COCKNEY AS AN EXAMPLE OF A BROAD ACCENT

COCKNEY AS AN EXAMPLE OF A BROAD ACCENT OF ENGLISH Lena Miroshnichenko 4 -B

Cockney is an example of a much-localized accent, representing non-standard English. It is the broadest London working-class speech. Historically, Cockney has been the major influence in the phonetic development of RP. Its current changes can be related to Cockney pronunciation. A Cockney, in the loosest sense of the word, is an inhabitant of the East End of London. The term appeared in 1600. It originated from cock and egg, meaning first a misshapen egg (1362), then a person ignorant of country ways (1521).

Cockney speakers have a distinctive accent and dialect, and frequently use Cockney rhyming slang. Cockney grammar has the following distinctions: Linguistic phenomenon Example multiple negations I ain't never done nothing specific verb morphology You seen 'im! I never! They done it. You was. specific reflexive pronouns 'E'll 'urt 'isself. That's youm. specific demonstratives them books adverbs without -ly Trains are running normal. The boys done good. specific prepositions down the pub, out the window certain possessive pronouns Where's me bag ?

Cockney is distinguished by its special usage of VOCABULARY – rhyming slang. Many of its expressions have passed into common language. It developed as a way of hiding the meaning of sentences to those who did not understand the slang. Rhyming slang: the target word is replaced with the first word of a phrase that rhymes with that word. E. g. "face" would be replaced by "boat", because face rhymes with "boat race”; "feet" becomes "plates" ("plates of meat"); "money" is "bread" from "bread and honey"; "Currant Bun" for The Sun (the British tabloid). Some substitutions have become relatively widespread in England, for example, to "have a butcher's" means to have a look, from the rhyming slang "butcher's hook".

Cockney rhyming slang is often used in films (such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), which contains a glossary of Cockney Rhyming Slang on the DVD version to assist the viewer) and on television (e. g. Minder, East Enders) to lend authenticity to an East End setting. There are samples of Cockney dialect in many books of fiction, e. g. , Eliza Doolittle in George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion (see also My Fair Lady), William Somerset Maugham's novel Liza of Lamberth, Me and My Girl (musical), the speech of Mr. Sam Weller (both junior and senior) in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club by Ch. Dickens, etc.

COCKNEY PHONOLOGY. There are no differences in the inventory of vowel and consonant phonemes between RP and Cockney. There are, however, a large number of differences in realization of phonemes.

In consonants: 1) H DROPPING, /h/ is not pronounced in initial positions in words which have this phoneme in RP, e. g. have [əv], hat [æt]. /h/ is used, however, in initial positions in words which in RP begin with a vowel. Thus the words air, atmosphere, honesty are pronounced in Cockney as [hea], ['hætməsf. Iə], ['hþnəst. I].

2) TH FRONTING / STOPPING. The contrast between /θ/ and /f/ is variably lost, also between /ð/ and /v/ is occasionally lost, e. g. think [f. Ink], father ['fα: və]. When /ð/ occurs initially, it is either dropped or replaced by /d/, e. g. this and that /'d. Isn'dæt/.

3) L VOCALIZATION. Dark [ł] (i. e. in positions not immediately before vowels) becomes vocalic [U], e. g. milk /m. IUk/, table /'te. Ib. U/. When the preceding vowel is /o: /, /l/ may disappear completely, e. g. called /ko: d/.

4) T GLOTTALLING is widely spread in Cockney accent. /t/ is realized as a glottal stop following vowels, laterals, and nasals, e. g. butterfly = ['b ? təfla. I], eat it [i: ? I? ]. /t/ between vowels is not aspirated, and is often replaced by /d/ or /r/ or the glottal stop /? /, e. g. get away /'ged ə'we. I/, /'gerə 'we. I/, /'ge? ə'we. I/.

5) YOD COALESCENCE. There is coalescence of /t/, /d/ before /j/ into /t and /dჳ/, e. g. tube /t /, u: b/, during /'dჳUər. Iŋ/, but elision of /j/ followed by /n/, e. g. news /nu: z/. G DROPPING: -ing is /In/: singing /'s. IŋIn/.

In vowels: 1) The SHORT FRONT VOWELS /e/, /æ/ tend to be closer than in RP so much, that Cockney sat may sound as set and set like sit to the speakers of other accents.

2) Among the LONG VOWELS, most noticeable is the diphthongization of /i: />/əI/, /u: />/əU/, e. g. bead /bəId /, boot /bəUt/.

3) When /o: / is final, it is pronounced as /o. Uə /, e. g. sore, saw /so. Uə/; when it is not final, its realization is closer /o. U/.

1) /e. I/ DIPHTHONG SHIFT: is realized as /a. I/ e. g. lady /'la. Id. I/; /a. I/ sounds as /o. I/-/a. I/, e. g. price /pro. Is/; /əU/ sounds as /æU/, e. g. load /læUd/; /a. U/ sounds as /α: /, e. g. loud /lα: d/.

2)LENGTHENING 2) /I/ LENGTHENING, /I/ in word final positions sounds as /i: /, e. g. city /'s. Iti: /.

3)WEAKENING 3) WEAKENING. RP diphthong /əU/ in window, pillow is weakened to /ə/.

You, to are pronounced as /jə/, /tə/, especially finally, e. g. see you, try to.