Editing London (section)

===Accents===
[[File:St Mary-le-Bow - geograph.org.uk - 3756403.jpg|thumb|upright|Traditionally, anyone born within earshot of the bells of [[St Mary-le-Bow]] church was considered to be a true [[Cockney]].<ref>{{cite news |title=London noise 'mutes Bow Bells to endanger Cockneys' |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18570802 |access-date=7 August 2023 |publisher=BBC News}}</ref>]]
[[Cockney]] is an accent heard across London, mainly spoken by [[Working class|working-class]] and [[Lower middle class|lower-middle-class]] Londoners. It is mainly attributed to the East End and wider East London, having originated there in the 18th century, although it has been suggested that the Cockney style of speech is much older.<ref>{{Cite web |date=17 August 2012 |title=Cockney |url= https://public.oed.com/blog/cockney/ |access-date=16 April 2021 |website=Oxford English Dictionary }}</ref> Some features of Cockney include [[Th-fronting|''Th''-fronting]] (pronouncing "th" as "f"), "th" inside a word is pronounced with a "v", [[H-dropping|''H''-dropping]], and, like most English accents, a Cockney accent [[Rhoticity in English|drops the "r"]] after a vowel.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McArthur |first1=Thomas |title=Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> John Camden Hotten, in his ''Slang Dictionary'' of 1859, makes reference to Cockney "use of a peculiar slang language" ([[Rhyming slang|Cockney rhyming slang]]) when describing the [[costermonger]]s of the East End. Since the start of the 21st century the extreme form of the Cockney dialect is less common in parts of the East End itself, with modern strongholds including other parts of London and suburbs in the [[home counties]].<ref>{{cite news |title='Extreme' form of Cockney dialect in decline, says report |url= https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jun/10/extreme-form-of-cockney-dialect-in-decline-says-report-1953 |access-date=28 June 2023 |work=The Guardian |location= London |date=10 June 2021}}</ref> This is particularly pronounced in areas like Romford (in the London Borough of Havering) and [[Southend-on-Sea|Southend]] (in Essex), which have received significant inflows of older East End residents in recent decades.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mount |first=Harry |date=10 April 2012 |title=Word on the street in London |url= https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/word-on-the-street-in-london-6487089.html |access-date=8 February 2024 |work=London Evening Standard }}</ref>

[[Estuary English]] is an intermediate accent between Cockney and [[Received Pronunciation]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Estuary English Q and A – JCW |url= http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/ee-faqs-jcw.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100111062912/http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/ee-faqs-jcw.htm |archive-date=11 January 2010 |access-date=16 August 2010 |publisher=University College London}}</ref> It is widely spoken by people of all classes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Estuary English |url= https://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/estuary/ |access-date=16 April 2021 |publisher=University College London}}</ref>

[[Multicultural London English]] (MLE) is a [[multiethnolect]] becoming increasingly common in multicultural areas amongst young, working-class people from diverse backgrounds. It is a fusion of an array of ethnic accents, in particular Afro-Caribbean and South Asian, with a significant Cockney influence.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is MLE? – Language and Linguistic Science |url= https://www.york.ac.uk/language/research/projects/mle/what-is-mle/ |access-date=16 April 2021 |publisher=University of York}}</ref>

[[Received Pronunciation]] (RP) is the accent traditionally regarded as the standard for [[British English]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wells |first1=John |title= Longman Pronunciation Dictionary |date=2008 |publisher=Longman |isbn=978-1-4058-8118-0 |edition=3rd |page=xix, para 2.1}}</ref> It has no specific geographical correlate,<ref>{{Cite web |title=English language - Varieties of English |url= https://www.britannica.com/topic/English-language |access-date=16 April 2021 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica }}</ref> although it is also traditionally defined as the standard speech used in London and south-eastern England.<ref>{{Cite web |title=English language – Characteristics of Modern English |url= https://www.britannica.com/topic/English-language |access-date=16 April 2021 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> It is mainly spoken by [[Upper class|upper-class]] and [[Upper middle class|upper-middle class]] Londoners.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Received Pronunciation |url= https://www.bl.uk/british-accents-and-dialects/themes/received-pronunciation |access-date=16 April 2021 |website=The British Library |archive-date=28 July 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210728213418/https://www.bl.uk/british-accents-and-dialects/themes/received-pronunciation |url-status=dead }}</ref> Standard Southern British English (SSBE) has been considered as an evolution of RP that is now common and widely spoken in London and the south-east of England by a wide variety of people, but is distinct from Estuary English and MLE.<ref>{{Cite news |date=31 October 2023 |title=Language barrier: why even Harry has stopped speaking the king's English |url= https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/oct/31/language-barrier-why-even-harry-has-stopped-speaking-the-kings-english |access-date=25 January 2025 |work=The Guardian |location= London}}</ref>