Cockney

A Cockney, in the loosest sense of the word, is a working-class inhabitant of the East End of London. But according to tradition, the strict definition is limited to those born within earshot (generally taken to be three miles) of the Bow bells, in other words the bells of St Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside. However, the bells were silent from the outbreak of World War II until 1961. Also, of course, as the general din in London has increased, the area in which the bells can be heard has contracted. Formerly it included the City, Bethnal Green, Stepney, Shoreditch, Whitechapel, Finsbury, and Hackney although according to the legend of Dick Whittington the bells could be heard as far away as from Highgate.

Cockney speech

Cockney speakers have a distinctive accent and dialect, and frequently use Cockney rhyming slang. There are also several borrowings from Yiddish, including kosher (legitimate) and schtum (quiet). A fake Cockney accent, as used by some actors, is sometimes called 'Mockney'.

Related Topics:
Cockney rhyming slang - Yiddish

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Typical features of Cockney speech include:

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• dropped H, as in not 'alf (not half)
• use of ain't instead of isn't, am not, are not, has not, and have not
• merger of {{IPA|/?/}} with {{IPA|/f/}}, and {{IPA|}} with {{IPA|/v/}}, hence {{IPA|}} for ?maths?, {{IPA|}} for 'bother'.
• monophothongisation of {{IPA|/a?/}} to {{IPA|}}, hence {{IPA|}} for ?down?
• use of a glottal stop for intervocalic 't', as in bottle or butter (but not when it precedes the stress, as in deter); it can also occur between other sonorants, as in mental or in Feltham (the h of which is silent even in RP)
• soft 'R'; replacement of 'R' with 'W' as in 'Mewwy Cwistmas'.
• vocalisation of dark l, hence {{IPA|m?ow??}} for ?Millwall?.

Example:

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Forty thousand thrushes flew over Thornton Heath

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The lengthening of the vowel sound in (for example) grass (from {{IPA|}} to {{IPA|}}) was a Cockney innovation which spread and by 1900 was used by many southern English accents. Most of the features mentioned above have in recent years partly spread into more general south-eastern speech, giving the accent called Estuary English); an Estuary speaker will use some but not all of the Cockney sounds. The characteristics of Cockney as opposed to Estuary are the dropping of H and grammatical features like the use of ain't.

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A television advert for Heineken beer in the 1980s showed a Sloane woman receiving elocution lessons in Cockney, parodying My Fair Lady. In the advert, she was being taught to say "The wa'er in Majorca don' taste like wo' i' ough' a", but could only manage a posh rendition of "The water in Mallorca doesn't taste quite how it should" (until, of course, she drank the beer).

Related Topics:
Heineken - 1980s - Sloane - My Fair Lady - Posh

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