Typical features

As with many accents of England, Cockney is non-rhotic. A final -er is pronounced [ə] or lowered [ɐ] in broad Cockney. As with all or nearly all non-rhotic accents, the paired lexical sets commA and lettER, PALM/BATH and START, THOUGHT and NORTH/FORCE, are merged. Thus, the last syllable of words such as cheetah can be pronounced [ɐ] as well in broad Cockney. (Wright 1980, 133–135)

Broad /ɑː/ is used in words such as bath, path, demand. This originated in London in the 16th-17th centuries and is also part of Received Pronunciation (RP). (Wells 1982b, p. 305)

T-glottalization: use of the glottal stop as an allophone of /t/ in various positions,[29][30] including after a stressed syllable. Glottal stops also occur, albeit less frequently for /k/ and /p/, and occasionally for mid-word consonants. For example, Richard Whiteing spelt "Hyde Park" as Hy′ Par′. Like, "lie" and light can be homophones. "Clapham" can be said as Cla'am.[28] /t/ may also be flapped intervocalically, e.g. utter [ˈaɾɐ]. London /p, t, k/ are often aspirated in intervocalic and final environments, e.g., upper [ˈapʰɐ], utter [ˈatˢɐ], rocker [ˈɹɒkʰɐ], up [apʰ], out [ˈæə̯tˢ], rock [ɹɒkʰ], where RP is traditionally described as having the unaspirated variants. In addition, in broad Cockney at least, the degree of aspiration is typically greater than in RP, and may often involve some degree of affrication. Affrication may be encountered in initial, intervocalic, and final position (Sivertsen (1960, p. 109, Wells 1982b, p. 323)

Wells (1982b) describes the glottal stop as also particularly characteristic of Cockney and can be manifested in different ways such as "t" glottalling in final position. A 1970’s study of schoolchildren living in the East End found /p,t,k/ "almost invariably glottalized" in final position.

Examples:

cat =
up =
sock =

It can also manifest itself as a bare as the realization of word internal intervocalic /t/

Examples:

Waterloo = Wa’erloo
City = Ci’y
A drink of water = A drin' a wa'er
A little bit of bread with a bit of butter on it = A li'le bi' of breab wiv a bi' of bu'er on i'.

As would be expected, an "Estuary English" speaker uses fewer glottal stops for t or d than a "London" speaker, but more than an RP speaker. However, there are some words where the omission of ‘t’ has become very accepted.

Examples:

Gatwick = Ga’wick
Scotland = Sco'land
statement = Sta'emen
network = Ne’work

This feature results in Cockney being often mentioned in textbooks about Semitic languages while explaining how to pronounce the glottal stop.

Th-fronting:[ Sivertsen (1960 p.124)]

/θ/ can become [f] in any environment. [fɪn] "thin", [mɛfs] "maths".

/ð/ can become [v] in any environment except word-initially when it can be [ð, ð̞, d, l, ʔ, ∅]. [dæɪ] "they", [bɒvə] "bother". (Wright, 1980 (137) Wells (1982b, p. 329)

Yod-coalescence in words such as tune [ˈtʃʰʉːn] or reduce [ɹɪˈdʒʉːs] (compare traditional RP [ˈtjuːn, ɹɪˈdjuːs]).

Examples:

thin = fin
brother = bruvver
three = free
bath = barf

H-dropping. Sivertsen considers that [h] is to some extent a stylistic marker of emphasis in Cockney. (Wells 1982b p. 322)

Diphthong alterations: (Hughes & Trudgill, 1979:39–41)

/iː/ → [əi~ɐi]:[40][41] [bəiʔ] "beet"

/eɪ/ → [æɪ~aɪ]:[42] [bæɪʔ] "bait"

/aɪ/ → [ɑɪ] or even [ɒɪ] in "vigorous, dialectal" Cockney. The second element may be reduced or absent (with compensatory lengthening of the first element), so that there are variants such as [ɑ̟ə~ɑ̟ː]. This means that pairs such as laugh-life, Barton-biting may become homophones: [lɑːf], [bɑːʔn̩]. But this neutralisation is an optional, recoverable one: [bɑɪʔ] "bite" (Wells (1982b:308, 310)

/ɔɪ/ → [ɔ̝ɪ~oɪ]:[ˈtʃʰoɪs] "choice"

/uː/ → [əʉ] or a monophthongal [ʉː], perhaps with little lip rounding, [ɨː] or [ʊː]:[bʉːʔ] "boot"

/əʊ/ → this diphthong typically starts in the area of the London /ʌ/, [æ ̠~ɐ]. The endpoint may be [ʊ], but more commonly it is rather opener and/or lacking any lip rounding, thus being a kind of centralized [ɤ̈]. The broadest Cockney variant approaches [aʊ]:[kʰɐɤ̈ʔ] "coat" (Wells 1982b: 308–310)

/aʊ/ may be [æə] or a monophthongal [æː~aː]: [tˢæən] "town"(Wells (1982b:309)

Fig. 3. Chosen diphthong and monophthong shift