An estuary is a closed coastal body partly formed by one or more rivers or streams, and with a free connection to the open sea.
In simple language an estuary is where a river meets the sea. There, salt water is mixed with freshwater. The river is wide and flows slowly to sea. Bays, swamps, wetlands and entrances can all have estuaries.
Estuary English is now a modern variant of British English, a combination of English, non-English and south-eastern English pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary, which is thought to have originated along the banks of the Thames river and its estuary.
Examples Of Estuary English Words Pronunciation
- butter pronounced as ‘buh-uh’
- mother pronounced as ‘muvver,’
- thet men in the bleck het. That means “that man in the black hat,”
- home is spelt as ‘hame’
Let’s see how is estuary English different from other accents. Following are some of the popular accents to familiarize and differentiate from estuary English accent:
1. Geordie
As the ancient English language is spoken, Geordie tends to refer to the people and the Newcastle-upon-Tyne language in Northeast England.
Here are few words that you might hear when speaking to a Geordie:
“Canny”, pronounced “CAH-ne”, meaning good, nice, true.
“Gan”, meaning to go, such as “We’re gan doon the road.”
“Doon” means down.
2. Multicultural London English
This style of emphasis in London, known as sociolect, is a language that is specific to a particular social class and is most prevalent among young people. For instance, “Blud” meaning mate, “Ends” refers to a neighbor-hood or geographical area, “Bare” is used to mean very or lots of which might be confusing as it is used in Standard English to mean sparse or uncovered.
3. Scottish English
The Scots roll up their R’s regularly and collapse their words so that it feels like they’ve been cut in the middle. For instance, ‘cot’ instead of ‘caught’ and ‘not’ with ‘nee’
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