History- London Language

London Language

Hello everyone~!  My name is Jung Ye Won. Today, I’d like to tell you about London Language. People in most big cities have their own way of  talking. For example, in Korea, Seoul, Busan, Daejun, and all kinds of big or small cities have their own way of talking. We don’t use only one kind of language in every where in Korea, right?, Like this, people form the East End of London-Cockneys – made up their own slang words.

  Before I introduce you about Cockney’s language, I want to introduce about who are the Cockneys and some typical features of Cockney speech. According to Wikipedia, the term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End. Linguistically, it refers to the form of English spoken by this group. Typical feature of Cockney is first, it is non-rhotic as with many accents of England. Non-rothic means they don’t pronounce ‘r’ sound. Second, Cockney has been occasionally described as replacing /r/ with /w/. For example, thwee (or fwee) instead of three, fwasty instead of frosty.

 The Cockneys  used a few tricks to make new words – they spelled words backwards. For example, ‘cool him’ meant ‘Look at him’ – a warning when the police were near around. Sometimes they’d just make up words like ‘Do you tumble my barrikin?’ which means ‘Do you understand me?’  But the most famous Cockney tricks are when they chose a rhyme for the word. So your ‘north’, or your teacher told you to ‘shut your north’, then you maybe a bit mixed up. Another examples of ridiculous rhymes are in this comic. This white clothed man is seemed to be a criminal, and black clothed man is a police man. White clothe man says ‘There was nothing in me mother see?’ and there are three choices: (a)Mummy, (b) Chair and (c) cupboard. What do you think? The answer is (c) cupboard because old Mother Hubbard means cupboard. At second picture, there is a white clothed man saying ‘And I Fancied a Pig’s…’ and there are also three choices. (a) Beer, (b) Bed and (c) Pork Chop. The answer is (a) Beer because ‘Pig’s ear’ means beer in rhyme. At fourth picture a white man says ‘And I went to the Jack’ and there are also three choices (a) Bar, (b) Car, (c) Friend’s house. The answer is (a) Bar because Jack tar means the bar. At last picture, the white man says ” And that’s why I got a bad auntie Belly’ and the choices are (a) Toe, (b) Belly, and (c) Smell. THe answer is (b) Belly because Auntie Nellie means belly. Because of these ridiculous rhymes, that’s how it must have been for the poor police in Victorian London.

  According to Wikipedia, the Cockney accent has long been looked down upon and thought of as inferior by many. the Cockney accent has been more accepted as an alternative form of the English Language rather than an ‘inferior’ one; in the 1950s the only accent to be heard on the BBC was RP, whereas nowadays many different accents, including Cockney or ones heavily influenced by it, can be heard on the BBC. In a survey of 2000 people conducted by Coolbrands in autumn 2008, Cockney was voted equal fourth coolest accent in Britain with 7% of the votes, while The Queen’s English was considered the coolest, with 20% of the votes. Brummie was voted least popular, receiving just 2%. This shows that although speaking with a Cockney accent is not considered as bad as in the past, preference towards RP still prevails.

 Did you enjoyed my speech about London Language by Cockneys? I enjoyed a lot and I think it was very interesting to learn and research about London Language that is spoke by Cockneys. Thank you.