COCKNEY
Examples of Cockney
"And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie
Charles Dickens
“Harry Potter” series
“Mary Poppins” (Please note: Dick Van Dyke's Cockney is not a good learning resource)
“Monty Python and the Holy Grail”
“My Fair Lady”
"Oliver!" Music/Lyrics Lionel Bart
“Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows"
“Spaced”
"The Pygmalion"by George Bernard Shaw
“Torchwood”
Recordings of Cockney
Transcript of Example 1 (Joe) with IPA
Ju lƆik Ʌ storƐi. Ɔi hæv no ƆidiɅ. LƐʔ mi dʒɅst
You like a story. I have no idea. Let me just
kwIklƐi θInk. Ʌh, Ɔi tƐl ju wɅʔ Ɔil tƐl ju
quickly think. Uh, I tell you what. I’ll tell you
sɅmmink Ʌbæud wɅd Ɔi du fɅ’ wɅ’k ðæd mƐks
something about what I do for work. That makes
sƐns dɅn’ Id? sɅu, Ʌ, besIk’lƐi Ɔi wɅ’k In Ʌ prƆmɅri
sense, don’t it? So, uh, basically I work in a primary
skul, so Ʌ lIt’w ƐlƐmƐnt’ri skul ænd Ʌ, Ɔi wɅ’k wIf Ʌ
school, so a little elementary school and uh, I work with a
lIt’w ɑwtIstIk boi kɑl’d MIkɑjɅ æn’ hi’s sIks. ænd Ʌ, wƐn
little autistic boy called Mikia and he’s six. And uh, when
Ɔi fɅs stƆʔƐd wɅ’kIŋ wIv hIm hi jusd tu— jusd
I first started working with him he used to –- used
tu læʃ æud æn’ hIʔ æn’ bɑiʔ æn’ ol ðæd rɑiʔ? Ɔi θInk Id
to lash out and hit and bite and all that, right? I think it
wɅz mɑi, Ʌ, pɑ’ʔ Ʌ mi sƐkɅnd dƐi ænd Ʌ, ʔi – ʔI
was my, uh, part of me second day and uh, he—he
stɑ’ʔƐd flIpIn’ æud stɑ’ʔƐd flIpIn’ æud, stɑ’ʔƐd flIpIn’ æud æn’
started flipping out, started flipping out, started flipping out, and
hi bIʔ Ʌ ʔol In mi ti-shɅ’ ʔ, hi’s Ʌ lIʔow kId
he bit a hole in me t-shirt, he’s a little kid
‘i's Ʌbæud sIks, jæɅ? SɅu hi’s prɑpɅ’ smol, prɑpɅ’ smol.
he’s about six, yeah? So he’s proper small, proper small.
‘I’d bIʔ Ʌ ʔol In mi ti-shɅ’ ʔ, æn’ æs Ɔi tɅ’n’d
He’d bit a hole in me t-shirt and as I turned
ɅwƐi so’ʔ Ʌv tu gƐʔ ɅwƐi frɅm hIm hi kɅm æd mi
away sort of to get away from him he come at me
æn’ hi pɅntʃ mi klin stƐid In ð’ bɑlɅks. æn'
and he punch me clean straight in the bollocks. And
Ɔi wƐnʔ- Ɔi wɅz ɑn ðɅ floɅ Ɔi wɅz In prɑpɅ’
I went- I was on the floor. I was in proper
trɅbow æn’ Ɔi hæd t’ ækʃɅli go tɅ vɅ dɑktɅs
trouble and I had to actually go to the doctors
Ʌbæud id kɅz ʔI prɑpɅ’ lɑik wæk’d mi rɑiʔ
about it cuz he proper like whacked me right
ɑ’d In ðɅ bɑlɅks. bIʔ Ʌv Ʌ wi’(r)d storɅi t’
hard in the bollocks. Bit of a weird story to
tƐw ækʃɅli. Ɔi dɅno wɅʔ ‘ʔapƐnd Iʔ dʒɅs’ so’ʔ
tell, actually. I dun what happened it just sort
Ʌ’ kɅm æud bɅʔ Ɔi ho/up Id ʔewps jɅ.
of come out, but I hope it helps ya.
Transcript: Callum with IPA
CALLUM TRANSCRIPTION
Λ storεi? Λm, Ɔwr(t) ð’ ΛvΛ’ dεi wεn wi wΛz æt, Λ,
A story? Um, alright the other day when we was at, uh,
sprIng fεs’ θIŋ Λm, Ɔi wΛz wIf sΛm Λ’ mɑi mets æn’
spring fest thing um, I was with some of my mates and
bifo(r) wΛn Λ’ mɑi mets wΛz sεjIn’ hæu hi hets
before one of my mates was saying how he hates
biIn’ Λræund bow gεims lɑik, ‘kΛz hi Ɔwεis gεts
being around ball games like, ‘cause he always gets
hIt In ð’ fεis bɑI Λ bow o(r) hi owεis gεts hIt
hit in the face by a ball or he always gets hit
o(r) wΛʔεvΛ’ so wi wΛz ol sIt ðε’ æn’ wi wΛz
or whatever so we was all sit there and we was
rIʔIn’ ‘Iz dʒoks b’kΛs wi wΛ(r) onli lɑik
writing his jokes because we were only like
lɑfIn’ Λbæu’ Iʔ Ʊ’liƱ’ ðæʔ dεi lɑik dʒΛs
laughing about it earlier that day like just
rændΛmli sεi Λbæuʔ dIf’r’nt tɑims æn’ wεn wi wΛz
randomly say about different times and when we was
ol sIt ðε(h)’ æn’ tɑwkIn’ tΛ itʃ ΛvΛ(h)’ æt ðΛ
all sit there and talking to each other at the
sprIŋ fεs’ fIŋ Λ vɑlibol kΛm ovΛ’ æn’ wæk’d ‘Im In
spring fest thing a volleyball come over and whacked him in
ð’ hεd æn’ hIz hε(r) wεn’ Λp æn’ hi wΛz prɑpΛ’
the head and his hair went up and he was proper
wɑinIn’ æn’ Ɔi wΛz lIt’rΛli krɑjIn’ dʒΛs b’kΛz Λv
whining and I was literally crying just because of
ol Λv ðΛ pipow tΛ hIt In ðæʔ mæsIv fiwd
all of the people to hit in that massive field
Iʔ hIʔ hIm æn’… jiæ Ɔi wΛz dʒΛs krɑjIn’ ðæʔ wΛz Id.
it hit him and… Yeah, I was just crying. That was it.
Linguistic History: Cockney is usually associated with the working class of London.
Geography: Includes Thames river, rolling countryside.
Common occupations: Factory work. Maintenance. Street vendors. Gamblers. Thieves.
Archetypes: Lower class. Uneducated. Rough. Unrefined.
Dialect qualities:
-
Chewier consonants
-
“θ” (as in “with”) becomes “f”
-
“l” is often substituted with “w”
-
t’s often replaced with glottals
-
h’s and r’s are often dropped
-
ð (as in “that”) is often replaced by “v”