Cockney and Estuary English. A comparison

This paper aims at giving an overview on the two topics that will be briefly compared at its end: Cockney on the one hand and Estuary English on the other.

This comparison and combination results from the question in how far Cockney as one of the two main reference dialects of Estuary English has influenced this rather new accent which recently has gained a lot of public attention.

First, a historic account on Cockney is given as well as an overview on its specific phonetic and grammatical features. Finally, its social perception is elaborated.

Secondly it is attempted to explain to which phenomena the term Estuary English refers to. In this context, the two influential reference sources are discussed:RP and Cockney at antipodal ends. Furthermore some syntactic and phonetic features of Estuary English are listed. Furthermore, the geographical as well as the social expansion of Estuary English is illustrated.

Finally, a brief comparison of Estuary English and Cockney in terms of linguistic status, acceptability, mobility as well as social perception is given.

The research on Estuary English is based on two different sorts of texts: On the one hand the advanced layman Rosewarne, who coined the term Estuary English in the first place and who even claims that it could possibly become the new RP, was consulted. On the other hand critical, more recent texts by two linguists served as sources: Ulrike Altendorf´s and Joanna Przedlacka´s studies, which investigate if a definite Estuary English exists in general.