Рифмующийся сленг Кокни.

Значение.

Это тип сленга, в котором слова заменяются словосочетаниями или словами, с которыми они рифмуются.

Возникновение.

В рифмующемся сленге присутствует эффект затемнения значения того, что было сказано от посторонних. До сих пор не ясно, намеренное ли это затемнение, чтобы скрыть значение от закона или исключить посторонних, или это просто форма объединения одной группы говорящих.

Рифмующийся сленг имеет тенденцию исключать «незнающих», так как замена одного слова на другое часто отсылает к ключевой фразе и что бы понять сленг оба говорящих должны ее знать. К примеру, что бы понять какая связь между «Hamsteads» и «teeth» нужно знать что такое «Hampstead Heath»[8]

И, возможно, нет особого повода, что бы полагать, что в формирование рифмующегося сленга существовал какой-либо заговор. Носители английского языка, как и носители других языков, склонны к рифме. И доказательством к этому может служить значительное количество двойных слов, слов созданных из удвоения, когда из двух слов, которые ничего не значат по отдельности, создается одно: 'hoity-toity' - высокомерие; higgledy-piggledy' - беспорядок

There's no reason to suppose that there was any great conspiracy in the formation of rhyming slang. English speakers, in common with speakers of other languages, enjoy rhyming. Evidence of this are the numerous double-word forms (reduplications), created from nonsense words and coined for no better reason than for the hell of it; for example, 'hoity-toity', higgledy-piggledy', 'namby-pamby', 'nitty-gritty', 'itsy-bitsy', etc, etc.

Rhyming slang is an exuberant linguistic form and tends to flourish in confident, outgoing communities. That's certainly true of Victorian England, which is where it originated. The earliest example of rhyming slang that we can find is in the English writer Edward Jerringham Wakefield's, Adventures in New Zealand, 1845, in which he includes an account of the journey from the UK to the Southern Hemisphere:

"The profound contempt which the whaler expresses for the 'lubber of a jimmy-grant', as he calls the emigrant."

Who Jimmy Grant was isn't clear.

The first to record rhyming slang in any systematic way were Ducange Anglicus, in 'The Vulgar Tongue. A Glossary of Slang, Cant, and Flash Phrases, used in London from 1839 to 1859' and by John Camden Hotten, in 'A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant and Vulgar Words', 1859:

Anglicus includes these examples, all dated 1857:

Apple and Pears, stairs.
Barnet-Fair, hair.
Bird-lime, time.
Lath-and-plaster, master.
Oats and chaff, footpath.

Hotten's book includes:

Bull and cow, a row.
Chevy Chase, the face.

There may have been many examples for dictionary makers to record by the 1850s but, like most slang, these were street level terms and not in general usage. Charles Dickens wrote an article on slang in 'Household Words' in 1853 and made no reference to rhyming slang.

Hotten was the first to apply the name 'rhyming slang' to the form, in his 1859 dictionary:

"The cant, which has nothing to do with that spoken by the costermongers, is known in Seven Dials and elsewhere as the Rhyming Slang, or the substitution of words and sentences which rhyme with other words intended to be kept secret. I learn that the rhyming slang was introduced about twelve or fifteen years ago."

The slang form wasn't known in the USA until late in the 19th century. Here's an item from the Lima Times Democrat, Sept 1894, which is the earliest reference I can find from America. It's in an editorial piece titled 'The Slang of London', which describes rhyming slang at length and is clearly intended for an audience who are new to it:

"Rhyming slang is peculiar to England and, I believe, to London."

So far, we haven't mentioned 'Cockney', nor you might notice do any of the early citations above. That's because, although rhyming slang was associated with London, and particularly with London street traders, there never has been anything specifically Cockney about it. Rhyming slang didn't become Cockney Rhyming Slang until long after many of its examples had travelled world-wide. Cockney, according to the strict definition, refers to those born within the sound of Bow Bells. Cockney Rhyming Slang is just shorthand for London or English rhyming slang. As a name, 'Cockney Rhyming Slang' is 20th century, as are the majority of examples of CRS terms.

Just as an aside, here's some alternative versions of the supposed derivation of the name Cockney, as given in the 1811 'Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue', Author: Captain Grose et al. Believe of much of this as you see fit:

Cockney:

A nick name given to the citizens of London, or persons born within the sound of Bow bell, derived from the following story: A citizen of London, being in the country, and hearing a horse neigh, exclaimed, Lord! how that horse laughs! A by-stander telling him that noise was called NEIGHING, the next morning, when the cock crowed, the citizen to shew he had not forgot what was told him, cried out, Do you hear how the COCK NEIGHS?

The king of the cockneys is mentioned among the regulations for the sports and shows formerly held in the Middle Temple on Childermas Day, where he had his officers, a marshal, constable, butler, &c. See DUGDALE'S ORIGINES JURIDICIALES, p. 247.

Ray says, the interpretation of the word Cockney, is, a young person coaxed or conquered, made wanton; or a nestle cock, delicately bred and brought up, so as, when arrived a man's estate, to be unable to bear the least hardship. Whatever may be the origin of this appellation, we learn from the following verses, attributed to Hugh Bigot, Earl of Norfolk, that it was in use. in the time of king Henry II.

Was I in my castle at Bungay,
Fast by the river Waveney,
I would not care for the king of Cockney;

i.e. the king of London.

Rhyming slang has spread to many English-speaking countries, especially those that had strong maritime links with the UK in the 19th century, notably Australia, Ireland and Canada/USA. There's even less justification for the name these days than there was when it was coined. Many examples of CRS clearly originate in other countries, although England, and specifically London, is still the major source. The spread can be shown by phrases that relate to people or places only well-known in a particular country, or ones where the rhyme depends on a regional or national accent; for example:

Australia:

Reg Grundies = Undies (Grundy is an Australian businessman)
Steak and kidney = Sydney

Ireland:

Flowers and frolics = bollocks (nonsense) or, with an Irish accent, bollicks.

Scotland:

Corned (beef) = deaf or, in Scotland, deif.

USA:

Eighty-six = nothing (nix).

Lest we forget London, there are several examples that rely on vowel pronunciation or place names of south-east England. E.g.:

Khyber pass = arse (elsewhere in England this would rhyme with ass)
Hamsteads = Hampstead Heath = teeth
Hampton = Hampton Wick = dick/prick

Rhyming slang is highly volatile; terms emerge quickly and many don't catch on. That's especially true recently with the rise of media/celebrity culture and the Internet. There are many lists of CRS terms. Here's a short list of those that are fairly well-established and likely to remain in the language.

Many of the early rhymes listed in Hotten and Anglicus have now gone out of use; for example, 'Billy Button - mutton' and Mailstone jailor - tailor'. Those early examples that are still known are indicated below.

n British English, the term mockney (a Portmanteau of "mock" and "cockney") has come to be used, predominantly in the media, to describe those who present themselves as cockneys (or, by extension, other working-class groups) with the intention of gaining popular credibility. A stereotypical mockney comes from a middle or upper-middle class background in England's Home Counties.

The mockney speaks, or attempts to speak, in some variant of Estuary English, an accent which resembles the working-class London accent popularly known as "cockney" (although spoken by many who are not cockneys at all.) Mockneys, however, do not always use all features of Estuary English, especially if they come from another dialect - for example, some Mockneys use glottal stops and render the "a" in "face" as [ʌɪ], but they do not pronounce "I" as [ɑɪ].

It is an affectation sometimes adopted for aesthetic purposes, other times just to sound "cool" or in attempt to generate street credibility. The phenomenon was first named in the mid-1990s and was made famous in describing Britpop bands such as Blur and, on occasions, politicians such as Tony Blair. Mick Jagger is often accused of having been the first celebrity in modern times to overplay his regional accent in order to boost his street credibility. Another highly influential rock act, The Kinks, are also pointed to as a mockney band.

Other celebrities who are, or have been accused of being mockneys include:

• Guy Ritchie
• Chef Jamie Oliver.
• Comedian Bill Bailey
• Actor Jude Law.
• Madonna born, raised and educated in Michigan, USA.
• Violinist Nigel Kennedy, "Monster Cockney" Aston Villa fan. Born in Brighton.
• Musician Mike Skinner, who is originally from Birmingham, an area with a completely different regional accent.[link]
• Vinnie Jones, alleged "Cockney hard man". Born in Hertfordshire.
• Mark Lamarr, chirpy "Cockney" presenter. Born in Swindon.
• Graham McPherson, aka Suggs, chirpy "Cockney" Madness frontman. Born in Hastings.
• Joe Brown, singer, musician and "Bermondsey Boy". Born in Lincolnshire.
• Bob Hoskins, actor and petite "Cockney Geezer". Born in Suffolk.

The term has also been used to describe Dick Van Dyke's execrable cockney accent in the film Mary Poppins.

• Lily Allen, singer/songwriter, very middle class backround.

One explanation of dialect adoption given by social linguistics is prestige. A person is likely to adopt speech patterns (including accent, vocabulary, dialect or even language) which they perceive as 'prestigious'.

In times gone by, people across the UK would often go to great lengths to disguise or eradicate their regional accents, and would play up their position in the social hierarchy, to boost their image. Dialectal choice is a matter of identity. One might adopt the dialect of a group in order to gain acceptance within the group, so that adopting the dialects of the upper social classes has been an aid to social advancement. There has been within working class cultures, and some regional groups, a resistance to speech considered too refined or too City.

The use of mockney is an interesting phenomenon in that it appears that modern day celebrities are doing the exact opposite of what has been traditionally the case, that is, playing down their status in the social hierarchy to gain popularity. Perhaps this signifies a very significant change in attitudes towards one's position in Britain in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. It follows the same patterns found in other cultures where urban culture has gained prestige, although to be a "cockney" is still perceived to be a negative attribute by many in the UK, for example in Northern England - the idea of a faux-London accent is not accepted nationwide as boosting "street cred", even within urban youth cultures.

The concept of conversational divergence, either upwards or downwards in idiolect, can be seen in many social interactions , for example to put someone at ease by speaking in a familiar tone or inotation or to intimidate someone or alienate them by speaking in a more formal way than they are used to, for example in a court room where a more formal register will be used with technical legal jargon to intimidate a defendant. Accommodation Theory refers to a person altering their perceived accent and covers the concept of "mockneying".

It is similar to the American phenomenon where many people from middle and upper class society use slang originating in African-American ghettos in an attempt to sound tough and cool.

In video game culture, it could be said that the Imperial Guard of Warhammer 40k Winter Assault use a Mockney Accent.

[1] The derivation suggested here satisfies the form: ey , ay (ai ), are regular Middle English forms of egg , rhyming with the same words (day , etc.) as cokenay itself; coken genitive plural is as in clerken coueitise , Piers Plowman B. iv. 119, and in many similar instances; the use of the genitive plural is as in German hühnerei , fowls' egg, hahnenei cocks' egg. The stress on ay retained in verse to 16th cent., and supported by Minsheu's cock neigh , also accords with this composition of the word.

[2] Originally freq. more or less contemptuous or bantering, and particularly used to connote the characteristics in which the born Londoner was supposed to be inferior to other English people.

[3] Cockney school n. a nickname for a set of 19th cent. writers belonging to London, of whom Leigh Hunt was taken as the representative.

[4] Сент-Мэри-ле-Боу (англ. St Mary-le-Bow) — одна из самых известных церквей Лондона; находится в Ист-Энде. Построена в 1671—1680 К. Реном на месте сгоревшей прежней церкви. Слово «Боу» в названии (от англ. bow — арка) возникло от того, что церковь была построена над нормандской подземной часовней с каменным арочным сводом. Считается, что человек, родившийся в пределах слышимости колоколов Сент-Мэри-ле-Боу — истинный кокни. 10 мая 1941 года в церковь попала бомба, сброшенная немецким самолётом, в результате большая часть здания церкви была разрушена, а колокола разбились о землю. В 1956 году началась реставрация церкви по руководством Л. Кинга (L. King) и уже в 1961 году колокола церкви зазвучали вновь, порождая новое поколение кокни.

[5] Лондонский простолюдин, очутившийся в деревне , услышав лошадиное ржание, воскликнул:

- Боже, как смеется эта лошадь! досл.

Один из жителей деревни, стоящий рядом, поправил его, сказав, что звук, который издает лошадь, называется “ржание” (по анг. NEIGHING). На следующее утро же, услышав, как кукарекает петух, лондонец, чтобы показать, что он усвоил вчерашний урок, радостно сказал ему:

- досл. Ты слышишь, как ржет петух?

[6] Oxford English Dictionary

[8] Hampstead Heath – на рифмующемся сленге Кокни это значит зубы.