Cockney as an example of a broad

accent of English

Piddubna Anastasiia 42занФ

 Plan:
1. Meaning and origin

2. Distinctive features of Cockney

a) Grammar
b) Phonetics

3. Cockney and it`s types

4. Cockney rhyming slang. Examples

5. Resourсes
 Meaning and origin
The term "Cockney" has two meanings:
- it is used to refer to the natives of London's East
End and representatives of the working classes of
the population of London
Until the middle of the 20th century, the Cockney had their
own customs, wore characteristic black suits decorated with
shiny embroidery, and differed from other Londoners in their
manner of speaking. A person unfamiliar with the Cockney
dialect is not could even understand a simple sentence.

- to refer to their characteristic pronunciation of

English
Cockney is a combination

Social dialect Local dialect

• street traders • the area of the
• fruit sellers church St MaryLe-
Bow in East London
• cab workers
 A dialect is a speech, a kind of common language used by a relatively
• market workers etc limited number of people, socially and geographically connected. Dialects of
one language can differ in the characteristics of any language level.
 The traditional core neighborhoods of the East End are Bethnal
Green, Whitechapel, Spitalfields, Stepney, Wapping, Limehouse,
Poplar, Millwall, Hackney, Shoreditch, Bow, and Mile End. The area
gradually expanded as more land was built upon
London, the capital of England, is situated on the River Thames,
approximately 50 miles north of the English Channel, in the south
east section of the country. It is generally agreed, that to be a true
Cockney, a person has to be born within hearing distance of the bells
of St. Mary le Bow, Cheapside, in the City of London. This traditional
working-class accent of the region is also associated with other
suburbs in the eastern section of the city such as the East End,
Stepney, Hackney, Shoreditch Poplar and Bow.
 Word order is vital to Cockney's grammar. Although
Distinctive features of Cockney Cockney speech generally obeys the rules of Standard
English word order , these rules may be upset by special
Grammar emphasis, causing the most important words to come
first; for example, "A ree-u (real) beauty it was!"
The following differences are distinguished in the Cockney Considering sentences as a whole, two general points
dialect: need to be stressed. First, there are occasional
redundancies such as " so, therefore" where "so " would
be enough. Secondly, and far more often, words are
1. Using "ain 't" instead of "isn' t" or "am
not". omitted; for example, "Out (Put out) that light!"
2. The presence of a double negation in the
phrase (I don't know nothing).
3. The grammatical lack of formalization of
the adverb (no suffix of the adverb -ly).
4. Aligning the forms of the simple past
tense according to the participle forms (I
seen = lit. English I saw, he done = lit.
English he did).
5. Replacement of possessive pronouns
with the object case of personal
pronouns (me cat = lit. eng. My cat).
6. The forms of demonstrative pronouns are
used undifferentiated in relation to
numbers (that books, these book).
 Distinctive features of Cockney
Phonetics
The Cockney accent is characterized by a special pronunciation,
which is irregular of speech. Here are typical features of the
Cockney speech:
1. Interdental sounds [θ] and [ð] (a bunch of letters
"th") in Cockney should be pronounced as [f] and [v],
respectively.
Examples: the word "thousand" will sound like
[f'aasnd]; "Three" is like ['free], and the word "bother"
is like [' bava].
2. The [h] sound is practically absent in Cockney and is
almost always omitted.
Example: The word "house" sounds like [aus].
3. The sound [t] is omitted at the end of a word.
Example: The word "fat" almost sounds like [fa].
4. The hard "l" is pronounced as [l] or as a vowel.
Example: the word “cool” sounds like [kul], “Millwall”
sounds like [myowo].
5. Transforming [aʊ] into [æː].
Example: The word "doubt" sounds like [deat].
6. Using the sound [ʋ] instead of [r], which is aurally
reminiscent of [w].
Example: "frosty" sounds like ['fvosty]
7. The use of the glottal stop is the "glottal stop". So in
Russian in the word «смотри" with a quick
pronunciation, we often omit the letter «т",
pronouncing «смари». In the Cockney dialect, the sound
[t] is similarly omitted, as well as sometimes the sounds
[p] and [k].
Example: the word "bottle" sounds like [bo'l], and Hyde
Park sounds like [hi pa]
 Cockney and it`s types
The Cockney dialect is believed to exist on two levels. The first type is
the language of the lower middle class, which is realized only mainly at
the level of pronunciation and differs from the literary pronunciation
norm only in certain features. The second type, which H. Wilde calls
"cockney proper" is a dialect of poorly educated strata of the
population and differs significantly from the literary language not only
at the level of pronunciation, but also at other language levels -
morphological, grammatical, lexicosemantic.
Now rhyming slang has started to develop more and more. In our time,
native speakers distinguish three types of cockney accent:
Cockney
classic mockney
modern
• 1) classical – it is widely used and recognized since the time of
Robert Peel; widely-used and recognised as Cockney Rhyming Slang
from the good old days. Example: Apples and Pears
• 2) modern – its lexical units compose and introduce modern
media; the basic rule for creating words - the second word in a pair
sounds almost identical to the encrypted one: for example, "frog
and toad" means "road"
• 3) mockney (fake cockney) - mutated cockney, Cockney imitation
by a middle-class or upper-class man in England.
Cockney rhyming slang - is a humorous slang first used by
cockneys in the East End of London.
The slang is created by rhyming an English word with
another word or a set phrase.
Riddle:
 Answers:
I suggest reading a few phrases in cockney I bought a car from this suspicious man on the Brick Lane for 250
slang. Can you decipher them? pounds. — Я купил машину у этого подозрительного мужчины
1. I bought me jam from this dodgy geezer on the Brick на Брик Лейн за 250 фунтов.
Lane for half a monkey. What are you doing? Are you trying to seduce my girlfriend? —
Что ты делаешь? Ты пытаешься соблазнить мою девушку?
2. What’s your game? Are you chatting up my missus?
That’s a bit of luck. I found a fiver on the road. — Вот это удача. Я
Sling your hook! нашел 5 фунтов на дороге.
3. That’s a bit of Friar Chuck. I found Lady Godiva on the That pretty girl in the bar told me that she was very rich, but I bet
frog. she was telling lies. — Та красивая девушка в баре сказала мне,
4. That fit bird in the bar said that she’s well minted, but I что она очень богата, но готов поспорить, что она врала.
bet she was telling porkies. Some thief stole 25 pounds from my trousers. — Какой-то вор
5. Some tea leaf stole a pony from my round the houses. стащил 25 фунтов у меня из штанов.
I’m exhausted. I’m going to bed. — Я устал. Я иду спать.
6. I’m cream cracked. I’m going to uncle Ted.
He is drunk. Take his money and don’t let him order any more
7. He is elephant’s trunk. Take his bees and don’t let him beers. — Он пьян. Забери его деньги и не позволяй ему
order any more Britneys. заказывать еще пиво.
8. That bloke was smoking a fag in the bog. That was out That guy was smoking a cigarette in the toilet. That was
of order! unacceptable! —Тот парень курил сигарету в туалете. Это
9. Are you having a Turkish? Sausage me a Gregory or неприемлемо!
you gonna be brown bread! Are you joking? Cash me a check or you are going to be dead! —
Ты что, смеешься? Обналичь мне чек или попрощайся с
10. Hey China, move your tit-for-tat. I can’t see the
жизнью!
custard! Hey, mate! Move your head. I can’t see the TV! — Эй, дружище!
Убери-ка голову. Я не вижу телевизор!
 Common Cockney words:
Word Translation
blimey ох, ах
quid фунт, 5 фунтов
bloke чувак, дядька
geezer старикашка, дедуля
dodgy подозрительный
missus жена, девушка
legless очень пьяный
shattered ужасно уставший
fit привлекательный
Old Bill Полиция

Common Cockney expressions:

Phrase Translation

That’s Bollocks! Я тебе не верю!

Can’t be bothered. Нет желания что-либо делать.

Get a wriggle on! Поторопись!

I ain’t got foggiest Я не понимаю
 Resourсes: 6.
https://pronunciationstudio.com/cockney-englands-most-
1. famous-accent/
https://do.s-ba.ru/files/articles/Колесников%20Г.А..pdf

2.
https://amgpgu.ru/upload/iblock/a71/nikiforuk_k_dudchen
ko_o_v_yazyk_kokni.pdf

3.
https://scienceforum.ru/2020/article/2018020822

4.
https://www.academia.edu/21557287/
_Cockney_An_Overview_of_the_London_dialect_and_its_re
presentation_in_fictional_works_

5.
https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
httpsredir=1&article=1192&context=honors_theses