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The man who invented the term 25 years ago explains its linguistic rise.
Twenty five years ago, The TES published my article on Estuary English (EE). Since I coined the term, EE has entered the language, and the word "estuary" can now also be used by itself to describe an individual's speech.
A Dictionary of Phonetics and Phonology describes EE as an accent "falling somewhere between broad Cockney at one extreme and unmistakable RP (received pronunciation) at the other". This is similar to how I put it in the TES piece in October 1984: "If one imagines a continuum with RP and London speech at either end, Estuary English speakers are to be found grouped in the middle ground."
When the article appeared, there was no description of the speech of millions of people who spoke neither RP nor a strong local accent. Nowadays, EE probably has more speakers than any other accent in southern England. It has continued to attract interest in the media and academia ever since, and in recent years has played an increasing role in the teaching of English as an additional language throughout the world.
The pronunciation of EE has not changed greatly in the past 25 years, though there is some evidence of young EE speakers replacing the voiced and voiceless "th" sounds found in the words "three" and "that" of RP with the more London-style "f" and "v".
The description of sounds remains largely the same. For example, the dark "l" which occurs in RP in such words as "royal", "salt" and "milk" in EE becomes...