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The Cockney and Estuary Accents

Writer's picture: Kevin KempKevin Kemp

Updated: 3 days ago



Cockney is a dialect mainly spoken in London and surrounding areas, particularly by Londoners with working-class and lower-middle-class roots. Cockney, in the past, was strictly used to describe a person from the East End or, traditionally, born within earshot of Bow Bells (the church of St Mary-le-Bow). However, now, the accent is often used in the entertainment industry for any working-class Londoner.


Estuary English is an intermediate accent between Cockney and Received Pronunciation, also widely spoken in and around London, as well as in wider South Eastern England. It can be used to show someone of lower to middle-class routes. It is often used in the industry as the 'normal everyday bloke' British Accent.


In multicultural areas of London, the Cockney dialect is, to an extent, being replaced by Multicultural London English—a new form of speech with significant Cockney influence. Cockney can still be heard and has even moved into areas outside of East London, especially as older generations move out of the city.


Phonetic Sentences


Use this link if you would like to hear the individual IPA symbols pronounced


Cockney and Estuary



Consonants


- Cockney/Estuary [h] dropping - happy - /'æpiː/, /’apiː/


- Cockney/Estuary Glottle for [t] - water - /woʊʔɐ/, /woːʔə/


- Cockney Glottle sometimes for [g] and [k] at the end - park - /pɑːʔ/


- Cockney [l] can drop or move to [w] - salt - /sɔwʔ/, paul - /powʔ/


- Cockney Middle [p, t, k] are often aspirated - knackered - /nɛᵏɐᵊd/


- Cockney/Estuary [θ] can become [f] in any environment - thin - /fɪn/, /fɪn/, maths - /mɛfs/, /mafs/ 


- Cockney/Estuary [ð] can become [v] in any environment except word-initially when it can be [ð, d, l, ʔ, ∅]. they - /dæɪ/, /dɛɪ̯/, bother - /'bɔvɐ/, /'bɒvə/


- Cockney/Estuary End [ŋ] shifted to [n] - working - /'wɜːkɪn/, /'wəːkɪn/, running - /'ranɪn/, /'rʌ̟nɪn/


- Cockney/Estuary Tune - /tʃʰʉːn/, /tʃʰʉːn/ or reduce - /ɹɪˈdʒʉːs/, /ɹɪˈdʒʉːs/ (compare traditional RP - /'tjuːn/, /ɹɪˈdjuːs/



Dia-phoneme

and Keyword Sentence


ɪ - KIT Bin the hymn kit and sit a minute Sid.


ɛ - DRESS Many a Ted has dressed in bed to find that he's fallen asleep instead.

Cockney [e, eɪ]


æ - TRAP The bad man trapped the rat, who wore the ridiculously tattered hat.

Cockney [æ~ɛ~ɛɪ]

Estuary [a]


ɒ - LOT The hot and bothered lot, had the odd wash, to stop the smell hitting the top!

Cockney [ɔ]


ʌ - STRUT Under the hut the cow loved to strut in the mud to show off her udders.

Cockney [a]

Estuary [ɐ~ʌ̟]


ʊ - FOOT Put the good cook book on the hook.


 

iː - FLEECE The sea machine, made fleece, trees and bees.

Cockney [əi]

Estuary [ɪi̯~iː]


eɪ - FACE At day break, the face of Dave lay in the hay.

Cockney [aɪ]

Estuary [ɛɪ̯]


aɪ - PRICE Fly higher said the kite that tried, but he cried the price and lied. 

Cockney [ɒɪ̯]

Estuary [ɑɪ̯]


ɔɪ - CHOICE The boy had a choice, one toy or to annoy another coy boy. 

Cockney [oɪ]

Estuary [oɪ̯]


 

uː - GOOSE A goose with two blue eyes, was in a group that swooped and flew. 

Cockney [əʉ~ʉː], cute - [jəʉ~jʉː]

Estuary [ʉː], cute - [jʉː]


oʊ - GOAT No! The goat show cannot throw out the bow-tied doe.

Cockney - no [aʊ], soul [aɤ]

Estuary - no [əʊ̯], soul [ɒʊ̯]


aʊ - MOUTH The loud mouth of the south town, now frowned, because he wore a gown. 

Cockney [æʊ~aː]

Estuary [aʊ̯]


 

ɪər - NEAR Near here we are weary and shed a tear of fear.

Cockney [ɪː(ɹ)~ɪɐ(ɹ)]

Estuary [ɪː(ɹ)~ɪə̯(ɹ)]


ɛər - SQUARE At the fair there were various pairs of rare square hairs. 

Cockney [ɛː(ɹ)~ɛiə(ɹ)]

Estuary [ɛ̝ː(ɹ)]


ɑː / æ - BATH The task of the guard dog was to answer with a bark, alarm the yard and if he can’t, to calm the last of the barn dancers.

Cockney [ɑː]

Estuary [ɑː]


ɔː - THOUGHT Thor thought the north war was against the law.

Cockney [ʊə(ɹ), oː(ɹ)~oʊ(ɹ)]

Estuary [o:]


ʊər - TOUR The poor jury had a tour to help with the cure. 

Cockney - tour [ʊə(ɹ), ɔː(ɹ)~oʊ(ɹ)], pure [jʊ̜ə̯(ɹ)~jɔ̝ː(ɹ)~joʊ(ɹ)]

Estuary - tour - [ɔə̯(ɹ)~ɔː(ɹ)], pure [jʊ̜ə̯(ɹ)~jɔ̝ː(ɹ)]


ɜːr - NURSE The nurse learned to stir and refer to her book.

Cockney [ɜː(ɹ)~œ̈ː(ɹ)]

Estuary [əː(ɹ)]


 

ə - COMMA The common actor, the standard writer and the about author all sat in the upper gallery.

Cockney [ɐ]


i - HAPPY It was a happy, glorious time that radiated. 


u - YOU You influenced the situation, thank you! 


 

n - TIN Suddenly cotton was everywhere!


l and t - 

BELL/BETTER The little metal bottle stood in the middle. 

Cockney - t [ʔ]

Estuary - t [ʔ]


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