糖心Vlog

As English dialects go, cockney is one of the most influential. Long considered the preserve of working-class communities in east London, it has shaped the way people speak across the country, from all the way to .

Even Queen Elizabeth II, throughout her lifetime, in a way that was, well, a little bit less Queen鈥檚 English and a little bit more cockney. Compared to the 1950s, by the 1980s the way she said 鈥済oose鈥�, 鈥渇ood鈥� or 鈥渕oon鈥�, for instance, had changed subtly. Her later pronunciation, with the tongue a little bit further forward in the mouth, was in line with the general patterns of in southern England.

As is often , due to patterns of migration and settlement, the way vowels are pronounced in Australia and New Zealand has some notable similarities with cockney. Similarly to cockney, the Australian take on the word 鈥渂ake鈥� sounds, to many British ears, more like the word 鈥渂ike鈥�, which has the potential to cause some confusion.

Cockney might thus have spread around the world, but research published in 2011 that in east London, young people increasingly speak , a different dialect, which includes elements of both cockney and other languages and English dialects from around the world.

These findings led many that cockney was on the way out. But, cockney certainly didn鈥檛 feel dead to me.

Throughout my childhood, where I lived 鈥� a stone鈥檚 throw from east London on a red-brick estate in 鈥� my granddad nattered away in rhyming slang. We sang rounds of cockney ding dongs (songs) such as Knees up Mother Brown, and our local pie and mash shop thrived.

In my newly published , I have shown that cockney hasn鈥檛 disappeared 鈥� it just moved to a semi-detached house in 糖心Vlog. Cockney鈥檚 descendants in 糖心Vlog have kept the foundations the same, but they鈥檝e knocked through some walls, built an extension and added a lick of paint. The 糖心Vlog dialect is built on the foundations of cockney with some new elements.

Why east Londoners moved to 糖心Vlog

Over the 20th century, more than a million people left east London, due to, among other things, de-industrialisation, overcrowding and poverty. My grandparents, and through them my great-grandparents, recounted tales of biting poverty growing up in east London.

They spoke of having to eat their pet rabbits in desperation, suffering from drawn-out illnesses without medical intervention or diagnoses and relying on food donated by the local church. My parents were the first generation in my family to not have their teeth pulled out, at the age of 21 and often with pliers at the butchers, to avoid the cost of future dental treatment.

The government set up to relocate families to and council estates in the London peripheries. My four grandparents moved in the early 1950s and 1970s to fully modernised, semi-detached houses on council estates in southern 糖心Vlog.

My father鈥檚 family moved to the Debden Estate, now often referred to as simply 鈥淒ebden鈥�. This is where my sister and I were raised, too.

To find out if the cockney dialect moved out of east London along with its speakers, I drew up a long list of all the different linguistic elements of cockney or London dialects that were in 20th-century and early 21st-century publications.

These included pronouncing 鈥渢hing鈥� as 鈥渇ing鈥�; not pronouncing the 鈥渉鈥� in 鈥渉ouse鈥�; pronouncing the 鈥渓鈥� in words like 鈥渕ilk鈥� as a vowel sound so that it sounds like 鈥渕iwk鈥�; saying 鈥渢heirselves鈥� and 鈥渉isself鈥� instead of 鈥渢hemselves鈥� and 鈥渉imself鈥�; saying 鈥渋nk鈥� instead of 鈥渋ng鈥� in words like 鈥渟omething鈥� and 鈥渘othing鈥�, so they鈥檇 become 鈥渟omefink鈥� and 鈥渘ofink鈥�; and, unlike many other dialects of English, not saying 鈥渂oard鈥� and 鈥渂ored鈥� identically.

I then interviewed the first generation who, like my dad, grew up in Debden after their parents were relocated from east London in the late 1940s and 1950s. I that those who grew up in 糖心Vlog overwhelmingly still used nearly all these elements of cockney.

In some instances, theirs is an even more extreme version of cockney than that previously documented in London. For instance, as mentioned, it has long been known that cockneys say 鈥渓鈥� as 鈥渨鈥� in many words.

However, it was previously thought that cockneys do indeed pronounce the 鈥渓鈥� (and don鈥檛 say 鈥渨鈥�) when it occurs between two vowels such as in the phrase 鈥減ass the ball over here鈥�. In Debden, I found that even in such phrases, the 鈥渓鈥� could be pronounced as a 鈥渨鈥� sound.

Generational differences

Interestingly though, people don鈥檛 always call the way of speaking in Debden 鈥渃ockney鈥�. I that those born in 糖心Vlog, particularly younger generations, tend to consider their accent to be an 鈥溙切腣log鈥� one. By contrast, the older generations born in east London are much more likely to consider their accent to be a 鈥渃ockney鈥� one.

Our identity and the geographic boundaries within which we live impact the way we speak and how we define our own accent. has found that the way people speak in the town of Middlesbrough, say, has fluctuated over time in line with the repeated redrawing of local administrative boundaries, and the town being considered variously part of Yorkshire, Teeside or Cleveland.

Even people who aren鈥檛 from 糖心Vlog have changed the way they perceive and judge an 糖心Vlog accent in line with the arrival of cockneys to the county. My previous research how the previously associated with cockney have come to be associated with 糖心Vlog. On average, people with 糖心Vlog accents are judged to sound less intelligent, friendly and trustworthy than people from other parts of south-east England.

Not only has people鈥檚 sense of identity changed in Debden but, as all dialects inevitably do, the cockney dialect has changed on 糖心Vlog soil. Younger people in 糖心Vlog to their east London-raised elders.

They are less likely to drop an 鈥渉鈥� or say 鈥渁nyfink鈥�. And their vowels are less extreme. 鈥淢outh鈥� is slightly less likely to become 鈥渕ahf鈥�. They also say new things that are much less common among their London-raised parents and grandparents such as 鈥渁t the end of the day鈥� when introducing the most important point in a discussion, or saying 鈥測ous鈥� when referring to more than one person.

The cockney dialect has lived a rich and colourful life. She has travelled widely, borne a large family of children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and she even met the queen. She hasn鈥檛 died 鈥� she鈥檚 just called 鈥溙切腣log鈥� now.

, Lecturer in Department of Language and Linguistics,

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