~~~The English Power Struggle~~~

  Power is what shapes our society and you'll find it everywhere, for example even the way we speak is all about hierarchy. Have you ever heard of the phrase 'language is power'? When you listen to the Queen’s speech on Christmas Day, you might have heard the way she talks was speaking in Received Pronunciation (RP) or just simply Queenglish. You might have also heard this style of formal talk from old TV news clips and radio voices. Why did the news presenters and the Queen speak in this tone? You might think well it’s obvious OP**, it’s the most prestigious way of talking the English language right? You're right, prestige means power and that's why the upper class spoke like that to assert their authority. But hang on a sec, you might have also noticed that nowadays that RP accent is pretty much unheard of today and like I just said, it's a thing of the past. Why? That's because there's a challenger to the throne of English Language and the battle is well under way.

  So, what is this rising underdog ready to take the traditional language juggernaut by storm? The answer my friend, is Estuary English (EE). Now you might say ‘come on OP, don't estuaries have something to do with rivers?’ and you’re definitely not wrong, because that’s where the idea comes from. EE originally came from the suburbs of London and along the Thames Estuary and many have dubbed it as the 'new Standard English'. EE was coined by the linguist David Rosewarne, a super clever professor at Surrey University. He thinks that EE’s developed within only the past 40 years and the first time he wrote about this new style of speaking was only in 1984. In Rosewarne's view, EE as a variety that includes the features of Standard English pronunciation along with RP and regional south-eastern speech patterns.The numbers of EE speakers have steadily risen, spreading from the South East, then to the West and now gradually towards the North end too. 

 Language changes; take the Queen and her ‘Queenglish’. Even her RP accent has evolved and adapted over time to adapt to the wider audience of today. For instance she no longer uses an e-like vowel when saying words like land (she used to say it like 'laend'). 

Even members of the royal family, especially the younger blood like the Prince William a.k.a. the Duke of Cambridge hardly ever pronounces his t’s anymore on the end of words.

 What then, does a typical Estuary English accent sound like? 

 Common Estuary speaker examples include:   

Many question tags like 'isn't it?', 'don't I?' and '(you) know what I mean?'

A glottal stop - it's like missing the 't' in a word and replace it with a short pause like 'Ga'wick' or 'Sco'land' 

Frequent use of the word 'cheers' instead of 'thank you' and 'goodbye'

Use of the word ‘mate’ 

Yod coalescence - this is using a (a ch-sound) rather than (a t-sound plus a y-sound) in words like 'Tuesday' becomes 'Choosday' and 'tune' becomes 'choone'. 

HappY-tensing - this is using a sound more similar to the 'ee' rather than 'i' at the end of words like happy, coffee, valley.

                         

  Why has Estuary English become so popular for all classes?
 Rosewarne thinks that social changes of society is the reason. Throughout British history, all the way up to the early 20^th century, society was heavily hierarchical and class based. As nowadays those class barriers are a lot more blurred, Estuary English can be used by not just those who hold a lot of power, but also also by the working-class members. He says it’s attractive because it “obscures sociolinguistic origins”, in other words it prevents a person from sounding too posh or too common to reach an all-encompassing middle ground. This means that the higher class can appeal to the lower classes by not sounding too distant, thus retaining their power; the lower class also gain power by using this common language  which hides any regional dialect which was in the past perceived as socially inferior. 

 Another reason why EE is spreading outside London is due to technological advancements. Firstly you've got the traffic; around 3 million people commute to the capital from outside, and when these 3 million start bringing back this new speech into their local area, chances are it’s going to spread pretty fast. The lower costs of cars and efficiency of trains within the last 30 years has meant that it’s easier for the workers to get to London.
Secondly there’s the ever evolving mass media. Just like the commuting, mass media technology has advanced hugely from the 1980s and before, when the internet didn’t even exist! Nowadays pretty much everyone has a TV, radio and internet access, so we see a lot of programmes of which most TV and radio shows are based in London. 

  There has always been a strong correlation between the prestige of a group of people and the prestige accorded to the language they speak. The linguist Laurie Bauer's description of why Latin was the prestigious form of speaking during the Middle Ages is a good example of this phenomenon:

“

The prestige accorded to the churchmen, lawyers and scholars who used Latin...Latin was held to be noble and beautiful. What is called 'beauty' in a language is more accurately seen as a reflection of the prestige of its speakers.

”

This same theory can also be applied to EE. In modern times it has become the celebrities, athletes and personalities who hold social prestige and power rather than the churchmen, lawyers and nobles.  EE speakers like David Beckham (football), Jamie Oliver (cooking), Russell Brand (comedy/politics), Katie Price (model), Michael Caine (Actor) and Jonathan Ross (comedy), all represent different celebrity genres. As more celebrities start speaking in EE more people around the UK who want to ‘talk like them’ start speaking EE in their area too. This is what linguist Jean Aitchison theorised with her 'infectious disease' idea that the new spoken technique would spread around the area in which the new accent is spoken; in this case fans of an EE speaking celebrity aspire to talk like the individual does, so they can gain power within their own social circle of peers. 

  So my friends, does this sound like a language revolution to be scared and afraid of? I think the idea of having a united way of speaking the English language to remove social backgrounds is a great idea and I can also understand why it's spread like wildfire across the country. While it might not sound like the most appealing or the stereotypical 'British' accent, it can be useful in the work and social life, so I don't think it should be something to be feared, you get me?

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note**  OP - Original Poster

Phonological Change

Britain hasn't been invaded for almost a millennium, yet there's on thing that's rapidly gaining traction over the entire nation, and that's Estuary English.

It might not sound too deadly, and depending on your perspective, it isn't at all. Estuary English (EE), originally coming from the suburbs of London and along the Thames Estuary (hence the name) is an accent that has mixed RP and cockney together to create what many call the 'new standard English'. Developed within the last 50 years, the numbers of EE speakers have steadily rose, spreading into the South East, the West and gradually, but less so, in the North.

Language evolves, much faster than we might think at first.
Take RP for example, that old fashioned sounding accent spoken by predominantly the upper class. It was only during the 1920s that the term RP was created, as before then, there was too much variety to pronounce and spell words, regardless of class, location and gender.
In a similar sense, the term Estuary English was established as recent as 1984

The Queen has changed her talk, compared to 50 years ago, she no longer uses an [ɛ]-like vowel in words like land

EE is most commonly associated with the lower classes, however even the upper-class are tending to use it now as a way to be more like the middle and lower classes. Young people, who are not so well off, often adapt to it because it sounds more sophisticated, making Estuary English a middle-way for both the well-off and the poorer people. As mentioned in the introduction, the variety is attractive to many – celebrities and businessmen as well as Members of Parliament.


Who else comes to mind when associated with RP? Perhaps David Attenborough, David Cameron and the Queen? Only 2% of the population are said to speak RP nowadays.  The BBC is the greatest example of evolution and transitions of how Estuary English has gradually taken over the nation, 

 RP, like all other accents, has changed over time. The voices we associate with early BBC broadcasts, for instance, now sound old-fashioned don't they, even for today's standards. Just as RP is constantly evolving, our attitudes as a whole towards accents are changing. throughout the twentieth century, RP was associated with authority, status and power. After the Second World War, Prime Minister Attlee introduced the 'welfare state'. Education possibilities suddenly opened to many more people (of lower class) than before, and as a result of this social change, more accents became represented in professions; the arts, the media, sports, business, even the civil service. Gradually RP became much less frequent in the world of work. Today, some middle class workers even go to the length of hiding their higher class accent to adapt to the regional classes in an effort for better chances at seeking employment. Funny isn't it how roles of accents have almost reversed. It might be interesting to record yourself now, play it back 50 years from now and notice how much your own English has 'evolved'.

 Who knows, American might become the national norm.

 So, is there now any point in keeping RP as the British representative, or keep it existing as an accent at all? For now, it gives Britain a national identity in the global field, politically and linguistically. As English is the most spoken language in the world (including as a second language), it's important that the people who learn English all learn from one form of spoken English. Otherwise with their own foreign accents, learning from another accent on top would mean mutual understanding would be near impossible.