Estuary English As A Growing Phenomenon English Language Essay

Estuary side of meat As A Growing Phenomenon side Language EssayIntroductionEstuary face is a term invented by the British phonetician David Rosewarne in 1984 to describe a course of incline spoken by the banks of the Thames and its estuary. Rosewarne describes Estuary face as a human body that includes the features of Standard English phonology, Received Pronunciation, as surface as S placeh-Eastern Britains, mainly the Cockney accents, speech patterns (Estuary English Tomorrows RP?).Since 1984, the usage of Estuary English has grown profoundly. Geographically, it is said to be heard all over the South-East of England and to a fault penetrating into the west. Much regional variation is being lost as a large number of Traditional Dialects covering small geographical beas are gradually disappearing, making way for the Modern Dialect, which covers much larger scales of land. Socially, it has allegedly penetrated into the upper-class.The growing number of its speakers is astoun ding. Nowadays many famous people, including people of the media, teachers and politicians, use this variety of English, even though it was thought to be a language of the lower middle-class. A number of scholars and phoneticians are assuming and predicting an even wider use eventually conduct up to Estuary English replacing Received Pronunciation.This research paper focuses on the phenomenon of Estuary English information nigh the origin and nature of the variety, the characteristic features, and future predictions as well as how others perceive the issue. It will also include a research of the speeches of Tony Blair, The Queen and Gordon cook on the basis of whether Estuary English is slowly vaporising the phonologic boundaries of the companionable classes or not.I chose this topic to have an insight to the future events that might take place. As regional dialects are slowly vanishing and the usage of Estuary English is growing, the opportunity of monitoring the sassy wave of English as it emerges can be fascinating.OverviewThe term introduced by Rosewarne has developed a lot of excitement on many levels some phoneticians argue against it, others fight for it. Nevertheless, the use of the variety has been sighted growing as it is a middle-ground for the upper and the lower-class.Rosewarne introduced Estuary English as A variety of modified regional speech. It is a mixture of non-regional and local south-eastern English pronunciation and intonation. If one imagines a continuum with Received Pronunciation and London speech at two nullify, Estuary English speakers are to be found grouped in the middle ground.(Estuary English Tomorrows RP?)The term Estuary English was coined by British linguist David Rosewarne in a ground-breaking article published in The Times Educational Supplement in October 1984 (Estuary English Tomorrows RP?). Rosewarne published another article in 1994 -Estuary English tomorrows RP?, in which he added bleak facts to his previ ous work. In his 1994 publication he explained why he introduced the new term (or the new variety)While doing post-graduate studies in Applied Linguistics in London in 1983, I felt that existing descriptions of pronunciation varieties made no real mention of accents intermediate between R.P. and localisable British forms. (Estuary English Tomorrows RP?)Rosewarnes publications and capital of Minnesota Coggles publication of the book Do you speak Estuary? in 1993 lead the way for a number of articles examining the nature, structure, and other characteristics of the variety. When the phenomenon was popularized in the 1990s, other linguists began to take the possibility of this new variety to a greater extent seriously. The phonetician Parsons even called it the new RP in 1998 (From RP to Estuary English), when at the other end many journalists and politicians remain dubious towards the term even and call it a haphazard stochastic variable of the Cockney accent (Maidment Estuary Engli sh intercrossed or Hype? 1994), even when numerous surveys have been carried out and it has been examined with scrutiny many times.Rosewarne chose the pick out estuary after the region from which the new variety of English was thought to have spread the banks of the river Thames and its estuary (Estuary English, 1984). The term, however, has excited resentment among many linguists many saying it is controversial because it is not only spoken on or near the Thames estuary, still in places further from there and that there is no clear evidence that it emerged from the Thames estuary (Maidment Estuary Engslish Hybrid or Hype? 1994). Controversy also remains over the matter whether it is a regiolect, a dialect, an accent or a style.Other terms for the name were suggested, such as General London and London English, (Wells, John.What is Estuary English?1997.) because the Cockney accent originates from London, but also the term Post-Modern English, referring to the recent developmen t of the variety (Maidment Estuary English Hybrid of Hype? 1994). But as the term has already widely spread, it would be unwise to change the name now. thence the contention over the topic is kinda meaningless.Estuary English is most commonly associated with the young, many saying that even the upper-class young tend to use it now as a ways to be more like the middle and lower class. Young people, who are not so well off, often adapt to it because it sounds more sophisticated, making Estuary English a middle-way for some(prenominal) the well-off and the poorer people. As mentioned in the introduction, the variety is attractive to many celebrities and businessmen as well as Members of Parliament and members of the royal family are descry using it (Wells, John.What is Estuary English?1997).Estuary English has brought up a lot of excitement. correct though many scholars remain dubious to the existence of such a new variety, the people talk otherwise quite literally.Features of E stuary EnglishThe features of Estuary English are the results of the confluence of Standard English Pronunciation (RP) and the Cockney accent. Rosewarne described it If one imagines a continuum with Received Pronunciation and London speech at either end, EE speakers are to be found grouped in the middle ground. (Estuary English Tomorrows RP? 1994)some(a) characteristics, which differentiate from both RP and Cockney and are presumed to be typical to Estuary English, are brought out in the next paragraphs. They appear at a lexical, phonological and grammatical level.L-vocalization the use of o, , or where RP uses in the final positions or in a final consonant cluster. As in the intelligence service milk pronounced as miok ( Joanna Ryfa, Estuary English A controversial issue?) ( http//www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Estuary_English)Glottaling or using a glottal stop () instead of t or d. in general used at the end of a word or before another consonant sound. E.g. the word but pro nounced /b/ (Joanna Ryfa, Estuary English A controversial issue?)Yod-coalescence (in upset syllables). The use of the affricates // and // instead of the clusters /dj/ and /tj/ such as tune and /tun/, also in delivery like Tuesday and attitude. (http//www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Estuary_English)A broad A () in words such as bath, grass, laugh, etc. (http//www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Estuary_English)Non-rhoticity Rhotic speakers pronounce create verbally /r/ in all positions, while non-rhotic speakers pronounce /r/ only if it is followed by a vowel sound and not always even then. (http//www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Estuary_English)Use of intrusive R. An epenthetic is added after a word that ends in a non-high vowel or glide if the next word begins with a vowel, regardless of whether the first word historically ended with // or not. For example, intrusive R would appear in Asia and Africa or the idea of it Asia and idea did not historically end in //, but the is inser ted epenthetically to prevent a hiatus. Intrusive R also occurs within words before certain suffixes, such as drawing or withdrawal. (http//www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Linking_and_intrusive_R)Y-tensing, using a sound more similar to the /i/ of beat than to the /i/ of bit, at the end of words like happy, coffee, valley. (Joanna Ryfa, Estuary English A controversial issue?)Use of confrontational question tags. For example, Were going later, arent we?, I said that, didnt I? (http//www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Estuary_English)The omission of the -ly adverbial ending, as in Youre turning it too slow, They talked very quiet for a while, (David Crystal, Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English Language,1995)Certain prepositional uses, such as l got off of the bench, I looked out the window. (David Crystal, Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English Language.1995)Generalization of the third person singular form (I gets out of the car), especially in narrative style also the generalized fo rmer(prenominal) tense use of was, as in We was walking down the road. (David Crystal, Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English Language,1995)Frequent use of the word cheers for Thank you and GoodbyeUse of the word mate instead of friend, which is RP.Extension of the actual meaning of the word basically to use it as a gap filler. (Rosewarne, Estuary English Tomorrows RP?) (David Crystal, Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English Language,1995)Still, both Coggle and Rosewarne, although mentioning these characteristics in their featured articles, claim that features such as usage of the word cheers is also growingly common among young people, and is a not marker of Estuary English. Thus it is difficult to differentiate between the rising use of Estuary English, and the rising use of colloquial English.Estuary English speakers are very open to influence from American English, and then the usage of Americanisms is common. Some Americanisms adopted by Estuary English speakers with their Brit ish equivalentsBritish (B) Here you are Americanism (A) There you goB- Sorry A Excuse meB- By no means A No wayB I hope that A- HopefullyB Hello A HiB- Correct A- effectiveB- Certainly A- SureSome characteristics that are typically Cockney but misleadingly considered as Estuary English areTh-fronting, i.e., replacement of , with f, v (e.g. fk for think)H-dropping, i.e., Dropping h in stressed words (e.g. for hat)Double negation. However, Estuary English may use never in case where not would be standard. For example, he did not in reference to a individual occasion might become he never did. (http//www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Estuary_English)Estuary English as a variety of English comes on many different levels. Even though it is a new variety, the characteristics are already quite clear.An analysis of Tony Blairs, The Queens and Gordon Browns speeches the use of Estuary English over time.It is said that estuary English has climbed up the social ladder and its featur es can be heard in the Parliament. I analysed the speeches of Tony Blair, The Queen and Gordon Brown, comparing their speeches from twenty years ago with the ones they carry out now.Tony Blairs speechesTony Blair was born in Scotland and also educated there. As any other Member of Parliament he speaks English with Received Pronunciation, but some articles suggest that his use of Estuary English has grown over the last decades.The earliest Tony Blairs speech I found in audio was carried out in 1997 his conquest Speech for becoming the flush minister. I compared the language of it with speeches from 2006, 2007 and 2010.The differences concerning the use of Estuary English wereL-vocalization. This was the most prominent of Estuary characteristics. Words in which he used it were killed, built (Reuters Media Control speech 2007), deal, will(General Election Victory speech 1997), well(Farewell speech 2006)Glottalisation. Words in which he used it were better (General Election Victory s peech 1997 Farewell speech 2006), little bit, but, not (Farewell speech 2006).Non-rhoticity. In the words target,fair (Cardinals lecture 2008)The use of Estuary English has definitely grown, though it cannot be said that the usage of it is enormous. Most apparent differences can be seen in the use of glottalisation in the 2010 example he used it the most. Though some say that Tony Blair changes his accent when speaking to differentaudiences (Arthur, Charles. Language Estuary English engulfs a nation 1998) in the parliament he uses RP and on television giving interviews he uses Estuary English to win the middle-class over, the speeches I analysed had the same characteristics in most of them, contradicting with what the media said about his usage of Estuary English depending on the audience.The Queens speechesThe Queen should be the prime example of perfect Received Pronunciation. In 2006 Neil Tweedie wrote about the queens changing language, including that Her majesty may not be qu ite ready to engage in fully-fledged Bermondsey banter with Jade Goody, but her speech has nevertheless followed the general trend from veer-glass URP (Upper Rec-eived Pronunciation) towards the more democratic Standard Received Pronunciation and its close relative, Standard Southern British English. (How Queens English has grown more like ours). I analysed her speeches with no real expectation to find anything.For the earliest speech I took The Queens Christmas Message from 1992 and the last ones are from 2008, 2009, 2010.There were not many examples to be found, but the ones I discovered wereGlottalisation. Words like forgotten, but(Christmas speech 2008Christmas speech 2009)Non-rhoticity in there(Christmas speech 2008), simpler(Christmas speech 1992)The usage of Estuary English in the Queens speeches is minimal.Gordon Browns speechesI chose Gordon Brown for my third study because he should be somewhere in the middle of Tony Blair and The Queen, concerning the usage of Estuary En glish. Gordon Brown was born in Scotland and also educated there, thus his pronunciation was a bit Scottish. His use of English has not been talked about in the media.I analysed his speeches from 1985 and 1992 to 2009, 2010. What I found out wasGlottalisation in the word Britain (Speech for Citizens UK 2010), let(Resignation speech 2010)L-volcalisation in words brilliant(Speech for Citizens UK 2010Resignation speech 2010), million(Speech for Citizens UK 2010), will(2009 Labour Conference speech), well (Resignation speech 2010)Gordon Browns usage of Estuary English is minor. Though there are some examples of it, he cannot be called an example of Estuary English, but the usage of it has definitely grown.Conclusion of the researchMy research shows that there are not any lexical examples of Estuary English in these leash cases, but some pronunciational differences do appear in the speeches of Tony Blair, The Queen and Gordon Brown. The characteristics of Estuary English that appeared a re mostly the same glottalisation and l-vocalisation being the most prominent. Although the usage of Estuary English is minimal, it still has grown. It can be explained in two ways either Estuary English is filtering into the speech of parliamentarians and the Queen, or Estuary English is used for identifying with the middle-class.Future predictions for Estuary EnglishThrough time, Estuary English has influenced RP, and it will continue to do so. In the 1980s, when Rosewarne first published his essay, it received little attention. When he republished the essay in a slightly longer version in 1994, it received the acknowledgement it deserved. After that the term and its possibility of taking over RP has been all over the media.Rosewarne in 1984 speculated that in the long run it may influence the speech of all but the linguistically most isolated, among the highest and lowest socio-economic groups who may then become linguistically conservative minorities. He even suggested Estuary English to take over the Standard English pronunciation. (Estuary English Tomorrows RP?)At first Rosewarne was almost alone with his theory, but since them the acknowledgement has grown. Although many linguistics still conflict with the subject, the most prominent linguistics, such as Coggle, have fortified the term with additional research on the matter.As young people are super affected by the media, it carries the most influential part in the development of the speech of young people. That is why teenagers idols like David Beckham and Lily Allen, who speak immaculate Estuary English, have a huge affect on teenagers speech. In addition to these teen-idols, there are many television shows such as Eastenders which carry out clear cut Estuary English. And since most of the teenagers are affected, in some generations the pronunciational differences between the social classes may vanish.In my opinion, Estuary English is definitely on the rise and spreading rapidly. Though the set u p of Estuary English have not occurred in Scotland, Wales or Ireland, in some time, it may be possible too. Estuary English is an increasing variety which is penetrating finished the boundaries of social classes and the media.ConclusionEstuary English is a variety of English that is growing rapidly. It is a mixture of Cockney English and Received Pronunciation. Estuary English is acceptable to both the upper-class and the lower-classes, benefiting them both. It influences both the regional varieties and the diminishing class-distinctive speech.Estuary English can be heard everywhere from the street to the Parliament building. As research shows, the usage of Estuary English in Tony Blairs, The Queens and Gordon Browns speeches has also grown, even though the size of the futility varies greatly. From these three Tony Blair was the keenest Estuary English speaker, leaving Gordon Brown second, and The Queen the last. Their usage of Estuary English limits to the pronunciational level, leaving out the lexical and grammatical side.The future of Estuary English promises an even wider use from the lower class to the upper class, from the east coast to the west coast. Estuary English may be the next Received Pronunciation.