Estuary English middle-class young people. The term "Estuary English" is sometimes used with pejorative connotations: Sally Gunnell, a former Olympic athlete who became a television presenter for Channel 4 and the BBC, quit the BBC, announcing she felt "very undermined" by the network's lack of support after she was widely criticised for her "uninspiring interview style" and "awful estuary English". Estuary English Estuary English is an English dialect or accent associated with South East England, especially the area along the River Thames and its estuary, centering around London. Phonetician John C. Wells proposed a definition of Estuary English as "Standard English spoken
Estuary English more widely spoken in parts of Sussex, Hampshire, Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Middlesex as well. Estuary English shares many features with Cockney, and there is some debate among linguists as to where Cockney speech ends and Estuary English begins. The variety first came to public prominence in an article by David Rosewarne in the "Times Educational Supplement" in October 1984. Rosewarne argued that it may eventually replace Received Pronunciation in the southeast. Studies have indicated that Estuary English is not a single coherent form of English; rather, it has some of the phonetic features of working-class London speech spreading at