Cockney
E56224
Cockney is a distinctive working-class dialect and accent of London English, traditionally associated with the East End and known for features like rhyming slang and dropped H sounds.
Statements (119)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
accent
ⓘ
dialect ⓘ variety of English ⓘ |
| associatedWithRegion |
East End of London
ⓘ
working-class areas of London ⓘ |
| culturalAssociation |
British cinema cockney roles
ⓘ
British class system discourse ⓘ British comedy ⓘ British film and television characters ⓘ British gangster films ⓘ British music hall songs ⓘ British patriotic songs with London themes ⓘ British popular music and music hall tradition ⓘ British popular press representations of Londoners ⓘ British pub culture ⓘ British soap operas set in London ⓘ British television cockney roles ⓘ British theatrical cockney roles ⓘ British urban slang ⓘ British wartime popular culture ⓘ East End family sagas ⓘ East End folklore ⓘ East End pubs ⓘ London artisans and tradespeople ⓘ London cab drivers ⓘ London costermonger culture ⓘ London crime narratives ⓘ London dock workers ⓘ London football culture ⓘ London humour ⓘ London identity ⓘ London market traders ⓘ London rhyming slang tradition ⓘ London street cries ⓘ London street culture ⓘ London street markets ⓘ London theatre ⓘ London working-class culture ⓘ London working-class nostalgia ⓘ Multicultural London English (as an influence and predecessor) ⓘ Pearly Kings and Queens tradition ⓘ accent-based social stereotyping ⓘ banter ⓘ dialectology of English ⓘ ironic understatement ⓘ linguistic prejudice in the UK ⓘ oral tradition ⓘ self-deprecating humour ⓘ sociolect studies in linguistics ⓘ sociophonetics research ⓘ stereotypical "cheeky chappy" persona ⓘ storytelling traditions of the East End ⓘ urban dialect change in London ⓘ working-class identity in England ⓘ working-class solidarity ⓘ |
| documentedIn |
British films and television shows set in London
ⓘ
British literature featuring London working-class characters ⓘ linguistic studies of London English ⓘ |
| hasFeature |
/ŋ/ realized as /n/ in -ing endings
ⓘ
H-dropping ⓘ L-vocalisation in syllable-final position ⓘ T-glottalization ⓘ TH-fronting ⓘ Yod-dropping in some environments ⓘ distinctive intonation patterns ⓘ distinctive pronunciation of /h/ (often dropped) ⓘ distinctive pronunciation of /r/ (non-prevocalic /r/ usually not pronounced) ⓘ distinctive pronunciation of /θ/ and /ð/ as /f/ and /v/ ⓘ distinctive pronunciation of long vowels ⓘ distinctive second-person plural forms in some speakers ⓘ distinctive stress patterns ⓘ elision of consonants in clusters ⓘ glottal stop for /t/ ⓘ informal grammatical constructions ⓘ lexical items unique to Cockney slang ⓘ merger of some diphthongs in informal speech ⓘ monophthongization of some diphthongs ⓘ non-rhoticity ⓘ rapid speech tempo in many speakers ⓘ rhyming slang ⓘ strong local identity markers ⓘ use of "ain't" as a negative auxiliary ⓘ use of "me" for "my" in some contexts ⓘ use of "them" as demonstrative determiner ⓘ use of address terms like "mate" and "guv" ⓘ use of clipped forms of words ⓘ use of creative metaphorical expressions ⓘ use of diminutives and nicknames ⓘ use of double negatives in informal speech ⓘ use of metaphorical extensions of rhyming slang ⓘ use of playful and humorous language ⓘ use of tag questions like "innit" in some speakers ⓘ vocabulary influenced by Romani ⓘ vocabulary influenced by Yiddish and other immigrant languages ⓘ vocabulary influenced by criminal argot ⓘ vowel raising or lowering in specific lexical sets ⓘ vowel shifts ⓘ |
| hasRhymingSlangExample |
"Adam and Eve" meaning "believe"
ⓘ
"Barnet Fair" meaning "hair" ⓘ "Ruby Murray" meaning "curry" ⓘ "apples and pears" meaning "stairs" ⓘ "butcher's hook" meaning "look" ⓘ "dog and bone" meaning "phone" ⓘ "loaf of bread" meaning "head" ⓘ "plates of meat" meaning "feet" ⓘ "pork pies" meaning "lies" ⓘ "trouble and strife" meaning "wife" ⓘ |
| influenced |
Estuary English
ⓘ
Multicultural London English (as an influence and predecessor) ⓘ
surface form:
Multicultural London English
other British urban accents ⓘ |
| languageFamily | Germanic languages ⓘ |
| spokenIn |
London, England
ⓘ
surface form:
London
|
| subfamily | English language ⓘ |
| timePeriod |
developed prominently in the 19th century
ⓘ
documented in 19th-century and 20th-century literature ⓘ |
| traditionalDefinition | person born within earshot of the bells of St Mary-le-Bow church in Cheapside ⓘ |
| usedBy |
London working-class speakers
ⓘ
some speakers in outer London ⓘ speakers in the East End of London ⓘ |
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.