Málfríður - 15.03.2007, Blaðsíða 17

MÁLFRÍÐUR 17
Beckham pronounced football as [f Ω?b co] and always
as [' coweIz] instead of [f Ωtb c:l] and [' clweIz] Last
but not least, David Beckham also had TH­Fronting,
which means that his [ð] and [θ] sounds were
replaced with [f] or [v] in words like through, which
Beckham pronounces as [fr Ω:] and another, which
Beckham pronounces as [ en vv e].
There were also other characteristics that only
appeared once or twice but were not counted as
„main characteristics“, and will therefore not be
dealt with here.
Social Aspects
Wells predicted in 1982 that RP would loose its
power. There he noted that “[w]ith the loosening of
social stratification and the recent trend for people
of working­class or lower­middle­class origins to
set the fashion in many areas of life, it may be that
RP is on the way out.” Further on, he noted that
before the end of the 20th century “everyone grow­
ing up in Britain may have some degree of local
accent. Or, instead, some new non­localizable but
more democratic standard may have arisen from
the ashes of RP: if so, it seems likely to be based on
popular London English” (Wells 1982: 118). This
seems to fit the situation of Estuary English today.
Additionally, various professionals have since then
noticed RP’s loss of power.
Received Pronunciation is the accent that for a long
time has been on the top of the hierarchy, although
its position is currently being threatened by Estuary
English. According to Honey, there are three factors
that have helped accents gain their position in the
social hierarchy. These are the breadth of the accent,
how educated the accent portrays the speaker to
be, and the geographical location of the accent. As
the gap between standard and the non­standard
speech are narrowing, the division between classes
in England may also narrow.
Estuary English is today gaining on Standard
English pronunciation, in terms of popularity and
prestige, especially among young people. However,
this pronunciation is still considered by some people
to be „just lazy speaking“ and „a slobspeak, limp and
flaccid […]“ (Maidment 1994). The judgments made
on non­standard accents, such as those just men­
tioned, are mainly based on aesthetic ideals, that is,
on ideas on what is perceived as well­spokenness,
and “well­spokenness” often depends on the social
hierarchy. These opinions are a matter of personal
opinion and can be harmful to the individual who
is being downgraded for his or her accent. This is
also the case in many schools today, where teachers
are trying to modify children’s accents so that they
sound more “pleasant”. This modification can lead
to dissatisfaction with one’s own accent, and even
“linguistic self­hatred” (Trudgill, 1983: 209).
Also on this issue, one has to consider the sounds
that are deemed to be ugly do indeed exist in standard
pronunciations such as Received Pronunciation. For
instance, one can look at the sound [ɑ:] instead of
[a Ωe] or [a Ω] in pronunciations like Estuary Eng­
lish’s [ɑ:r] and [ɑ:?] instead of RP’s [a Ωe] and [a Ωt].
The tense vowel [ɑ:] does exist in RP in pronuncia­
tions like [fɑ:r] and [kɑ:m]. Because of this, one may
ask oneself, as Honey did in his book Does Accent
Matter?, “[w]hy should they suddenly become ugly
when they appear in another context?” (Honey
1989: 64).
The Future
Estuary English has through time affected the
Standard English pronunciation, RP, and will con­
tinue to do so. The younger generation will still
continue to look for role models, such as David
Beckham, who will influence their lives, including
their pronunciation. In the same way, people may
choose to speak Estuary English in order to sound
young and urban.
David Beckham, actors, other media personali­
ties, and the society itself is what defines attitudes
and feelings towards what is “correct” for them at
that specific moment in time, not the institutional
terminology and description of how pronunciation
of the English language “should” sound. In the end,
each individual of the community will develop his
or her own version of Estuary English, rather than
trying to eliminate RP and the class discrimina­
tion which prevailed towards non­standard accents.
Consequently, the Estuary English pronunciation
will emerge with RP to form an “’accent continuum’
on a social scale” (Pétur Knútsson, private commu­
nication).
References
• Altendorf, Ulrike. „Estuary English: is English Going Cockney?“
Moderna Språk XCII (1999): 1­11. 12 June­July 2006. <http://www.
phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/altendf.pdf>.
• Haenni, Rudi. The Case of Estuary English: Supposed Evidence. Diss.
Univ. of Basel, 1999. 23 June­July 2006. <http://www.phon.ucl.
ac.uk/home/estuary/haenni1999.pdf>.
• Honey, John. Does Accent Matter? London: Faber and Faber, 1989.
• Maidment, John A. „Estuary English: Hybrid or Hype?“ 1994. 11
June­July 2006 <http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/maid­
ment.htm>.
• Rosewarne, David. „Estuary English.“ Times Educational Supplement
(1984). 23 May 2006 <http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/
rosew.htm>.
• Trudgill, Peter. On Dialect: Social and Geographical Perspectives. Oxford:
Blackwell, 1983.
• Wells, John C. Accents of English 1: an Introduction. Cambridge:
Cambridge UP, 1982.