not apply – the precise quality of the final vowel in happy is not so important.” (Wells, 1997)

• Diphthong shift

Three instances of diphthong shift were observed:

- in FACE, where diphthong [ ] is realised as [ ],

- in PRICE, where diphthong [ ] is realised as [ ] and

- in GOAT, where diphthong [ ] is realised as [ ].

These diphthong shifts are all part of the London Diphthong Shift (LDS) – a shift that affects RP’s diphthongs and long vowels (picture 4).

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RP

Popular London

Cockney

Picture 4: London Diphthong Shift (From Wells, 1982: 308, 310.)

• GOAT – GOAL split

A split, where RP’s diphthong [ ] that occurs in both goat [ ] and goal

[ ] becomes [ ] in goat and [ ] in goal .

6.2. THE RESULTS

When a certain feature of Estuary English occurred in the speech of the characters observed, it was marked and written down in which word or context it occurred. According to Altendorf (2003) this is the Labovian “principle of accountability”. The features are listed according to their frequency, from the most to the least frequent. The place of occurrence is marked with square brackets.

Not surprisingly, the most noted and frequently used feature in number of different environments was T-glottalization.

• T-glottalization

- within a word: li[tt]le, perfec[t]ly, daugh[t]er, plen[t]y, par[t]y,

60 Jasna Svenšek: Estuary English - word-final position: idio[t], go[t] confused, nigh[t], Pa[t], bu[t], figh[t], experiment[t], apar[t], smar[t], righ[t], le[t]’s see, - combination of both: swee[t]hear[t], impor[t]an[t].

• L-vocalization

- within a word: he[l]p, fi[l]m, rea[ll]y, mi[l]k, - word-final position: Phi[l], wi[ll], petro[l], dea[l], ki[ll], hote[l], fee[l], te[ll], hea[l], ro[ll], pu[ll].

• Happy tensing

Happy tensing was noticed in words like: coff[ee], happ[y], sorr[y], read[y], funn[y], famil[y].

• ST-palatalization

This feature was observed in following words: [st]upid, [st]ew, [st]ranger, [st]raight, [st]range, [st]rong.

• Yod coalescence

Yod coalescence was found only when occurring across word boundaries, e.g. in: need you [ ], did you [ ], what (do) you want [ ], scared you [ ], loved you [ ], believed you [ ].

• Diphthong shift in

- FACE: face [ ], great [ ], made [ ], hate [ ],

space [ ],

- PRICE: price [ ], time [ ], fine [ ].

• GOAT – GOAL split

- no instance of [ ] was found,

- [ ] in cold [ ] and home [ ].

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6.3. INTERPRETATION

The frequency of the results shows that, most of the time, Estuary English in the soap EastEnders is closer to RP than to Cockney. The most frequent features are those that are already fully or partially accepted into contemporary RP (T-glottalization, L-vocalization and Yod coalescence).

When it comes to the features that Estuary English shares with Cockney (e.g. H-dropping), the frequency starts to fall rapidly. On the other hand, there are many instances of intervocalic T-glottalization (a feature where T-glottalization occurs between two vowels and is considered to be a Cockney feature). This only shows how fuzzy the boundaries between two or three closely connected accents can be. Unless it is completely excluded from the influences of other accents, no world accent can be completely “pure”.

The characters observed in the episodes differed in age and belonged to parts of working-class society. The differences between their pronunciation and vocabulary were therefore the consequence of age differences and, possibly, gender difference. The characters observed all occurred in several analysed episodes. In general, three different generations were observed:

- Young generation : children or young people, aged from about 12 to 20, - Middle generation : characters aged around 20 to 40; most of those characters already have their jobs, - Older generation: characters aged 40 and up. The oldest character is female character of Dot Branning, who is already a grandmother.

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Since the series is very diverse according to different ethnicities, there were also some differences in the pronunciation and vocabulary of characters that present those minorities in the series. When observing the Masood family, an Asian family in the series, I did not come across any instances of Estuary English.

On the other hand, the English of some African American characters (e.g. Denise Wicks or her daughters, Chelsea and Abby) and those who present the younger generation (Stacey or Bradley) seemed to me sometimes closer to Cockney than to RP.

Together with phonetic features that occurred in the speech of the characters (described in section 6.2.) I also noticed some grammatical features that are, according to David Crystal(1995), part of Estuary English:

• Generalization of third person singular form to other environments, e.g.: we was …, you was gonna be there... , • Use of don’t instead of doesn’t : That don’t count . • Certain prepositional use: Get off of me!

Among described features I came across many features that show language in EastEnders as casual and not formal: e.g. use of forms ay , all right , gonna , gotta , ain’t , etc. All of these examples are also frequently criticised as careless or even vulgar speech. What is interesting, however, is the fact that some of them actually have their origins in English language that was already spoken centuries ago:

“Ain’t arose toward the end of an eighteenth century period that marked the development of most of the English contracted verb forms such as can’t , don’t , and won’t . The form first appears in print in 1685, in a Latin text regarding English variability. The variant an’t

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arose in speech around the same time, and is still commonly used in some parts of England.

An’t appears first in print in the work of Restoration playwrights: it is seen first in 1695, when William Congreve wrote I can hear you farther off, I an’t deaf , suggesting that the form was in the beginning a contraction of “am not”.” (Retrieved from: http://www.answers.com/aint)

I also did not notice any instances of Estuary English in the speech of the oldest character in the analysed episodes (Dot Branning, 72 years old).

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7. CONCLUSION

Although not a recent development, Estuary English started to gain people’s attention when it was first mentioned in 1984 by David Rosewarne. Since then it has been the subject of a number of discussions and the target of people’s rage and disagreement. It has been discussed on every level an accent can be discussed on, from its existence to its features. Some other name suggested by linguistic experts for this accent might be more appropriate, but it has not been changed yet since the term Estuary English is already well established among people.

Defining Estuary English is not as easy as it seems. The impression is that where Estuary English is different from RP, it is similar to Cockney and vice versa. Nevertheless, it is an accent in its own right, since the majority of speakers can not be determined as either ‘pure’ RP or ‘pure’ Cockney speaker. Estuary English speakers are ‘in between’ and sometimes they can be closer to RP and some other time closer to Cockney.

The main reason for the rapid spread of Estuary English is that it is thought of as a classless accent. It is used by working-class people as well as middle-class people and some members of upper-class such as politicians, business people, advertisers, etc. It is attractive to those who want to get closer to people for different reasons and it is also an interesting topic for the media since the debate of this sort increases their popularity.

Despite the anger of many who are against this kind of ‘slobspeak’ (Maidment, 1994), the changes in English language started to happen a long time ago and will most likely continue in the future.

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LITERATURE

Altendorf U. (2003). Estuary English: Levelling at the Interface of RP and South-Eastern British English . Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag.

Ascherson N. (7.8.1994). Britain's crumbling ruling class is losing the accent of authority. Independent on Sunday . Retrieved from http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/ascherson.htm on 3.9.2008)

Batarbee K. (13.11.1996). Estuary English. Linguist list 7.1602 . (Retrieved from http://linguistlist.org/issues/7/7-1602.html on 15.1.2008)

Coggle P. (1993). Do you speak Estuary? The New Standard English – How to Spot it and Speak it . London: Bloomsbury.

Crystal, D. (1995) The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English Language . Cambridge: CUP.

Crystal, D. (1996). Rediscover Grammar. Longman Group Limited.

Culpeper J. (1997). History of English. London: Routledge.

Haenni, R. (1999). The case of Estuary English: supposed evidence and a perceptual approach (p.2) Basel: University of Philosophy and Histrory Basel. Retrieved from http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/haenni1999.pdf on 15.1.2008.

Hughes, A. and Trudgill, P. (1996). English accents and dialects. An introduction to social and regional varieties of English in the British Isles. London: Arnold.

Kerswill, P. (2000). Dialect levelling and Received Pronunciation . Retrieved from http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/rp.htm on 15.1.2008.

66 Jasna Svenšek: Estuary English Maidment, J.A. (8.1994). Estuary English: Hybrid or Hype? . Retrived from http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/maidment.htm on 17.1.2008.

McArthur, T. (1998). A Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language . Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-ESTUARYENGLISH.html on 17.1.2008.

Miles, A. (1999). Social Mobility in the Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth- Century in England. London: Macmillian Press Ltd.

Rosewarne, D. (1984). Estuary English. Times Educational Supplement, 19. Retrieved from http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/rosew.htm on 3.9.2008.

Rosewarne, D. (1994). Estuary English: tomorrow’s RP?. English Today 37, (10/1), 3 - 8.

Ryfa, J. (2003). Estuary English: A controversial issue? Diploma work, Poznan: University of Adam Mickiewicz.

Shaw, G.B. (1916). Pygmalion . New York: Brentano. Retrieved from http://www.bartleby.com/138/0.html on 23.3.2008.

Trudgill, P. (1992). Language and society. London: Penguin Books.

Trudgill, P. (2001). Sociolinguistic Variation and Change . Edinburgh: EUP.

Wells, J. (1982). Accents of English. Cambridge: CUP.

Wells, J. (1990). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary . Longman.

Wells, J. (1994a). The Cockneyfication of RP. In Nonstandard varieties of language. Retrieved from http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/cockneyf.htm on 3.9.2008.

Wells, J. (1994b). Transcribing Estuary English:

a discussion document. Speech Hearing and Language: UCL Work in Progress, (8), 259-267. Retrieved from http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/transcree.html on 17.1.2008.

67 Jasna Svenšek: Estuary English Wells, J. (1997). What is Estuary English. English Teaching Professional. Retrieved from http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/whatis.htm on 17.01.2008.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language . (2000). Houghton Mifflin Company. Retrieved from http://www.bartleby.com/61/4/R0080400.html on 25.4.2008.

British English. (2001). Retrieved from http://www.ic.arizona.edu/~lsp/BritishEnglish.html (25.4.2008)

Received pronunciation. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_Pronunciation on 17.1.2008.

EastEnders. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EastEnders on 23.3. 2008.

Estuary English . Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estuary_English on 10.10.2008.

The map of London . Retrieved from http://www.letslinkuk.net/london/London-1.gif on 10.5.2008.

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SUMMARY

The diploma thesis Estuary English is an introduction of an accent that is widely used and discussed in Britain today. The main aims of the thesis are to present an accent of British English that is frequently used by almost all generations (with the exception of linguistic purists and those who find it as a negative influence on Standard Pronunciation) and across all social classes, to discuss how it is different or similar to Standard English pronunciation, RP and to estimate how often it is used on television. The methodology used includes the study of relevant literature, searching the Internet and carefully analysing the episodes of the series EastEnders . Main conclusions drawn from the study are that Estuary English is changing Standard English considerably and that the changes in language will continue to happen in the future. The evidence of the change is easy to find since Estuary English is used in the media and in the areas which significantly influence the life of an individual.

Key words: Estuary English, accent, Received Pronunciation, Cockney, British English.

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POVZETEK

Diplomska naloga Estuary English predstavlja angleški naglas, ki je v Veliki Britaniji pogosto uporabljen in neti vro če razprave povezane z njegovo primernostjo. Glavni cilji naloge so predstaviti naglas, ki ga uporabljajo skoraj vse generacije in družbeni sloji Velike Britanije (z izjemo tistih, ki jim ni privla čen in ga tretirajo kot neprimeren vpliv na standardno izgovarjavo), ugotoviti kakšne so razlike med standardno izgovarjavo in tem naglasom ter opredeliti, kako pogosto je omenjeni naglas uporabljen na televiziji. Uporabljena metodologija vklju čuje študij relevantne literature, iskanje po internetu in natan čno analizo izgovarjave v seriji EastEnders . Zaklju ček diplomske naloge je, da obravnavani naglas pomembno vpliva na standardno izgovarjavo v Veliki Britaniji in da se bodo spremembe dogajale še naprej. Dokaz sprememb je tudi pogostejša uporaba obravnavanega naglasa v javnih ob čilih, politiki ter na vseh podro čjih, ki pomembno vplivajo na življenje posameznika.

Klju čne besede: Estuary English, naglas, Received Pronunciation, Cockney, britanska angleš čina.

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