Use of Estuary English

Estuary English is widely encountered throughout the south and south-east of England, particularly among the young. Many consider it to be a working-class accent, though it is by no means limited to the working class. In the debate that surrounded a 1993 article about Estuary English, a London businessman claimed that Received Pronunciation was perceived as unfriendly, so Estuary English was now preferred for commercial purposes.

Some people adopt the accent as a means of "blending in", appearing to be more working class, or in an attempt to appear to be "a common man" — sometimes this affectation of the accent is derisively referred to as "Mockney". For example, Tony Blair, the former British Prime Minister, has been heard to adopt the accent at times in TV interviews (as in the Des O'Connor show) Diana, Princess of Wales (born 1961) was sometimes said to use elements of Estuary English, though they were quite mild in her case. By contrast the Queen's granddaughter Zara Phillips (born 1981) speaks with a pronounced Estuary English accent. As some Australian scientists have found out researching the Queen's anniversary speeches, even she has shifted her accent slightly towards what is called Estuary.

The Queen's English is drifting down the social hierarchy, scientists in Australia say.

After trawling through archives of Her Majesty's annual Christmas messages since 1952, they conclude that the royal accent is becoming less "posh".

The experts, based at Sydney's Macquarie University, believe the vowel sounds of Queen Elizabeth II have been influenced by subjects who are younger or of lower social standing.

As a result, they say, the Queen's accent is moving towards the standard accent of southern England, away from the cut-glass "upper-crust" accent of the 1950s.

Lead researcher Jonathan Harrington told BBC News Online: "In the last 40 or so years, there have been dramatic changes to the social class structure in Britain and to a certain extent this is reflected in pronunciation.

"It demonstrates that the monarchy, at least as far as the spoken accent is concerned, isn't isolated from the rest of the community."

"Hed" to "Had"

The researchers base their conclusions on an acoustic analysis of vowel sounds from archive recordings of the Queen's annual Christmas message.

They compared recordings from the 1950s and the 1980s with the standard accent of southern Britain, as spoken by female BBC broadcasters.

Writing in the scientific journal Nature, the team say the Queen's pronunciation of vowel sounds has slowly shifted over the years "towards one that is characteristic of speakers who are younger and/or lower in the social hierarchy".

In the Queen's Christmas broadcasts of the 1950s, for example, the word "had" almost rhymed with "bed". But 30 years later "had" migrated halfway to the standard southern English pronunciation, which rhymes with "bad".

Blurring of accents

The researchers say the Queen's English is part of a nationwide trend towards a blurring of accents that once distinguished different social classes.

The standard accent of England - modern, received pronunciation - has been subtly influenced by the Cockney accent, for example, leading to some people dropping the "l" from milk.

And Estuary English has a glottal stop, dropping the "t", as in "a li'le bi' of breab wiv a bi' of bu'er on i'".

Jonathan Harrington is quick to point out that although the Queen no longer speaks the Queen's English of the 1950s, researchers have found no trace of Cockney influences over the years.