MASARYK UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

ANALYSIS AND COMPARISON OF RP

AND COCKNEY ACCENT

BACHELOR THESIS

AUTHOR: Jana Kopřivová

SUPERVISOR: Mgr. Irena Hůlková, Ph.D.

BRNO 2018
Prohlášení

„Prohlašuji, že jsem závěrečnou bakalářskou práci vypracovala samostatně,

s využitím pouze citovaných literárních pramenů, dalších informací a zdrojů v souladu

s Disciplinárním řádem pro studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity

a se zákonem č. 121/2000 Sb., o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem

autorským a o změně některých zákonů (autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších

předpisů.“

..................................................
 Abstrakt

Tato bakalářská práce se zaměřuje na přízvuk Cockney v porovnání s tzv.

"Received Pronunciation" jakožto anglickým výslovnostním standardem. Teoretická

část se zaměřuje na vysvětlení základní terminologie související s tématem

a vymezením znaků těchto dvou zmiňovaných přízvuků, stejně jako jejich původem,

změnami i vlivem na ostatní přízvuky. Praktická část se zabývá analýzou a synchronním

i diachronním porovnáním nahrávek reprezentujících tyto dva přízvuky.

Abstract

This bachelor thesis deals with the Cockney accent in contrast with Received

Pronunciation as the English standard variety. In the theoretical part the basic

terminology related to the topic is explained and the basic features of the two accents

are listed, as well as their origin, changes and influence on other accents. The practical

part focuses on the analysis and both synchronic and diachronic comparison of several

recordings representing these two accents.

 Klíčová slova

dialekt, přízvuk, "Received Pronunciation" (standardní forma britské angličtiny),

Cockney (londýnský dialect dělnické třídy), fonetika, fonologie, výslovnost, analýza,

případová studie

Keywords

dialect, accent, Received Pronunciation (RP), Cockney, variety, phonetics,

phonology, pronunciation, analysis, case study

 Acknowledgment

I would like to thank my supervisor Irena Hůlková for her willingness, support

and inspiration.
Table of Contents

1 Introduction .................................................................................................8

2 Theoretical part ............................................................................................9

2.1 Phonetics and phonology ......................................................................9

2.2 Variety, accent and dialect ....................................................................9

2.2.1 Dialect and variety .......................................................................... 10

2.2.2 Accent............................................................................................. 13

2.3 Received Pronunciation ...................................................................... 17

2.3.1 The Development of Received Pronunciation .................................. 17

2.3.2 Varieties of Received Pronunciation ................................................ 18

2.3.3 Innovations in Received Pronunciation............................................ 19

2.4 Cockney ............................................................................................. 21

2.4.1 Pronunciation variables ................................................................... 23

2.5 Cockney Rhyming Slang .................................................................... 24

3 Practical Part ............................................................................................. 26

3.1 Methodology ...................................................................................... 26

3.2 Synchronic Approach ......................................................................... 28

3.2.1 Speaker 1 ........................................................................................ 28

3.2.2 Speaker 2 ........................................................................................ 30

 3.2.3 Speaker 3 ........................................................................................ 32

3.2.4 Speaker 4 ........................................................................................ 34

3.3 Diachronic Approach .......................................................................... 37

3.3.1 Speaker 5 ........................................................................................ 38

3.3.2 Speaker 6 ........................................................................................ 41

4 Conclusion................................................................................................. 44

5 Bibliography .............................................................................................. 45

5.1 References .......................................................................................... 45

5.2 Sources ............................................................................................... 47

List of tables....................................................................................................... 48

List of figures ..................................................................................................... 49

Appendix A ........................................................................................................ 50

Appendix B ........................................................................................................ 51

Appendix C ........................................................................................................ 52

Appendix D ........................................................................................................ 53

Appendix E ........................................................................................................ 54
1 Introduction

This bachelor thesis deals mainly with the description, phonemic analysis and

comparison of Received Pronunciation and Cockney accent. The United Kingdom is

a very diverse country not only by its appearance, but especially its accents, that even

today often reflect not only a regional attachments of the speaker, but sometimes even

a class one. I chose the topic because I find this diversity in the United Kingdom and

especially in London genuinely interesting. The aim of the bachelor thesis is to examine

the differences between these two accents, and reveal some changes or new tendencies

to these accents.

The theoretical part presents the essential theoretical background such as

explication and definition of terms such as accent, dialect, variety, phonetics or

phonology, as well as examining the background and features specific to the accents.

The practical part consists of several case studies in which six recordings

representing Received Pronunciation and Cockney accent are analysed. The practical

part consists of two sections, the first one focuses on synchronic approach, the latter one

analyses the recordings diachronically.

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2 Theoretical part

2.1 Phonetics and phonology

Phonetics and phonology are subdisciplines of linguistics which deal with sounds.

Phonetics concerns the concrete characteristics of speech sounds. Its main focus is

to provide an objective approach to analyse speech sounds. It can be divided into three

main areas; articulatory phonetics (focuses on how the sounds are made), acoustic

phonetics (focuses on the physical properties of speech) and auditory or perceptual

phonetics (focuses on the perception of speech sounds) (Yule, 2006, p. 26).

Phonology can be defined as the linguistic aspect of phonetics. It deals with

patterns of speech sounds in a systematic way. It does not focus on the anatomical

nature of the production of speech sounds like phonetics, but rather deals with their use

in speech, their relationships and functions (Wells, 1982, p. 39).

As a symbolic representation of sounds, phonology uses an abstract unit –

phoneme. Each phoneme has many different versions that are produced in speech.

Those specific versions of a phoneme are called phones. Group of phones, which are all

versions of one phoneme, are called allophones. The main difference between phonemes

and allophones is that if we substitute one phoneme for another, we create a new word

with a different meaning (minimal pair), On the other hand, substituting allophones

results in a different pronunciation of the same word (Yule, 2006, p. 43).

2.2 Variety, accent and dialect

Accent and dialect, alternatively variety, are terms that are often misused among

the lay public, it is therefore important to define them.

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2.2.1 Dialect and variety

According to Wells, the term variety, or dialect refers to grammatical, lexical and

phonetic aspects of a variety of a language (1982, p. 3). In this broader sense, it can be

associated with social, ethnical, gender and age variation as well as with regional

aspects (Dontcheva-Navratilova, 2012, p. 8). In a narrower sense, the term dialect

relates to the regional differences only. These regional differences are the subject of

interest of dialectology, the study of dialects. According to Yule, there is a “general

impression of mutual intelligibility among many speakers of different dialects of

English” (2006, p. 241).

In order to avoid misunderstanding, Wells uses the term traditional-dialect to

refer to this point of view, and the general term variety to talk about variety in the

broader sense (1982, p. 5). In order to avoid confusion, in this thesis the term variety is

preferred.

When dealing with varieties, we can distinguish three main categories; the

standard varieties, regional varieties and social varieties.

Standard variety is an idealized version of a language without any specifics for

a certain region. It is codified in dictionaries and grammar books and widely used in

administrative, commercial and educational field. It is considered to be “neutral” and is

mainly associated with formal and written language rather than spoken, although it is

also used in the broadcasting media. The Standard English is generally the variety that

non-native speakers learn. We can also refer to the single national varieties, such as

Standard British English, Standard American English, Standard Australian English and

other (Yule, 2006, p. 240). In the latter chapters we will briefly discuss the Standard

British English.

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 Regional variety is a variety according to where the speaker lives or comes from,

and corresponds to Wells’ traditional-dialect Regional varieties may differ from each

other in pronunciation, vocabulary or grammatical features (Dontcheva-

Navratilova, 2012, p. 10). They are widely researched and compared to one another.

The aim of these surveys usually is to find a significant number of differences in the

speech of those living in different areas and chart those differences in the map. Yule

illustrates this on an example of informants in one area, who “carry things home from

the store in a paper bag while the majority in another area say they use paper sack”.

Boundary between those two areas in a particular item of interest is called isogloss.

When we find a set of these isoglosses that overlay each other, we obtain a dialect

boundary (2006, p. 242). The traditional studies of regional varieties focus mainly on

the speech of people in rural areas (Yule, 2006, p. 254).

According to Wells (1982), there have been two main ideas on how the regional

differences arose. The classical model of the wave-theory by Schmidt visualizes the

linguistic differences as waves spreading across the areas in different directions.

Contrary to this theory, Trudgill believes that these changes are usually spreading from

bigger cities to smaller towns and eventually to the countryside (p. 13).

Social variety or also sociolect refers to differences associated with factors such

as social class, education, ethnic group, age or sex (Dontcheva-

Navratilova, 2012, p. 11). The speakers are generally divided in two groups; middle

class, the speakers who are more educated and perform non-manual work, and working

class, which refers to speakers who have fewer years of education and work manually

(Yule, 2006, p. 254).

Wells points out that “a person’s social position is reflected in the words and

constructions he uses, as well as in the way he pronounces them” (1982, p. 13). In

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Britain, as well as other English-speaking countries, there is a close connection between

the language and social class. Wells compares this relationship to a pyramid (see fig. 1).

Figure 1: Relation between social and regional accents in England

The vertical dimension represents the social aspect, whereas the horizontal

dimension represents the regional variation. The broad base of the pyramid suggests that

the working-class varieties exhibit a great deal of regional variation

(Wells, 1982, p. 14). The apex shows the position of the Received Pronunciation, which

does not exhibit any geographical anomalies.

Other interesting features that we can notice within the social variety are the

gender differences in dialect preference. Trudgill (1974, p. 94) conducted a survey

among the citizens in Norwich, focusing on the tendency to use /n/ in –ing forms (see

table 1).

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Table 1: Variation of –ing in Norwich by sex and class (frequency of /n/)

Middle Lower Upper Middle Lower

middle class middle class working class working class working class

Male 4 27 81 91 100

Female 0 3 68 81 97

As we can see from the table, there is a difference in the frequency of

non-standard pronunciation of –ing as /n/. The higher the class, the more significant the

difference is. Trudgill himself suggests two explanations for this divergenceː

1 Women in our society are more status-conscious than men, generally speaking... and

there are therefore more aware of the social significance of linguistic variables. /.../

2 The second, related, factor is that WC speech, like other aspects of WC culture,

appears, at least in some Western societies, to have connotations of masculinity (see

Labov 1966: 495), probably because it is associated with the roughness and toughness

supposedly characteristic of WC life which are, to a certain extent, considered to be

desirable masculine attributes. They are not, on the other hand, considered to be

desirable feminine characteristics. On the contrary, features such as refinement and

sophistication are much preferred (Talbot, 2010, see Thorne and Henley, 1975, pp. 91-

2).

Roach (1991, p. 189) calls the factors mentioned above static factors, and also

mentions various situational factors that influence the speech, such as the relationship

between the speaker and hearer, whether the speech is private or public or what the

purpose of the chosen language is.

2.2.2 Accent

Accent is only restricted to the description of aspects of pronunciation that identify

the social and regional background of a speaker (Yule, 2006, p. 240). It refers to the

13
language in the matter of pronunciation, intonation, stress rhythm and other features. It

follows that accent can be a part of a dialect, but not vice versa. Wells points out that

the term accent may also be used as a synonym of the term stress (1982, p. 1). As it has

already been mentioned, accent is one of the components of a dialect (or rather variety),

it is therefore not surprising that it is affected similarly as dialect (geographically,

socially...).

2.2.2.1 How accents differ

According to Roach (1991), there are two sorts of differences between accents;

phonetic and phonological. Accents that differ from each other phonetically have the

same number of phonemes, but at least some of the phonemes are realized differently.

A change in stress or intonation may also occur; although not so significantly that it

would cause a change in meaning (p. 188). Roach (1991) illustrates the phonetic

differences on a relationship between the Received Pronunciation and Australian

English, both of which have the same set of vowels, yet the pronunciation is different

(p. 188).

Phonological differences are the most apparent in a different number of phonemes

in the accents at the segmental level. Roach illustrates this on an example of Northern

English accents that “do not have a contrast between /ʌ / and /ʊ /, so that ‘luck’ and

‘look’ are pronounced identically (both as /lʊ k/)” (1991, p. 188).

In connection with comparison of two different accents, Gimson (1994, p. 81)

divides the differences in pronunciation in four types.

a) Realizational differences are those differences within two or more accents, where

the phonemic system may be the same, but the specific phonetic realizations may

be different, for example, an allophone /ʔ / representing /t/ between vowels in

14
 Cockney (Gimson, 1994, p. 82), as in have a look /ˈ æv ə ˈ lʊ ʔ / (Gimson, 1994, p.

156).

b) Systematic differences or differences in phoneme inventory are divergences in the

number of oppositions, which can be smaller or greater, for example, the presence

of /g/ after /ŋ/ in sing (Gimson, 1994, p. 82).

c) Lexical differences emerge where “the system may be the same, but the incidence

of phonemes in words is different, |...| or when the choice of phoneme is associated

with the habits of different generations”, for example, the change of /eɪ / for /ɪ / in

Monday (Gimson, 1994, p. 82).

d) Distributional differences occur in accents that have the same system, but the

realization of specific phonemes may be limited in certain context, for example,

non-rhotic accents, that is, accents with limited distribution of /r/, such as Received

Pronunciation, as opposed to rhotic accents, in which the full distribution of /r/

occurs (Gimson, 1994, p. 82).

2.2.2.2 Why innovations arise

The reason why accents differ is that languages yield to constant changes.

Changes in pronunciation originate in different places and among diverse social groups,

which leads to regional and social differences between accents. But why is it so?

Wells states (1982, p. 94) that one of the reasons why new innovations arise is our

own laziness and slovenliness. He calls this phenomenon that leads us to the tendency to

pronounce words and sentences more effectively the principle of least effort. Wells

gives an example of voiceless /t/ between vowels, as in better or atom (1982, p. 94):

“For example, a voiceless /t/ between vowels, as in better or atom, involves not only a tongue-tip

movement up to the alveolar ridge and away again, but also a switching off and on again of the

vibration of the vocal cords. It is simpler, and requires fewer motor commands to the organs of

15
 speech, if the vibration of the vocal cords is continued throughout the alveolar articulation. The

outcome is a ‘voiced t’, as in the typical American pronunciation of these words (3.3.4.below).

Another way of simplifying /t/ is to abandon the articulatory modifications (switch-off of voicing,

plosive occusion) at the glottis. The outcome in this case is a glottal plosive, /ʔ /, as in the typical

Cockney (and wider British) pronunciation /ˈ beʔ ə, ˈ æʔ əm/.”

On the other hand, at the same time it is necessary to preserve intelligibility and

thus facilitate communication. Innovating the language can lead to the loss of certain

contrasts and new homophones can arise. This can lead to misunderstandings in speech.

For example, allowing /t/ to become voiced risks uncertainty between waiting in the

river or wading in it. Using /f/ instead of /θ/ can bring a confusion between I thought

and I fought (Wells, 1982, p. 97).

To make comparison of different accents easier, Wells introduces standard lexical

sets. Large groups of words that tend to share the same vowel are represented by

keywords (Wells, 1982, p. xviii). For example, KIT is a keyword for words such as ship,

bridge, sick or busy (see Appendix B).

It is very important to emphasize that there are no “better” or “worse” accents, as

well as there is no superiority or inferiority among dialects. Sometimes, however, there

may be attempts of some to mask their original accent. Received Pronunciation in

England represents overt prestige, and may be therefore adopted by someone with

working-class accent so as to hide his or her origin (Wells, 1982, p. 104). The neutral

accent is considered appropriate for public use – for instance for politicians, teachers or

newsreaders. The contrary of overt prestige is covert prestige (Wells, 1982, p. 105).

That is the prestige connected with working-class speech (and can be found particularly

in larger cities) that leads to the adoption of some of its features. An example of covert

prestige can be for instance T Glottalling in more relaxed RP.

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2.3 Received Pronunciation

The accent that is considered the most prestigious in English is known as the

Received Pronunciation (often shortened as RP) where the word received is to be meant

in the sense of “accepted in the best society” (Santipolo, 2003, p. 404). The term was

first used by the linguist A. J. Ellis in 1869, but was spread after the year 1924, when

the second edition of English Pronouncing Dictionary was published by Daniel Jones,

a Professor of Phonetics at University College London.

This appellation might be considered a little unhappy, it can be therefore

sometimes referred to as BBC English or BBC Pronunciation, Standard English,

Queen’s English (or King’s English) and others, but since the term Received

Pronunciation is used the most widely, I shall use this appellation as well.

The following chapters discuss the development of the pronunciation standard,

types of Received Pronunciation and its innovations. Since Received Pronunciation is

considered a standard for EFL studies, the thesis will focus only on the changes of

Received Pronunciation, not the sound qualities itself. Figures showing the sound

qualities of vowels and consonants can be found in Appendices (see Appendix A, C, D

and E).

2.3.1 The Development of Received Pronunciation

The dialect that we now know as Standard English or Received Pronunciation is

a result of slow change that were influenced by social, political, cultural and economic

factors starting in the Middle English period (Santipolo, 2003, p. 404).

According to Nevalainen (as in Hinton, 2015, p. 25), Received Pronunciation is

thought to have originated in the sixteenth century in the speech of highly educated

class of London and its surroundings, as well as public schools and universities. Since

17
the business, education, culture and administrative power were centralized in London,

the upper-class standard quickly spread and with a number of dictionaries published in

the eighteenth century, for instance John Walker’s A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary

and Expositor of the English Language (1791), the Received Pronunciation started to

spread with the development of the public school system (Hinton, 2015, p.25).

In 1917, Daniel Jones published the very first edition of his English Pronouncing

Dictionary and with its 50,000 entries; it was considered a masterpiece, especially in the

field of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) (Jones, Roach, Setter & Esling, 2011,

p. xxiv).

In 1926, the BBC established a committee for the purpose of selection of BBC

speakers and announcers, who were all required to use Received Pronunciation

(Santipolo, 2003 p. 412). After the Second World War, the BBC published internal

guidelines on pronunciation for the purpose of presenting. In 1960s, the BBC started to

accept regional announcers or commentators from regional stations, allowing a mild

regional accent. The BBC World however remained using strictly RP until the end of

1980s, when a new policy of more various range of accents was announced (Santipolo,

2003, p. 413).

2.3.2 Varieties of Received Pronunciation

Wells states that “no accent is homogenous invariant monolith – certainly not RP”

(1986, p. 279). We must therefore count on certain differences, even within the same

accent. Wells recognises four variants of Received Pronunciation, mainstream RP,

U- RP, adoptive RP and Near-RP.

U-RP refers to upper-crust, that is, upper-class speakers, such as private school

teachers or army officers (Wells, 1986, p. 281). Adoptive RP is a variety that has been

adopted by the speaker during his or her life, in other words the speaker did not speak

18
RP as a child (Wells, 1986, p. 283). To a large extent, adoptive RP blends with

mainstream RP. Near-RP refers to any accent, which would enable the speaker to be

recognised as English (Wells, 1986, p. 297). Mainstream RP is the most neutral variety

from those presented.

It is also possible to use typology by Gimson (see Hughes, Trudgill &

Watt, 2005, p. 39). He divides RP in three main types; conservative RP, which is

spoken by the older generation and by certain professionals or social groups, general

RP, which is “the least marked variety”, and advanced RP, used by younger generation

of upper class or in certain professional circles.

Both these views partly overlap; Gimson’s general RP corresponds with Wells’

mainstream RP, the relationship between conservative and advanced RP is to a certain

degree chronological, which differs from Wells’ theory (Wells, 1986, p. 280).

The following section concentrates mainly on the mainstream RP, but will also

comment on some distinctive features related to the other forms of RP.

2.3.3 Innovations in Received Pronunciation

Vowels

Now, let us outline certain changes in Received Pronunciation that happened in

the previous century. One of the changes that happened during the twentieth century

was the transfer of the CLOTH set. In Jones’ time up until the World War II, words that

belonged to the standard lexical set CLOTH were usually pronounced with the long

vowel /ɔ ː /. Nowadays, however, we pronounce those words with a short /ɒ /. What we

now know as cough /kɒ f/ used to be pronounced as /kɔ ː f/. Other examples may be

soft, cross or lost, all of which are followed by a voiceless fricative (Wells, 1997).

19
 Similar change happened with the GOAT vowel, where the diphthong /oʊ / was

replaced with /əʊ /, for example in I don’t know /doʊ nt ˈ noʊ / is replaced with /aɪ

ˈ dəʊ nt ˈ nəʊ /. Similar innovation can be seen in weakened vowel /o/ that became

schwa /ə/, as in November /nəˈ vembə/ as opposed to formerly used /noˈ vembə/

(Wells, 1997).

Another change was decline of /ʊ ə/. The diphthong has increasingly become

replaced by /ɔ ː / instead, for example in pure from /pʊ ə/ to nowadays more frequent

/pjɔ ː / or cure /kjɔ ː / (Wells, 1986, p. 287).

Yet another vowel that declined was the weak /c/ and its replacement for the

schwa sound /ə/. Therefore, the word possible is now pronounced as /ˈ pɒ səbl/ rather

than /ˈ pɒ sIbl/, and private is pronounced as /ˈ praɪ vət/ instead of /ˈ praɪ vɪ t/. Later

yet one change involving /ɪ / occurred; this time it was tensing of final and prevocalic

/ɪ / (Wells, 1997). That is, that the final /ɪ / in words such as happy /ˈ hæpi/, coffee

/ˈ kɒ fi/ or valley /ˈ væli/, which were traditionally identified with the /ɪ / at the end, it

nowadays often identified with /iː / (as in beat).

Consonants

In the last twenty years of the twentieth century, a new accent called Estuary

English has risen, spreading in the area of the estuary of the river Thames. From

phonetic point of view, Estuary English is a compromise, a ‘bridge’ between Cockney

and Received Pronunciation, as there are many characteristics that have formerly been

a Cockney feature, but are slowly being incorporated into RP through Estuary English

(Wells, 1997).

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 We can notice so-called Yod coalescence, that is, tendency to convert /tj/ into /tʃ /

and /dj/ into /dʒ /, such as in Tuesday /ˈ tʃ uː zdeɪ / or actual /ˈ æktʃ uəl/ (Wells,

1997).

Other changes involve T Glottalling and L Vocalization (Wells, 1997), which will

be discussed within Cockney.

2.4 Cockney

The term Cockney comes from the Middle English word cockeney, which means

“cock’s egg” (Fowler, 1984, p. 1). Originally it meant a small or oddly shaped egg, and

was used in a figurative sense as an expression for something weird or silly

(Fowler, 1984, p. 1). Even Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales use the word cockeney in the

prologue to the Reeve’s Tale as a synonym of fool (Fowler, 1984, p. 1).

Cockney is a traditional working-class dialect of London. There are several views

on what a ‘true Cockney’ looks like. According to the most traditional definition,

Cockney is associated with the area within the sound of the bells of the Church of St.

Mary-le-Bow; so-called Bow Bells (see Figure 2) (Wells, 1986, p. 302). A true Cockney

is therefore someone who was born within the area of east London and lived there.

21
Figure 2: Range of the Bow Bells in 1851 and 2012

However, according to Fowler (1984, p. 1), this area is no longer residential

(Church of St. Mary-le-Bow is located in what we now know as the City of London),

and so Cockney speakers spread to the surrounding areas. Fowler (1984, p. 1) therefore

suggests that there is not a strict geographical boundary of Cockney anymore. Some

authors consider Cockney a general term for working-class London accent (Hughes,

Trudgill & Watt, 2005, p. 72). Wells presents another approach to that matter; apart

from the ‘traditional’ Cockney, he lists another working-class accent, so-called popular

London, that “shares the general characteristics of Cockney” (1986, p. 302).

He considers this accent slightly closer to RP than the broadest Cockney (1986, p. 302).

For the purpose of this thesis, I am personally more inclined to the broadest

definition of Cockney.

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2.4.1 Pronunciation variables

Vowels

The system of some distinctive monophthongs and diphthongs can be seen

bellow:

Figure 3: Phonetic qualities of certain London vowels

When comparing these monophthongs and diphthongs to those of Received

Pronunciation (see Appendices C, D and E), we can notice certain changes.

According to Wells (1986, p. 305), it can be said that the phonetic qualities of

short vowels do not differ much comparing to Received Pronunciation.KIT lexical set,

/ɪ /, for instance, can be more central, TRAP and LOT less open.

Certain diphthongs are very different from those of Received Pronunciation

(Hughes & Trudgill, 2005, p. 75):

“/eɪ / → /æɪ /, as in paper /ˈ pæɪ pə/,

/əʊ / → /ʌ u/, as in soaked /sʌ ukt/,

/aɪ / → /ɒ ɪ /, as in inside /ˌ ɪ nˈ s ɒ ɪ d/,

/aʊ / may be /æə/, as in surrounded /səˈ raʊ ndɪ d/”

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 Consonants

Consonants in Cockney yield to several changes. One of the most common

features in Cockney speech is T Glottalization (Wells, 1986, p. 325). It can replace /t/

between vowels, as in butter /ˈ bʌ ʔ ə/, or before pause, as in wet /weʔ / (Hughes &

Trudgill, 2005).

Another aspect of Cockney pronunciation is TH Fronting, which collapses the

contrast between labio-dental /f, v/ and dental /θ, ð/ fricatives. The examples of TH

Fronting can be thin /fɪ ŋ/ or father /ˈ faː və/.

In Cockney, as well as in other working-class accents, we can encounter so-called

H Dropping. It is essentially omission of initial /h/ in words such as hammer /ˈ æmə/,

have /æv/ or over here /ʌ ʊ vər ˈ ɪ ə/ (Wells, 1982, pp. 253-4).

L Vocalization is another feature of Cockney pronunciation. It occurs in final

position, changing /l/ into a close back vowel of changing quality between /o/ and /ʊ /

(Hugher & Trudgill, 2005, p. 75). Example of such type of vocalization may be fill

/fɪ o/ or fall /foʊ /.

2.5 Cockney Rhyming Slang

One of the most interesting features of Cockney is without doubt Cockney

Rhyming Slang. The Cockney Rhyming Slang originated in the nineteenth century in the

London underworld, where it was used as a secret code among criminals, to which the

police could not understand ( 2008, p. 218).

It generally consists of usually binary expressions, the latter word rhymes with the

one it refers to, but in speech the referred word is replaced with the first of the

expression (2008, p. 2018). An example of a Cockney Rhyming Slang may be bread,

24
which means money, as in bread and honey (for further popular expressions, see

Table 2).

Table 2: Popular expressions in Cockney Rhyming Slang

Used word Expression Meaning

China China Plate mate

apples apples and pears stairs
tea tea leaf thief
bacon bacon and eggs legs
Adam Adam and Eve to believe
(2008, pp. 218-227)

25
3 Practical Part

3.1 Methodology

In the practical part of this thesis, we will analyse and compare the differences

between Received Pronunciation and Cockney using case study. According to

Cambridge dictionary, case study (dictionary.cambridge.org) is defined as “a detailed

account giving information about the development of a person, group, or thing,

especially in order to show general principles”. Hitchcock and Hughes (as in Hendl &

Remr, 2017, p. 201) demarcate the case study similarly, that is as “an in-depth study of

one or several instances of a phenomenon in its actual context that reflects the

perspectives of the participants.”

Hendl and Remr mention several characteristics that the case study has.

According to them, case study deals with a general description of incidents related to

the issue, provides a description of the issue as well as its analysis and tries to note a

specific depiction of the issue (Hendl & Remr, 2017, p. 201). Case study is widely used

in a broad range of fields; the approach to case study or its application may however

change depending on the context.

Case study is usually connected with qualitative research, but quantitative

research is also possible (Hendl & Remr, 2017 p. 202). According to Hendl

(2008, p. 47), there is not a generally respected way of how one can define the

quantitative research. He mentions a definition by Glaser and Corbin (as cited in

Hendl, 2008, p. 47), who claimed that qualitative research is any form of research that

does not come to the outcome using statistical methods or other methods of

quantification. However, many methodologists do not agree with this simple definition,

because qualitative research is a broad term used for a variety of different approaches.

26
Denzin and Lincoln’s definition of quantitative research offers a slightly broader sense

(1994, p. 2):

Qualitative research is multimethod in focus, involving and interpretive, naturalistic

approach to its subject matter. This means that qualitative researchers study things in their

natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of meanings

people bring to them.

As opposed to quantitative research that is based on very structured experiments,

inquiries and observations with a large number of respondents to ensure validity and

reliability of the result (Hendl, 2008, p. 44), qualitative research usually deals with less

respondents and data, and thus the validity and reliability are limited.

As already pointed out, the case study mainly focuses on a certain individual and

a certain phenomenon. The results of a case study therefore cannot be generalized, but

they can be used to formulate hypotheses and theories (Hendl & Remr, 2017, p. 202).

In the practical part of this thesis, six case studies will be used altogether. In the

part using the synchronic approach, four recordings will be analysed and compared to

each other (two recordings representing Received Pronunciation and another two

recordings representing Cockney). The recordings were chosen so that the Speaker 1

and 2 and Speaker 3 and 4 could be compared; they are therefore approximately the

same age and class, and the recordings were taken not more than five years apart.

In the next section where we deal with diachronic approach, we attempted to

choose recordings that were far apart so that we could see some difference.

Transcriptions of the recordings were either available with the video (Speaker 3),

or the recordings were transcribed by the author of the thesis for the purpose of

analysis.

27
3.2 Synchronic Approach

The first part of the empirical section focuses on the synchronic comparison of

speech. Before we approach the analysis itself, it must first be defined what the term

actually means. The term synchronic approach, or so-called apparent-time approach,

refers to a type of analysis in which the data are all collected at only one point of time

(Radford et al., 1999, p. 18).

3.2.1 Speaker 1

The first example of Received Pronunciation is an introductory monologue to the

television broadcast How to irritate people released in 1969. The precisely one minute

long video features John Cleese and has slightly over 400 words. This film is often

considered the beginning of the Monty Python, a comedy group who created sketch

comedy shows and films such as Monty Python’s Flying Circus (1969-1974), Holy

Grail (1975), Life of Brian (1979) or Meaning of Life (1983). John Cleese was born into

a middle-class in Weston-super-Mare in Somerset in 1939.

Transcription of the recording

Now, tonight we’re going to take a look at how to irritate people at life. We kind of

course, hope to be comprehensive so just look on this to as a refresher course, a few

hints on how to help people to become more neurotic. Now, if you want to irritate

people purely for pleasure, one fundamental rule must be observed. Never push them

too far. If you, though, do go too far, they will explode into anger shouting, stamping,

becoming abusive and so forth, which releases all the tensions and frustrations that

we’ve carefully built up. And we don’t want to do that, do we? With a little skill and tact

we can keep those very same tensions bottled up inside them for weeks, months, who

knows. Eventually, you may induce a nervous breakdown or better still actual damage

28
to the brain cells. So, to avoid this explosion of anger, whatever your doing to irritate

someone, should seem to be unintentional.

Analysis

Now let us discuss some interesting features of this recording. We can clearly hear

several weak forms in the transcription, such as at /ət/ (1), to /tə/ (2) or and /ənd/ (3).

These weak forms play an essential role in the production of the natural rhythmical

stream-of-speech English (Underhill, 1994, p. 64). They occur in a fast speech as well

as a very calm and relaxed one.

(1) at /ət/, as in … take a look at how to irritate people… /ˈ teɪ k ə ˈ lʊ k ət

ˈ haʊ tu ˈ ɪ rɪ teɪ t ˈ piː pəl/

(2) to /tə/, as in … we’re going to take a look… /wɪ ə gəʊ ɪ ŋ tə ˈ teɪ k ə

ˈ lʊ k/

(3) and /ənd/, as in … they will explode into anger shouting, stamping,

becoming abusive and so forth… /ðeɪ wɪ l ɪ ksˈ pləʊ d ɪ ntu ˈ æŋgə

ˈ ʃ aʊ tɪ ŋ ˈ stæmpɪ ŋ bɪ ˈ kʌ mɪ ŋ əˈ bjuː sɪ v ənd sə ˈ fɔ ː θ/

Weak forms can, however, be used in a strong form, too, as in at life (4), where

the phoneme /æ/ is used right after a pause. The rarely used strong form of the indefinite

article a /eɪ / (5) is used there to put an emphasis on the refresher course.

(4) at life /æt laɪ f/, as in … take a look at how to irritate people at life…

/ˈ teɪ k əˈ lʊ k ət ˈ haʊ tu ˈ ɪ rɪ teɪ t ˈ piː pl æt ˈ laɪ f/

(5) a /eɪ /, as in … just look on this to as a refresher course… /ʤʌ stˈ lʊ k ɒ n

ˈ ðɪ s tu əz eɪ rɪ ˈ freʃ ə ˌ kɔ ː s/

Another example of strong forms in this segment is the word must. Although

usually used in a weak form as /məs/ or /məst/, in the context of sentence in (6), must

29
/mʌ st/ is, similarly as in the previous example of /eɪ /, used in its strong form to

emphasize the passive infinitive be observed.

(6) must /mʌ st/, as in …one fundamental rule must be observed… /wʌ n

ˌ fʌ ndəˈ mentəl ˈ ruː l mʌ st bi əbˈ zɜ ː vd/

3.2.2 Speaker 2

The second analysed recording is a fragment of the 1966 film Alfie. The fragment

comes from the very last part of the film, where the main character, Alfie, summarizes

his life and behaviour. The character is played by Sir Michael Caine, at the time 33-year

old actor born and raised in Southwark, London in a working class family. He is known

for his distinctive Cockney accent. The recording is one minute and twenty-seven

seconds long and comprises from approximately 140 words.

Transcription of the recording

You know what? When I look back on my little life and the birds I’ve known, I think of

all the things they’ve done for me and the little I’ve done for them. You’d think I’ve had

the best of it all along the line. But what have I got out of it? I got a Bob or two, some

decent clothes, a car. I got me health back, and I ain’t attached. But I ain’t got me

peace of mind, and if you ain’t got that, you ain’t got nothing. It seems to me if they

ain’t got you one way, they got you another. So what’s the answer? That’s what I keep

asking myself. What’s it all about? Know what I mean? Come on, boy. Come on.

Analysis

As we can see, the second recording is very different from the first one. There are

several features typical for Cockney speech. There are several glottal stops /ʔ / replacing

/t/ in speech, such as in what /wɒ ʔ / (7), little /ˈ lɪ ʔ l/ (8) or about /əˈ baʊ ʔ / (9). The

glottal stop is used to ease the pronunciation and speed up the communication. This

30
corresponds with Wells’ principle of the least effort that we have discussed in the

theoretical part.

(7) what /wɒ ʔ /, as in You know what? /jəˈ nəʊ ˈ wɒ ʔ /

(8) little /ˈ lɪ ʔ l/, as in When I look back on my little life… /wen aɪ ˈ lʊ k

ˈ bæk ɒ n maɪ ˈ lɪ ʔ l ˈ laɪ f/

(9) about /əˈ baʊ ʔ /, as in What’s it all about? /ˈ wɒ ts ɪ t ˈ ɔ ː l əˈ baʊ ʔ /

Another feature that occurs in the recording is so called H Dropping and L

Vocalization. H Dropping, in other words omission of /h/, occurs at the beginning of

such words as in have /əv/ (10), had /æd/ (11) or health /elθ/ (12).

(10) have /əv/, as in But what have I got out of it? /bʌ ʔ ˈ wɒ ʔ əv aɪ gɒ t

ˈ aʊ t əv ɪ ʔ /

(11) had /æd/, as in You’d think I’ve had the best of it… /juː d ˈ θɪ ŋk aɪ v

æd ðə ˈ best əv ɪ ʔ /

(12) health /elθ/, as in I’ve got my health back… / aɪ v gɒ ʔ mi ˈ elθ ˈ bæk/

L Vocalization, in other words replacement of /l/ for /ʊ /, such as in all / ɔ ː ʊ /

(13). Another interesting feature is that the phonemes /ɒ / and /ɔ ː /, as in all /ɔ ː l/ in

the same passage, are more closed and rounded, and are closer to /ʊ / and / uː / sound.

(13) all /ɔ ː ʊ /, as in … I think of all the things they’ve done for me… /aɪ

ˈ θɪ ŋk əv ˈ ɔ ː ʊ ðə ˈ θɪ ŋz ðeɪ v ˈ dʌ n fə mi/

We can also notice some TH Fronting, as in nothing /ˈ nʌ fɪ ŋ/ (14) or another

/əˈ nʌ və/ (15).

(14) nothing /ˈ nʌ fɪ ŋ/, as in … you ain’t got nothing… /ju eɪ nt ˈ gɒ ʔ

ˈ nʌ fɪ ŋ/

(15) another /əˈ nʌ və/, as in … if they ain’t got you one way, they got you

another… /ɪ f ðeɪ eɪ nt ˈ gɒ tʃ ə ˈ wʌ n ˈ weɪ ðeɪ ˈ gɒ tʃ ə əˈ nʌ və/

31
 The diphthong /əʊ / in words such as so /səʊ / in (16) is closer to /ɔ ʊ /.

(16) so /sɔ ʊ /, as in So what’s the answer?/sɔ ʊ ˈ wɒ ts ði ˈ ɑ ː nsə/

The diphthong /aɪ / also changes into a monophthong /iː / in some words, for

example, my /mi/ (17) or myself /mɪ ˈ self/ (18).

(17) my /mi/, as in … I got my health back… /aɪ v gɒ ʔ mi ˈ elθ ˈ bæk/

(18) myself /mɪ ˈ self/, as in That’s what I keep asking myself. /ˈ ðæts ˈ wɒ t

aɪ kiː p ˈ ɑ ː skɪ ŋ mɪ ˈ self/

3.2.3 Speaker 3

The next recording is again an example of RP. It was recorded in 2009 and the

man on the video is an English actor, comedian and presenter Stephen Fry. He was born

in 1957 in London, spent his youth in the village of Booton near Reepham in Norfolk

He is well-known for his collaboration with Hugh Laurie as a comic duo, as a presenter

of several panel shows, such as QI, or as a narrator of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter

franchise audiobooks. The recording in hand is two minutes and seventeen seconds long

compromises from approximately 370 words.

Transcription of the recording

I remember making an absolute... Well, I wouldn't say fool of myself. I was expelled

from a meeting of Latter Day Saints when I first went to Salt Lake City. I just literally as

a tourist I was wandering around and this person in a grey shift came up to me and

said, "Would you like to see around?" and I said, "That's very kind." and then she

started gathering others and then I realized she was a Mormon who was doing a tour

and presumably there was a little bit of a recruitment going on because they are very

proselytizing sect as you know, the Mormons. Anyway, she gave us a good tour and we

saw this tabernacle here and this here and so on and then at one point she said, "I just

want to tell you a little about the church of the Latter Day Saints." and we all politely

32
stood and then she said how in the afterlife all families will be reunited. You'll be with

your families forever, so I put my hand up and said, "What happens if you've been

good?" and she said, "Could you leave please?" because everyone started laughing, but

I mean, what a ridiculous idea. How is that supposed to be attractive that you're going

to be stuck with every aunt and every cousin and every...? Good gracious, every, you

know, alcoholic or slightly deviant uncle. I mean Jesus, it's just the most awful destiny

imaginable and they think that's a USP. That's a... Yeah, that's what our church

promises. Good Lord. Well of course, what it does. You don't have to be that smart to

spot is what it does is that church focuses entirely on women the d'un certain âge as the

French say, woman of a certain age and who have lost their children because they've

grown up and have lost their parents because they've died and they're lonely and they've

still got that family queen bee mother nesting instinct and they're the ones the Latter

Day Saints hone in on and say, "You follow us and we promise you that you'll be your

family all around you again in heaven." and they think that's a cool thing. Everyone else

would go yuck. Anyway.

Analysis

The speaker uses a very cultivated form of RP. The pace of the speech is quick

and full of weak forms, such as of /əv/ (19) and as /əz/ (20).

(19) of /əv/, as in Well, I wouldn't say fool of myself. /ˈ wel aɪ ˈ wʊ dnt seɪ

ˈ fuː l əv maɪ ˈ self/

(20) as /əz/, as in … they are very proselytizing sect as you know, the

Mormons… /ðeɪ ə ˈ veri ˈ prɒ sɪ lɪ taɪ zɪ ŋ ˈ sekt əz ju nəʊ ðə

ˈ mɔ ː mənz/

/ in the word imaginable /ɪ ˈ mædʒ ɪ nə / (21)

or the use of schwa /ə/ instead of /ɪ / in ridiculous /rəˈ dɪ kjʊ ləs/ (22).

33
 (21) imaginable /ɪ ˈ mædʒ ɪ nə /, as in … it’s just the most awful destiny

imaginable… /ɪ ts ʤəst ðə ˈ məʊ st ˈ ɔ ː fʊ l ˈ destɪ ni

ɪ ˈ mædʒ ɪ nə /

(22) ridiculous /rəˈ dɪ kjʊ ləs/, as in … but I mean, what a ridiculous idea…

/bət aɪ ˈ miː n ˈ wɒ t ə rəˈ dɪ kjʊ ləs aɪ ˈ dɪ ə/

The speaker also uses two strong forms at the beginning of the speech from

/frɒ m/ (23) and the indefinite article a /eɪ / (24). The speaker probably used these

words in their strong form to emphasize the meeting of Latter Day Saints.

(23) from /frɒ m/, as in I was expelled from a meeting of Latter Day Saints

/aɪ wəz ɪ ksˈ peld frɒ m eɪ ˈ miː tɪ ŋ əv ˈ lætə ˈ dei ˈ seɪ nts/

(24) a /eɪ /, as in I was expelled from a meeting of Latter Day Saints… /aɪ

wəz ɪ ksˈ peld frɒ m eɪ ˈ miː tɪ ŋ əv ˈ lætə ˈ dei ˈ seɪ nts/

3.2.4 Speaker 4

In the following example, we are going to hear a record of an interview with

Micky Flanagan from the Christian O’Connell Breakfast Show on Absolute Radio. The

video was released on the 20th November 2013, and it is one minute and forty-one

seconds long.

Micky Flanagan is a British comedian born in Whitechapel, London, he therefore

complies with the traditional definition of Cockney being in the reach of the Mary-le-

Bow church bells. He grew up in a working-class family. He became a professional

comedian in the 90s, largely referring to his youth and his working-class life in his

stand-up shows. At the time when the recording was taken, he was fifty-one years old.

Transcription of the recording

34
A: We’ve done about a hundred shows so far this year, we’ve got a few more to do and

then have a nice Christmas up and then we’ll be onto out in a parley for a sitcom

which I’ve got

B: Yeah that’s exciting ca... You’re gonna tell us much about that.

A: Well, you know, it’s a, it just gonna be, you know, react early conversation about my

life you know and all the awkward situations I get in living as I do now I mean this

part of the middle class suburb and still essentially being sort of having a ca-council

estate mentality

B: How do you find that? When do you find it weirdest? Is it, is it the neighbours, or

your shopping purchases now, are you organic?

A: I am physically organic, yes, there is not one part of me you couldn’t eat.

B: I should be pleased man to talk...

A: Well, we’ve now have reached the point where we sort of have to be a bit careful and

the wife, she’s do- she’s not a fan of cooking, you kn- she’s seen the oven, she’s

aware of it, you know, I- she nearly touched it the other day and I’m like “careful”

and we go to a local place where they do sort of some prepared food for you It’s an

app market TV dinners so, so we do a lot of that at the moment and I, don’t blame me

you know cause I’ve eaten her food.

Analysis

When we take a closer look at the example, several repetitive patterns can be

observed. Several examples of T Glottaling can be found, for instance in out /aʊ ʔ /

(25), sitcom /ˈ sɪ ʔ ˌ kɒ m/ (26) or mentality /menˈ tælɪ ʔ i/ (27).

(25) out /aʊ ʔ /, as in … we’ll be onto out in a parley for a sitcom… /wɪ ʊ

ˈ bi ˈ ɒ ntu ˈ aʊ ʔ ɪ n ə ˈ pɑ ː li fər ə ˈ sɪ ʔ ˌ kɒ m/

35
 (26) sitcom /ˈ sɪ ʔ ˌ kɒ m/, as in … we’ll be onto out in a parley for a

sitcom… /wɪ ʊ ˈ bi ˈ ɒ ntu ˈ aʊ ʔ ɪ n ə ˈ pɑ ː li fər ə ˈ sɪ ʔ ˌ kɒ m/

(27) mentality /menˈ tælɪ ʔ i/, as in … having a ca-council estate mentality…

/ˈ hævɪ ŋ ə ˈ kæ ˈ kaʊ nsəl ɪ sˈ teɪ ʔ menˈ tælɪ ʔ i/

Another feature of Cockney that can be heard in the recording is L Vocalization,

for example in the contracted form we’ll be /wɪ ʊ bi/ (28), middle-class /ˈ mɪ dʊ

klɑ ː s/ (29) and still /stɪ ʊ / (30).

(28) we’ll be /wɪ ʊ bi/, as in … we’ll be onto out in a parley for a sitcom…

/wɪ ʊ ˈ bi ˈ ɒ ntu ˈ aʊ ʔ ɪ n ə ˈ pɑ ː li fər ə ˈ sɪ ʔ ˌ kɒ m/

(29) middle-class /ˈ mɪ dʊ klɑ ː s/, as in … I mean this part of the middle-

class suburb and still essentially being… /aɪ ˈ miː n ðɪ s ˈ pɑ ː ʔ əv ðə

ˈ mɪ dʊ klɑ ː s ˈ sʌ bɜ ː b ənd ˈ stɪ ʊ ɪ ˈ senʃ əli ˈ biː ɪ ŋ/

(30) still /stɪ ʊ /, as in … I mean this part of the middle-class suburb and still

essentially being… /aɪ ˈ miː n ðɪ s pɑ ː ʔ əv ðə ˈ mɪ dʊ klɑ ː s

ˈ sʌ bɜ ː b ənd ˈ stɪ ʊ ɪ ˈ senʃ əli ˈ biː ɪ ŋ/

We can further find an example of H Dropping in the last paragraph; the verb

have to /hæv/ changes to /æv/ (31).

(31) have to /æv tə/, as in We’ve now reached the point where we sort of have

to be a bit careful… /wiː v naʊ ˈ riː ʧ t ðə ˈ pɔ ɪ nʔ weə wi ˈ sɔ ː ʔ əv

ˈ æv tə bi ə bɪ ʔ ˈ keəfʊ /

We can also notice assimilation of place in the very first sentence, specifically in

this year /ðɪ ʃ jɪ ə/ (32).

(32) this year /ðɪ ʃ jɪ ə/, as in We’ve done about a hundred shows so far this

year… /wiː v ˈ dʌ n əˈ baʊ ʔ ə ˈ hʌ ndrəd ˈ ʃ əʊ z sə ˈ fɑ ː ðɪ ʃ

ˈ jɪ ə/

36
 There are also some changing tendencies in vowels. In the word conversation, the

diphthong /eɪ / is realized closer to /æɪ /, making /ˌ kɒ nvəˈ seɪ ʃ ən/ sound more like

/ˌ kɒ nvəˈ sæɪ ʃ ən/ (33).

(33) conversation /ˌ kɒ nvəˈ sæɪ ʃ ən/, as in … you know, react early

conversation about my life… /jə nəʊ riˈ jækt ˈ ɜ ː li ˌ kɒ nvəˈ sæɪ ʃ ən

əˈ baʊ ʔ mɒ ɪ ˈ lɒ ɪ f/

Similarly, the diphthong /aɪ / is realized as /ɒ ɪ / in for example my /mɒ ɪ / (34)

or life /lɒ ɪ f/ (35).

(34) my /mɒ ɪ /, as in … you know, react early conversation about my life…

/jə nəʊ riˈ jækt ˈ ɜ ː li ˌ kɒ nvəˈ sæɪ ʃ ən əˈ baʊ ʔ mɒ ɪ ˈ lɒ ɪ f/

(35) life /lɒ ɪ f/, as in … you know, react early conversation about my life…

/jə nəʊ riˈ jækt ˈ ɜ ː li ˌ kɒ nvəˈ sæɪ ʃ ən əˈ baʊ ʔ mɒ ɪ ˈ lɒ ɪ f/

We can also notice colloquial speech in the text, especially the use of gonna as

opposed to formal going to.

The main changes that occur in both of the recordings compared are summarized

bellow (see Table 3):

Table 3: Summary

Example Received Pronunciation Cockney

little /ˈ lɪ təl/ /ˈ lɪ ʔ /
life /laɪ f/ /lɒ ɪ f/
what /wɒ t/ /wɒ ʔ /
still /stɪ l/ /stɪ ʊ /
have to /hæv tə/ /æv tə/
about /əˈ baʊ t/ /əˈ bʌ ʊ ʔ /
like /laɪ k/ /lɒ ɪ k/
my /maɪ / /mɒ ɪ /

3.3 Diachronic Approach

37
 In this section of empirical part we will look at the accents from a diachronic

perspective. Diachronic approach involves the analysis of the features of the accent

from a succession of dates in the past and highlighting those structural features that

have changed over that period of time (Radford et al., 1999, p. 17).

3.3.1 Speaker 5

The following recording for analysis is reportage about life in a refugee camp in

Syria of Comic Relief, a non-profit organization supporting various initiatives. The

speaker is Greg James, an English radio DJ and television presenter working for the

BBC Radio 1. In 2016, when the video was taken, he was in his thirties. In the middle

of the recording, his speech is interrupted by the story of the family. The transcription

continues as the speaker starts to speak again.

Transcription of the recording

So this is my first time in a refugee camp and the thing that’s struck me the most

and immediately when I got here is how desolate the landscape is. This is desert, it’s

really isolated, it’s really cold here and the rows and rows and rows of these houses

they’re endless. And it feels really oppressive. It looks very temporary, and yet people

are here for years. It’s just desert and hills and rocks. It’s like Mars.

Azraq refugee camp has been Aya, her daughter Alia and son Sami’s home for

nearly a year now after they fled homes in Syria.

...

That is just so, it is just so... it’s just such a... Still trying to process that story but

it’s just so... tragic, and unfair.

There are so many stories here of loved ones killed, homes destroyed and lives

devastated. Ordinary people going about their daily lives, who have lost everything.

38
 Now we can’t turn back the clock, what’s happened has happened and the journey

these families have been on up to this point, they’re done. We are where we are and

they are where they are. But what we can do is help them from this point onwards and

believe me, they need help.

39
 Analysis

We can, again, notice a very fluent speech full of weak forms, such as in are /ə/

(36) and have /həv/ (37).

(36) are /ə/, as in … and yet people are here for years… /ənd ˈ jeʔ ˈ piː pəl ə

hɪ ə ˈ fɔ ː ˈ jɪ əz/

(37) have /həv/, as in … who have lost everything… /ˈ huː həv ˈ lɒ st

ˈ evrɪ θɪ ŋ/

The speaker also uses a few strong forms, namely for /fɔ ː / (38) and can /kæn/

(39), to emphasize the following word.

(38) for /fɔ ː /, as in … and yet, people are here for years… /ənd ˈ jeʔ

ˈ piː pəl ə hɪ ə fɔ ː jɪ əz/

(39) can /kæn/, as in But what we can do is help them… /bʌ ʔ wɒ ʔ wi

ˈ kæn ˈ du ɪ z ˈ help ðəm/

Also an instance of the use of the monophthong /ɛ ː / can be found rather than

diphthong /eə/ that normally occurs in the word unfair /ʌ nˈ fɛ ː / (40).

(40) unfair /ʌ nˈ fɛ ː /, as in … but it’s just so... tragic, and unfair… /bət ɪ ts

ʤəst səʊ ˈ træʤɪ k ənd ʌ nˈ fɛ ː /

However, the most prominent difference when compared to Speaker 1 is the use

of glottal stops. We can find several examples of that instance, such as immediately

/ɪ ˈ miː dɪ ʔ lɪ / (41) and desoate /ˈ desəlɪ ʔ / (42), yet /jeʔ / (43) or but /bʌ ʔ / (44).

(41) immediately /ɪ ˈ miː dɪ ʔ li/, as in … and immediately when I got here is

how desolate the landscape is… /ən ɪ ˈ miː dɪ ʔ li wen aɪ ˈ gɒ ʔ ˈ hɪ ə

ˈ ɪ z haʊ ˈ desəlɪ ʔ ðə ˈ lændskeɪ p ɪ z/

40
 (42) desoate /ˈ desəlɪ ʔ /, as in … and immediately when I got here is how

desolate the landscape is… /ən ɪ ˈ miː dɪ ʔ li wen aɪ ˈ gɒ ʔ ˈ hɪ ə

ˈ ɪ z haʊ ˈ desəlɪ ʔ ðə ˈ lændskeɪ p ɪ z/

(43) yet /jeʔ /, as in … and yet people are here for years… /ənd ˈ jeʔ

ˈ piː pəl ə hɪ ə ˈ fɔ ː ˈ jɪ əz/

(44) but /bʌ ʔ /, as in But what we can do is help them… /bʌ ʔ wɒ ʔ wi

ˈ kæn ˈ du ɪ z ˈ help ðəm/

3.3.2 Speaker 6

The following recording is an example of Cockney. The four minute eight seconds

long reportage was taken in 2016 in Sierra Leone and was broadcasted as a part of the

Red Nose Day programme – a fund-raising event organised by Comic Relief and

broadcasted by the BBC. The presenter in the video is Danny Dyer, an English actor

best known for his roles in The Football Factory, Mean Machine or most recently as

Mike Carter in Eastenders.

At the time of making the reportage, Danny Dyer was thirty-eight years old. We

will analyse a short segment of the reportage (one minute and eighteen seconds long).

Transcription of the recording

This is Marbella slum in Freetown. It’s a bustling community and home to

thousands of people. But when the Ebola epidemic hit, this once vibrant place changed

overnight. With people living so close to each other in their overcrowded homes, the

deadly virus spread quickly. People became really scared. They were suspicious and

even afraid of killings in treatment centres. And all kinds of rumours started. And as

ever, in all of this, the ones who suffered most were children.

I see why something like Ebola would hit a place like this. How can you avoid it

with this? It’s petrifying.

41
 Twelve-year-old Mohammed and his little brother Musa witnessed some terrible

things. As the only two surviving members of their entire family, they saw relative after

relative be taken off to the treatment centre, never to see them again.

Analysis

Similarly as in previous Cockney recordings, Danny Dyer uses TH Fronting, T

Glottalization, L Vocalization and some of the vowels shift.

Regarding T Glottalization, we can mention several examples, such as community

/kəˈ mjuː nɪ ʔ i/ (45), the verb hit /hiʔ / (46), treatment centres /ˈ senʔ əz/ (47).

(45) community /kəˈ mjuː nɪ ʔ i/, as in It’s a bustling community and home

to thousands of people… /ɪ ts ə ˈ bʌ slɪ ŋ kəˈ mjuː nɪ ʔ i ənd ˈ həʊ m tə

ˈ θaʊ zəndz əv ˈ piː pʊ /

(46) hit /hiʔ /, as in … when the Ebola epidemic hit… /wen ði ɪ ˈ bʌ ʊ lə

ˌ epɪ ˈ demɪ k ˈ hɪ ʔ /

(47) centres /ˈ senʔ əz/, as in They were suspicious of rumours and even

afraid of clinics and treatment centres… /ðeɪ wə səsˈ pɪ ʃ əs əv

ˈ ruː məz ənd ˈ iː vən əˈ freɪ d əv ˈ klɪ nɪ ks ənd ˈ triː ʔ mənt

ˈ senʔ əz/

We can also demonstrate TH Fronting on several examples, such as other /ˈ ʌ və/

(48), brother /ˈ brʌ və/ (49) or things /fɪ ŋgz/ (50).

(48) other /ˈ ʌ və/, as in With people living so close to each other… /wɪ v

ˈ piː pʊ ˈ lɪ vɪ ŋ səʊ ˈ kləʊ s tə iː ʧ ˈ ʌ və/

(49) brother /ˈ brʌ və/, as in Twelve-year-old Mohammed and his little

brother Musa witnessed some terrible things… /ˈ twelv jɪ ər əʊ ld

məʊ ˈ hæmed ənd ɪ z ˈ lɪ ʔ l ˈ brʌ və ˈ mʊ sʌ ˈ wɪ tnɪ st səm ˈ terəbəl

ˈ fɪ ŋgz/

42
 (50) things /fɪ ŋgz/, as in Twelve-year-old Mohammed and his little brother

Musa witnessed some terrible things… /ˈ twelv jɪ ər əʊ ld məʊ ˈ hæmed

ənd ɪ z ˈ lɪ ʔ l ˈ brʌ və ˈ mʊ sʌ ˈ wɪ tnɪ st səm ˈ terəbəl ˈ fɪ ŋgz/

In several instances we can notice L Vocalization, namely in the word people

/ˈ piː pʊ / (51) and all /ɔ ː ʊ / (52)

(51) people /ˈ piː pʊ /, as in It’s a bustling community and home to thousands

of people… /ɪ ts ə ˈ bʌ slɪ ŋ kəˈ mjuː nɪ ʔ i ənd ˈ həʊ m tə ˈ θaʊ zəndz

əv ˈ piː pʊ /

(52) all /ɔ ː ʊ /, as in And as ever, in all of this… /ˈ ænd əz ˈ evə ɪ n ˈ ɔ ː ʊ

əv ðɪ s/

As for the vowels, we can notice the same changes as in the two previous

Cockney recordings, such as / eɪ / changing into / æɪ / in changed (53) or became (54)

or /əʊ / changing into /ʌ ʊ /, as in Ebola epidemic (55).

(53) changed /ʧ æɪ nʤd/ , as in … this once vibrant place changed

overnight… /ðɪ s wʌ ns ˈ vaɪ brənt ˈ pleɪ s ˈ ʧ æɪ nʤd ˌ əʊ vəˈ naɪ ʔ /

(54) became /bɪ ˈ kæɪ m/, as in … people became really scared… /ˈ piː pʊ

bɪ ˈ kæɪ m ˈ rɪ əli ˈ skeəd/

(55) Ebola epidemic /ɪ ˈ bʌ ʊ lə ˌ epɪ ˈ demɪ k/, as in ... when the Ebola

epidemic hit ... /wen ði ɪ ˈ bʌ ʊ lə ˌ epɪ ˈ demɪ k ˈ hɪ ʔ /

The only feature not occurring in this recording in comparison with the recording

of speaker 2 is H Dropping. For a reason, there is not one occasion of H Dropping in

the example.

43
4 Conclusion

The aim of the thesis was to list the differences between Received Pronunciation

and Cockney accent using case study as a research method and both synchronic and

diachronic approaches.

In the first section of the practical part where synchronic approach was used, we

came across many differences between the two accents in question, such as L

Vocalization, T Glottalization, H Dropping, TH Dropping or specific differences in the

quality of vowels, especially diphthongs.

In the second section of the practical part, we studied the differences of the same

accent within a longer stretch of time between the periods where the recordings were

taken. Based on the observation, we came to the conclusion that Speaker 6 did not use

H Dropping comparing to the Speaker 2, and the Speaker 5 used a considerable amount

of glottal stops in his speech in contrast with Speaker 1, who did not use any.

The issue concerning accents and dialects is truly problematic. There is a lot of

phenomena that affect the way we speak, be it the region we are born in, our class, our

surroundings, family and maybe even our own effort to disguise or change our accent

for a reason. For the same reason our accent can also unintentionally alter along with

our life situation.

Yet another problem occurs, and that is the boundaries of the accent. There is not

a precise definition and list of individual phonetic features of the particular accent.

We can therefore conclude that the present results are rather tentative and further

research should be conducted. All of the speakers were actors, comedians or presenters,

making it hard to ensure that the accent is really authentic. The outcome of this thesis

can however bring out certain hypotheses that may further be examined.

44
5 Bibliography

5.1 References

‘Case study’ Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary (n.d.). Retrieved March 28,
2018, from: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/case-study

Denzin, N., & Lincoln. Y. (1994). Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks,
CA, US: Sage Publications Inc.

Dontcheva-Navratilova, O. (2012). Grammatical Structures in English: Meaning in

Context (3th ed.). Brno: Masarykova univerzita.

Hendl, J. (2008). Kvalitativní výzkum: základní teorie, metody a aplikace (2nd ed.).
Praha: Portál.

Hendl, J., & Remr, J. (2017). Metody výzkumu a evaluace. Praha: Portál.

Hughes, A., Trudgill, P., & Watt, D. J. L. (2005). English Access and Dialects: An
Introduction to Social and Regional Varieties of English in the British Isles (4th
ed.). London: Hodder Arnold.

Gimson, A. C., & Cruttenden, A. (1994). Grimson´s Pronunciation of English (5th ed.).
London: Arnold.

Radford, A., Atkinson, M., Britain, D., Cahsen, H., & Spencer, A. (1999). Linguistics:
An Introduction. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Roach, P. (1991), English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course (2nd ed.).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Roach, P., Setter, J., Esling, J. H., & Jones, D. (2011). Cambridge English pronouncing
dictionary (18th ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Santipolo, M. (2003). On Opposite Sides of the Continuum: Standard British English

and Cockney. A Historical Outline of the Parallel Developments of the Two
Varieties. Studi Linguistici e Filologici Online, 1, pp. 403-41. Retrieved from:
http://www.humnet.unipi.it/slifo/articolosantipolo.pdf

45
Underhill, A. (2003). Sound Foundations: Living Phonology. Oxford: Macmillan
Heinemann.

Wazzup?: slovník slangu a hovorové angličtiny. (2017) (2nd ed.). Brno: Lingea.

Wells, J. C. (1982). Accents of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wells, J. C. (1986). Accents of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wells, J. C. (1997). Whatever happened to Received Pronunciation? In C. C. Medina &

P. Soto (Eds.), Il Jornadas de Estudios Ingleses (pp. 19-28). Universidad de Jaén,
Spain. Retrieved from: http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/rphappened.htm

Yule, G. (2006). The Study of Languge (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.

46
5.2 Sources

Micky Flanagan talks about TV dinners with his wife. Retrieved March 30, 2018, from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP0J5nlpWXU

Alfie Final Scene. Retrieved March 30, 2018, from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8166-kaEPQ

Stephen Fry: Mormon Encounter. Retrieved March 30, 2018, from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzfCtGFgRSk&t

Greg James finds out what life is like in one of Jordan's refugee camps. Retrieved
March 30, 2018, from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a42LUdwH8Pg&t=

John Cleese How to Irritate People 1968 intro. Retrieved March 30, 2018, from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHo-dY7jwe8

Danny Dyer Sport Relief 2016 Appeal Film - BBC. Retrieved March 30, 2018, from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igZakJ--3qI

“Photo.” Maps on the Web. Retrieved March 30, 2018, from:

https://www.mapsontheweb.zoom-maps.com/image/139905364312.

47
List of tables

Table 1: Variation of –ing in Norwich by sex and class (frequency of /n/)

Table 2: Popular expressions in Cockney Rhyming Slang

Table 3: Summary

48
List of figures

Figure 1: Relation between social and regional accents in England

Figure 2: Range of the Bow Bells in 1851 and 2012

Figure 3: Phonetic qualities of certain London vowels

49
Appendix A

The International Phonetic Alphabet

50
Appendix B

Standard Lexical Set (Wells, 1982, pp. 98-9)

ɪ 1. KIT Ship, sick, bridge, milk, myth, busy …

e 2. DRESS Step, neck, edge, shelf, frond, ready,…
æ 3. TRAP Tap, back, badge, scalp, hand, cancel,…
ɒ 4. LOT Stop, sock, dodge, romp, possible, quality,…
ʌ 5. STRUT Cup, suck, budge, pulse, trunk, blood, …
ʊ 6. FOOT Put, bush full, good, look, wolf, …
ɑ: 7. BATH Staff, brass, ask, dance, sample, calf, …
ɒ 8. CLOTH Cough, broth, cross, long, Boston,…
ɜ: 9. NURSE Hurt, lurk, urge, burst, jet, term,…
i: 10. FLEECE Creep, speak, leave, feel, key, people, …
eɪ 11. FACE Tape, cake, raid, veil, steak, day,…
ɑ: 12. PALM Psalm, father, bra, spa, lager, …
ɔ: 13. TROUGHT Taught, sauce, hawk, jaw, broad, …
əʊ 14. GOAT Soap, joke, home, know, so, roll, …
u: 15. GOOSE Look, shoot, tomb, mute, huge, view,…
aɪ 16. PRICE Ripe, write, arrive, high, try, buy, …
ɔɪ 17. CHOICE Adroit, noise, join, toy, royal, …
aʊ 18. MOUTHT Out, house, loud, count, crowd, cow, …
ɪ ə 19. NEAR Beer, sincere, fear, beard, serum, …
eə 20. SQUARE Care, fair, pear, where, scarce, vary, …
ɑ: 21. START Far, sharp, bark, carve, farm, heart, …
ɔ: 22. NORTH Foe, war, short, scorch, born, warm, …
ɔ: 23. FORCE Four, wore, sport, porch, borne, story,…
ʊə 24. CURE Poor, tourist, pure, plural, jury, …

51
Appendix C

Typical realizations of RP monophthongs (Hughes, A., Trudgill, P., 2005, p. 47)

52
Appendix D

Typical realizations of RP centring diphthongs (Hughes, A., Trudgill, P., 2005,

p. 51)

53
Appendix E

Typical realizations of RP closing diphthongs (Hughes, A., Trudgill, P.,

2005, p. 52)

54