EL INGLÉS DEL ESTUARIO Y LAS INNOVACIONES FONÉTICAS DEL HABLA LONDINENSE

With the erosion of class barriers in Britain, attitudes towards accents have changed dramatically over the past few decades. The desire to avoid both the social connotations of traditional RP and the stigma attached to broad regional accents helps to explain why a growing number of people in Britain speak with an accent which is neither too affected nor too common. This compromise between RP and regional pronunciation is what is commonly referred to as 'modified RP'. RP can actually be hybridized in many ways and show traces of different regional dialects. Still, if there is one form of modified accent that is now taking over the position of traditional RP, it is arguably the London-based variety known as 'Estuary English' . The purpose of this paper is to outline the relationship between this accent and the two forms of pronunciation which flank it on the accent continuum, namely mainstream RP and Cockney. Attention is also drawn to the pivotal role of prestige in the spread of this accent among the young and the prospects of its gaining ground in other parts of Britain. The upper-class young already talk "estuary English", the faintly Cockneyfied accent of the south-east. When the children of privilege in a multi-national state turn to speaking with the accent of one province, the ruling culture is breaking up. (The Independent on Sunday, 7/8/94, 18)