Estuary English

"Even his accent makes the point. Far from the Estuary English of his detractors and nearer to Chaucer than Prince Charles, it announces itself unaffected by the intimidating pressures of the control dialect of English society." —Melvyn Bragg about Greg Dyke, new Director-General of the BBC, in The Observer, 27 June 1999

"...joined Nato in 1981 as a minute-taker; fluent in five languages other than Estuary English - French, German, Dutch, Italian and Nato-ese. —Pass notes on Jamie Shea, NATO spokesman, The Guardian London, 19 April 1999

0. Books

• Joanna Przedlacka, 2002. Estuary English? A sociophonetic study of teenage speech in the Home Counties. ISBN 3-631-39340-7, pb. Bern: Peter Lang (ordering info). Demolishes the claim that EE is a single entity sweeping the southeast. Rather, we have various sound changes emanating from working-class London speech, each spreading independently. Recommended. See my handout.
• Ulrike Altendorf, 2003. Estuary English. Levelling at the Interface of RP and South-Eastern British English. ISBN: 3-8233-6022-1 Tübingen: Gunter Narr (summary; sample chapter: Explaining results).
• Steve Crancher, 2002. Dijja wanna say sumfing?. Ian Henry Pubs. Not serious.
• Paul Coggle, 1993. Do you speak Estuary?. The new Standard English – How to spot it and speak it. ISBN 0 7475 1656 1. London: Bloomsbury.

   
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1. Articles, monographs

• Estuary Engish. The Times Ed. Supp. article that started it all (David Rosewarne, 1984). With a biographical note (1999).
• Britain's crumbling ruling class is losing the accent of authority. An article in the Independent on Sunday (Neil Ascherson, 1994)
• Estuary English. An article in the Guardian Education section, from the point of view of teachers of English in British schools (Tony Bex, 1994)
• Transcribing Estuary English -- a discussion document. A paper published in Speech Hearing and Language (John Wells, 1994). You really do need on-screen phonetic symbols for this one:
  • IPA-SAM version | SIL version | Unicode version| Acrobat version
• Estuary English -- Hybrid or Hype?. A paper presented at the 4th NZ Conference on Language & Society, Christchurch, NZ (John Maidment, 1994)
  • IPA-SAM version | SIL version | Acrobat version
• Estuary English: tomorrow's RP? (David Rosewarne, 1994). Published in English Today 37, vol. 10, no. 1 (January 1994), pages 3-8)
• Estuary English. From the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language (David Crystal, 1995)
• Estuary English. A web page from Pädagogische Akademie der Diözese Linz (Friedrich Schönberger, 1996)
• What is Estuary English? EFL-oriented article. (J.C.Wells, 1997) IPA-SAM version
  
  • Acrobat version
• From "RP" to "Estuary English": the concept 'received' and the debate about British pronunciation standards. Acrobat. (Original English version, Gudrun Parsons, 1998.) Also the German version: Von "RP" zu "Estuary English": der Begriff 'received' und die Diskussion um einen britischen Aussprachestandard. University of Hamburg MA dissertation. 120 pp. Acrobat. (Gudrun Parsons, 1998).
• Untersuchungen zum `Estuary English' an einer `Public School' in Südengland. University of Münster dissertation. 109 pp. [Investigations of Estuary English at a public school in the south of England. In German. Acrobat version only.] (Carsten Hüttermann, 1999). Yes, EE has penetrated the public schools, though it's the RP end of the EE spectrum, and the boys rather more than the girls. Meticulous discussion. The author would welcome comments or discussion. Diagrams in a separate file.
• Estuary English: is English going Cockney? Moderna Språk, XCIII, 1, 1-11 Acrobat version only. (Ulrike Altendorf, 1999) Well, up to a point -- plenty of l-vocalisation; t-glottalling in certain environments; but no th-fronting in EE.
• The case of Estuary English: supposed evidence and a perceptual approach (Ruedi Haenni, 1999). University of Basel dissertation. 125 pp + appendices. Acrobat version only. A fascinating study of how people perceive accents. Haenni comes to the view that "there is no convincing way to describe (let alone to define) the concept [of EE] conclusively. [...] It is thus very difficult to uphold the notion of EE as a distinct variety in its own right." The author would welcome comments or discussion.
• Estuary English - a sociophonetic study (Joanna Przedlacka, 1999). PhD dissertation, University of Warsaw. Read a summary, including sound files (.wav), on the author's home page; also a related article, Estuary English and RP: some recent findings. "I did fieldwork in four Home Counties: Buckinghamshire, Kent,Essex and Surrey. Fourteen sociophonetic variables were investigated in the study. I looked at differences between thecounties, male and female speakers and two social classes. All data came from a word elicitation task from sixteen teenagespeakers. The study showed that there is no homogeneity in the accents spoken in the area..."
• El inglés del estuario y las innovaciones fonéticas del habla londinense. ['Estuary English and the phonetic innovations in London speech'. In Spanish.] Acrobat version only. Antonio Lillo, Univ. de Alicante. Published in Atlantis, 21 (1999): 59-77. Includes a good bibliography.
• See also 'South East London English: discrete versus continuous modelling of consonantal reduction' (Laura Tollfree, 1999), in Foulkes, P. and Docherty, G.J. (eds.), Urban Voices, London: Arnold, 1999.
• Estuary English - Entwicklung, linguistische Beschreibung und sozialer Hintergrund. ['Estuary English - development, linguistic description and social background'. In German.] (Lothar Hilgers, 2000) Word document. Requires SIL Manuscript IPA93 font. Univ. of Trier master's dissertation. "Many of these features can indeed be found on radio news (though in most cases not in very high proportions), some of them even on the most prestigious station (Radio 4). Nevertheless, they are mostly in evidence on those stations that are mainly addressed to younger people (Virgin Radio, Radio 1)... For me EE is not the future RP, but only one (though possibly the most important one) of several regionally modified versions that altogether might take over the place of traditional RP."
• T-glottalling between stigma and prestige: a sociolinguistic study of modern RP (Anne Fabricius, 2000). Ph.D. thesis, Copenhagen Business School. 180 pages. Acrobat version only. Concludes that
  • 1. T-glottalling in modern RP is stable in pre-consonantal environments in both speechstyles and is accepted by these speakers in formal and non-formal speech.
  • 2. It has entered modern RP as a vernacular change (spreading out from London), but itsvernacular status is obscured by other factors.
  • 3. It has to some extent lost its stigma, but not yet acquired prestige, in word-final pre-pausaland pre-vocalic environments.
• The sociolinguistics of modern RP (Peter Trudgill, forthcoming). A chapter from his book Sociolinguistic Variation and Change, due out in 2001. Includes (towards the end) a discussion of EE. The author does not agree that it would now make moresense to teach EFL learners 'Estuary English' rather than RP.
• Dialect levelling and received pronunciation (Paul Kerswill, 2000). An article originally published as Mobility, meritocracy and dialect levelling: the fading (and phasing) out of Received Pronunciation, in Pilvi Rajame (ed.) (2001). British Studies in the New Millennium: Challenge of the Grassroots. Proceedings of the 3rd Tartu Conference on British Studies, University of Tartu, Estonia, August 2000. Contains a section on EE, where Kerswill holds Mrs Thatcher responsible (almost) for the spread of EE.
• The establishment of the English RP accent : a flawed interpretation? (John Honey, 2000). A review article of Linda Mugglestone, Talking Proper, published in Bulletin of the International Association of University Professors of English, Autumn 2000. This is the same John Honey whose book Language is Power is reviewed below (section 5), and whose political views on language differ from those of most linguists.
• Glottalisierung und Elision von [t] im modernen Englisch: eine soziophonetische Studie ['Glottalization and elision of [t] in modern English: a sociophonetic study'. In German] (Frank Lorenz, 2002). MA dissertation, U. of Jena. 'A phenomenon that offers a relevant and interesting perspective on all areas of linguistic study'. 'Thus RP in its original definition is no longer tenable as a standard pronunciation.' (p. 53; my translation, JCW)
• Estuary English — the new classless accent? (Guðlaug Hilmarsdóttir). BA dissertation. Includes a sound clip of David Beckham with transcription and phonetic analysis.

2. Abstracts, lecture handouts

• Estuary English?!?, handout for a talk at a BAAP symposium (J.C.Wells, 1992)
  
  • IPA-SAM version | SIL version | Unicode version | Acrobat version
• Recommendations for standardized phonetics of Estuary English, overhead from a symposium at the University of Heidelberg (J.C.Wells, 1994)
  
  • IPA-SAM version | SIL version | Acrobat version
• Pinning down Estuary English, abstract of a talk at a symposium in Lund (J.C.Wells, 1998)
• Estuary English - handout for lecture in the UCL P&L course PLINX202 English accents. Read in conjunction with my Przedlacka handout. See also the preceding lectures on Cockney. (J.C.Wells, revised 2004).
• Lecture: Estuary English - students' notes, Adam Brown, Nat'l Inst. of Education, Singapore

Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle
learns to 'speak proper'
from Rex Harrison's Prof Higgins

3. Bibliography

• References for Estuary English. A comprehensive bibliography. (Main contributors: Céline Horgues, Carsten Hüttermann, Pia Köhlmyr, and Gudrun Parsons, 1998)

4. Usenet (etc.) postings, FAQs

• Posting on the LINGUIST list (Paul Coggle, 1994)
• Another posting on the LINGUIST list (Paul Kerswill, 1994)
• What is Estuary English? Posting on the LINGUIST list (Pia Köhlmyr, 1996)
• Discussion in the LINGUIST list (Keith Battarbee, 1996)
• FAQs about Estuary English (Paul Coggle, 1998-99) New questions added Feb 99
• Question and answer about Estuary English (John Wells, 1998-99) Previously shown as "More FAQs" New question added Apr 2000
• Teaching notes on EE, University of Essex (Mark Tatham, 1999/2002)

5. Of related interest

Not exactly about EE, but relevant:

• Anne Fabricius' Modern RP Page
• The cockneyfication of RP? Paper from the Stockholm symposium (J.C. Wells, 1994)
  • IPA-SAM version | SIL version| Acrobat version
• Press release for a public lecture, Our changing pronunciation (J.C.Wells, 1998)
• Two reviews of John Honey, Language is power:
  • Peter Trudgill, 1998;
  • Tony Bex, 1998
• Bob's slang page. London Slang, collected by Robert Strudwick
• The Cockney Internet -- part of a fantasy site (Diana the Valkyrie), includes a Cockney interpreter
• Cockney On Line. Includes a dictionary of Cockney rabbit
• The Bergen Corpus of London Teenage English. A scholarly research project in Norway.
• Review of the Linguistic Atlas of England, Times Higher Ed. Supp. (J.C. Wells, 1 December 1978)
• Off the park: No accounting for sundry tastes. Spoof diary by professional footballer, in appropriately-styled not-exactly-standard English. (Is this EE?). Please don't e-mail me asking for a translation. Feature article in The Guardian, London ('Darren Tackle', 2 April 1999)

  "what is fast becoming the new standard English: estuary English, a sort of sub-cockney spread along the Thames estuary in the post-war London diaspora" -- The Lonely Planet British Phrasebook (recommended -- JCW)

6. Light journalism etc.

Don't believe everything you read here! There's tendentious reporting, unsupported claims, and sensational exaggeration... but it tells you what people are thinking and sometimes alerts you to new research. We're gradually adding older archive material, as well as new stuff. Original graphics may be missing, and original links may not work.

• I believe in Estuary English. From the Daily Telegraph (Sinclair McKay, 1996) -- with comments by J.C.Wells
• How you say it puts the accent on success. Article in the Daily Telegraph. Scousers, Brummies, and Glaswegians are discriminated against. (Kate Watson Smyth, 2 January 1997)
• We wanna talk like common people. Feature article in the Daily Telegraph. 'Serious "downgrading" began in the Eighties, among the students who colonised the inner cities, squatting in council flats and opening galleries and vegetarian cafés. Since then it has become the lingua franca of teaching and social work.' (Kirsten Sellars, 21 June 1997)
• Goo-goo goo, ga-ga ga. Article in Times Ed. Supp.. John Honey 'despairs of EE and Cockney glottal stops' (Diane Spencer, 8 Aug 1997)
• A be'er bi' of Engwish. An article in the Times Ed. Supp.. John Honey again. (Clare Dean, 22 Aug 1997)
• Talking proper is sex not class issue. An article in the Times Ed. Supp. reporting on a PhD thesis by James Crinson, U. of Newcastle, dealing with teenage language. He found that there was a bigger difference between boys and girls than between children of different social classes. (Diane Spencer, 19 Dec 1997)
• Blair tradisce l'inglese colto [Blair betrays educated English. In Italian.] Article in Il Corriere della Sera. Makes the strange claim that EE is 'similar to American slang'. (Matteo Persivale, 20 June 1998)
• oi! just you mind your language. An article in Midweek, a London freesheet. (Matthew Bell, 8 Jan 1999)
• Glasgow puts an accent on Estuary. Report in The Times, London. (Gillian Harris, 20 Feb 1999) -- with comments by John Wells
• Nuffink wrong wiv accents, guv. Feature article in the Evening Standard, London. (Simon Jenkins, 4 March 1999)
• The accent that dare not speak its name. Feature article in The Independent on Sunday, London (John Morrish, 22 March 1999)
• London: multilingual capital of the world. Article in The Independent, London (Andrew Buncombe and Tessa MacArthur, 29 March 1999)
• Scouse is threatened by a rising tide of Estuary English. Report in The Independent, London (Kathy Marks, 1 June 1999) with comments in reply, by Andrew Hamer
• Much ado about nuffin'. Feature article in The Guardian, London -- a reaction to the above (Louisa Young, 2 June 1999)
• Lost voices. Feature article in The Guardian, London (John Mullan, 18 June 1999)
• Sieg der Silbenschlucker [Victory for the syllable-swallowers. In German.] Feature article in Süddeutsche Zeitung. The usual stuff about EE, finishing however with the claim that poor old England has forgotten about our transatlantic ex-colony, with whose language 'British kids are just as fascinated as those of the rest of the world'. To which we might reply, then why are we continuing to develop and adopt new forms of British English? Or does SZ, too, think that EE is American? (Petra Steinberger, 28 June 1999) --jetzt mit Kommentar von / with comments by Carsten Hüttermann
• Teletotties say 'rilly gid'. Feature article in the Sunday Times (Philip Norman, 14 Feb. 1999). Pronunciation trends among presenters of children's TV. The author thinks that EE is found only in Essex, so doesn't call these trends EE. He draws attention to developments in the vowels /ʊ/ and /əʊ/, to the supposed loss of /t/ (actually, glottalling), and to various lexical matters.
• Calm down yourself. Feature article in The Guardian Weekend magazine. About Liverpool, with reference to its accent, supposedly unattractive to the English but attractive to Americans. (Linda Grant, 10 July 1999)
• Glaswegian tainted by the strains of Sarf Lunnun. Feature article in The Independent. Developments in Glaswegian English that may reflect features of EE. (Fred Bridgland, 28 June 2000).
• Nae bovver. Feature article in The Guardian Higher Education section. See preceding entry. (John Crace, 18 July 2000)
• Scousers put the accent on success. Feature article in The Guardian. Claims that Liverpool speech is now favoured for call centres, while "estuary English, the recognised accent of the south east, appears less popular: east London, Reading and Southend finished near the bottom of the list.". (David Ward, 22 Sep 2000).
• Impress your clients: speak like Robbie. --Robbie Williams, that is, with his Stoke-on-Trent accent. Feature article in The Independent on Sunday. Dr Coggle suggests RW as a suitable voice for 'fronting a company pitch'. (Kate Hilpern, 1 Oct 2000)
• The Queen's English of today: my 'usband and I. Feature article in The Guardian (Tim Radford, 21 Dec 2000). Another report of the same research, but sensationalized: Cor blimey! Even the Queen no longer speaks the Queen's English. Feature article in The Independent (Steve Connor, 21 Dec 2000)
• Scouse accent kills Lisa's Dublin dream. News article from The Irish Post (17 Mar 2001): not about EE, but showing that accent discrimination is alive and well... in Ireland.
• Geordie dialect gannin out of fashion. Feature article in The Guardian (Martin Wainwright, Friday April 6, 2001). Reported demise much exaggerated.
• Speak proper? Not likely. Feature article from the Sunday Times (India Knight, 11 Nov 2001). Claims that the only speakers discriminated against nowadays are the speakers of RP.
• Finding a gag that takes the biscuit (excerpt). Part of a feature from the Guardian (22 Dec 2001). With comments from JCW.
• All raait! It's a new black-white lingo. Article from the Sunday Times (Steven Swinford and Laura St Quinton, 11 Dec 2005). Britain's "first multi-ethnic dialect" in inner-city London.

• IPA-SAM, which requires that you have a not-too-old browser (font-compliant, 3.1 or later), and the IPA-SAM fonts installed (read about them, and download them free, here); SIL, which requires a font-compliant browser and the SIL fonts installed (download them free of charge from here) -- but note that this font has very unsatisfactory dark-l and syllabicity-mark-under symbols; Unicode, which requires a modern Unicode-compliant browser such as IExplorer 4 or Netscape 4, and a Unicode font including IPA installed. (If using Windows 95 or later, download Lucida Sans Unicode free here.)
• Adobe Acrobat PDF format -- needs no special fonts; your browser may be able to handle these files already, but if not all you need to do is to install the FREE Acrobat Reader, which you can download from here

Do not be misled by the title of the work Shallow-Water Dictionary; A Grounding In Estuary English, by Stilgoe, John R., Paperback - 48 pages (August 1994) Princeton Architectural Press; ISBN: 1568980299. The blurb reads: "Stilgoe's definitions are lyric explanations of the vernacular language of America's nearly extinct shallow-water regions." A blow for Rosewarne's London-centred view of the universe.

J.C.Wells home page, e-mail.
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