View source for Estuary English

{{Short description|Dialect of English}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{IPA notice}}{{Infobox language
| name             = Estuary
| fam7             = [[British English]]
| image            = 
| map              = 
| ethnicity        = 
| notice           = IPA
| glotto           = none
| isoexception     = dialect
| ancestor3        = [[Early Modern English]]
| ancestor2        = [[Middle English]]
| ancestor         = [[Old English]]
| fam6             = [[English language|English]]
| native name      = 
| fam5             = [[Anglic languages|Anglic]]
| fam4             = [[North Sea Germanic|Ingvaeonic]]
| fam3             = [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]]
| fam2             = [[Germanic languages|Germanic]]
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| script           = [[Latin script|Latin]] ([[English alphabet]])
| speakers         = 
| region           = [[Greater London]], [[Home Counties]]
| states           = [[England]]
| altname          = Estuary English
}}
{{listen|filename=Russell brand bbc radio4 desert island discs 21 07 2013.flac|type=speech|title=Speech example|description=An example of a male speaker from [[Essex]] ([[Russell Brand]])<ref>{{cite magazine|last=McAleer|first=Graham|date=25 October 2018|title=Russell Rebrand|url=https://lawliberty.org/russell-rebrand/|work=Law & Liberty|access-date=29 June 2025|quote=laddish accented English&nbsp;... Brand's scrappy, working-class Estuary English}}</ref>}}
{{listen|filename=Tracey Emin BBC Radio4 Front Row 22 April 2013.flac|type=speech|title=Speech example|description=An example of a female speaker from [[Kent]] ([[Tracey Emin]])<ref>{{cite news|last=Garnett|first=Natasha|date=23 February 2012|title=Reformed Bad-Girl Artist Tracey Emin|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203358704577237383238436436|url-access=subscription|work=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=28 January 2025|quote=[Emin] is incredibly soft-spoken, despite her Estuary accent.}}</ref>}}
{{listen|filename=Ricky Gervais BBC Radio4 Desert Island Discs 24 June 2007 b007qsrj.flac|type=speech|title=Speech example|description=An example of a male speaker from [[Berkshire]] ([[Ricky Gervais]])<ref>{{cite news|last=Thompson|first=Ben|date=21 November 2003|title=There's more to life than the office|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4730299/Theres-more-to-life-than-the-office.html|url-access=limited|work=The Telegraph|access-date=29 June 2025|quote=slightly nasal Estuary English&nbsp;... a very working-class upbringing}}</ref>}}
'''Estuary English''' is an [[regional accents of English|English accent]], continuum of accents, or continuum of accent features<ref>Altendorf, Ulrike (2017). "Chapter 9: Estuary English". In A. Bergs & L. Brinton (Ed.), ''Volume 5 Varieties of English'' (pp. 169-186). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. {{doi|10.1515/9783110525045-009}}.</ref> associated with the area along the [[River Thames]] and [[Thames Estuary|its estuary]], including parts of [[London]], since the late 20th century. In 2000, the phonetician [[John C. Wells]] proposed a definition of Estuary English as "Standard English spoken with the accent of the southeast of England".<ref name="faq">{{cite web |url=https://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/ee-faqs-jcw.htm |first1=John |last1=Wells |title=Estuary English Q and A - JCW|orig-date=1999-01-28 |date=2000-04-11 |publisher=Resources and Tools in Speech, Hearing and Phonetics - UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences  |access-date=2010-08-16}}</ref> He views Estuary English as an emerging standard accent of England, while also acknowledging that it is a [[social construct]] rather than a technically well-defined linguistic phenomenon.<ref name="faq"/> He describes it as "intermediate" between the 20th-century higher-class non-regional standard accent, [[Received Pronunciation]] (RP), and the 20th-century lower-class local London accent, [[Cockney]]. There is much debate among linguists as to where Cockney and RP end and where Estuary English begins, or whether Estuary English is even a single cohesive accent.<ref name="faq"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/lang/joanna-ryfa-estuary.pdf |via=Andrew Moore's resource site |title=Estuary English - A controversial Issue? |author=Joanna Ryfa |date=2003 |access-date=2 April 2015}}</ref><ref name=rosewarne>{{cite web |url=https://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/rosew.htm |last1=Rosewarne|first1=David |title=Estuary English |work=Times Educational Supplement |date=October 1984 |publisher=Resources and Tools in Speech, Hearing and Phonetics - UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences  |access-date=2010-08-16}}</ref><ref>A handout by Wells, one of the first to write a serious description of the would-be variety: {{Cite web |title=Joanna Przedlacka, 2002. ''Estuary English?'' Frankfurt: Peter Lang |url=https://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/przed.pdf |publisher=Resources and Tools in Speech, Hearing and Phonetics - UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences}} Also summarised by him here: {{cite web |url=https://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/ |title=Estuary English |publisher=Resources and Tools in Speech, Hearing and Phonetics - UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences |orig-date=1998-11-09 |date=2007-03-11 }}</ref>

==Name==
Cruttenden uses the term '''London Regional General British'''<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Cruttenden|2014|pp=81–82}}</ref><ref name="phon">{{cite web |title=Phonetics at Oxford University |url=http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/general-british |access-date=17 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150328225134/http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/general-british |archive-date=28 March 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> in preference to the popular term "Estuary English".

The names listed above may be abbreviated:
* Estuary English → EE
* London Regional General British → London RGB<ref name="crut82">{{Harvcoltxt|Cruttenden|2014|p=82}}</ref>

Wells has used different names for an accent closer to Cockney ('''Popular London''') or closer to Received Pronunciation ('''London Regional Standard''' or '''South-Eastern Regional Standard''').<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Wells|1982|pp=302–303}}</ref> Cruttenden uses the name '''Popular London''' to refer to Cockney pronunciation itself.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Cruttenden|2014|p=89}}</ref>

==Status as accent of English==
The boundaries between RP (Received Pronunciation), Estuary English and Cockney are far from clear-cut.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/maidment.htm |title=Estuary English: Hybrid or Hype? |last=Maidment |first=J.A. |year=1994 |work=Paper presented at the 4th New Zealand Conference on Language & Society, Lincoln University, Christchurch, New Zealand, August 1994. |publisher=[[University College London]] |access-date=2009-04-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204040639/https://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/maidment.htm |archive-date=2008-12-04 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis |last=Haenni |first=Ruedi |date=13 July 1999 |title=The case of Estuary English: supposed evidence and a perceptual approach |type=dissertation |publisher=[[University of Basel]] |url=https://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/haenni1999.pdf |access-date=2009-04-21}}</ref> Wells cites David Rosewarne (who originated the term in 1984) as locating EE in the middle of "a continuum that has RP and London speech at either end".<ref name="wells94">{{harvcoltxt|Wells|1994}}</ref> Several writers have argued that Estuary English is not a discrete accent distinct from the accents of the London area. The sociolinguist [[Peter Trudgill]] has written that the term "Estuary English" is inappropriate because "it suggests that we are talking about a new variety, which we are not; and because it suggests that it is a variety of English confined to the banks of the Thames estuary, which it is not. The label actually refers to the lower middle-class accents, as opposed to working-class accents, of the [[Home Counties]] Modern Dialect area".<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Trudgill|1999|p=80}}</ref> [[Peter Roach (phonetician)|Roach]] comments, "In reality there is no such accent and the term should be used with care. The idea originates from the sociolinguistic observation that some people in public life who would previously have been expected to speak with an RP accent now find it acceptable to speak with some characteristics of the London area{{nbsp}}... such as glottal stops, which would in earlier times have caused comment or disapproval".<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Roach|2009|p=4}}</ref>

{{Harvcoltxt|Foulkes|Docherty|1999}} state "All of its [EE's] features can be located on a sociolinguistic and geographical continuum between [[Received Pronunciation|RP]] and [[Cockney]], and are spreading not because Estuary English is a coherent and identifiable influence, but because the features represent neither the standard nor the extreme non-standard poles of the continuum".<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Foulkes|Docherty|1999|p=11}}</ref> In order to tackle these problems put forward by expert linguists, {{Harvcoltxt|Altendorf|2016}} argues that Estuary English should be viewed as a folk category rather than an expert linguistic category. As such it takes the form of a perceptual prototype category that does not require discrete boundaries in order to function in the eyes (and ears) of lay observers of language variation and change.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Altendorf|2016}}</ref>

Collins et al. state that "In the 1990s and the first few years of the 2000s, this putative new variety was fiercely debated both in the media and academia, but since then interest in Estuary English has waned and been replaced by discussion of the capital's latest linguistic innovation – [[Multicultural London English]]".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Collins |first1=Beverley |last2=Mees |first2=Inger |last3=Carley |first3=Paul |title=Practical English Phonetics and Phonology |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |page=6 |edition=4th |isbn=9781138591509 }}</ref>

==Features==
Published accounts of EE describe it mainly in terms of differences from contemporary RP and from Cockney. Wells (1994) states that "Estuary English (EE) is like RP, but unlike Cockney, in being associated with standard grammar and usage". Differences are found at phonemic and allophonic levels. 

===Features distinguishing EE from RP===
Wells identifies a small number of key features that may distinguish EE from RP; these features may be summarized as follows:

* [[L-vocalization|/l/-vocalization]]
* [[T-glottalization|/t/-glottalization]]
* Diphthong shift
* [[Phonological history of English consonant clusters#Yod-coalescence|Yod-coalescence]]

Other distinguishing features have been suggested by other studies:

* [[Th-fronting|''Th''-fronting]]
* Other vowel differences

====/l/-vocalization====
It has been widely observed that EE exhibits vocalization of preconsonantal/final /l/, perhaps with various vowel mergers before it (an informal example being "miwk bottoo" for "milk bottle"). Wells cites the specific case of allophony in GOAT (> [ɒʊ] before dark /l/ or its reflex), leading perhaps to a phonemic split ("wholly" vs. "holy"). This topic is usually referred to as [[L-vocalization]]. There is said to be alternation between the vocalized {{IPA|[o ~ ʊ ~ ɯ]}}, dark non-vocalized {{IPA|[ɫ]}} and clear non-vocalized {{IPA|[l]}}, depending on the word.<ref name="przed45"/> These alternations happen in final positions or in a final consonant cluster, e.g. ''sold'' (pronounced {{IPA|[sɔʊd]}}). In London, that may even occur before a vowel: ''girl out'' {{IPA|[ɡɛo ˈæoʔ]}}.<ref name="ashby">{{Harvcoltxt|Ashby|2011}}</ref> In all phonetic environments, male London speakers were at least twice as likely to vocalize the dark l as female London speakers.<ref name="ashby"/> According to {{Harvcoltxt|Ladefoged|Maddieson|1996}}, the vocalized dark l is sometimes an unoccluded lateral approximant, which differs from the RP {{IPA|[ɫ]}} only by the lack of the alveolar contact.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Ladefoged|Maddieson|1996|p=193}}</ref>

/l/-vocalization can lead to loss of distinctions between some vowels and diphthongs. Examples of [[English-language vowel changes before historic /l/|vowel mergers before historic {{IPA|/l/|cat=no}}]] found in EE are:

* {{IPA|/iːl/}} (as in {{sc2|REEL}}) merges with {{IPA|/ɪəl/}} (as in {{sc2|REAL}}).<ref name="wells94"/> 
* {{IPA|/ɔɪl/}} (as in {{sc2|OIL}}) merges with {{IPA|/ɔɪəl/}} (as in {{sc2|ROYAL}}).<ref name="wells94"/>
* {{IPA|/aʊl/}} (as in {{sc2|OWL}}) merges with {{IPA|/aʊəl/}} (as in {{sc2|VOWEL}}).<ref name="wells94"/>
* Other possible mergers include the following:
** {{IPA|/iːl/}} (as in {{sc2|FEEL}}) can merge with {{IPA|/ɪl/}} (as in {{sc2|FILL}}).<ref name="wells94"/> Since {{IPA|/ɪəl/}} merges with {{IPA|/iːl/}},<ref name="wells94"/> it also participates in this merger.
** {{IPA|/uːl/}} (as in {{sc2|POOL}}) can merge with both {{IPA|/ʊl/}} (as in {{sc2|PULL}}) and {{IPA|/ɔːl/}} (as in {{sc2|PAUL}}).<ref name="wells94"/>
** {{IPA|/eɪl/}} (as in {{sc2|VEIL}}) can merge with both {{IPA|/æl/}} (as in {{sc2|VAL}}) and {{IPA|/aʊəl/}} (as in {{sc2|VOWEL}}).<ref name="wells94"/>
** {{IPA|/ɛl/}} (as in {{sc2|WELL}}) can merge with {{IPA|/ɜːl/}} (as in {{sc2|WHIRL}}).<ref name="wells94"/>
** {{IPA|/aɪl/}} (as in {{sc2|CHILD'S}}) can merge with {{IPA|/ɑːl/}} (as in {{sc2|CHARLES}}).<ref name="wells94"/>
** {{IPA|/ɒl/}} (as in {{sc2|DOLL}}) can merge with {{IPA|/ɒʊl/}} (as in {{sc2|DOLE}}).<ref name="wells94"/>

{{Harvcoltxt|Przedlacka|2001}} found coda {{IPA|/l/}} pronounced as clear {{IPAblink|l}}, as in most accents of [[Irish English]], in some speakers: she notes that in her study, "all four Essex speakers have a clear {{IPA|[l]}} in ''pull''."<ref name="przed45">{{Harvcoltxt|Przedlacka|2001|p=45}}</ref>

/l/-vocalization appears to be spreading into RP (or GB, the similar accent referred to by some writers). Collins et al say "Traditional RP speakers tend to stigmatize this feature, which is nevertheless one of the most striking changes going on in present-day GB English".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Collins |first1=Beverley |last2=Mees |first2=Inger |last3=Carley |first3=Paul |title=Practical English Phonetics and Phonology |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |page=73 |edition=4th }}</ref>

====/t/-glottalization====
The term [[glottalization]] has several different meanings: the most important are [[Glottalization#Glottal_reinforcement | glottal reinforcement]] (or ''pre-glottalization''), where a glottal closure accompanies an oral closure, and [[Glottalization#Glottal_replacement |glottal replacement]], where a glottal closure is substituted for an oral consonant.

Although glottalization of /t/ has been singled out for attention in discussion of EE features, pre-glottalization of /p/, /k/ and /tʃ/ is also widespread in RP, particularly when another consonant follows. Examples are "popcorn" [ˈpɒʔpkɔːn], "electric" [ɪˈleʔktrɪk], "butcher" [ˈbʊʔtʃə].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Roach |first1=Peter |title=Glottalisation of English /p,t,k,tʃ/: a re-examination |journal=Journal of the International Phonetic Association |date=1973 |volume=3 |pages=10–21|doi=10.1017/S0025100300000633 |s2cid=145061712 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ward |first1=Ida |title=The Phonetics of English |date=1945 |publisher=Heffer |pages=135–6 |edition=3rd }}</ref>
Wells proposes that in transcribing EE, the glottal stop symbol [ʔ] could be used in contexts where the consonant in question is preceded by a vowel and followed by a consonant or the end of a word: examples are "bit" [bɪʔ], "football" [ˈfʊʔbɔo], "belt" [beoʔ], "Cheltenham" [ˈtʃeoʔnəm], "bent" [benʔ], "Bentley" [ˈbenʔli].
Pre-glottalization of /t/ therefore appears to be present both in RP and in EE.

Glottal ''replacement'' of /t/ may be found when /t/ occurs before another consonant. Examples from RP where /t/ is replaced by a glottal stop are: "that table" [ˌðæʔ ˈteɪbəl], "Scotland" [ˈskɒʔlənd], "witness" [ˈwɪʔnəs].{{sfnp|Cruttenden|2014|p=184}} The most extreme case of glottal replacement is when a glottal stop takes the place of /t/ between vowels (normally when the preceding vowel is stressed). Examples are "not on" [ˌnɒʔ ˈɒn], "bottle" [ˈbɒʔo]. Wells says "glottalling word-internally before a vowel is well-known as a "rough" pronunciation variant: thus EE water ˈwɔːtə, but Cockney ˈwɔʊʔə".<ref name="wells94"/> However, in work published twenty years later, Cruttenden (p 184) remarks that such glottal replacement "was until recently stigmatized as non-GB but all except [ʔl̩] are now acceptable in London RGB" (i.e. EE). He continues "Use of [ʔ] for /t/ word-medially intervocalically, as in ''water'', still remains stigmatized in GB".

====Diphthong shift====
EE is said to exhibit diphthong shift, particularly of the FACE, PRICE, MOUTH and GOAT vowels (informal example: "nime" for "name").
* {{IPA|/əʊ/}} (as in {{sc2|GOAT}}) may be realised in a couple of different ways. According to {{Harvcoltxt|Przedlacka|2001}}, it is any of the following: {{IPA|[əʊ]}}, {{IPA|[ɐʊ]}}, {{IPA|[əʏ]}} or {{IPA|[ɐʏ]}}. The last two are more often used by females.<ref name="przed44">{{Harvcoltxt|Przedlacka|2001|p=44}}</ref> She also notes a fully rounded diphthong {{IPA|[oʊ]}} (found in some speakers from Essex),<ref name="przed44"/> as well as two rare monophthongal realizations, namely {{IPAblink|ɐː}} and {{IPAblink|o̞ː}}.<ref name="przed44"/> 
* {{IPA|/eɪ/}} (as in {{sc2|FACE}}), can be realised as {{IPA|[ɛ̝ɪ]}}, {{IPA|[ɛɪ]}}, {{IPA|[ɛ̞ɪ]}} or {{IPA|[æɪ]}},<ref name="przed44"/> with {{IPA|[ɛɪ]}} and {{IPA|[ɛ̞ɪ]}} being predominant. it can also be realised as {{IPA|[eɪ]}}, {{IPA|[ɐɪ]}} or {{IPA|[ʌɪ]}}.<ref name="wells94"/>
* {{IPA|/aɪ/}} (as in {{sc2|PRICE}}) can be realised as {{IPA|[aɪ]}}, {{IPA|[a̠ɪ]}}, {{IPA|[ɑ̟ɪ]}}, {{IPA|[ɒ̟ɪ]}}, {{IPA|[ɑɪ]}} or {{IPA|[ɒɪ]}}.<ref name="przed44"/>
* {{IPA|/aʊ/}} (as in {{sc2|MOUTH}}) can be realised as {{IPA|[aʊ]}}, {{IPA|[aʏ]}}, {{IPA|[æə]}}, {{IPA|[æʊ]}} or {{IPA|[æʏ]}}.<ref name="przed44"/> {{IPA|[a]}} denotes a front onset {{IPAblink|a}}, not a central one {{IPAblink|ä|a̠}}.<ref name="przed44"/>
* ''Board'' {{IPA|/bɔːd/}} may be pronounced differently from ''bored'' {{IPA|/bɔəd/}}.<ref name="parsons39">{{Harvcoltxt|Parsons|1998|p=39}}</ref> {{IPA|/ɔː/}} (phonetically {{IPA|[ɔʊ]}} or {{IPAblink|oː}})<ref name="parsons39"/> appears before consonants, and {{IPA|/ɔə/}} (phonetically {{IPA|[ɔə]}} or {{IPAblink|ɔː}})<ref name="parsons39"/> appears at a morpheme boundary.<ref name="parsons39"/> However, {{Harvcoltxt|Przedlacka|2001}} states that both {{IPA|/ɔː/}} and {{IPA|/ɔə/}} may have the same monophthongal quality {{IPAblink|ɔː}}.<ref name="przed43">{{Harvcoltxt|Przedlacka|2001|p=43}}</ref>

====Yod-coalescence====

[[Phonological history of English consonant clusters#Yod-coalescence|Yod-coalescence]] is found in EE: the use of the affricates {{IPAblink|d͡ʒ}} and {{IPAblink|t͡ʃ}} instead of the clusters {{IPA|[dj]}} and {{IPA|[tj]}} in words like ''dune'' and ''Tuesday'' results in the words sounding like ''June'' and ''choose day'', respectively. Although at the time when most studies of EE were carried out, yod-coalescence was not common in RP, it has now become so widely accepted that RP-based pronunciation dictionaries include it. Thus the latest edition of the Cambridge [[English Pronouncing Dictionary]] gives /dʒuːn/ and /tʃuːz.deɪ/ as the preferred pronunciations;<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Daniel |last2=Roach |first2=Peter |last3=Setter |first3=Jane |last4=Esling |first4=John |title=Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary |date=2011 |publisher=Cambridge |edition=18th }}</ref> the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary and the Oxford Dictionary of Pronunciation give /djuːn/ and /tjuːzdeɪ/ as their first preference, but give /dʒuːn/ and /tʃuːz.deɪ/ as second preference.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wells |first1=John |title=Longman Pronunciation Dictionary |date=2008 |publisher=Longman |edition=3rd}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Upton |first1=Clive |last2=Kretzschmar |first2=William |last3=Konopka |first3=Rafal |title=Oxford Dictionary of Pronunciation for Current English |date=2001 }}</ref> It cannot be said that the presence of yod-coalescence distinguishes EE from RP.

====''th''-fronting====
It has been suggested that [[th-fronting|''th''-fronting]] is "currently making its way" into Estuary English, for example those from the [[Isle of Thanet]] often refer to Thanet as "Plannit Fannit" (Planet Thanet).<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Altendorf|1999}}</ref> However, this feature was also present in the traditional dialect of Essex before the spread of Estuary English.<ref name="John Benjamins Publishing">{{cite book |editor1-first=David|editor1-last=Britain |editor2-first=Jenny |editor2-last=Cheshire|title=Social Dialectology: In Honour of Peter Trudgill |url=https://archive.org/details/socialdialectolo00trud |url-access=limited |year=2003 |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing |location=Amsterdam |page=[https://archive.org/details/socialdialectolo00trud/page/n234 233] |chapter=Dialect levelling and geographical diffusion in British English |isbn=9781588114037 }}</ref>

====Other vowel differences====

* {{IPA|/iː/}} (as in {{sc2|FLEECE}}) can be realised as {{IPAblink|iː}}, {{IPA|[ɪi]}} or {{IPA|[əi]}},<ref name="przed43"/> with the first two variants predominating.<ref name="przed42">{{Harvcoltxt|Przedlacka|2001|p=42}}</ref> Before the dark l, it is sometimes a center diphthong {{IPA|[iə]}}.<ref name="przed43"/>
* {{IPA|/uː/}} (as in {{sc2|GOOSE}}) can be realised in many different ways, such as monophthongs {{IPAblink|ʏː}}, {{IPAblink|ɪ|ɪ̝ː}}, {{IPAblink|ʉː}}, {{IPAblink|ɨː}}, {{IPA|[ʉ̠ː]}}, {{IPAblink|u|u̟ː}}<ref name="przed43"/> and diphthongs {{IPA|[ɘɵ]}}, {{IPA|[ɘʏ]}}, {{IPA|[ʏɨ]}} and {{IPA|[ʊu]}}.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Przedlacka|2001|pp=43–44}}</ref> Front pronunciations ({{IPAblink|ʏː}}, {{IPAblink|ɪ|ɪ̝ː}}, {{IPA|[ɘʏ]}} and {{IPA|[ʏɨ]}}) are more often encountered in female speakers.<ref name="przed43"/> Before dark /l/, it is always back.<ref name="wells94"/>
* /ʊ/ (as in {{sc2|FOOT}}) can be realised as [<nowiki/>[[Close central rounded vowel|ʉ]]], [<nowiki/>[[Close central unrounded vowel|ɨ]]],    [<nowiki/>[[Near-close near-front rounded vowel|ʏ]]] or [<nowiki/>[[Near-close near-back rounded vowel|ʊ]]], as in RP. Only the last variant appears before a dark l.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Lodge|2009|p=174}}</ref><ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Altendorf|Watt|2004|pp=188 and 191–192}}</ref>
* {{IPA|/ɔː/}} (as in {{sc2|THOUGHT}}), according to {{Harvcoltxt|Przedlacka|2001}}, can be pronounced in two different ways: diphthongal {{IPA|[oʊ]}} in closed syllables and {{IPA|[ɔə]}} or {{IPA|[ɔ̝ə]}} in open syllables<ref name="przed43"/> and monophthongal {{IPAblink|ɔː}}.<ref name="przed43"/> According to {{Harvcoltxt|Parsons|1998}}, it is either {{IPA|[ɔʊ]}} or {{IPAblink|oː}} before consonants, and either {{IPA|[ɔə]}} or {{IPA|[ɔː]}} at a morpheme boundary.<ref name="parsons39"/>
* {{IPA|/ʌ/}} (as in {{sc2|STRUT}}) can be realised as {{IPAblink|ɒ}}, {{IPAblink|ʌ}}, {{IPAblink|ɐ}}, {{IPA|[ɐ̟]}} or {{IPAblink|æ}},<ref name="przed43"/> with {{IPAblink|ɐ}} being predominant.<ref name="przed43"/> The first two variants occur mostly before {{IPA|/ŋ/}}.<ref name="przed43"/> The last two variants are more often used by females.<ref name="przed43"/>
* {{IPA|/æ/}} (as in {{sc2|TRAP}}) can be realised as {{IPAblink|a}}, {{IPA|[a̝]}}, {{IPAblink|æ}}, {{IPA|[ɛ̞]}} or {{IPAblink|ɛ}}.<ref name="przed43"/><ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Altendorf|Watt|2004|p=188}}. They list {{IPAblink|a}}, {{IPA|[a̝]}} and {{IPAblink|æ}}.</ref>

===Features distinguishing EE from Cockney===
Wells suggests that EE differs from Cockney in a few key features:
 
* EE differs from Cockney in usually not being characterized by [[H-dropping|''H''-dropping]] before stressed vowels (informal example: {{" '}}and on 'eart" for "hand on heart")
* [[Th-fronting|''Th''-fronting]] (e.g. "I fink" for "I think", but see [[#th-fronting|above]])
* Cockney may have monophthongal realization of the MOUTH vowel ("Sahfend" for "[[Southend]]").

==Use==
Estuary English is widely encountered throughout [[South East England|southeast England]], particularly among the young. It is considered to be a [[working-class]] accent,{{citation needed | date=January 2022}} although often used by the lower middle classes too. In the debate that surrounded a 1993 article about Estuary English, a London businessman claimed that RP was perceived as unfriendly, so Estuary English was now preferred for commercial purposes.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Crystal|2003|p=327}}</ref> 
Some adopt the accent as a means of "blending in" to appear to be more working class or in an attempt to appear to be "a common man". That affectation of the accent is sometimes derisively referred to as "[[Mockney]]". A move away from traditional RP accents is almost universal among middle-class young people in the South-East of England.<ref>{{cite web |last=Crystal |first=David |title=RP and its successors |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/yourvoice/feature2_4.shtml |publisher=BBC |access-date=12 April 2011 }}</ref>

==19th-century Rural Estuary English==
{{main|English language in Southern England#19th-century Kent, Sussex, and Surrey English}}
Older rural dialects of the Estuary region survived longest in areas like [[Kent]] and the east of [[Essex]], which early on showed features of, as well as some features distinct from, the modern Estuary dialect that has since become regionally widespread.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/essexballadsothe00benh |title=Essex ballads and other poems |first=Charles Edwin |last=Benham |date=23 October 2017 |publisher=Colchester : Benham |via=Internet Archive }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/contributiontoes00geppuoft|title=A contribution to an Essex dialect dictionary |first=Edward |last=Gepp |year=1920 |publisher=London G. Routledge |via=Internet Archive }}</ref> Notably, rhoticity was a feature of older rural English in most of the Estuary counties, now largely replaced by non-rhoticity.

==See also==
*[[List of dialects of English]]
*[[Regional accents of English]]
*[[English language in Southern England]]
*[[Multicultural London English]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*{{Citation
|last=Altendorf
|first=Ulrike
|year=1999
|title=Estuary English: is English going Cockney?
|url=https://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/altendf.pdf
|journal=Moderna Språk
|volume=93
|issue=1
|pages=1–11
|doi=10.58221/mosp.v93i1.9709
|s2cid=254296882
}}
*{{Citation
|last=Altendorf
|first=Ulrike
|year=2016
|title=Caught between Aristotle and Miss Marple… – A proposal for a perceptual prototype approach to 'Estuary English'
|url=https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/CJES/article/view/54452/50279
|journal= Complutense Journal of English Studies
|volume=24
|issue=24
|pages=131–154
|doi=10.5209/CJES.54452
|doi-access=free
}}
*{{citation
|last1=Altendorf
|first1=Ulrike
|last2=Watt
|first2=Dominic
|editor-last=Schneider
|editor-first=Edgar W.
|editor2-last=Burridge
|editor2-first=Kate
|editor3-last=Kortmann
|editor3-first=Bernd
|editor4-last=Mesthrie
|editor4-first=Rajend
|editor5-last=Upton
|editor5-first=Clive
|year=2004
|title=A handbook of varieties of English
|chapter=The dialects in the South of England: phonology
|series=Vol. 1: Phonology
|publisher=Mouton de Gruyter
|pages=181–196
|isbn=3-11-017532-0
}}
*{{citation
|last=Ashby
|first=Patricia
|title=The l-vocalization trend in young London English speech: growing or declining? 
|journal=English Phonetics
|publisher=English Phonetic Society of Japan
|year=2011
|issue=14–15
|pages=36–45
}}
*{{citation
|last1=Bauer
|first1=Laurie
|author-link=Laurie Bauer
|last2=Warren
|first2=Paul
|last3=Bardsley
|first3=Dianne
|last4=Kennedy
|first4=Marianna
|last5=Major
|first5=George
|title=New Zealand English
|journal=[[Journal of the International Phonetic Association]]
|year=2007
|volume=37
|issue=1
|pages=97–102
|doi=10.1017/S0025100306002830
|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282778721
|doi-access=free
}}
*{{citation
|last=Cruttenden
|first=Alan
|year=2014
|title=Gimson's Pronunciation of English
|publisher=Routledge
|edition=8th
|isbn=9781444183092
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M2nMAgAAQBAJ
}}
*{{citation
|last=Crystal
|first=David
|year=2003
|title=The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language
|publisher=Cambridge University Press
|isbn=978-0521530330
}}
* {{citation
|last1=Foulkes
|first1=P
|last2=Docherty
|first2=G
|year=1999
|title=Urban Voices
|publisher=Arnold
|isbn=0-340-70608-2
}}
*{{SOWL}}
*{{citation
|last=Lodge
|first=Ken
|year=2009
|title=A Critical Introduction to Phonetics
|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group
|isbn=978-0-8264-8873-2
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_nVT_qNvbusC
}}
*{{Citation
|last=Parsons
|first=Gudrun
|year=1998
|title=From "RP" to "Estuary English": The concept 'received' and the debate about British pronunciation standards
|url=https://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/parsons_ma.pdf
|publisher=[[University of Hamburg]] |via=Psychology and Language Sciences - [[University College London]]
}}
*{{Citation
|last=Przedlacka
|first=Joanna
|year=2001
|title=Estuary English and RP: Some Recent Findings
|url=https://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/~joanna/sap36_jp.pdf
|journal=Studia Anglica Posnaniensia
|volume=36
|pages=35–50
}}
*{{citation
|last=Roach
|first=Peter
|year=2009
|title=English Phonetics and Phonology
|publisher=Cambridge University Press
|edition=4th
|isbn=978-0-521-71740-3
}}
*{{citation
|last=Trudgill
|first=Peter
|year=1999
|title=The Dialects of England
|publisher=Wiley
|edition=2nd
|isbn=0-631-21815-7
}}
*{{Citation
|last=Wells
|first=John C.
|author-link=John C. Wells
|year=1982
|title=Accents of English 2: The British Isles
|chapter=4.2 London
|place=Cambridge
|publisher=Cambridge University Press
|pages=301–334
|isbn=0-521-24224-X
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a3-ElL71fikC
}}
*{{Citation
|last=Wells
|first=John C.
|author-link=John C. Wells
|year=1994
|title=Transcribing Estuary English: a discussion document
|url=https://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/transcree-uni.htm
|journal=Speech Hearing and Language: UCL Work in Progress
|volume=8
|pages=259–267
}}

==Further reading==
*{{Citation
|last=Altendorf
|first=Ulrike
|year=2003
|title=Estuary English: Levelling at the Interface of RP and South-Eastern British English
|url=http://narr-starter.de/magento/index.php/estuary-english.html
|place=Tübingen
|publisher=Gunter Narr Verlag
|isbn=3-8233-6022-1
|doi=10.1075/eww.25.2.15fab
|url-access=subscription
}}{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
*{{Citation
|last=Rogaliński
|first=Paweł
|year=2011
|title=British Accents: Cockney, RP, Estuary English
|quote=Łódź, Poland
|isbn=978-83-272-3282-3
}}
*{{Citation
|last=Wells
|first=John C.
|year=2008
|title=Longman Pronunciation Dictionary
|edition=3rd
|publisher=Longman
|isbn=9781405881180
}}

==External links==
*[http://www.bl.uk/soundsfamiliar Sounds Familiar?]{{spaced ndash}}Listen to regional dialects of the UK.
*[https://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/home.htm Estuary English] from University College London

{{English dialects by continent}}

[[Category:English language in England]]
[[Category:English language in London]]
[[Category:South East England]]
[[Category:Thames Estuary]]