Estuary English a discrete accent distinct from the accents of the London area. The sociolinguist Peter Trudgill has written that the term "Estuary English" is inappropriate because "it suggests that we are talking about a new variety, which we are not; and because it suggests that it is a variety of English confined to the banks of the Thames estuary, which it is not. The label actually refers to the lower middle-class accents, as opposed to working-class accents, of the Home Counties Modern Dialect area". Peter Roach comments, "In reality there is no such accent and the term should be used with
Estuary English care. The idea originates from the sociolinguistic observation that some people in public life who would previously have been expected to speak with an RP accent now find it acceptable to speak with some characteristics of the London area... such as glottal stops, which would in earlier times have caused comment or disapproval". Estuary English is characterised by the following features: Despite the similarity between the two dialects, the following characteristics of Cockney pronunciation are generally not present in Estuary English: Estuary English is widely encountered throughout the south and the southeast of England, particularly among the young. Many consider