Cockney Dialect

Vowel Substitutions Ah to Aw Off, fork, walk, forty, important, hospital, sauce, awful He’s got no fork to eat the sauce/Paul thought they took an awful fall

Dipthongal changes Ee to eh-ee Me, see, speak, tea, scenes, Japanese, beat, need The bee did not like my tea./ She beat the tree with a key.

Dipthongal changes Oo to eh-oo Too, boot, who, boost, coo, prove, cool, through Coo, it’s too cool to put the glue through./ Who gave the boot to the youth?

Dipthongal Changes Ay-ee to ah-ee Rain day, place, name, break, obtain, paper, stranger, great, able, representation, Shakespeare It was a great shame the paper got lost in the rain./ Shakespeare had able representation in the case.

Dipthongal Changes Ah-ee to oy Sign, Night, time, I, why, like, life, dry, crime We had a right fine time./ At night Eliza signed the pipe.

Tripthongal Changes Oh to Ah-ee-oo Go, don’t, stone, slow, old, over, stacatto Don’t throw the stone at Jove./He told the old gentleman to hold the rope.

Consonant changes Silent H Home, hide, henry, who, prohibit, rehearse, inhale What’s so hideous about your home, Henry?/ Hey, Harry, listen here to her.

Consonant Changes In for ing Walking, running, hopping, feeling Talking and hitting and hurting./ There’s lodging at Newington and Billingsgate.

Consonant Changes Ink for ing Nothing, something, asking Something is better than nothing./ Anything you say.

Consonant Changes F for th Think, thing, nothing, anything, nothing, something I think you better do nothing./ something or something, nothing or nothing.

Consonant changes Glottal stop for tt Little, bottle, lot, glottis, pretty, literary, gentlemen, citizen, nip, got The tittle-tattle paid off for pretty Betty./ You got a lot of nerve to close the glottis.

Glottal stop practice drill Betty Botter bought some butter, "But," she said, "this butter's bitter; If I put it in my batter, It will make my batter bitter; But a bit of better butter, Better than the bitter butter Will but make my bitter batter better." So she bought a bit of better butter, Better than the bitter butter, and made her bitter batter better.