Date:    Thu, 18 Jun 1998 14:31:10 -0400
<br>From:    Beverly Flanigan <flanigan[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]OAK.CATS.OHIOU.EDU>
<br>Subject: Re: Estuary English
<br>
<br>I haven't read the article yet, but I recall hearing that John Major was
<br>also criticized/laughed at/mocked for affecting RP.  Since only 3-4% of all
<br>Britons are native speakers of RP, I suppose Londoners of some
<br>sociopolitical weight have had to come up with a reasonable substitute to
<br>cover their own dialectal variation, hence Estuary English--ugh, what a
<br>label.  I assume Lord Quirk is as in Quirk, Greenbaum, et al.?
<br>
<br>
<br>At 09:07 AM 6/18/98 -0500, you wrote:
<br>>There's an article in today's New York Times discussing Tony Blair's
<br>>newly-affected accent. It's being described as "Estuary English."
<br>>
<br>>http://search.nytimes.com/search/daily/bin/fastweb?getdoc+site+iib-site+1
<br>>36+0+wAAA+estuary%7Eenglish
<br>>
<br>>You'll need to register for a free logon and password, if you don't have
<br>>one.
<br>>
<br>>Note near the end of the piece the member of the House of Lords and
<br>>linguist, Lord Quirk.
<br>>
<br>>Grant Barrett
<br>>gbarrett[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dfjp.com
<br>>
<br>