Cockney
Anissimova M.
Kilina M.
Petrozavodsk
2010
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The Introduction
There are a lot of forms of the English language, for instance, American English,
Australian English with their peculiarities. Also there is one more worth
mentioning phenomenon of the language as a cockney dialect, which is spread in
London. We have chosen it as a theme of our report, because, in our opinion,
different forms of English are as important as the literary language is. Moreover,
being spread in London, it should be well known. However, according to the
results of the interview we have done, nobody knows about it. So we have decided
to tell you about the Cockney dialect.
The Theoretical part
History
The term “Cockney” has two meanings. It can be a nickname of the working
class of Londoners, or the dialect they speak. Until the middle of the 20th century
these people had their own traditions, special black costumes and had the different
manner of speaking. To be a real cockney, person must have been born in the East
End, within the audibility of a peal of the St Mary-le-Bow church. Person who
didn’t know the “Cockney” dialect couldn’t understand even a simple sentence.
Nowadays this dialect is known as a Cockney rhyming slang.
Etymology
The word “cockney” was occurred from the “cock’s egg”. The explanation is
that the English villagers reckoned that citizens malnourished and ate mostly
“cock’s eggs”. So this name stuck to Londoners from the lower classes, especially
to the inhabitants of the East End.
The Cockney Dialect
The features of the Cockney include special pronunciation, wrong speech and
rhyming slang. Some English-speaking actors use fake accent in their speech,
similar to Cockney, which is often called as “Mockney".
Features of the Cockney accent:
1. Skipping of the sound [h]. For example, «not 'alf» instead of «not half».
2. The use of «ain't» instead of «isn't» or «am not».
3. Pronunciation of sound [θ] as [f] (for example, «faas'nd» instead of
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«thousand») and [ð] as (v) (for example, «bover» instead of «bother»).
4. Transformation of [aʊ] to [æ ː], for example, «down» is pronounced as [dæ
ː n].
5. The use of rhyming slang. For example, «feet» - «plates of meat», «loaf of
bread» instead of the “head”
6. The use of glottal stop ʔ instead of 't' between vowels or sonant (if the
second one does not stressed): bottle = «bo'l.
7. The use of labiodental [ʋ] instead of [r], aurally resembles [w].
Some cockney phrases.
Adam and Eve = Believe.
Abergavenny.
Apples and Pears = Stairs.
Artful Dodger = Lodger
Barnet Fair = Hair.
Battle-cruiser = Boozer
Bird Lime = Time.
Boracic Lint = Skint.
Burton-on-Trent = Rent. Рента
Butcher's Hook = Look. Take a Butcher's at this!
China Plate = Mate (Friend). Hello, my old China!
Daisy Roots = Boots.
Dog and Bоne = Phone.
Eighteen Pence = Sense. He hasn't got Eighteen Pence!
Elephant's Trunk = Drunk.
Jack Jоnes = Alone.
Jimmy Riddle = Piddle, Tiddle (To go to the toilet).
Loaf of Bread = Head. Use your Loaf!
Mince Pie = Eye.
Mutt and Jeff = Deaf.
No ‘ope = Soap.
Oxford Scholar = Dollar.
Plates of Meat = Feet.
Rabbit and Pork = Talk.
Rosy Lea = Tea. Would you like a cup of Rosy?
Rub-a-dub = Pub.
Tea Leaf = Thief.
Trevor Sinclair = Nightmare.
Uncle Ted = Bed.
Whistle and Flute = Suit
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Example:
COCKNEY:
'Allo me old china - wot say we pop round the Jack. I'll stand you a pig and you
can rabbit on about your teapots. We can 'ave some loop and tommy and be off
before the dickory hits twelve.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
Hello my old mate (china plate) - what do you say we pop around to the bar (Jack
Tar). I'll buy you a beer (pig's ear) and you can talk (rabbit and pork) about your
kids (teapot lids). We can have some soup (loop the loop) and supper (Tommy
Tucker) and be gone before the clock (hickory dickory dock) strikes twelve.
Cockney nowadays
According to the linguistic research, the cockney dialect is being displaced from
London streets by a new Jafaican dialect. This dialect is a melting pot of different
languages, which came in sight as a result of massive immigration. London
became a home for emigrants from India, Africa and Asia, who made some
contribution into creation of this new dialect. Meanwhile “cockney” has spread to
neighboring areas, such as Essex and Hertfordshire.
So, the cockney dialect still exists. Moreover it is developing. The younger
generation is making up new rhyming phrases, such as “Britney Spears” for beer,
“Becks and Posh” for nosh and other.
The practical part
As a practical part of our work we have watched the film “My fair Lady”. The
main character of the film, representative of the lower strata of the population
(Audrey Hepburn) speaks cockney. So we tried to analyze her speech, to find out
what phrases, what features of language she uses most. These are our results:
1. She doesn’t pronounce “g” at the end of the words. For instance, “speakin’”
instead of “speaking”, “talkin’” instead of “talking”, “nothin’” instead of
“nothing”, “givin” instead of “giving” and other.
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2. She doesn’t pronounce “h” at the beginning of the words. For example,
“’ome” instead of “home”, “’ard” instead of “hard”, “’arm” instead of
“harm”, “’uman” instead of “human” etc.
3. She says “ain’t” instead of “isn’t” or “aren’t”
4. She deforms the pronounciation of some words. For example, “flahrzn”
instead of “flowers”, “nah” instead of “now”, “voylets” instead of “violets”,
“rawt” instead of “right”, “gel” instead of “girl”, “agen” instead of
“against”
5. The representatives of the lower strata of the population in this play also
say some common language phrases. “Cheerio” instead of “good bye”,
“why” as a interjection (Why, Eliza, what a surprise!), the word “garn” as a
expression of impatience or disliking, “cooper’s nark” as a person serving
as a police informer, “governor” instead of “sir”, “turn off” instead of
“married”
6. She reduces some words. For instance, “wh”” for “where”, “y’” for “you”,
“f’” for “for”. She also combines several words in one, “zif” instead of “as
if”, “theres” instead of “there is”, “dursn’t” instead of “dare not”.
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Bibliography:
1.
2.
3.
4.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockney
http://www.lingvotech.com/cokney
http://www.i-version.ru/news/akcent_kokni.html
“My Fair Lady”, starring Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, the
USA, 1964, Warner Broth.
5. “Pygmalion”, B. Show, Higher School Publishing House,
Moscow, 1972
6. “Do you speak Cockney?” стр.5 Лучшие материалы,
опубликованные в журнале “Speak Out”
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