Cockney

Abstract

Cockney is associated with the East End of London and the term is used for both the language variety and its speakers. Linguistic features include among other shifted diphthongs, H-dropping, T-glottalisation, TH-fronting and L-vocalisation. There are also some well-known rhyming slang expressions, although it is unclear how many people are using these today. A process of out-migration from inner London has resulted in enclaves of Cockneys outside of London, including young speakers. In inner London today we can observe differences between current and previous generations where many young speakers speak a different variety of London English while the older speakers speak Cockney.