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ESTUARY ENGLISH (EE) 
 
Geography of Estuary English (EE) 
From a geographical point of view, EE has first been spoken by the banks of 
the Thames and its estuary. Its usage has spread from London and South East 
England north to Norwich and westwards to Cornwall. 
 
Sociolinguistic issues of Estuary English (EE) 
A reason posited for the growth of EE, especially among young people, is that 
it is said to obscure social origins and is very often adopted as a neutral 
accent. Those who have come from a traditional RP background adopt it 
because it increases "street credibility," and those who have local accents 
adopt it because it sounds more "sophisticated." The acquisition of Estuary 
English can be seen as part of the process of accommodation and a shift to 
the "middle ground" so that the RP accent is accommodated "downwards" and 
the local accent is accommodated "upward", resulting in accent convergence. 
The sociolinguistic consequences of this are that for over a decade, it has 
been common for the young people in the south eastern segment of England 
to speak differently from their older family members. 
 
Features of Estuary English (EE) 
Variations do exist within Estuary English and its speakers exhibit a mixture of 
"London" and General RP forms of phonemes. 
 
L vocalization 
Use of /w/ where RP uses /l/ in the final positions or in a final consonant 
cluster. 
Examples: Use of /w/ where RP uses /l/ in the final positions or in a final 
consonant cluster. An Estuary English speaker may use an articulation like a 
/w/ instead of the /l/ as many as ten times in the following utterance. "A 
real salesman will always feel a fool if he fails to sell or his deal falls 
through." 
 
 
 
Vocabulary 
Cheers is often used in place of thank you, but it’s also possible for it to mean 
good-bye. The word basically is used frequently in conversation. An increased 
use of Americanisms can also be seen in EE and evidenced by such examples: 
There you go being used in place of the more standard Here you are and 
There is acts as an invariable form of usage in both singular and plural 
contexts. In addition, sorry is often replaced with excuse me and engaged in 
the context of the telephone, has been replaced by the word busy. 
 
Grammar 
The major difference between EE and Cockney as being grammatical 
correctness. Cockney speakers use more non-standard grammar than do 
speakers of EE. 
Examples: EE - you were Cockney - you was