Estuary English

A summary essay by Réka Minárovics

University of Szeged

Introduction

A new buzzword and a growing phenomenon, Estuary English, is supposed to be a

new kind of English that is spreading quickly throughout England, creating expectations about
its future as a possible standard ‘accent’. It is well represented in the city, in business, in the
civil service, in local government, in the media, in advertising, and in the medical and
teaching professions in the South East. Estuary English is in a very strong position to
influence the pronunciation of the future. The aim of this essay will be to introduce the reader
to the nature of this variety of English, as well as to provide a general overview of it.

The characteristics of EE
Estuary English is a term invented by the British phonetician David Rosewarne 1 in
1984 to describe a variety of English spoken ‘by the banks of the Thames and its estuary’. It is
mainly a variety that includes the features of Standard English phonology, Received
Pronunciation2, as well as South-Eastern Britain’s (especially the Cockney accent) speech
patterns. The ’accent’ is sometimes even referred to as ‘High Cockney’.
Rosewarne chose the name 'estuary' from the area from which the new English is
thought to have spread - the banks and estuary of the Thames. However, the term has
provoked controversy among many linguists - many argue that it is controversial because it is
not only spoken at or near the Thames estuary, but also in places further away, and there is no
clear evidence that it evolved from the Thames estuary. Whether it is a regiolect, dialect,
accent or style is also debatable3.
Arguably, Estuary English is more of a dialect than an accent, as it has lexical (and
phonological) differences from RP-accented Standard English. The more interesting debate,
however, is whether Estuary is a social or regional dialect, whether it is spoken by people
1
David Rosewarne originated the term Estuary English in a ground-breaking article published in 1984
in The Times Educational Supplement (London). David Rosewarne has lectured and broadcast
extensively on Estuary English, both in Britain and overseas. Introduced by Rosewarne, the term has
caused a stir on several levels - with some phoneticians arguing against it, others fighting for it.
2
Received Pronunciation (RP) is the accent traditionally regarded as standard for British English.
3
Other terms have been suggested for the name, such as 'General London' and 'London English', as the
Cockney accent originates in London, and also 'Post-modern English', which refers to the recent
development of the variety. However, given the widespread use of the term, it would be unwise to
change the name now.
living in a particular area (the Thames bank and estuary) or by people belonging to a
particular social class. Sara Thorne argued that it is a social variant, referring to Estuary as a
‘classless dialect’.
Geographically, the variety is said to be heard all over the South-East of England,
expanding into the west. Its emergence can be linked to globalization. Many of the regional
variations are being lost, with many traditional dialects covering small geographical areas
gradually disappearing to make way for 'modern dialects' covering much larger areas. It has
been observed that the variety, originally spoken in the lower-middle classes, is increasingly
being used by the upper classes. Several scholars and phoneticians hypothesize and predict
even wider usage - leading to the eventual replacement of Received Pronunciation by the
variety.
The variety is a mixture of non-regional and local Southeastern English pronunciation
and intonation. On a continuum, with Received Pronunciation and London speech at either
end, speakers of Estuary English are in the middle. Estuary English is most often associated
with young people, with some saying that even young people in the upper classes tend to use
it to make themselves sound more like citizens of the middle and lower classes. Less wealthy
young people often embrace it because it sounds more sophisticated, making Estuary English
a middle ground for the well-off and the less well-off alike. And this is true to a certain extent;
the use of EE language allows you to distance yourself from those who might be labelled as
'posh', while continuing to maintain the appropriate connotations of being well educated and
intelligent. Society is becoming increasingly meritocratic, so these are undoubtedly desirable
qualities.
On the level of individual sounds, or phonemes, ‘Estuary English’ is a mixture of
‘London’ and General RP forms. Although there are individual differences resulting from the
speech background and choices of pronunciation made by the speaker, there is a general
pattern. An example of this is the use of w where RP uses l in the final position or in a final
consonant cluster. An ‘Estuary English’ speaker might use an articulation like a w instead of
the RP as many as four times in the utterance: 'Bill will build the wall.'
Cockney is unlikely to pronounce the /j/ sound, which in RP is found after the first
consonant in words such as ‘news’ or ‘tune’. The process of dropping /j/s is now well
established in RP. Perhaps the most likely explanation is that it is an imitation of the 'Estuary'
pronunciation, reinforced by RP speakers' exposure to American English through films and
television.
 Estuary English intonation is characterized by the prominence being given to
prepositions and auxiliary verbs which are not normally stressed in RP. A great example for
that is the following sentence: ‘Let us get TO the point’. Sometimes this causes
misunderstandings in communication. An Estuary English interviewee on LBC recently said
‘Totters have been in operation FOR years.’ It was perceived as a four rather than a for to
some listeners4.
There is a rise/fall intonation which is a common pattern in Estuary English as is
greater use of question tags such as ‘isn’t it?’ and ‘don’t I?’ However, rises, in general, do not
reach as high of a pitch as they would in RP. The overall effect might be interpreted as an
apparent lack of enthusiasm and investment in the conversation.
As for the vocabulary, speakers of Estuary English usually opt for ‘Cheers’ rather than
‘thank you’. They usually use the linking word ‘basically’. In the context of offers, ‘There
you go’ is used more frequently than the more common ‘Here you are’. There is also the
tendency of using a lot of Americanisms. Examples are the use of ‘Excuse me’ instead of
‘sorry’ and the use of ‘busy’ instead of ‘engaged’. The omission of the -ly adverbial ending,
as in ‘You’re turning it too gradual’ or ‘They talked very quiet for some time’ is also very
widespread in EE.
As I have mentioned, the spread of Estuary English is most prominent among
youngsters. The main reason could be that secondary school students want to increase their
‘fitting in the group’ and “street credibility’. Male students usually want to appear ‘tough’.
Strangely, the adoption of Estuary English can be understood as a need to sound more
‘sophisticated’ among some. Another highly possible explanation can be the growing
perception of RP as an unnatural or a fabricated accent which can create hostility.
Nevertheless, it is generally agreed that RP is an accent in decline. The spread of Estuary
English can be also motivated by the fact that class barriers are slowly melting.
It is interesting the speculate on the future of Estuary English. It can maybe spread
more, but it also appears to be isolated among the highest and lowest socio-economic groups
of London. If Estuary English eventually becomes the new RP of the future, it will be of
particular interest how users of the language adjust to the later changes. For a long time, only
a few linguists dealt with Estuary English. The phenomenon remained in the hands of
journalists, who continued to exaggerate it. Nowadays, many linguists are interested in the
phenomenon, thus the current interest in research can reveal more information about this
dialect.
4
Cited from: https://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/rosew94_4.jpg
Conclusion
Summing up, Estuary English can be defined as a variant of English widely spoken in
and around London and, more generally, in the southeast of England and along the river
Thames and its estuary. It can be placed between ’Queen’s English’ and Cockney and it uses
some non-standard grammatical forms and several divergences from the ’RP’.

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https://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/rosew94.htm

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https://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/rosew.htm