Glaswegian EastEnders fans adopting Cockney accents
A group of linguists charting the evolution of accents have picked up a surprising trend in Glasgow, observing that city residents exposed to the influence of EastEnders are beginning to speak like Cockneys.
The distinctive dialect has hitherto been defined by its limited usage to those within earshot of Bow Bells Church but now appears to have leapfrogged 500 miles north, piggy backing on BBC transmissions.
The study, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, found that two specific pronunciation styles associated with London accents amongst Glaswegian viewers.
This included supplanting ‘th’ with ‘f’ in words such as “think” (fink) and “tooth” (toof) as well as adopting a vowel sound like that in ‘good’ in place of the letter ‘l’ in words such as ‘people’.
Jane Stuart-Smith, professor of phonetics at Glasgow University, said: “Our study shows the programmes we watch on TV can help to accelerate changes in aspects of language, which are also well below the level of conscious awareness.
“In particular this study was investigating why certain linguistic factors normally found within the Cockney dialect in London were gradually entering into Glaswegian.
“Although this trend was apparent in people who had contact with friends or family living in London there was a stronger effect for people who had strong psychological engagement with characters in EastEnders."