CONTENTS

I. Introduction ………………………………………………………… 3

II. Main part:

1. The core of Estuary English …………………………………… . .4

2. Principles of transcribing EE ........................................................ 15

3. The peculiarities of the Consonantal System:

a) The Glottal Stop …………………………………………… 19

b) Realisation of /r/ …………………………………………… 23

c) Vocalisation of [l] …………………………………………. 26

d) Yod Coalescence ………………………………………….. 28

III. Conclusion ……………………………………………………… 32

List of Abbreviations ………………………………………………. 34

References …………………………………………………………. 35

INTRODUCTION

The term 'Received Pronunciation' (RP) has in the course of this century come to designate - at least among linguists and EFL teachers - the British English style of pronunciation that carries the highest overt prestige. It is generally agreed that it has long lost all associations with its regional origin (London and the South-East of England) and is now purely a class dialect (or sociolect). As such the term is often used synonymously with 'standard pronunciation' or at any rate, taken to represent some sort of standard, at least for British English, at home and abroad.

Recently, another label was made available to the public: 'Estuary English' (EE) stands for an accent - or a range of accents - which is definitely regarded as downmarket from RP by a consensus omnium bonorum (as they would qualify themselves) but has similar regional origins as the latter (London and the South-East) and which, because of its ever growing popularity, is thought to pose a serious threat to the hegemony of RP as the standard or reference accent for British English.

This paper proposes to look at the phenomenon 'EE' from different perspectives, trying to pin it down. Numerous descriptions have been published of this speech style, and endless material has been produced on its status, significance, and ongoing changes. In spite of this it has not been possible to define it in a meaningful way. Descriptions have almost exclusively been of the segmental order, and it is debatable whether this does justice to any speech style.

The first part of this paper is dedicated to a discussion of the core of EE and its difference from and relationship to RP and Cockney. We propose to discuss how recent a development Estuary English is, and whether it is really anything new at all, or just a name. In this context, the development of the most relevant individual sounds is treated in detail in order to provide substance.

Chapter 2 looks at the main principals of transcribing EE that was worked out by John Wells.

The final chapter deals with the peculiarities of the consonant system of EE.

Because it obscures sociolinguistic origins, "Estuary English" is attractive to many. The motivation, often unconscious, of those who are rising and falling socio-economically is 8to fit into their new environments by compromising but not losing their original linguistic identity. Again, often unconsciously, those RP speakers who wish to hold on to what they have got are often aware that General RP is no longer perceived as a neutral accent in many circles. In the circles of privileged young people who are likeliest to be influential in the future, the standard pronunciation is often "Estuary English".

REFERENCES

1. ABERCROMBIE 1953: Abercrombie, David. 'English Accents'. English Language Teaching 7/4 (1953): 113-23.

2. ABERCROMBIE 1992: Abercrombie, David. 'RP Today: Its Position and Prospects'. In Blank, Claudia (ed.). Language and Civilization: A Concerted Profusion of Essays and Studies in Honor of Otto Hietsch. Vol. II. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 1992: 6-10.

3. ANDRESEN 1958: Andresen, Bjoern Stalhane. 'The Glottal Stop in the Received Pronunciation of English'. Universitetet i Bergen, Arbok 1958, Hist.-antikv. Rekke 5. Bergen 1958.

4. ANDRESEN 1968: Andresen, B.S. Preglottalization in English Standard Pronunciation. Bergen 1968.

5. BAUER 1979: Bauer, Laurie. 'The Second Great Vowel Shift?'. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 9 (1979): 57-66.

6. BAUER 1985: Bauer, Laurie. 'Tracing Phonetic Change in the Received Pronunciation of British English'. Journal of Phonetics 13/1 (1985): 61-81.

7. BAYARD 1990: Bayard, Donn. 'Minder, Mork and Mindy? (-t) Glottalisation and Post-Vocalic (-r) in Younger New Zealand English Speakers'. In Bell, Allan & Janet Holmes (edd.). New Zealand Ways of Speaking English. Clevedon, Eng.: Multiling. Matters, 1990, pp. 149-164.

8. BROWN & LEVINSON 1979: Brown, Penelope & Stephen Levinson. "Social Structure, Groups and Interaction". In Scherer & Giles 1979: 291-341.

9. BROWN 1977: Brown, Gillian. Listening to Spoken English. London: Longman, 1977.

10. CATFORD 1947: Catford, J.C. 'Consonants Pronounced with Closed Glottis'. Le maftre phonetique 1947: 4-6.

11. CATFORD 1964: Catford, J.C. 'The Teaching of English as a Foreign Language'. In Quirk & Smith 1964: 137-163.

12. CATFORD 1988: Catford, John С A Practical Introduction to Phonetics. London: Oxford University Press, 1988.

13. CHESHIRE 1984: Cheshire, Jenny. 'Indigenous Nonstandard English Varieties and Education'. In Trudgill 1984: 546-558.

14. CHEVILLET 1992: Chevillet, Francois. 'Received Pronunciation and Standard English as Systems of Reference'. English Today 29, Vol. 8/1 (1992): 27-32.

15. CHRISTOPHERSEN 1952: Christophersen, Paul. 'The Glottal Stop in English'. English Studies 33 (1952): 156-63.

16. CHRISTOPHERSEN 1987: Christophersen, Paul. 'In Defence of RP'. English Today 11, Vol. 3/3 (1987): 17-19.

17. COGGLE 1993: Coggle, Paul. Do You Speak Estuary? London: Bloomsbury, 1993.

18. EPDn: Jones, Daniel. English Pronouncing Dictionary. London: J.M. Dent & Sons; n (Auflage)=1 (1917); n=2 (1924); n=11 (1950); n=13 (1967, ed. A.C. Gimson); n=14 (1977, ed. A.C. Gimson, rev. S.M. Ramsaran); n=15 (1997, edd. Peter Roach & James Hartman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997).

19. VON ESSEN 1964: von Essen, Otto. 'An Acoustic Explanation of the Sound Shift [+]> [u] and [l] > [i]'. In Abercrombie et al. 1964: 53-58.

20. EUSTACE 1967: Eustace, S.S. 'Present Changes in English Pronunciation'. In Hala, Bohuslav, Milan Romportl & Premysl Janota (edd.). Proceedings of the Sixth International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Prague: Academia, 1970: 303-306.

21. FOSTER 1968: Foster, Brian. The Changing English Language. London: Macmillan, 1968.

22. FRANKLYN 1953: Franklyn, J. The Cockney. A Survey of London Life and Language. London: Deutsch, 1953.

23. GILES 1970: Giles, H. 'Evaluative Reaction to Accents'. Educational Review 22 (1970): 211-27.

24. GIMSON 1962: Gimson, A.C. An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English. London: Edward Arnold, 1962.

25. GIMSON 1970: Gimson, A.C. 'Britisch English Pronunciation: Standards and Evolution'. Praxis des neusprachlichen Unterrichts 17 (1970): 17-20.

26. GIMSON 1984: Gimson, A.C. 'The RP Accent'. In Trudgill 1984: 45-54.

27. GREENBAUM 1985: Greenbaum, Sidney (ed.). The English Language Today. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1985.

28. HART 1569: Hart, John. An orthographie, conteyning the due order and reason howe to paint mannes voice, most like to the life or nature. Facsimile reprint. Menston: The Scolar Press, 1969.

29. HIGGINBOTTOM 1964: Higginbottom, Eleanor. 'Glottal Reinforcement in English'. Transactions of the Philological Society (1964): 129-142.

30. HONEY 1988: Honey, John. '"Talking Proper": Schooling and the Establishment of English "Received Pronunciation"'. In Nixon, Graham & John Honey. An Historic Tongue. London: Routledge, 1988: 209-227.

31. HUDSON & HOLLOWAY 1977: Hudson, R.A. & A.F. Holloway. Variation in London English. Mimeo. Dept. of Phonetics and Linguistics, University College London.

32. HURFORD 1968-70: Hurford, J.R. 'Specimens of English: Cockney'. Maftre Phonetique 130 (1968): 32-4; 132 (1969): 41-3; 134 (1970): 38-9.

33. ILES 1960: Iles, L.A. 'The Glottalization of Voiceless Plosives in London Speech'. Le maftre phonetique 1960: 14-15.

34. JAMES 1932: James, Arthur Lloyd. 'Broadcasting and the English Language'. English Studies 14 (1932): 74-76.

35. JONES 1956: Jones, Daniel. The Pronunciation of English4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1956.

36. JONES 1960: Jones, Daniel. An Outline of English Phonetics. Cambridge: Heffer, 1960.

37. KERSWILL 1996: Kerswill, Paul. 'Milton Keynes and Dialect Levelling in South-Eastern British English'. In Graddol, David; Dick Leith & Joan Swann (edd.). English: History, Diversity and Change. London: Routledge 1996: 292-300.

38. LASS 1976: Lass, Roger. English Phonology and Phonological Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976.

39. LEWIS 1985: Lewis, J. Windsor. 'British Non-Dialect Accents'. Zeitschrift fur Anglistik und Amerikanistik 3 (1985): 244-257.

40. LEWIS 1987: Lewis, J. Windsor. 'The Teaching of English Pronunciation: The Model Accents'. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 17:2 (1987): 139-141.

41. LLOYD 1899: Lloyd, Richard J. Northern English. Leipzig 1899. LLOYD JAMES: see JAMES.

42. LPD: Wells, John С Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. London: Longman, 1980.

43. MCALLISTER 1938: McAllister, Anne H. A Year's Course in Speech Training. London: University of London Press, 1938

44. MATTHEWS 1981: Matthews, Richard. '"The Second Great Vowel Shift?" 7 Journal of the International Phonetic Association 11 (1981): 22-26.

45. MATTHEWS 1938: Matthews, William. Cockney Past and Present. London: Routledge, 1938.

46. MEES 1987: Mees, Inger. 'Glottal Stop as a Prestigious Feature in Cardiff English'. English World Wide 8/1 (1987): 25-39.

47. MILROY 1992: Milroy, James. Linguistic Variation and Change. Oxford: Blackwell, 1992.

48. MORRISON 1977: Morrison, Malcolm. Clear Speech. London: Pitman, 1977.

49. O'CONNOR 1952: O'Connor, J.D. 'R.P. and the Reinforcing Glottal Stop'. English Studies 33 (1952): 214-218.

50. POINTNER 1994: Pointner, Frank Erik. Cockney Glottalling: A Study on the Phonetics of Contemporary London Speech. Essen: Die Blaue Eule, 1996.

51. RAMSARAN 1990: Ramsaran, Susan (ed.). Studies in the Pronunciation of English. London: Routledge, 1990.

52. ROACH 1973: Roach, P.J. 'Glottalization of English /p/, / t/, /k/ and /t / - a Re-Examination.' Journal of the International Phonetic Association 3/1: 10-21.

53. ROSEWARNE 1984: Rosewarne, David. 'Estuary English'. The Times Educational Supplement. 19 Oct. 1984, p. 29.

54. ROSEWARNE 1994: Rosewarne, David. 'Estuary English: Tomorrow's RP?'. English Today 37, Vol. 10/1 (1994): 3-8.

55. ROSEWARNE 1994A: Rosewarne, David. 'Pronouncing Estuary English.' English Today 40, Vol. 10/4 (1994): 3-6.

56. SCOTT 1995: Scott, J.C. 'The Rising Tide of Estuary English: The Changing Nature of Oral British Business Communication'. Business Communication Quarterly 58 (1995): 40-46.

57. SCOTT, GREEN & ROSEWARNE 1997: Scott, James Calvert, Diana J. Green & David Rosewarne. 'Revelations about Estuary English as an Oral Means of International Business Communication: a United States-Based Perspective'. Book of Readings. New York: International Business and Technology Organisation, 1997.

58. SIVERTSEN 1960: Sivertsen, E. Cockney Phonology. Oslo: University Press, 1960.

59. SWEET 1929: Sweet, Henry. The Sounds of English. Oxford: Blackwell, 1929.

60. THOMPSON 1961: Thompson, I. 'Glottalization of English Voiceless Plosives'. Le maftre phonetique 1961: 34-35.

61. TRUDGILL 1975: Trudgill, Peter. Accent, Dialect and the School. London: Edward Arnold, 1975.

62. TRUDGILL 1979: Trudgill, Peter. 'Standard and Non-Standard Dialects of English in the United Kingdom: Problems and Policies'. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 21 (1979): 9-24.

63. TRUDGILL 1984: Trudgill, Peter (ed.). Language in the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.

64. WELLS 1982: Wells, J.C. Accents of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982.

65. WELLS 1984: Wells, J.C. 'English Accents in England'. In Trudgill 1984: 55-69.

66. WELLS 1990: Wells, J.C. 'A Phonetic Update on RP'. Moderna Sprak 84 (1990): 3-10.

67. WELLS 1991: Wells, J.C. 'The Cockneyfication of RP?' In Melchers, Gunnel & Nils-Lennart Johannesson (edd.) Nonstandard Varieties of Language. Papers from the Stockholm Symposium, 11-13 April 1991 (Stockholm Studies in English LXXXIV). Stockholm 1994:198-205.

68. WELLS 1994: Wells, J.C. 'Transcribing Estuary English: A Discussion Document'. Speech Hearing and Language. UCL Phonetics and Linguistics: Work in Progress 1994, vol. 8: 261-7.

69. WELLS 1997B: Wells, J.C. 'Cockney and Estuary English'. Course handout, Summer Course in English Phonetics, UCL Phonetics and Linguistics, 1997.

70. WELLS 1997C: Wells, J.C. 'What is Estuary English?' English Teaching Professional1997: 467.

71. WYLD 1907: Wyld, H.C.K. The Growth of English. London: John Murray, 1914.

Примечаний нет.