Etymology

A costume associated with Cockneys is that of the pearly King (or pearly Queen) worn by
Londoncostermongers who sew thousands of pearl buttons onto their clothing in elaborate and creative patterns.

The earliest recorded use of the term is 1362 in The vision of William concerning Piers
Plowman(Passus VI) by William Langland and it is used to mean a small, misshapen egg,
from Middle Englishcoken (of cocks) and ey (egg) so literally 'a cock's egg'.[1] In the Reeve's
Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer(circa 1386) it appears as "cokenay",[2] and the meaning is "a child
tenderly brought up, an effeminate fellow, a milksop".[1][3][4] By 1521 it was in use by country
people as a derogatory reference for the effeminate town-dwellers. [1][5] The term was used to
describe those born within earshot of the Bow Bells in 1600, when Samuel Rowlands, in
his satire The Letting of Humours Blood in the Head-Vaine, referred to 'a Bowe-bell Cockney'.
[6]
 Traveler and writer Fynes Moryson stated in his work An Itinerarythat "Londoners, and all
within the sound of Bow Bells, are in reproach called Cockneys." [7] John Minsheu (or Minshew)
was the first lexicographer to define the word in this sense, in his Ductor in Linguas (1617),
where he referred to 'A Cockney or Cockny, applied only to one born within the sound of Bow
bell, that is in the City of London'.[8] However, the etymologies he gave (from 'cock' and 'neigh',
or from Latin incoctus, raw) were incorrect. Francis Grose's A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar
Tongue (1785) derives the term from the following story:

A citizen of London, being in the country, and hearing a horse neigh, exclaimed, Lord!
how that horse laughs! A by-stander telling him that noise was called Neighing, the next
morning, when the cock crowed, the citizen to shew he had not forgot what was told
him, cried out, Do you hear how the Cock Neighs?[9][10]
Given the earlier meanings above, this story is probably
apocryphal.
[edit]Cockaigne

An alternative derivation is from the word Cockaigne, a term for a

mythical luxurious country, first recorded in 1362.[11] This was then
used humorously to refer to London, and over time had a number
of spellings: Cocagne, Cockayne, Cocknay and Cockney. The
latter two spellings could be used to refer to both pampered
children, and residents of London, as to pamper or spoil a child
was 'to cocker' him.[12]

Cockney area
The region in which "Cockneys" are thought to reside is not clearly defined. A common thought
is that in order to be a Cockney, one must have been born within earshot of the Bow Bells. [citation
needed]
 However, the church of St Mary-le-Bow was destroyed in 1666 by the Great Fire of
London and rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren. After the bells were destroyed again in 1941 in The
Blitz of World War II, and before they were replaced in 1961, there was a period when by this
definition no 'Bow-bell' Cockneys could be born.[13] The use of such a literal definition produces
other problems, since the area around the church is no longer residential and the noise of the
area makes it unlikely that many people would be born within earshot of the bells anymore,
[14]
 although Guy's Hospital and St Thomas' hospital are both within the defined area covered by
the sound of the Bow Bells, suggesting a reasonable number of South London Cockneys
continue to be born within the sound of the bells.

A study was carried out by the city in 2000 to see how far the Bow Bells could be heard, [citation
needed]
 and it was estimated that the bells would have been heard six miles to the east, five miles
to the north, three miles to the south, and four miles to the west. According to the legend of Dick
Whittington the bells could once be heard from as far away as Highgate.[15] The association with
Cockney and the East End in the public imagination may be due to many people assuming that
Bow Bells are to be found in the district of Bow, rather than the lesser known St Mary-le-Bow
church. Thus while all East Enders are Cockneys, not all Cockneys are East Enders.

The traditional core districts of the East End are Bethnal

Green, Whitechapel, Spitalfields, Stepney, Wapping, Limehouse, Poplar,Clerkenwell, Aldgate, S
horeditch, Millwall, Hackney, Hoxton, Bow and Mile End. "The Borough" to the south of
Waterloo, London and Tower Bridge were also considered Cockney before redevelopment all
but extinguished the local working class areas, and now Bermondsey is the only Cockney area
south of the Thames, although Pearly Kings and Queens can be found as far out as Peckham
and Penge. The area north of the Thames gradually expanded to include East
Ham, Stratford, West Ham and Plaistow as more land was built upon.

Migration of Cockneys has also led to migration of the dialect. Ever since the building of
the Becontree housing estate, the Barking & Dagenham area has spoken Cockney. As
Chatham Dockyard expanded during the 18th century, large numbers of workers were moved
from the dockland areas of London, bringing with them a "Cockney" accent and vocabulary.
Within a short period this famously distinguished Chatham from the neighbouring areas,
including the City of Rochester, which had a Kentish accent. In Essex, towns that mostly grew
up from post-war migration out of London (e.g. Basildon and Harlow) often have a strong
Cockney influence on local speech. However, the early dialect researcher Alexander John
Ellis believed that Cockney developed due to the influence of Essex dialect on London speech.
[16]
 In recent years, there has been a move away from Cockney in the inner-city areas of London
towards Multicultural London English whereas the eastern outskirts of Greater London have
more speakers of Cockney dialect. Today cockney areas are situated
in Dagenham, Barking,Romford, Chigwell, Harlow, Tottenham, Enfield, Basildon, Thurrock, Che
shunt and Brimsdown.[17][18]

Migration and evolution

Today, certain elements of Cockney English are declining in usage within the area it is most
associated with, displaced by a Jamaican Creole-influenced variety popular among young
Londoners (sometimes referred to as "Jafaican"), particularly, though far from exclusively, those
of Afro-Caribbean descent.[19]

Nevertheless, the glottal stop, double negatives, and the vocalization of the dark L (and other
features of Cockney speech), along with some rhyming slang terms are still in common usage.
As cockneys have moved out of London, they have often taken their dialect with them. There
are actually more speakers of the Cockney dialect in Essex and parts of Hertfordshire that
border Greater London than in Whitechapel, even though the former is not in the traditional
Cockney area.

A July 2010 report by Paul Kerswill, Professor of Sociolinguistics at Lancaster University,

called Multicultural London English: the emergence, acquisition and diffusion of a new variety,
claimed that the Cockney accent will disappear from London's streets within 30 years. [19] The
study, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, said the accent, which has been
around for more than 500 years, is being replaced in London by a new hybrid language.
"Cockney in the East End is now transforming itself into Multicultural London English, a new,
melting-pot mixture of all those people living here who learnt English as a second language",
Prof Kerswill said.[19]
[edit]Cockney speech
Cockney speakers have a distinctive accent and dialect, and occasionally use rhyming slang.
The Survey of English Dialects took a recording from a long-time resident of Hackney, and
the BBC made another recording in 1999 which showed how the accent had changed. [20][21]

John Camden Hotten, in his Slang Dictionary of 1859, makes reference to "their use of a
peculiar slang language" when describing thecostermongers of London's East End. In terms of
other slang, there are also several borrowings from Yiddish, including kosher (originally Hebrew,
via Yiddish, meaning legitimate) and stumm (/ʃtʊm/ originally German, via Yiddish,
meaning quiet),[22] as well as Romany, for example wonga (meaning money, from the Romany
"wanga" meaning coal),[23] and cushty (from the Romany kushtipen, meaning good). A fake
Cockney accent is sometimes called 'Mockney'.

Typical features

 As with many accents of England, Cockney is non-rhotic. A final -er is pronounced [ə] or

lowered [ɐ] in broad Cockney. As with all or nearly all non-rhotic accents, the paired lexical
sets commA and lettER, PALM/BATH and START, THOUGHT and NORTH/FORCE, are merged. Thus,
the last syllable of words like cheetah can be pronounced [ɐ] as well in broad Cockney.[24][25]
[26]

 Broad /ɑː/ is used in words such as  bath, path, demand. This originated in London in
the 16h-17th centuries and is also part of Received Pronunciation.[27]
 T-glottalisation: Use of the glottal stop as an allophone of /t/ in various positions,[28]
[29]
 including after a stressed syllable. Glottal stops also occur, albeit less frequently
for /k/ and /p/, and occasionally for mid-word consonants. For example, Richard
Whiteing spelt "Hyde Park" as Hy' Par' . Like and light can be homophones. "Clapham" can
be said as Cla'am.[27] /t/ may also be flapped intervocalically. London /p, t, k/ are often
aspirated in intervocalic and final environments, e.g., upper, utter, rocker, up, out, rock,
where RP is traditionally described as having the unaspirated variants. Also, in broad
Cockney at least, the degree of aspiration is typically greater than in RP, and may often also
involve some degree of affrication. Affrication may be encountered in initial, intervocalic,
and final position.[30][31]
 This feature results in Cockney being often mentioned in textbooks
about Semitic languages while explaining how to pronounce theglottal stop.
 Th-fronting:[32]
 /θ/ can become [f] in any environment. [fɪn] "thin", [mɛfs] "maths".
 /ð/ can become [v] in any environment except word-initially when it can be [ð, ð̞,
d, l, ʔ, ∅]. [dæɪ] "they", [bɒvə] "bother".[33][34]
 H-dropping. Sivertsen considers that [h] is to some extent a stylistic marker of emphasis
in Cockney.[35][36]
 Diphthong alterations:[37]
 /iː/ → [əi~ɐi]:[38][39] [bəiʔ] "beet"
 /eɪ/ → [æɪ~aɪ]:[40] [bæɪʔ] "bait"
 /aɪ/ → [ɑɪ] or even [ɒɪ] in "vigorous, dialectal" Cockney. The second element
may be reduced or absent (with compensatory lengthening of the first element), so that
there are variants like [ɑ̟ə~ɑ̟ː]. This means that pairs such as laugh-life, Barton-
biting may become homophones: [lɑːf], [bɑːʔn̩]. But this neutralisation is an optional,
recoverable one.:[41] [bɑɪʔ] "bite"
 /ɔɪ/ → [ɔ̝ɪ~oɪ]:[41] [tʃoɪs] "choice"
 /uː/ → [əʉ] or a monophthongal [ʉː], perhaps with little lip rounding, [ɨː] or [ʊː]:[38]
[42]
 [bʉːʔ] "boot"
 /əʊ/ → this diphthong typically starts in the area of the London /ʌ/, [æ ̠~ɐ]. The
endpoint may be [ʊ], but more commonly it is rather opener and/or lacking any lip
rounding, thus being a kind of centralized [ɤ̈]. The broadest Cockney variant
approaches [aʊ].:[43] [kʰɐɤ̈ʔ]"coat"
 /aʊ/ may be [æə] or a monophthongal [æː~aː]:[44] [tʰæən] "town"
 Other vowel differences include
 /æ/ may be [ɛ] or [ɛɪ], with the latter occurring before voiced consonants,
particularly before /d/:[26][45] [bɛk] "back", [bɛːɪd] "bad"
 /ɛ/ may be [eə], [eɪ], or [ɛɪ] before certain voiced consonants, particularly
before /d/:[26][46][47][48] [beɪd] "bed"
 /ɒ/ may be a somewhat less open [ɔ]:[26] [kɔʔ] "cot"
 /ɑː/ has a fully back variant, qualitatively equivalent to cardinal 5, which Beaken
(1971) claims characterizes "vigorous, informal" Cockney.[26]
 /ɜː/ is on occasion somewhat fronted and/or lightly rounded, giving Cockney
variants such as [ɜ̟ː], [œ̈ː].[26]
 /ʌ/ → [ɐ̟] or a quality like that of cardinal 4, [a]:[26][49] [dʒamʔˈtˢapʰ] "jumped up"
 /ɔː/ → [oː] or a closing diphthong of the type [oʊ~ɔo] when in non-final position,
with the latter variants being more common in broad Cockney: [50]
[51]
 [soʊs] "sauce"-"source", [loʊd] "lord", [ˈwoʊʔə] "water"
 /ɔː/ → [ɔː] or a centring diphthong of the type [ɔə~ɔwə] when in final position,
with the latter variants being more common in broad Cockney;
thus [sɔə] "saw"-"sore"-"soar", [lɔə] "law"-"lore", [wɔə] "war"-"wore". The diphthong is
retained before inflectional endings, so that board and pause can contrast
with bored [bɔəd] and paws [pɔəz][51]
 /əʊ/ becomes something around [ɒʊ~ɔo] or even [aɤ] in broad Cockney
before dark l. These variants are retained when the addition of a suffix turns the dark
l clear. Thus a phonemic split has occurred in London English, exemplified by the
minimal pair wholly [ˈhɒʊli] vs.holy [ˈhɐɤ̈li]. The development of L-vocalisation (see next
section) leads to further pairs such as sole-soul [sɒʊ] vs. so-
sew [sɐɤ̈], bowl[bɒʊ] vs. Bow [bɐɤ̈], shoulder [ˈʃɒʊdə] vs. odour [ˈɐɤ̈də], while associated
vowel neutralisations may make doll a homophone of dole, compare dough [dɐɤ̈]. All
this reinforces the phonemic nature of the opposition and increases its functional load. It
is now well-established in all kinds of London-flavoured accents, from broad Cockney to
near-RP.[52
 Vocalisation of dark L, hence [mɪowɔː] for Millwall. The
actual realization of a vocalized /l/ is influenced by
surrounding vowels and it may be realized
as [u], [ʊ], [o] or [ɤ]. It is also transcribed as
a semivowel [w] by some linguists, e.g., Coggle and
Rosewarne.[53] Relatedly, there are many possible vowel
neutralisations and absorptions in the context of a following
"dark L" ([ɫ]) or its vocalised version; these include:[54]
 In broad Cockney, and to some extent in general
popular London speech, a vocalised /l/ is entirely
absorbed by a preceding /ɔː/: i.e.,salt and sort become
homophones (although the contemporary
pronunciation of salt /sɒlt/ [55] would prevent this from
happening), and likewise fault-fought-fort, pause-
Paul's, Morden-Malden, water-Walter. Sometimes
such pairs are kept apart, in more deliberate speech at
least, by a kind of length
difference: [ˈmɔʊdn̩] Morden vs. [ˈmɔʊːdn̩] Malden.
 A preceding /ə/ is also fully absorbed into vocalised /l/.
The reflexes of earlier /əl/ and earlier /ɔː(l)/ are thus
phonetically similar or identical; speakers are usually
ready to treat them as the same phoneme.
Thus awful can best be regarded as containing two
occurrences of the same vowel, /ˈɔːfɔː/. The difference
between musical and music-hall, in an H-dropping
broad Cockney, is thus nothing more than a matter of
stress and perhaps syllable boundaries.
 With the remaining vowels a vocalised /l/ is not
absorbed, but remains phonetically present as a back
vocoid in such a way that /Vl/and /V/ are kept distinct.
 The clearest and best-established neutralisations are
those of /ɪ~iː~ɪə/ and /ʊ~uː~ʊə/.
Thus rill, reel and real fall together in Cockney as [rɪɤ];
while full and fool are [foʊ~fʊu] and may rhyme
with cruel [krʊu]. Before clear (i.e., prevocalic) /l/ the
neutralisations do not usually apply,
thus [ˈsɪli] silly but [ˈsɪilɪn] ceiling-sealing, [ˈfʊli] fully bu
t [ˈfʊulɪn] fooling.
 In some broader types of Cockney, the neutralisation
of /ʊ~uː~ʊə/ before non-prevocalic /l/ may also
involve /ɔː/, so that fall becomes homophonous
with full and fool [fɔo].
 The other pre-/l/ neutralisation which all investigators
agree on is that of /æ~eɪ~aʊ/. Thus, Sal and sale can
be merged as [sæɤ], failand fowl as [fæɤ],
and Val, vale-veil and vowel as [væɤ]. The typical
pronunciation of railway is [ˈræʊwæɪ].
 According to Siversten, /ɑː/ and /aɪ/ can also join in this
neutralisation. They may on the one hand neutralise
with respect to one another, so
that snarl and smile rhyme, both ending [-ɑɤ],
and Child's Hill is in danger of being mistaken
for Charles Hill; or they may go further into a fivefold
neutralisation with the one just mentioned, so
that pal, pale, foul, snarl and pile all end in [-æɤ]. But
these developments are evidently restricted to broad
Cockney, not being found in London speech in
general.
 A neutralisation discussed by Beaken (1971) and
Bowyer (1973), but ignored by Siversten (1960), is that
of /ɒ~əʊ~ʌ/. It leads to the possibility
of doll, dole and dull becoming homophonous
as [dɒʊ] or [da̠ɤ]. Wells' impression is that the doll-
dole neutralisation is rather widespread in London, but
that involving dull less so.
  One further possible neutralisation in the environment
of a following non-prevocalic /l/ is that of /ɛ/ and /ɜː/, so
that well and whirlbecome homophonous as [wɛʊ].
 Cockney has been occasionally described as
replacing /r/ with /w/. For example, thwee instead
of three, fwasty instead of frosty. Peter Wright, a Survey of
English Dialects fieldworker, concluded that this was not a
universal feature of Cockneys but that it was more common
to hear this in the London area than anywhere else in
Britain.[56] This description may also be a result of
mishearing thelabiodental R as /w/, when it is still a distinct
phoneme in Cockney.
 An unstressed final -ow may be pronounced [ə]. In broad
Cockney this can be lowered to [ɐ].[25][26] This is common to
most traditional, Southern English dialects except for those
in the West Country.[57]
 Grammatical features:[35]
 Use of me instead of my, for example, "At's me book
you got 'ere". Cannot be used when "my" is
emphasised (i.e., "At's my book you got 'ere" (and not
"his")).
 Use of ain't instead of isn't, am not, are not, has not,
and have not
 Use of double negatives, for example "I didn't see nuffink."[58]
Most of the features mentioned above have, in recent years,
partly spread into more general south-eastern speech, giving the
accent calledEstuary English; an Estuary speaker will use some
but not all of the Cockney sounds.[59][60][61] Some of the features
may derive from the upper-class pronunciation of late 18th
century London, such as the use of "ain't" for "isn't" and the now
lost reversal of "v" and "w" (as noted by Dickens regarding Sam
Weller/Veller).
[edit]Changing attitudes towards Cockney English
The Cockney accent has long been looked down upon and
thought of as inferior by many, though is one of only two English
accents recognised in the United States – the other being posh. In
1909 these attitudes even received an official recognition thanks
to the report of The Conference on the Teaching of English in
London Elementary Schools issued by the London County
Council, where it is stated that "[…] the Cockney mode of speech,
with its unpleasant twang, is a modern corruption without
legitimate credentials, and is unworthy of being the speech of any
person in the capital city of the Empire".[62] On the other hand,
however, there started rising at the same time cries in defence of
Cockney as, for example the following one: "The London dialect is
really, especially on the South side of the Thames, a perfectly
legitimate and responsible child of the old kentish tongue […] the
dialect of London North of the Thames has been shown to be one
of the many varieties of the Midland or Mercian dialect, flavoured
by the East Anglian variety of the same speech […]".[62] Since
then, the Cockney accent has been more accepted as
an alternative form of the English Language rather than an
'inferior' one; in the 1950s the only accent to be heard on
the BBC was RP, whereas nowadays many different accents,
including Cockney or ones heavily influenced by it, can be heard
on the BBC.[63] In a survey of 2000 people conducted
by Coolbrands in autumn 2008, Cockney was voted equal
fourth coolest accent in Britain with 7% of the votes, while The
Queen's English was considered the coolest, with 20% of the
votes.[64] Brummie was voted least popular, receiving just 2%. This
shows that although speaking with a Cockney accent is not
considered as bad as in the past, preference towards RP still
prevails.
[edit]Spread of Cockney English
Studies have indicated that the heavy use of South East English
accents on television and radio may be the cause of the spread of
Cockney English since the 1960s.[65][66][67][68]
[edit]Scotland

Studies have indicated that working-class adolescents in areas

such as Glasgow have begun to use certain aspects of Cockney
and otherAnglicisms in their speech,[69] infiltrating the
traditional Glasgow patter.[70] For example, TH-fronting is
commonly found, and typical Scottishfeatures such as the
postvocalic /r/ are reduced.[71] Research suggests the use
of English speech characteristics is likely to be a result of the
influence of London and South East England accents featuring
heavily on television.[65][66][67][68]
[edit]England

Th-fronting, L-vocalisation and T-glottalization can now be found

in every county of England (with L-vocalisation being largely
absent fromNorthern England),[72][73][74][75][76] whereas before the
1960s the only feature that was common to all of England, except
for much of East Anglia and North East England, was H-dropping.
[77][78][79]

[edit]