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Cockney

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St Mary-le-Bow

The term cockney refers to working-class inhabitants of London, particularly east London, and the slang used by these people.

It is also often used in reference to the "cockney" accent, the accent common among London's working-class.

A "true" cockney is often said to be someone born within earshot of the Bow Bells, i.e. the bells of St Mary-le-Bow church in Cheapside in the City of London (which is not itself in the East End). However, the bells were silent from the outbreak of World War II until 1961. Also, as the general din in London has increased, the area in which the bells can be heard has contracted. Formerly it included the City, Clerkenwell, Finsbury, Shoreditch, Hoxton, Stepney, Bethnal Green, Whitechapel, Shadwell, Bermondsey, and Rotherhithe, although according to the legend of Dick Whittington the bells could also be heard from as far away as Highgate.

Etymology

The term was in use in this sense as early as 1600, when Samuel Rowlands, in his satire The Letting of Humours Blood in the Head-Vaine, referred to 'a Bow-bell Cockney'. John Minsheu (or Minshew) was the first lexicographer to define the word in this sense, in his Ductor in Linguas (1617), where he referred to 'A cockney or cockny, applied only to one born within the sound of Bow bell, that is in the City of London'. However, the etymologies he gave (from 'cock' and 'neigh', or from Latin incoctus, raw) were just guesses, and the OED later authoritatively explained the term as originating from cock and egg, meaning first a misshapen egg (1362), then a person ignorant of country ways (1521), then the senses mentioned above.

Francis Grose's A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785) derives the term from the following story:

A citizen of London, being in the country, and hearing a horse neigh, exclaimed, Lord! how that horse laughs! A by-stander telling him that noise was called Neighing, the next morning, when the cock crowed, the citizen to shew he had not forgot what was told him, cried out, Do you hear how the Cock Neighs?

An alternative derivation of the word can be found in Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary: London was referred to by the Normans as the "Land of Sugar Cake" (Old French: pais de cocaigne), an imaginary land of idleness and luxury. A humorous appellation, the word "Cocaigne" referred to all of London and its suburbs, and over time had a number of spellings: Cocagne, Cockayne, and in Middle English, Cocknay and Cockney. The latter two spellings could be used to refer to both pampered children, and residents of London, and to pamper or spoil a child was 'to cocker' him. (See, for example, John Locke, "...that most children's constitutions are either spoiled or at least harmed, by cockering and tenderness." from Some Thoughts Concerning Education, 1693)

Cockney area

The region in which "Cockneys" reside has changed over time, and is no longer the whole of London. As mentioned in the introduction, the traditional definition is that in order to be a Cockney, one must have been born within earshot of the Bow Bells. However, the church of St Mary-le-Bow was destroyed in the Great Fire of London and rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren. After the bells were destroyed again in 1941 in The Blitz of World War II, and before they were replaced in 1961, there was a period when by this definition no 'Bow-bell' Cockneys could be born. The use of such a literal definition produces other problems, since traffic noise and the current lack of a hospital with a maternity ward in earshot of the church would also severely limit the number of 'true' Cockneys that could be born.

A study was carried by the city in 2000 to see how far the Bow Bells could be heard[citation needed], and it was estimated that the bells would have been heard six miles to the east, five miles to the north, three miles to the south, and four miles to the west.

Thus while all East Enders are Cockneys, not all Cockneys are East Enders. The traditional core neighbourhoods 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.

Migration of Cockneys has also led to migration of the dialect. As Chatham Dockyard expanded during the 18th Century, large numbers of workers were relocated from the dockland areas of London, bringing with them a "Cockney" accent and vocabulary. Within a short period this famously distinguished Chatham from the neighbouring areas, including the City of Rochester, which had the traditional Kentish accent. In Essex, towns that mostly grew up from post-war migration out of London (e.g. Basildon and West Horndon) often have a strong Cockney influence on local speech.

Cockney speech

Cockney speakers have a distinctive accent and dialect, and frequently use Cockney rhyming slang. The Survey of English Dialects took a recording from a long-time resident of Hackney[1].

John Camden Hotten, in his Slang Dictionary of 1859 makes reference to "their use of a peculiar slang language" when describing the costermongers of London's East End. In terms of other slang, there are also several borrowings from Yiddish, including kosher (originally Hebrew, via Yiddish, meaning legitimate) and shtumm (/ʃtʊm/ meaning quiet), as well as Romany, for example wonga (meaning money, from the Romany "wanga" meaning coal), and cushty (from the Romany kushtipen, meaning good). A fake Cockney accent, as used by some actors, is sometimes called 'Mockney'.

Typical features of Cockney speech include:

  • Dropped H, as in not 'alf pronounced [aːf], ("not half")
  • Diphthong shift of [iː] to [əi] (for example beet [bəiʔ]), [eɪ] to [aɪ] (for example bait [baɪʔ]), [aɪ] to [ɒɪ] (for example bite [bɒɪʔ]), and [ɔɪ] to [oɪ] (for example, boy [boɪ].
  • In the /əʊ/ diphthong (as in 'coat'), not only does the nucleus lower, but the offglide tenses as well. Hence /bɐʉt/ for 'boat.'
  • The /u:/ (in 'tune') phoneme is centralised, for instance, /bʉːt/ for 'boot.'
  • /æ/ in 'bad' is lengthened somewhat. This feature, in addition to the Monophthongisation of the /au/ phoneme, means that in some dialects the words 'math' and 'mouth' rhyme.
  • Merger of /θ/-zd- with /f/, and [ð]-d- with /v/, hence [mæfs] for ‘maths’, [bɒvə] for 'bother'.
  • Monophthongisation of /aʊ/ to [æː], hence [dæːn] for ‘down’
  • Use of a glottal stop for intervocalic 't', as in bottle or butter (but not when it precedes the stress, as in deter); it can also occur between other sonorants, as in mental or in Feltham (the h of which is silent even in RP)
  • Considerable glide of the /ɔ:/ phoneme in 'cord' and 'thought.' In words with 'open' syllables like 'floor' and 'bore,' this vowel is pronounced with an upglide, similar to New York English. Hence /kɔ:ə/ for 'core.' In words with 'closed' syllables, such as 'cord' and 'caught,' the vowel glides to /ʊ/, hence /bɔ:ʊn/ for 'born.'
  • Sometimes, use of a labiodental approximant [ʋ] for /r/, in contrast to an alveolar approximant [ɹ] in RP. To speakers who are not used to [ʋ], this can sound like a /enwiki/w/.
  • Vocalisation of dark l, hence mɪowɔː for ‘Millwall’.
  • Intrusive 'R' after a vowel, hence 'America-r-is' for 'America is'
  • Use of me instead of my
  • Use of ain't instead of isn't, am not, are not, has not, and have not
  • Use of "In'it" to question a positive when making a statement, for example, "Good day today in'it?"
  • Use of double negatives, for example "I didn't see nothing"

Example: Faw'y fahsan' frushes flew ova fawn'n 'eaf for Forty thousand thrushes flew over Thornton Heath


In other instances single words might be changed drastically like the name 'Heather' usually /ˈhɛ.ðə(ɹ)/ Cockney /ˈɛ.və/.

The lengthening of the vowel sound in (for example) grass (from [græs] to [graːs]) was a Cockney innovation which spread and by 1900 was used by many southern English accents. Most of the features mentioned above have in recent years partly spread into more general south-eastern speech, giving the accent called Estuary English; an Estuary speaker will use some but not all of the Cockney sounds. The characteristics of Cockney as opposed to Estuary are the dropping of H and grammatical features like the use of ain't.

A television advertisement for Heineken beer in the 1980s showed a Sloane woman receiving elocution lessons in Cockney, parodying My Fair Lady. In the advert, she was being taught to say "The wa'er in Majorca don' taste like wot it ough' a", but could only manage a posh rendition of "The water in Mallorca doesn't taste quite how it should" (until, of course, she drank the beer).

Today, certain elements of Cockney English are declining in usage within the area it is most associated with, displaced by a Jamaican Creole-influenced variety gaining popularity amongst young Londoners, particulary, though far from exclusively, those of Afro-Caribbean descent. Nevertheless, some terms such as 'rabbit' (rabbit and pork = talk) are still in common usage.

Drama and fiction and Poetry

Famous Londoners

Famous Cockney performances

See also

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