The chief consonantal feature of the dialect is the glottal stop (?). In Cockney, the glottal stop replaces t and k between vowels and there is a growing tendency for it to replace p. Instead of saying “What a lot of little bottles” or “hop up here”, the Cockney will say (wo? a lo? u li?u bo?uz) or (ap? up? iuh)
r
No use of r coloring – no “r” before another consonant or at the end of a word.
| park | heart | beer | lark | far |
l
l is thick and rounded – there can be almost an u sound after it at the end of a phrase or when followed by another consonant.
| will | yell | call | cold | built | stalls |
h
The h is dropped before initial vowel sound.
| home | here | hope | Harry |
θ = f
| Kathy | bath | truth | both |
ð = v
| breathe | bathe | neither | maths |
Intrusive R
The intrusive R is the insertion of an r-sound at the end of a word ending on a vowel when the following word begins with a vowel
| idea-r of it lasting | put a comma-r in |
| sofa-r at Hannington’s | I saw-r it |
Nasal Consonants
Drop ŋ and substitute n
| goin’ | comin’ | gett’n | thinkin’ |
my = me
| me father had | me dad | me mum | me grandad |