Особенности Лондонского Диалекта

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Introduction

Chapter 1. DIALECTS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

             1.1 Standard English. Variants and dialects.            

             1.2 The origin of dialects.

Chapter 2. COCKNEY.

             2.1 The peculiarities of Cockney

                         2.1.1. Phonetic peculiarities.

                         2.1.2. Lexical peculiarities

                            2.1.3 Grammar peculiarities.                    

2.2 Cockney Rhyming slang in popular culture 

2.3 Cockney Rhyming Slang in other languages  

The conclusion. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Введение

 

     Появившись  приблизительно 400 лет назад как  язык социальных элементов бедных кварталов  Восточного Лондона (East End), Cockney не только не утратил свою значимость, а наоборот, с 1980х, испытывает резкий рост популярности, сопровождающийся появлением многочисленных новых примеров как в повседневной разговорной речи Британцев (см. «Приложение»), так и в песнях, фильмах и книгах, т.е. в популярной культуре. (Даже королева Елизавета II в своем Рождественском обращении использует фразы Ритмического сленга Cockney).

     Анализ  литературы также показал, что Cockney не только вышел за рамки территории, где он зародился, но и оказал влияние на другие варианты английского языка. Элементы Cockney можно встретить в Австралийском английском, в Американском, в Шотландском, в Ирландском языках.

     Следовательно, необходимо дополнительное исследование и популяризация данного феномена среди изучающих английский язык и английскую культуру.

     Данная  необходимость объясняет актуальность нашей работы и обуславливает её тему: «Особенности Лондонского диалекта Кокни».

     Цель  исследования: определить основные отличительные черты Лондонского диалекта.

    Объект  исследования: Британские диалекты.

    Предмет исследования – лексические, фонетические и грамматические особенности Южно – Британского диалекта Кокни.

    Для достижения цели исследования были поставлены следующие задачи:

1). Исследовать историю происхождения диалекта (его корни, территорию возникновения).

2). Изучить лексические, фонетические и грамматические особенности диалекта.

3). Проследить влияние диалекта на другие языки и распространение его в современной культуре. 

    Данная  работа состоит из введения, 2 глав, заключения, списка литературы и 1 приложения.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

CHAPTER  I. DIALECTS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 

1.1. STANDARD  ENGLISH, VARIANTS AND DIALECTS. 

     Standard English — the official language of Great Britain taught at schools and universities, used by the press, the radio and the television and spoken by educated people may be defined as that form of English which is current and literary, substantially uniform and recognized as acceptable wherever English is spoken or understood. Its vocabulary is contrasted to dialect words or dialectisms belonging to various local dialects. Local dialects are varieties of the English language peculiar to some districts and having no normalized literary form. Regional varieties possessing a literary form are called variants. In Great Britain there are two variants, Scottish English and Irish English, and five main groups of dialects: Northern, Midland, Eastern, Western and Southern. Every group contains several (up to ten) dialects. [№ 13]

     Dialects are now chiefly preserved in rural communities, in the speech of elderly people. Their boundaries have become less stable than they used to be; the distinctive features are tending to disappear with the shifting of population due to the migration of working-class families in search of employment and the growing influence of urban life over the countryside. Dialects are said to undergo rapid changes under the pressure of Standard English taught at schools and the speech habits cultivated by radio, television and cinema.

     One of the best known Southern dialects is C o c k n e y, the regional dialect of London. [№ 4].

     According this dialect exists on two levels. As spoken by the educated lower middle classes it is a regional dialect marked by some deviations in pronunciation but few in vocabulary and syntax. As spoken by the uneducated, Cockney differs from Standard English not only in pronunciation but also in vocabulary, morphology and syntax. Cockney has attracted much literary attention, and so we can judge of its past and present on the evidence of literature. For example, Charles Dickens knew about, G.B. Shaw used in his play «Pigmalion».So, what is so special about this dialect? 

     1.2. THE ORIGIN OF DIALECTS

     Cockney was a colloquial name applied to Londoners. The origin of the word has been the subject of many guesses, but the historical examination of the various uses of "cockney" shows that the earliest form of the word is cokenay or cokeney, that is, the ey or egg and coken, genitive plural of "cock", "cock's eggs" being the name given to the small and malformed eggs sometimes laid by young hens. The word then applied to a child overlong nursed by its mother, hence to a simpleton. The application of the term by country folk to town-bred people with their ignorance of country ways is easy. It was not till the beginning of the 17th century that "cockney" appears to have been confined to the inhabitants of London.

     Cockney are inhabitants of East London, so-called East End – the criminal area. Here basically live factory workers, handicraftsmen, fine dealers. The Standard of living here is low. If we look at the given area from the architectural point of view we shall see small buildings, the streets filled with houses of a design “I live above a shop”.

     For the last (approximately) 400 years in this area have been lodging emigrants from the Asian and African countries. Thus, indigenous population, which game consider to be Englishmen of th third estate, has mixed up with Arabs, Africans and Chinese. And it was in turn reflected in an architectural image of quarters and, certainly, on the way of life, and the character of mutual relations.

     Representatives of the “third class” had the special way of life and the real  “Nordic” character.  As a rule, men were real “ hot heads ”, and they served as sailors in royal or a merchant marine fleet or on the piracy ships. Women-wore color clothes, a bright make-up, and they also had free, often vulgar manners.

 [№ 7]     

     Originally the territory where cockney was spoken was not very big. Some authors believe that it was within the sound of Bow – bells. These are the bells in the tower of St. Mary – le – Bow.

     St Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside, long had one of the most celebrated bell-peals in London, until an air-raid destroyed the bells and the interior of the church in 1941. John Dun, mercer, in 1472 gave two tenements to maintain the ringing of Bow Bell every night at nine o'clock, to direct travellers on the road to town. In 1520 William Copland gave a bigger bell for the purpose of "sounding a retreat from work". It is said that the sound of these bells, which seemed to say "Turn again, Whittington, Lord Mayor of London", encouraged the young Dick Whittington to return to the City and try his luck again. [ № 9] 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

CHAPTER 2. COCNEY

     2.1 The peculiarities of Cocney.

     Cockney has its phonetics, lexical and grammatical peculiarities. 

     2.1.1. Phonetic peculiarities.

     Cockney was phonetically, characterized by the interchange of the labial and labio-dental consonants [w] and [VI: wery for very and veil for well. This trait was lost by the end of the 19th century. The voiceless and voiced dental spirants [θ] and [ð] are still replaced— though not very consistently — by [f] and [v] respectively: fing for thing and farver for father (inserting the letter r indicates vowel length). This variation is not exclusively characteristic of Cockney and may be found in several dialects.

     Another trait not limited to Cockney is the interchange of the aspirated and non-aspirated initial vowels: hart for art and 'eart for heart.

     The most marked feature in vowel sounds is the substitution of the diphthong [ai] for standard [ei] in such words as day, face, rain, way pronounced: [dai], [fais], [rain], [wai].

     Some other characteristics;

1. when [ð] occurs initially it is either dropped or replaced by [d]: this [dis], them [(d)am];

2.  [1] is realized as a vowel when it precedes a consonant and a vowel, or when it is syllabic:  milk [mivk], table [teibv];

   the preceding vowel is [o:], [1] may disappear completely;

3. [ŋ] is replaced by [n] in word-final position: dancing [ dansin] or it   may   be   pronounced   as   [ink]   in   something,    anything,   nothing;

4. [p, t, k] are heavily aspirated, more so than in RP;

5. [t] is affricated, [s] is heard before the vowel: top [tsop].

   And also.

6. [a] is realized as [aei]: blood [bLod] - [blaeid];

7. [ae] is realized as [e] or [ei]: bag [bæg] - [bog], [boig];

8. [i] in word-final position sounds as [i:]: city [‘ siti] – [‘siti:];

9. when [o:] is non-final, its realization is much closer, it sounds like [o:]: pause [po:z] - [po:z]; when it is final, it is pronounced as [o:a]: paw [po:] - [po:Ə];

10.RP [ou] sounds as [seu]: soaked [saukt] - [sseukt];

11.RP [ao] may be [æa]: now [nao] - [næa]. [№ 2]

     2.1.2. Lexical piculiarities

     The speech of inhabitants of East End abounds every possible vulgarisms, and also obscene lexicon which we can find only in the dictionary “Dirty English”.

     Lexicon:

     For example,

               get soaked = to get wet through by rain

Holler = (vulg) to shout

A copper’s nark = a police imformer

See here instead of Look here

Hold your tongue = (vulg) stop your talk

Wollop = to give a thrashing (пороть to beat)

Ripping = fine, splendid, first-rate

 

                            A person

    Bloke - the guy, small.

    Blighter = annoying fellow

    Toff = a swell (an excellent guy, the important person)

    Rotter = a useless or disliked person

Mug = fool (also in value the person, and in neutral value crammed)

    Balmy = mad

    Governor = sir (as the form of the reference)

                                         

                                Money

    Poppy = money

    Tanner = sixpence

    Facks alive =five (pounds)

    Cock and ben = ten

    Score =twenty pound note 

                                  A talk                   

    Lip = saucy, impudent talk (impudent, impudent)

    Tosh (a nonsense, nonsense) = foolish talk

    Vulgarisms:

    Acause = because

    Cep = except

    Afore = before

    Zif = as if

       

    Cockney is full of exclamations:

    Blimey! - to fail!

    Heavens! = by heaven, Good heavens!

The more detail vocabulary can be found in our Additional Materials. 

     2.1.3 Grammar peculiarities:

     In Cockney the grammar of standard English it is not observed. So, in their speech we can meet

a) double denying, inadmissible in Standart English:

He will not get no cab

b) the use of vulgar ain’t, as the substitution of the denying from for all persons and numbers, etc:

He ain’t no call to meddle with me = he has no reason to meddle with me.

c) wrong formation of Participle II both from correct, and from irregular verbs:

worrited = wottied

knowed = knew.

     Cockney English is also characterized by its own special vocabulary and usage of "Cockney Rhyming Slang". The way it works is that you take a pair of associated words where the second word rhymes with the word you intend to say, then use the first word of the associated pair to indicate the word you originally intended to say. Some rhymes have been in use for years and are very well recognized, if not used, among speakers of other accents. Cockney certainly have been a very effective code, being incomprehensible to the authorities or any eavesdroppers who were not familiar with the slang.

     Initially phrases on Cockney were used entirely, but in due course the second part of many expressions has gone out of use. For example, “butcher’s hook” (a hook of the butcher) meant the word “look” (to look). In due course the word hook has ceased to be used in this phrase, has remained only “butcher’s - the butcher”. Thus, in London it is possible to hear instead of “let’s have a look on it” – “let’s have a butcher’s on it” or “to tell porkies” instead of “to tell lies”. The origin of expression to “tell porkies” ascends the roots to London (сockney: “pork pies” (pies with pork) it is rhymed with “lies”. Numerous examples and usage of rhyming slang can be found in our additional material Here we will dwell upon only the most widespread .

     In some examples we can define the  initial motivation:

      Troubles and strive means “wife”

      You and me = tea

      Dog and bone means telephone. Definition of the given word in this case can be interpreted as follows: the telephone tube reminds under the form a bone, and speaking (sometimes) - a dog.

      Often words are hidden under the names of places:

France and Spain = rain

Charing Cross = horse

Fleet Street = pit

Isle of Wight = right

Battle of Waterloo = stew. 

Loaf of bread means head. So, use your loaf  means “think”.

Half-inched means pinched.

Tea-leaf - thief.

In the following expressions the original motivation cannot be defind. boat race - face, rabbit and pork  - talk.

     Cockney of words can be based on the names of famous people.

Anna Maria = fire

Conab Doyle = boil

JamesFox = box

Oliver Twist = fist

Rob Roy = boy

Robin Hood = good           

Brahms and Liszt = “pissed”.

These are the most important peculiarities of Cockney. 

     “Accents are a reflection of society and as society so accents change,” said one of the professor David Crystal. These days some people use it up only for a laugh, others make money on it. [№ 4]

     From the 1980s  has begun the growth of popularity of Rhyming Slang, accompanied by the occurrence of numerous new examples in daily informal conversation has begun. Many attempts were undertaken “to fiter” at a national level the language used, by the teenagers and the young men, aspired to be distinguished and who emphasize the individuality by the invention of new idiomatic expressions. The popularity of the youth culture, in 1990 has led to surplus of rhymed slang expressions in the speech of the whole population of Great Britain. Though, undoubtedly, the most part of these novelties will die out as fast, as they have arisen. First of all it concerns the expressions containing the names of famous persons in given period of time (Tony Blair (s) = flairs or hair). Only some expressions will not lose the urgency and the individual character and will not be forgotten.

     So, Rhyming slang is very popular now.

     2.2 Cockney Rhyming slang in popular culture

• Musical artists such as Audio Bullys and The Streets use Cockney rhyming slang in almost all of their songs, while Cockney artists Chas and Dave regularly use Cockney rhyming slang in their songs. The term "Chas and Dave" is also cockney rhyming slang for "shave". Ian Dury who used rhyming slang throughout his career, even wrote a song for his solo debut New Boots and Panties! entitled Blackmail Man, an anti-racist song that utilized numerous derogatory rhyming slang for various ethnic minorities. The idiom even briefly made an appearance in the UK-based DJ reggae music of the 80s, in the hit "Cockney Translation" by Smiley Culture; this was followed a couple of years later by Domenick & Peter Metro's "Cockney and Yardie".
• Rhyming slang is also often used in feature films, such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) (which contains a glossary of Cockney rhyming slang on the United States DVD version to assist the viewer), and on television (e.g. Minder, EastEnders) to lend authenticity to an East End setting. The theme song to The Italian Job, composed by Quincy Jones, contains many Cockney rhyming slang expressions. The lyrics by Don Black amused and fascinated the composer. Additionally, the schoolkid characters in the film To Sir With Love regularly speak in Cockney rhyming slang, which their new teacher Sidney Poitier finds impossible to understand; the film Austin Powers in Goldmember features a dialogue between Austin Powers and his father Nigel entirely in Cockney rhyming slang; and although due to its working-class origins rhyming slang is not generally associated with royalty, the character of Prince Wendell is heard to use Cockney rhyming slang on occasion in the television movie, The 10th Kingdom.
• The box office success Ocean's Eleven (2001) contains an apparent example of Cockney rhyming slang, when the character Basher Tarr (Don Cheadle) uses the slang "Barney" to mean "trouble," derived from Barney Rubble. In common usage, "Barney" does not mean trouble; it means an argument or a fight. Some argue that it is derived from "Barn Owl" which (in a Cockney accent) nearly rhymes with "row" (argument). However, the book Understanding British English, by Margaret E. Moore, Citadel Press, 1995, does not list "Barney" in its "Rhyming Slang" section. Furthermore, Slang and Its Analogues, by J.S. Farmer and W.E. Henley and originally printed in 1890, states that "Barney" (which can mean anything from a "lark" to a "row") is of unknown origin, and was used in print as early as 1865.
• If you want to hear *real* Cockney, get a Chas-and-Dave CD, a style of music called "Rockney" that I'm not even going to try to explain. "The Best of Chas 'n' Dave" or "Boots, braces and blue suede shoes. Or listen to Thrupenny Bits by The Hampton Cobblers. Or watch "Only Fools and Horses". Or "Till death do us part". Or go to Cockney On Line or to the best and most accurate guide to Cockney slang I've seen on the web London slang or simply go to a Covent Garden flower and fruit market, local pub, betting shops. [№ 10]

     The proliferation of rhyming slang has meant that many of its expressions have passed into common language, and the creation of new ones is no longer restricted to Cockneys.

     This style of rhyming has spread through many English-speaking countries, where the original phrases are supplemented by rhymes created to fit local needs. The creation of rhyming slang has become a word game for people of many classes and regions. The term 'Cockney' rhyming slang is generally applied to these expansions to indicate the rhyming style; though arguably the term only applies to phrases used in the East End of London. Similar formations do exist in other parts of the United Kingdom; for example, in the East Midlands, the local accent has formed "Derby Road", which rhymes with "cold": a conjunction that would not be possible in any other dialect of the UK.

2.3 Cockney Rhyming Slang in other languages

     Australian English shares some Cockney rhyming slang and also has many of its own terms. (See: Australian rhyming slang.) Some people have speculated that this is due to a strong formative influence of Cockneys on Australian culture.

     In the United States some common slang seems to have had its origin in Cockney rhyming slang: "raspberry" (shortened from "raspberry tart," meaning fart); "bread" (from "bread and honey," meaning money); "creamed" (from "cream of wheat," meaning "beat" — in the UK, "creamed" can also mean "exhausted," from the rhyme of "cream crackered" and "knackered"). In Herbert Asbury's The Gangs of New York, there is an appendix of 19th-century underworld slang that includes several examples of rhyming slang, such as "Cain and Abel" for a chair and table, but these usages have died out.

     In Scotland a new form of rhyming slang has developed, both in Scottish English and Scots. "Are ye corned, I said 'sit doon on yer chorus and we'll have a wee salvador.' Mine's a Mick Jagger by the way." ('Corned' is short for 'corned beef', as in 'deif', meaning 'deaf'; 'Chorus' is from 'chorus and verse', rhyming with 'arse', the British word for buttocks; 'Salvador', as in 'Dali', rhymes with 'Swallie', meaning 'drink'; 'Jagger' means lager.) It has been noted by the Edinburgh author and journalist Irvine Welsh that rhyming slang with Cockney origin is now more likely to be used and developed in Scotland than in the East End of London, giving rise to formations that rely on the Scottish accent for their effect (see 'Denis Law' = 'snow' for example).

     In Northern Ireland another form of rhyming slang has arisen. For example, "potato bread" can mean dead, while the word "loaf" (from a loaf of bread) usually means head. Also, continued from loaf of bread the word bap is usually used to describe hair.

     In the Republic Of Ireland, and mostly in Dublin, "Brown" is taken to mean "dead" (Brown Bread) and is widely used. Taxi's are widely referred to as "Jo-ers" as a result of a popular RTE tv programme in the early 1990s called "Jo-Maxi", while Cycling is referred to as George Michael-ing. "Sally", a shortened form of "Sallynogin" - a suburb of Dublin - means head. "Creamer" or "cream cracker" means "knacker" (someone down at heel, scruffy and of dubious morals) (although it does have its roots in being a derogatory term for the Irish travelling community). "I was going to George Michael home, but it was raining, so i called a Jo-er. I hit my Sally on the door getting in to the back of the Joe Maxi, and I thought I was brown! I looked like a Creamer getting out!

     So, as we can see Rhyming Cockney slang is the phenomenon which original boundaries have disappeared  and due to many factors its becoming more and more popular throughout the world. And as for Britain even the Queen allows Her Magesty to use Cockney in her Christmas Congratulation, which also proves that Cockney is a vivid, developing way of communication. [№ 6] 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Заключение 

     В ходе работы над исследованием нашей  темы мы установили следующее:

     Диалект Cockney входит в Южную группу Британских диалектов. Этот «жаргон бедноты» появился в рабочих кварталах Ист-Энда как шифр, код, сленга которого без «ключа» не понять.

     Rhyming Cockney Slang имеет свои лексические, грамматические и фонетические особенности.

     Выражения этого вида представляет собой несколько  связанных слов, последнее из которых  должно формироваться со словом, которое  является истинным значением фразы. При подобном сокращении догадаться об истинном значении словосочетания гораздо труднее, а если в предложении содержится два и более подобных сленговых элемента, смысл фразы кажется полным абсурдом. Отсюда – и часто возникающие конфузные ситуации: когда один из собеседников, одинаково хорошо владеющих английским, понимает отдельные слова из речи второго, но никак не может найти смысл в его высказываниях.

     Современный Cockney Slang можно встретить не только на улицах Лондона, он давно «перерос» рамки своей территории.

     Диалект можно встретить в произведениях  как классических авторов, так и  в современной популярной культуре.

     Являясь одним из самых популярных диалектов  Английского языка, Cockney оказал влияние на развитие Австралийского, Американского, Шотландского и Северо-Ирландского диалектов.

     Таким образом, данная работа может быть полезна  и интересна тем, кто серьезно изучает культуру, историю и язык удивительной страны Великобритании.

                  
 

     Appendix 1.  

     Тhe original territory where Cockney appeared. 
 

       
 
 
 
 
 
 

Список  литературы 

1. Балк  Е. А. Причудливый английский. – М.: ЗАО «Издательство НЦ  ЭНАС», 2001 – 165с.

2. Sokolova K.P. “English Phonetics. A theoretical course”.

3. http://www.multitran.ru

4. E. Partridge, H. C. Wyled Slang To – day and Yesterday, London, 1920.

5. Audio CD Bully’s the streets.

6. журнал "Обучение за рубежом", №11 2002, автор: Бараш Ольга.

7. журнал "Обучение за рубежом", № 4 апрель 2000, автор: Джеймс Гэвин.

8. Coleman S. I. Dialect, Jordon and Slang. London,1980

9.http://www.enciklopedija.info/topic/%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%BD%D0%B8.html.

10. http://www.multitran.ru/Tabu1.htm 11.

11. Wakelin M. E. English Dialects. An Introduction. London, 1992.

12. DVD «My fair lady».

13. I. V. Arnold “Lexical modern English language”.