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Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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I assume it still does, to an extent. Like a wealthy lawyer, let alone an aristocrat, living in Kensington or Mayfair will probably still maintain a posher accent than someone living in the council estates, or somewhere like Deptford. It seems, however, a full on old style upper class accent is getting rarer.
I assume many of the old Cockney enclaves have been taken over by immigrants. Is this where the 'Jaifaican' or multicultural London English predominates? Would you say the 'default' accent for most middle class Londoners is Estuary English? Has the Dizzee Rascal type accent spread to young kids in the suburbs far from central London?
Is Cockney pretty much still confined to the working class? Also heard it's 'migrated' to places like South London, the Home Counties like Essex and Sussex. Accents in general seem to be converging upon a more 'general' Estuary English in London and the Southeast, with less marked class differences.
I assume it still does, to an extent. Like a wealthy lawyer, let alone an aristocrat, living in Kensington or Mayfair will probably still maintain a posher accent than someone living in the council estates, or somewhere like Deptford. It seems, however, a full on old style upper class accent is getting rarer.
I assume many of the old Cockney enclaves have been taken over by immigrants. Is this where the 'Jaifaican' or multicultural London English predominates? Would you say the 'default' accent for most middle class Londoners is Estuary English? Has the Dizzee Rascal type accent spread to young kids in the suburbs far from central London?
Is Cockney pretty much still confined to the working class? Also heard it's 'migrated' to places like South London, the Home Counties like Essex and Sussex. Accents in general seem to be converging upon a more 'general' Estuary English in London and the Southeast, with less marked class differences.
Where do you get those questions from?
The cockney accent has migrated to south London, 'multicultural London english' is heard throughout by most youngsters maybe 28 downwards. Jafaican is mainly heard by teenagers/young adults or younger, and 'wannabes'. I also have to say accents vary depending on class and the people you mix with will determine your accent. It also to do with you mindset and if you choose to speak properly (not posh, not cockney, not jafaican etc...) If you do speak properly you'd probably sound like a southerner but slightly urban (for working class and lower middle class) For middle class/high class Londoners i'd say they sound personally more educated being less exposed to London's urban culture. Accents are vary from area to area also for example people from finchley will have a much 'posher' accent to someone that lives in East ham or South Acton but of cause it's not a rule.
While walking the streets of London I hear almost completely different accents on a daily basis.
There is not much geographic variation within Greater London. As you identified correctly, the main variant is socio-economic class, and ethnic/cultural background.
Really, how I see it, there are four quite distinct accents or dialects that are indigenous to the London region.
1. Cockney
This is the typical white working-class dialect of London, often mostly associated with the East End but in fact spoken by working class people across Greater London. It's probably now strongest in the suburbs, and Essex/Kent "overspill" towns where Cockneys have migrated to since the 1960s. My grandfather was born in Bethnal Green, E. London, in the 1920s - and moved as a young man to Norwich - where the local dialect is quite different. Nether lost his Cockney accent though, and was doing rhyming slang till the day he died!
2. Jafaican
As you correctly identify, the Caribbean-influenced youth speak is London's newest dialect but is widely spoken among mostly black or Asian youth in the inner city, but also amoung whites. Since white English kids are in a minority in inner London schools they often will pick up this accent too. Then again, it's common also for black/Asian people who grew up in whiter areas to have perfect Cockney accents. So it's not totally race-based.
3. Estuary
Most middle-class English people who grew up in the south east of England have this accent - which is a sort of watered-down Cockney that In London it is pretty standard, and it doesn't really vary much across the southeast (maybe some more daring Londoners experiment with effecting a Jafaican - but it sounds pretty rediculous and opens you to ridicule)
4. Posh/RP
This still exists, despite popular notions that it's dying out. Posh upper-class youth sound very different to their parents and grandparents but they still sound pretty different to the Estuary-speakers also. However, the districts you highlight are no longer their natural stomping grounds – even the aristocrats are being priced out by the international super-rich – the accent in Mayfair nowadays is more likely to be Russian, American or Arab than anything British. Try heading to any smart pub in Fulham or Chelsea (or on the weekend, Oxfordshire or the French ski resorts) instead to meet people who speak posh English J
While walking the streets of London I hear almost completely different accents on a daily basis.
This.
There are countless different accents in London, and a huge number in England as a whole. Some may disagree, but I feel the class system is alive and well in the UK. And accents are a major part of that.
Quite often, people will immediately comment on your accent in the UK, because it's used to make assumptions about you and your background.
^Yeah thats true unconsciously judge people on their accents for some people and ALOT of working class people judge posh accents as snobby but to be fair alot of them are.... In London you can tell alot about people in how they speak.
To put it very stereotypically and a bit racially. Suburbs of SW London/Surrey are very well spoken and majority white. Move about 3/4 miles into London and the accent becomes not as well spoken and a bit more 'common'. The racial demographic shifts slightly and there will be more Afro-Carribean people. Obviously somewhere posh such as Kensington will tend to have a very well spoken accent.
So simply, outside of London, 'posh' accents
Inner London, 'common' accents except for the odd area.
Wrong. Some cockneys have moved to the suburbs, and the suburbans have moved to the centre and cockney land. London is too diverse in dialects to generalise.
To put it very stereotypically and a bit racially. Suburbs of SW London/Surrey are very well spoken and majority white. Move about 3/4 miles into London and the accent becomes not as well spoken and a bit more 'common'. The racial demographic shifts slightly and there will be more Afro-Carribean people. Obviously somewhere posh such as Kensington will tend to have a very well spoken accent.
So simply, outside of London, 'posh' accents
Inner London, 'common' accents except for the odd area.
More of a Afro-caribbean demographic? Caribbeans are found in small patches. I'd say South Asians dominate large areas of London. Hounslow and East end of London are full of Asians. They makeup the highest minority ethnic group. And what does 'common' mean?? That word doesn't sound racist but sounds like people with local accents are somehow below more posh sounding ones. People with local accents are able to talk properly like me for one!! If you mean London slang (used by all races) you should of said that.
You also stated that outside London equals posher more well spoken have you ever been to Essex or even Kent because people there don't talk 'posh'.
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I need resuscitating .
In London you can tell alot about people in how they speak.
