Estuary English

Estuary English is a special way of speaking English. It developed around the River Thames and its area, including parts of London, mostly in the late 1900s.

It’s a mix of two very different accents: the posh, higher-class accent called Received Pronunciation and the local London accent called Cockney.

People who speak Estuary English sound like they’re in between these two. Some experts say it’s becoming a new standard way to speak in England. It’s called “intermediate,” meaning it’s not super posh but also not very strong local accent.

You can hear it in the voices of famous people from places like Essex, Kent, and Berkshire. It’s interesting because it shows how language can change and mix where people live and interact.

Name

Some people use different names for the way people speak in and around London. For example, one expert uses the term London Regional General British instead of the more common name "Estuary English".

Experts have used a few different names to describe accents that sound a bit more like Cockney (called Popular London) or ones that sound closer to the standard way of speaking (called London Regional Standard or South-Eastern Regional Standard).

Status as accent of English

The lines between RP (Received Pronunciation), Estuary English, and Cockney are not very clear. Some experts say Estuary English is not a special accent. They say it sits between RP and London speech.

Peter Trudgill thinks the term “Estuary English” is not right. He says it makes it sound like a new accent only found near the Thames estuary, which is not true. He says it is more about the accents of the lower middle class in the Home Counties, not the working class. Some people in public life now speak with a mix of RP and London features. Experts say these features are spreading because they are part of a range between standard and non-standard speech. Interest in Estuary English has decreased and discussions have shifted to a newer accent called Multicultural London English.

Features

Estuary English is different from the way many people in England speak, called Received Pronunciation (RP), and from Cockney, another way of speaking.

Wells (1994) says that "Estuary English (EE) is like RP, but unlike Cockney, in being associated with standard grammar and usage". There are small differences in sounds.

Wells lists a few key features that can make EE sound different from RP:

• /l/-vocalization
• /t/-glottalization
• Diphthong shift
• Yod-coalescence

Other studies have suggested more features:

• Th-fronting
• Other vowel differences

Wells says EE is different from Cockney in a few ways:

• EE usually does not drop the sound at the start of words like "house" or "hand", but Cockney sometimes does.
• Th-fronting
• Cockney may change the way some vowel sounds are made.

Use

Estuary English is often heard in southeast England, especially by younger people. It is usually linked to working-class speech, but some from the lower middle classes use it too. In 1993, a London businessman said the traditional accent, called Received Pronunciation, sounded unfriendly. Because of this, many businesses began using Estuary English. Some people use this accent to sound more like everyday folks, which is sometimes called "Mockney". Today, many young people from middle-class families in the South-East of England are moving away from older, traditional accents.

19th-century Rural Estuary English

Main article: English language in Southern England § 19th-century Kent, Sussex, and Surrey English

In the 1800s, people in places like Kent and the east of Essex spoke in older ways that were a bit different from how we speak today. These older ways of speaking kept some sounds, like the "r" at the end of words, that we mostly don’t use now.