Estuary English is an English accent, continuum of accents, or continuum of accent features[1] associated with the area along the River Thames and its estuary, including London, since the late 20th century. Phonetician John C. Wells proposed a definition of Estuary English as "Standard English spoken with the accent of the southeast of England".[2] He views Estuary English as an emerging standard accent of England, while also acknowledging that it is a social construct rather than a technically well-defined linguistic phenomenon.[2] He describes it as "intermediate" between the 20th-century higher-class non-regional standard accent, Received Pronunciation (RP), and the 20th-century lower-class local London accent, Cockney. There is much debate among linguists as to where Cockney and RP end and where Estuary English begins, or whether Estuary English is even a single cohesive accent.[2][3][4][5]
^Altendorf, Ulrike (2017). "Chapter 9: Estuary English". In A. Bergs & L. Brinton (Ed.), Volume 5 Varieties of English (pp. 169-186). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. doi:10.1515/9783110525045-009.
^ abcWells, John (11 April 2000) [1999-01-28]. "Estuary English Q and A - JCW". Resources and Tools in Speech, Hearing and Phonetics - UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
^Rosewarne, David (October 1984). "Estuary English". Times Educational Supplement. Resources and Tools in Speech, Hearing and Phonetics - UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
^A handout by Wells, one of the first to write a serious description of the would-be variety: "Joanna Przedlacka, 2002. Estuary English? Frankfurt: Peter Lang"(PDF). Resources and Tools in Speech, Hearing and Phonetics - UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences. Also summarised by him here: "Estuary English". Resources and Tools in Speech, Hearing and Phonetics - UCL Division of Psychology and Language Sciences. 11 March 2007 [1998-11-09].