Sažetak | Cockney, a Southern English accent, was characteristic of all sorts of people, including craftsmen, clerks and tradesmen and it originally denoted “inferior and worthless thing” and “pampered child”. It is closely associated with East End and the church St. Mary Le Bow. Due to an old saying, a true Cockney is the one who is born within the earshot of the Bow Bells. They have borrowed words from the Empire, the gypsies, English Jews and from many others. Many famous writers discussed about Cockney in their literary works, either criticizing or praising it. Some of them are William Langland, Charles Dickens, Herman Melville and George Bernard Shaw. Regarding pronunciation, some of the most important features that make Cockney different form all other dialects are L-vocalisation, T-glottalisation, H-dropping and G-dropping. Besides pronunciation, Cockney is most famous for its rhyming slang. The meaning of the phrases used in Cockney is often surprising, e.g. Old bubble means “wife” and French loaf means four. Despite its rough past, Cockney is now fully accepted British accent; moreover, it is voted the fourth coolest British accent. |