London Accents

Sara Rayo
Huayra Rojas
Received Pronunciation
A social accent of English in London
Historical Background
 Pronunciation of standard British English based on the
speech of educated speakers of southern British English.
 Popular terms for this accent: ‘The Queen’s English’,
‘Oxford English’ or ‘BBC English’.
 RP does not define the speaker’s region, it defines
his/her educational and social background. (Prestige)
 The type of pronunciation often recommended as a
model for foreign learners.
 Only 2% or 3% of the UK population speaks RP.
 Probably, RP is most widely used is the academic world.
 The phrase Received Pronunciation was coined in
1869 by the linguist A. J. Ellis.
 Daniel Jones made the term popular and widely used
in his “English Pronouncing Dictionary” (1924).
 15th century, RP was established in London in the
middle classes.
 19th century, it became the accent of public schools.
 It spread throughout the Civil Service of the British
Empire and the armed forces.
 RP was adopted by the BBC, when radio broadcasting
began in the 1920s.
Forms of RP
 Conservative RP Very traditional variety (older
speakers and the aristocracy).
 Mainstream RP An extremely neutral accent in

terms of signals (age, occupation, lifestyle) of

the speaker.
 Contemporary RP Speech of younger RP

speakers.
Pronunciation
 RP does not have yod-dropping.
 There is no h-dropping in words like head or

horse.
 http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/ca

se-studies/received-pronunciation/vowel-
sounds-rp/
Grammar and lexicon
 RP avoid non-standard grammatical
constructions and localized vocabulary
characteristic of regional dialects.
 RP is an accent, no a dialect.
Cockney Accent
Historical Background
 First as derogatory term applied to the
inhabitants of any town.
 17th century inhabitants of London
(Cockney pride)
 Working class of East End London.
 People born within hearing distance of the St
Mary-le-Bow bells (East End, Stepney,
Hackney, Shoreditch Poplar and Bow).
Pronuntiation
 Monophthongization – diphthong /ai/ and /oi/

Right  [ra:t] rather than [rait]

Time  [ta:m] rather than [taim]
Like  [la:k] rather than [laik]
Boil  [bɔ:l] rather than [bɔil]
Toil  [tɔ:l] rather than [tɔil]

 MOUTH vowel - "touchstone for distinguishing between "true

Cockney" and popular London“

Example:  
mouth = [ma:f] rather than [mæ:f]
 Glottal stop  /p,t,k/ "almost invariably glottalized" in final
position

cat = [cæ?t]
up = [ʌ?p]
sock = [sɒ?k]

• It can also manifest itself as a bare  as the realization of word

internal intervocalic /t/

Waterloo = Wa’erloo 
City = Ci’y 
A drink of water = A drin' a wa'er 
A little bit of bread with a bit of butter on it = A li'le bi' of breab
wiv a bi' of bu'er on i'. 
 Dropped ‘h’ at beginning of words (Voiceless glottal
fricative)

house = ‘ouse
hammer = ‘ammer

 TH fronting -involves the replacement of the dental

fricatives /Ɵ/ and /ð/ by labiodentals [f] and [v]
respectively.

thin = fin [fin]

brother = bruvver [brʌvə]
three = free [frIi]
bath = barf [bɑ:f]
Grammar
 Pronouns instead of possessive adjectives.

Example:
me mum = my mum
in them days = in those days

 Use of was instead of were.

Example:
you was = you were
Lexicon
 Cockney Rhyming Slang

It consists of words that are substituted for

short phrases that rhyme with them

Example:

North and South = mouth

 The Rhyme of the Rusher (In Appropriate Rhyming
Slanguage) 29th October 1892

I was wearing a leaky I'm afloat, (coat)

And it started to France and Spain. (rain) 

He offered to stand me a booze, so I 

Took him round to ‘The Mug’s Retreat’;
And my round the houses I tried to dry (trousers) 
By the Anna Maria’s heat. (fire) 
He stuck to the I’m so to drown his cares,(whisky/ tears) 
While I went for the far and near, (beer) 
Until the clock on the apples and pears (stairs) 
Gave office for us to clear.
Estuary English
A new kind of English
Historical Background
 The form of English spoken in and around
London , in the southeast of England, along
the river Thames and its estuary.
 In 1984 a British linguist, David Rosewarne

defines EE as "a mixture of non-regional and

local south-eastern English pronunciation
and intonation“.
 A dialect existing between "Cockney and RP“.
Pronunciation
 l-vocalization
pronouncing the l-sound in certain positions
almost like [w]

milk bottle like 'miwk bottoo‘

football becomes 'foo'baw’

 Glottal stop [?]

take it off
quite nice 
 happY-tensing

[i:] (beat) rather than [I] (bit) at the end of

words like happy, coffee, valley.

 Yod coalescence

[tS] rather than [tj] in words like Tuesday,

tune, attitude.
Tuesday = choose, [tSu:z]
RP [dj] of words such as duke becomes
Estuary [dZ], making the second part
of reduce identical to juice, [dZu:s].
 Stress and intonation

Characterized by "frequent prominence being

given to prepositions and auxiliary verbs
which are not normally stressed in General
R.P.

Example: "Let us get TO the point.

"Totters have been in
operation FOR years.”
Vocabulary
 Cheers is often used in place of thank you but it’s also
possible for it to mean good-bye.

 The word basically is used frequently in conversation.

 Americanisms:

There you go used in place of the more standard Here you

are
There is  - singular and plural contexts.
Sorry is often replaced with excuse me 
Engaged in the context of the telephone, has been replaced
by the word busy.
References
 Roach, P. (2004, January 16). staff.amu.edu.pl.
Retrieved September 10, 2010, from staff.amu.edu.pl:
http://www.staff.amu.edu.pl/~kilarski/courses/downl
oad/roach.pdf
 The British Library Board. (2010, September 10). The

British Library Board. Retrieved September 10, 2010,

from The British Library Board:
http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/find-out-
more/received-pronunciation/
 yaelf.com. (1969, December 31). yaelf.com. Retrieved

September 10, 2010, from yaelf.com:

http://www.yaelf.com/rp.shtml
THANK YOU