UPDATE
ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
ESTUARY
ENGLISH
F. SCHOENBERGER
For a lucid discussion
of recent developments in the speech of millions in and around London
and the lower Thames see DAVID ROSEWARE, ESTUARY ENGLISH: TOMORROW'S RP?,
in English Today, Vol.10, No.1 January 1994, pp.3-8
Estuary English is a mixture of non-regional and local south-eastern
English pronunciation and intonation. A good definition seems, 'Between
Cockney and the Queen' => cf. TV soap: EastEnders
It has been noticeable since the mid-80s; mostly in suburban areas of
Greater London and the counties of Essex and Kent lying to the north and
south of the THAMES ESTUARY 
.
The 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.
Estuary English has spread northwards to Norwich and westwards
to Cornwall, with the result that it is now spoken south of a line from
the Wash to the Avon .
It 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.
Estuary English is well established in BUSINESS CIRCLES, particularly
the City, which used to be regarded as the preserve R.P. speakers. Speakers
in business accommodate towards Estuary English 'to become more consumer-friendly.'
On
the level of phonemes, Estuary English is a mixture of 'London'
and general R.P. forms.
Although there are individual differences, there is a general pattern:
-
- The use of /w/ where R.P. uses /l/ in the final positions or in a final consonant cluster:
- milk, Neil, feel
Another important aspect:
-
- The use of a GLOTTAL STOP (?) in the place of the t in such words as
- Sco(?)land, ga(?)eway, Ga(?)wick, sta(?)ement, sea(?)belt, trea(?)ment, ne(?)work.
Similarly, the proverbial Cockney would be unlikely to pronounce the phonetic /j/ which is found in R.P. after the first consonant in such words a 'news' or 'tune'.
- The process of shedding /j/s is now established in R.P. Many speakers of current R.P. do not pronounce a /j/ after the /l/ of absolute, revolution, salute,
- They
would say: time off in loo rather than in lyoo. =
Time off in lieu.
For many speakers lieu and loo are now homophones. - Similarly, it is common not to pronounce the /j/ after the /s/ of
- assume, consume, presume, pursuit, suitable
- Cheers is frequently used instead of thank you, but it can also mean Good bye.
- Frequent use is made of basically. [gap filler]
- In
the context of offers, There you go. - rather than the more
standard Here you are.
This is heard as far north as Harrogate. - There
is serves as an invariable form for use in both singular and plural:
There's lots of people who . . . - EXTENSIVE
USE OF AMERICANISMS IS typical of Estuary English. Frequent
examples include
Excuse me for Sorry, and, in the context of the telephone, busy for engaged
together with Who's this? for Who's speaking? or Who's that?
THE RECIPE FOR ESTUARY ENGLISH
Take a COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL in England. Typically, when joining the school, a minority of the children will speak R.P. and the majority the local accent. Mix these pupils together from the ages of eleven to sixteen or eighteen. Because peer group pressure is a particularly powerful force for the age group, a large number of the pupils in the southern half of England will leave school as Estuary speakers.
In a PRIVATE SCHOOL [PUBLIC SCHOOL], the majority of the children start off as R.P. speakers, and the others as local accent users. Mix these pupils together till the age of about eighteen and most of them will speak Estuary English before they leave school.
The acquisition of Estuary English is a process of accommodation, generally to a reference group. It is a shift to the middle ground. The R.P. speaker accommodates 'downwards', and the local accent speaker accommodates 'upwards', resulting in accent convergence.
Initial findings suggest that the main reason secondary school students from an R.P. background adopt Estuary English is to increase their 'STREET CREDIBILITY'. For female pupils in this group this is slightly less important, but 'fitting into the group' is an additional factor for them. Male students in this group cite the need to appear 'tough'.
Secondary schools with local accent backgrounds adopt Estuary English as they rate it as more 'sophisticated'. For a considerable minority of these young people, R.P. is an accent they would like to speak when they grow older.
In the circles of those privileged young people who are likeliest to be influential in their future, the accepted pattern is very often set by the children of the upwardly mobile. For these groups the standard pronunciation is often Estuary English.
Estuary English now describes the speech of a far larger and currently more linguistically influential group than advanced R.P. speakers. The popularity of Estuary English among the young is significant for the future.
Because it obscures sociolinguistic origins, Estuary English is attractive to many. This process of disguising origins is likely to continue.
A FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD BOY'S VIEWS
Here, courtesy of Mr Stephen Woodley, M.A., THE KING'S SCHOOL, Canterbury, is an authentic piece of writing by a public school boy of 15. He gives his personal reasons for adopting Estaury English:
|
Estuary English In the past, most people have been cultivating a rather posh accent. This was thought to both enhance one's social prowess and also give one a better chance to go higher in life. In the 1950s it was thought that to have a regional accent was to be common and unimportant. If you listen to the way that people like Harold Macmillan were speaking, you realise that if you didn't have an accent like that in the government of the time, then you didn't really have a chance. For example, one of the ministers in Macmillan's cabinet was a Lancastrian, yet he had managed to cultivate quite an impressive 'posh' accent. Why did this happen? Why did people want to speak like that? Nowadays, this 'posh' accent is still a 'posh' accent, but it is not the sort of accent that people strived to reproduce in former days. It is regarded as solely upper-class by many. The type of English that has replaced it is 'Estuary English'. This has been described as 'southern, urban, glottal, easygoing and vernacular,' to quote Malcolm Bradbury in the Times newspaper. Apparently it is a classless dialect. The Princess of Wales is supposed to speak it, and people like be try to cultivate it to increase their 'coolness.' The decline of the RP (Received Pronunciation) has been mostly to do with the increased emphasis on equality between classes. There used to be such a difference between the upper class and the rest, but after Macmillan's 'Housing for All' campaign, the rest have caught up with the upper class. With the classes becoming closer, there has been a need to find a common dialect that can link all classes. Whereas maybe some of the middle class would prefer to have an upper class accent, some of the upper class would like to sound less 'posh' and more 'cool.' For example: Whenever I go into town at home, I feel fairly awkward, not that I have a posh accent, but I pronounce my words more than they do. Over the years I have gradually cultivated a common accent with which I can feel comfortable in the presence of my friends at school and also people in town. However, it is interesting that now I am not the only one that speaks like this. More and more of my friends speak the same way that I do. Every now and again, I miss out letters and also slur words. However, if need be I can speak very pronounced. Whereas in the 1950s people were obsessed with having a full vocabulary, Estuary English is actually decreasing the number of words that people use. People are less concerned about what they sound like. This is mainly to do with the more emphasized equality of today's society where people are more satisfied with their position in the social circle. Now, they feel less intimidated by people who speak very correct English, they are just happy with a language that they can understand and converse freely in, whatever class, whatever region (although at this moment it is mainly in the south), and whatever race. People are less worried about how they sound, just more worried about how to get on and adapt to the world around them. To do this they need to be able to converse freely in a language that they are happy with - Estuary English. |
For a linguist's assessment, it may be interesting to take a look at a letter to the TIMES EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT of 4 November 1994, by Paul Goggle, Senior Lecturer, School of European and Modern Language Studies, University of Kent:
| A
gobstopper in the glottals [. . . ] 'The glottal stop found in Cockney and in many Estuary English speakers ('sa(?)elli(?)e dish' and 'Con-serva(?)ive par(?)y' for 'satellite dish' and 'con-servative Party') it is a feature belonging to these particular accents, and is not a result of sloppy speech. Wherever the glottal stop occurs - whether in Estuary English territory or in Glasgow - it is disdained by many members of the middle and upper classes. [. . .] While attacking people on ground of race, sex or age is considered politically incorrect, it is till surprisingly common to encounter attacks based on accent, especially if those accents originate in the lower classes. In theory, it ought to be possible to convince fair-minded people that all accents are equally valid, as long as they are mutually intelligible. However, since I and many other linguists have over the past two or three decades failed miserably in our efforts to convince, I have come to the conclusion that we should introduce into our schools 'language awareness programmes' which cover not only the features of Received Pronunciation and local accents, but also the common reactions which the more stigmatised varieties evoke. If a pupil is going to make a good impression in a job interview [. . . ] then he should be aware that the use of the glottal stop, popular though it is with the youth of today, will mean failure to get the job. |
| Comments and suggestions welcome to this address: scf@mail.padl.ac.at |
