What is Cockney?

The term “cockney” is used to describe both the people and the dialect spoken in the traditional East End London. According to Harald Nodtvedt ("Phonological Variation and Change in London Cockney English), the popular definition of a Cockney is one who has lived in the city all his/her life, and who was born within hearing range of the bells of St. Mary Le-Bow Church in Cheapside (east central London).

This definition, however, is a bit difficult to take literally, for linguists Right (1981) and Fox (2007) point out that, considering the fact that the area of the church is not residential, the nearest areas for this definition are Whitechapel and the Golden Laneestate by the Barbican. These regions, nevertheless, are not, in normal circunstances, in hearing of the bells. Linguists claim, than, that Cockney has spread to a wider geographical area.

Although the traditional definition is too exclusive and somehow inaccurate, this definition is still used by some people in the East End.

According to Right, the word “cockney” derives from Middle English “cockeney” (a cock’s egg). This term suggested a small or misshapen egg. It was probably a synonim to anything “odd”. So, initially, the term “cockeney” was used to name a Londoner who had some amount of humiliation and ridicule attatched to himself. But today, the people who declare themselves Cockney are proud of their origin and way to speak, even though it diverges from the so-called "correct" English.

Cockney is not a homogeneous way of speaking, but a term to embrace various manners of speaking which florished in that specific London area and became typical of the English working class. With time, Cockney speech has changed to some degree in profile. Below, some general characteristics are listed. It is important to highlight that these features are the result of a generalization and abstraction of Cockney speech, seen that it englobes several different variations. These data are based on the book published by Wells "Accents of English" (1982). 

Table taken from: NØDTVEDT, Harald. Phonological variation and change in London Cockney English: A sociolinguistic study. 2011. Tese de Doutorado. Master’s thesis, Department of English, University of Bergen.



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