“Cock's egg”

Etymologically the word Cockney means “cock's egg”, coming from cokene, the old genitive of cock (OE cocc, kok), plus ey (Medieval English ey. Cf. German Ei, “egg”).

Stage I (14th century): misshapen, malformed egg.

Stage II (late 14th and 15th century): pampered, spoilt child.

Stage III (16th century): any city dweller of any city (as opposed to countrymen).

Stage IV (17th century): a Londoner born within the sound of Bow Bells, Cheapside.

Stage V (18th century): Londoners and their dialect.

It is a variety of British English. The working-class speech of London. A true Cockney is anyone born within

the sound of the bells of St. Mary-le-Bow Church, Cheapside.

Cockney enters the domain of Sociolinguistics.

The heartland of Cockney

1. H-dropping (also in most other parts of England)

Ø hammer, hit 2. G-dropping (also in most other

kinds of English) ɪn, n4 rather than ɪŋ running, feeding,

morning 3. TH fronting/stopping (spreading

geographically) θ, ð -> f, v think, rather ð -> d / #_ this and that

4. Yod dropping/coalescence (of yod after an alveolar consonant)

j -> Ø / n _ [V, +stress] new, neutral

and either dropping j -> Ø / t, d_ tune, duke

or coalescence tune, duke

5. [ej] -> [aj] mate, gain.

6. [aj] -> [Øj] high, flighty, might.

7. [au] -> [a] mouse, house.

8. [u] -> [eu] who, new, blue.

9. Glottalization /t/ -> [ʔ]

That table [ðæʔ teɪbl] Get down [geʔ daʊn]Football [fʊʔbɔːl]That is that easy [ðæʔ ɪz ðæʔ iːzi] Saturday [sæʔədeɪ]

Multiple negation I ain’t never done nothing. Verb morphology You see ‘im! – I never! They done it.

You was. Reflexive pronouns ‘E’ll ‘urt ‘isself. That’s yourn. Demonstratives Them books.

Adverbs without –ly or use of adjectives insteadTrains are running normal. The boys done good.

Prepositions Down the pub, up her nan’s, out the window.

Other non-standard formsWhere’s me bag? Me don’t like it.

Rhyming Slang is a kind of slang in which a word is replaced by another word or phrase that rhymes with it.

Adam and Eve: believe. E g. “Would you Adam 'n' Eve it?”

Bread and Honey: money. E.g. “I've run out of bread and honey.”

Chine Plate: mate. E.g. “I can’t do it by myself. I need a China Mate.”

• Pat Malone= alone• Jim Skinner= dinner• Jimmy Riddle= piddle (urinate)• Jack O'Brien= Train

“It's owt [two] bob”. yob (sometimes modified to yobbo) for

“boy”. elrig for “girl” shif for “fish” eno for “one” erth for “three”

David Beckham

Eliza Doolittle

Gary Oldman